Operating method for device in wireless communication system and device using same

Abstract

Provided are an operation method for an NCR including an NCR-MT and an NCR-Fwd in a wireless communication system, and an apparatus using the same. Beam index information for a beam index applied to an access link between the NCR-F wd and the terminal and time resource information related to the beam index are received from the base station through the NCR-MT, and the NCR-F wd performs a forwarding operation using a beam indicated by the beam index in a time resource indicated by the time resource information. Here, the beam index information separately indicates a downlink beam index and an uplink beam index applied to the access link.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a method of operating a device in a wireless communication system and a device using the method. Background Art

[0002] As more and more communication devices require higher communication capacity, advanced mobile broadband communication is needed compared to existing radio access technologies (RATs). Massive machine type communication (MTC), which provides various services anytime and anywhere by connecting multiple devices and multiple objects, is also a major issue to be considered in next-generation communication. In addition, the design of a communication system that considers services or user equipment (UE) sensitive to reliability and latency is being discussed. The introduction of a next-generation RAT that considers enhanced mobile broadband communication, massive MTC, and ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) is being discussed. In the present disclosure, for convenience of description, such a technology may be referred to as a new RAT or new radio (NR).

[0003] In addition, a repeater (also referred to as a relay) may be introduced into the NR. The repeater is a network control repeater (NCR). The NCR may include an NCR-MT (mobile terminal) and an NCR-Fwd (forward). The NCR-MT may perform functions of communicating with a base station and controlling the NCR-Fwd. The NCR-Fwd performs a signal forwarding function. That is, a signal received from the base station may be sent to the UE, or a signal received from the UE may be sent to the base station. The link between the NCR-Fwd and the UE may be referred to as an access link, and the link between the NCR-Fwd and the base station may be referred to as a backhaul link. The link between the NCR-MT and the base station may be referred to as a control link.

[0004] When these NCRs operate in a time division duplex (TDD) band, a beam correspondence relationship between a downlink transmission (DL-Tx) beam and an uplink reception (UL-Rx) beam of an access link for the NCR-Fwd may be assumed. For example, when the NCR-Fwd performs DL-Tx in a specific beam direction in the access link, UL-Rx may be performed in the same beam direction. In other words, when the NCR-Fwd performs DL transmission to a specific UE in a specific beam direction, UL reception from the UE may apply a UL beam (in the same beam direction) associated / matched with the beam used for DL transmission.

[0005] The corresponding DL beam and UL beam in the access link have the same beam index. The forwarding direction of the beam indicated in the access link may be determined based on the corresponding time domain resource and UL / DL TDD configuration.

[0006] In other words, when NCR-Fwd is instructed to apply a specific beam index at a specific time resource, the beam index may refer to an index of a DL beam if the time resource is a DL resource, or an index of a UL beam if the time resource is a UL resource.

[0007] On the other hand, if the NCR operates in a frequency division duplex (FDD) band, it may be difficult to assume beam correlation / matching between the DL-Tx beam and the UL-Rx beam for the access link of NCR-Fwd, because NCR-Fwd will use independent radio frequency (RF) and antennas on the downlink (DL) carrier and the uplink (UL) carrier.

[0008] That is, it may be difficult to directly apply a conventional beam indication method to an NCR operating in an FDD band. Summary of the Invention

[0009] Technical Problem

[0010] The technical problem to be solved by the present disclosure is to provide a method for operating a device in a wireless communication system and a device using the method.

[0011] Technical Solution

[0012] A method for operating an NCR (Network Control Repeater) in a wireless communication system and a device using the method are provided. The NCR includes an NCR-MT (Mobile Terminal) and an NCR-Fwd (Forward). In the above method, the NCR-MT receives beam index information for a beam index applied to an access link between the NCR-Fwd and a UE and time resource information related to the beam index from a base station, and the NCR-Fwd performs a forwarding operation using the beam indicated by the beam index in the time resource indicated by the time resource information. The beam index information separately indicates a downlink beam index and an uplink beam index applied to the access link.

[0013] Advantageous Effects

[0014] According to the present disclosure, beam indices and on-off (on-off) operations applied to the DL and UL for the access link of NCR-Fwd in an FDD environment can be separately indicated. Therefore, the DL forwarding operation and the UL forwarding operation can be independently performed, thereby improving transmission efficiency. Description of the Drawings

[0015] Figure 1 Illustrates the system structure of a next-generation radio access network (NG-RAN) applying NR.

[0016] Figure 2 Is a diagram showing a radio protocol architecture for a user plane.

[0017] Figure 3 It is a diagram showing the radio protocol architecture for the control plane.

[0018] Figure 4 It illustrates the functional division between NG-RAN and 5GC.

[0019] Figure 5 It illustrates an example of the frame structure that can be applied in NR.

[0020] Figure 6 It illustrates the time slot structure of an NR frame.

[0021] Figure 7 It illustrates CORESET.

[0022] Figure 8 It illustrates an example of the frame structure for the new radio access technology.

[0023] Figure 9 It illustrates the structure of a self-contained time slot.

[0024] Figure 10 It illustrates the physical channel and general signal transmission.

[0025] Figure 11 It illustrates the transport network architecture for 5G.

[0026] Figure 12 It shows an example of the topology where NCR performs transceiver operations between the base station and the UE.

[0027] Figure 13 It is a diagram comparing the operations of NCR and existing RF repeaters.

[0028] Figure 14 It illustrates the structure of NCR.

[0029] Figure 15 It illustrates the Tx beam direction operated by the gNB (base station) and the Tx beam direction operated by the RU in the single-hop NCR topology between gNB-NCR-UE.

[0030] Figure 16 It illustrates time resources with a period.

[0031] Figure 17 It illustrates the operation method of NCR including NCR-MT and NCR-Fwd in a wireless communication system.

[0032] Figure 18 It illustrates when applying Figure 17 the signaling and operations between the base station, NCR, and UE when the method is applied.

[0033] Figure 19 Illustrates a wireless device applicable to the present specification.

[0034] Figure 20 Illustrates an example of the structure of a signal processing module.

[0035] Figure 21 Illustrates another example of the structure of a signal processing module in a transmitting device.

[0036] Figure 22 Illustrates an example of a wireless communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0037] Figure 23 Illustrates another example of a wireless device.

[0038] Figure 24 Illustrates another example of a wireless device applicable to the present specification.

[0039] Figure 25 Illustrates communication system 1 applicable to the present specification. Detailed Description

[0040] In the present specification, "A or B" may mean "only A", "only B", or "both A and B". In other words, in the present specification, "A or B" may be interpreted as "A and / or B". For example, in the present specification, "A, B, or C" may mean "only A", "only B", "only C", or "any combination of A, B, and C".

[0041] In the present specification, the slash ( / ) or comma used may mean "and / or". For example, "A / B" may mean "A and / or B". Thus, "A / B" may mean "only A", "only B", or "both A and B". For example, "A, B, C" may mean "A, B, or C".

[0042] In the present specification, "at least one of A and B" may mean "only A", "only B", or "both A and B". Additionally, in the present specification, the expression "at least one of A or B" or "at least one of A and / or B" may be interpreted as "at least one of A and B".

[0043] Furthermore, in the present specification, "at least one of A, B, and C" may mean "only A", "only B", "only C", or "any combination of A, B, and C". Additionally, "at least one of A, B, or C" or "at least one of A, B, and / or C" may mean "at least one of A, B, and C".

[0044] In addition, the parentheses used in this specification may mean "for example". Specifically, when indicated as "control information (PDCCH)", this may mean presenting "PDCCH" as an example of "control information". In other words, "control information" in this specification is not limited to "PDCCH", and "PDDCH" may be presented as an example of "control information". Specifically, when indicated as "control information (i.e., PDCCH)", this may also mean presenting "PDCCH" as an example of "control information".

[0045] The technical features separately described in one drawing in this specification can be implemented either separately or simultaneously.

[0046] The wireless communication system to which the present disclosure can be applied may also be referred to as, for example, an evolved UMTS terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN) or a Long Term Evolution (LTE) / LTE-A system.

[0047] E-UTRAN includes a base station (BS) that provides a control plane and a user plane to a user equipment (UE). The UE can be fixed or mobile and may be referred to by another term such as a mobile station (MS), user terminal (UT), subscriber station (SS), mobile terminal / terminal (MT), wireless device, terminal, etc. The BS is typically a fixed station that communicates with the UE and may be referred to by another term such as an evolved Node B (eNB), base transceiver system (BTS), access point, etc.

[0048] The BSs are interconnected via an X2 interface. The BSs are also connected to an evolved packet core (EPC) via an S1 interface, more specifically, connected to a mobility management entity (MME) via S1-MME and connected to a serving gateway (S-GW) via S1-U.

[0049] The EPC includes an MME, an S-GW, and a packet data network gateway (P-GW). The MME has access information of the UE or capability information of the UE, which is generally used for mobility management of the UE. The S-GW is a gateway having E-UTRAN as an end point. The P-GW is a gateway having a PDN as an end point.

[0050] As more and more communication devices require more communication capacity, there is a need for mobile broadband communication that is improved compared to existing radio access technologies. In addition, massive machine type communication (MTC) that provides various services by connecting many devices and objects is one of the main issues to be considered in next-generation communication. In addition, the design of a communication system that considers reliability / latency-sensitive services / UEs is being discussed. The introduction of a next-generation radio access technology that considers enhanced mobile broadband communication (eMBB), massive MTC (mMTC), and ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) has been discussed. In the present disclosure, for convenience, this new technology may be referred to as a new radio access technology (new RAT or NR).

[0051] Figure 1 Illustrated is the system architecture of a next-generation radio access network (NG-RAN) applying NR.

[0052] Referring to Figure 1 , the NG-RAN may include base stations (e.g., gNBs and / or eNBs) that provide user plane and control plane protocol termination to UEs. Figure 1 Illustrated is the case of only including gNBs. gNBs (eNBs) are connected to each other via the Xn interface. gNBs and eNBs are connected to the 5G core network (5GC) via the NG interface. More specifically, gNBs and eNBs are connected to the access and mobility management function (AMF) via the NG-C interface and to the user plane function (UPF) via the NG-U interface.

[0053] On the other hand, the layers of the radio interface protocol between the UE and the network can be divided into a first layer (L1), a second layer (L2), and a third layer (L3) based on the lower three layers of the well-known open systems interconnection (OSI) model in a communication system. Among them, the physical (PHY) layer belonging to the first layer provides an information transfer service using a physical channel, and the radio resource control (RRC) layer belonging to the third layer is used to control radio resources between the UE and the network. To this end, the RRC layer exchanges RRC messages between the UE and the BS.

[0054] Figure 2 Is a diagram showing the radio protocol architecture for the user plane. Figure 3 Is a diagram showing the radio protocol architecture for the control plane. The user plane is a protocol stack for user data transmission. The control plane is a protocol stack for control signal transmission.

[0055] Referring to Figure 2 and Figure 3, the PHY layer provides an information transfer service to the upper layer through physical channels. The PHY layer is connected to the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, which is the upper layer of the PHY layer, through transport channels. Data is transferred between the MAC layer and the PHY layer through transport channels. Transport channels are classified according to how data is transferred through the radio interface and the characteristics of the data.

[0056] Data moves between different PHY layers (i.e., the PHY layer of the transmitter and the PHY layer of the receiver) through physical channels. Physical channels can be modulated according to the Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) scheme and use time and frequency as radio resources.

[0057] The functions of the MAC layer include the mapping between logical channels and transport channels and the multiplexing and demultiplexing into transport blocks provided on the transport channels for the MAC service data units (SDUs) belonging to the logical channels through physical channels. The MAC layer provides services to the Radio Link Control (RLC) layer through logical channels.

[0058] The functions of the RLC layer include the concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs. To ensure the various types of Quality of Service (QoS) required for radio bearers (RBs), the RLC layer provides three types of operation modes: transparent mode (TM), unacknowledged mode (UM), and acknowledged mode (AM). AM RLC provides error correction through Automatic Repeat reQuest (ARQ).

[0059] The RRC layer is only defined on the control plane. The RRC layer is associated with the configuration, reconfiguration, and release of radio bearers and is responsible for the control of logical channels, transport channels, and PHY channels. An RB represents the logical route provided by the first layer (PHY layer) and the second layer (MAC layer, RLC layer, and PDCP layer) for transferring data between the UE and the network.

[0060] The functions of the Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer on the user plane include the transfer of user data and header compression and encryption. The functions of the PDCP layer on the user plane also include the transfer and encryption / integrity protection of control plane data.

[0061] The configuration of an RB means the process of defining the characteristics of radio protocol layers and channels to provide specific services and configuring various detailed parameters and operation methods. RBs can be classified into two types: signaling RBs (SRBs) and data RBs (DRBs). SRBs are used as the channels through which RRC messages are sent on the control plane, and DRBs are used as the channels through which user data is sent on the user plane.

[0062] If an RRC connection is established between the RRC layer of the UE and the RRC layer of the E-UTRAN, the UE is in the RRC connected state. Otherwise, the UE is in the RRC idle state.

[0063] The downlink transmission channels for sending data from the network to the UE include the broadcast channel (BCH) for sending system information and the downlink shared channel (SCH) for sending user services or control messages. The services or control messages of the downlink multicast or broadcast services can be sent through the downlink SCH, or can be sent through an additional downlink multicast channel (MCH). In addition, the uplink transmission channels for sending data from the UE to the network include the random access channel (RACH) for sending initial control messages and the uplink shared channel (SCH) for sending user services or control messages.

[0064] The logical channels located above the transport channels and mapped to the transport channels include the broadcast control channel (BCCH), the paging control channel (PCCH), the common control channel (CCCH), the multicast control channel (MCCH), and the multicast traffic channel (MTCH).

[0065] The physical channels include multiple OFDM symbols in the time domain and multiple subcarriers in the frequency domain. One subframe includes multiple OFDM symbols in the time domain. An RB is a resource allocation unit, including multiple OFDM symbols and multiple subcarriers. In addition, each subframe can use specific subcarriers of a specific OFDM symbol (e.g., the first OFDM symbol) of the corresponding subframe for the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), i.e., the L1 / L2 control channel. The transmission time interval (TTI) is the unit time for subframe transmission.

[0066] Figure 4 Illustrates the functional division between the NG-RAN and the 5GC.

[0067] Refer to Figure 4 , the gNB can provide functions such as inter-cell radio resource management (inter-cell RRM), radio bearer management (RB control), connection mobility control, radio access control, measurement configuration and regulation, dynamic resource allocation, etc. The AMF can provide functions such as NAS security, idle state mobility handling, etc. The UPF can provide functions such as mobility anchoring, PDU processing, etc. The SMF can provide functions such as UE IP address assignment, PDU session control, etc.

[0068] Figure 5 Illustrates an example of the frame structure that can be applied in NR.

[0069] Refer to Figure 5, A radio frame (which may hereinafter be referred to as a frame) can be used for uplink and downlink transmissions in NR. The frame has a length of 10 ms and can be defined as two 5 - ms half - frames (HF). A half - frame can be defined as five 1 - ms subframes (SF). A subframe can be divided into one or more time slots, and the number of time slots in a subframe depends on the sub - carrier spacing (SCS). Each time slot includes 12 or 14 OFDM(A) symbols according to the cyclic prefix (CP). When using normal CP (which may also be referred to as general CP or common CP), each time slot includes 14 symbols. When using extended CP, each time slot includes 12 symbols. Here, symbols can include OFDM symbols (or CP - OFDM symbols) and SC - FDMA symbols (or DFT - s - OFDM symbols).

[0070] Table 1 below illustrates the sub - carrier spacing configuration μ (which may also be referred to as sub - carrier spacing configuration).

[0071] [Table 1]

[0072]

[0073] Table 2 below illustrates the number of time slots (N frame,μ slot ) in a frame, the number of time slots (N subframe,μ slot ) in a subframe, the number of symbols (N slot symb ) in a time slot, etc. according to the sub - carrier spacing configuration μ.

[0074] [Table 2]

[0075]

[0076] In Figure 5 , μ = 0, 1, 2, and 3 are exemplified.

[0077] Table 2 - 1 below exemplifies that when using extended CP, the number of symbols in each time slot, the number of time slots in each frame, and the number of time slots in each subframe vary according to the SCS.

[0078] [Table 2 - 1]

[0079] <![CDATA[SCS(15·2 μ )]]> <![CDATA[N slot symb > <![CDATA[N frame,μ slot > <![CDATA[N subframe,μ slot > 60KHz (μ = 2) 12 40 4

[0080] In the NR system, the OFDM(A) parameter sets (e.g., SCS, CP length, etc.) can be configured differently among multiple cells merged to a UE. Therefore, the (absolute time) duration of a time resource (e.g., SF, time slot or TTI) (collectively referred to as time unit (TU) for simplicity) composed of the same number of symbols can be configured differently among the merged cells.

[0081] Figure 6 The time slot structure is illustrated.

[0082] A time slot may include multiple symbols in the time domain. For example, in the case of normal CP, one time slot may include 14 symbols (or 7 symbols), but in the case of extended CP, one time slot may include 12 symbols (or 6 symbols). A carrier may include multiple subcarriers in the frequency domain. A resource block (RB) may be defined as multiple (e.g., 12) consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain. A bandwidth part (BWP) may be defined as multiple consecutive (P) RBs in the frequency domain and may correspond to a parameter set (e.g., SCS, CP length, etc.). A carrier may include up to N (e.g., 5) BWPs. Data communication is performed through the activated BWP, and only one BWP may be activated for a UE. Each element in the resource grid is called a resource element (RE), and one complex symbol may be mapped to the RE.

[0083] The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) may include one or more control channel elements (CCEs), as illustrated in Table 3 below.

[0084] [Table 3]

[0085] Aggregation level Number of CCEs 1 1 2 2 4 4 8 8 16 16

[0086] That is, the PDCCH can be transmitted through a resource including 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16 CCEs. Here, a CCE includes six resource element groups (REGs), and one REG includes one resource block in the frequency domain and one orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol in the time domain.

[0087] Monitoring means decoding each PDCCH candidate according to the downlink control information (DCI) format. The UE monitors the set of PDCCH candidates in one or more CORESETs (described below) on the activated DL BWP of each activated serving cell configured with PDCCH monitoring according to the corresponding search space set.

[0088] In NR, a new unit called a control resource set (CORESET) can be introduced. The UE can receive the PDCCH in the CORESET.

[0089] Figure 7 CORESET is instantiated.

[0090] Reference Figure 7 , CORESET includes N in the frequency domain CORESET RB resource blocks and N in the time domain CORESET symb ∈{1, 2, 3} symbols. N may be provided by the base station via higher layer signaling CORESET RB and N CORESET symb .like Figure 7 As illustrated in FIG. , a CORES ET may include multiple CCEs (or REGs).

[0091] The UE may attempt to detect a PDCCH in units of 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 CCEs in a CORESET. One or more CCEs for which PDCCH detection may be attempted may be referred to as PDCCH candidates.

[0092] Multiple CORESETs can be configured for a UE.

[0093] The control region in a conventional wireless communication system (e.g., LTE / LTE-A) is configured over the entire system frequency band for use by a base station (BS). All UEs except some UEs (e.g., eMTC / NB-IoT UEs) that only support narrowband must be able to receive wireless signals over the entire system frequency band of the BS in order to properly receive / decode control information sent by the BS.

[0094] On the other hand, in NR, the above-mentioned CORESET is introduced. CORESET is a radio resource for control information to be received by UE, and can use only a part in the frequency domain instead of the entire system bandwidth. In addition, in the time domain, only some symbols in the time slot can be used. The BS can allocate a CORESET to each UE, and control information can be sent through the allocated CORESET. In NR, the UE can receive control information from the BS without having to receive the entire system frequency band.

[0095] The CORESET may include a UE-specific CORESET for transmitting UE-specific control information and a common CORESET for transmitting control information common to all UEs.

[0096] In addition, depending on the application, NR may require high reliability. In such a case, compared with traditional technologies, the target block error rate (BLER) of downlink control information (DCI) transmitted through a downlink control channel (e.g., Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH)) can be significantly reduced. As an example of a method to meet the requirement of high reliability, the content included in the DCI can be reduced and / or the amount of resources used for DCI transmission can be increased. Here, the resources can include at least one of resources in the time domain, resources in the frequency domain, resources in the code domain, and resources in the space domain.

[0097] In NR, the following technologies / features can be applied.

[0098] <Self - contained sub - frame structure>

[0099] Figure 8 An example of a frame structure for a new radio access technology is illustrated.

[0100] In NR, as Figure 8 shown, a structure in which a control channel and a data channel are time - division multiplexed within one TTI can be regarded as a frame structure to minimize the latency.

[0101] In Figure 8 it, the shaded area represents the downlink control area, and the black area represents the uplink control area. The remaining area can be used for downlink (DL) data transmission or uplink (UL) data transmission. The feature of this structure is that DL transmission and UL transmission are sequentially performed within one sub - frame, so DL data can be transmitted and UL ACK / NACK can be received within the sub - frame. Therefore, the time required from the occurrence of a data transmission error to data re - transmission is shortened, thereby minimizing the latency of the final data transmission.

[0102] In the sub - frame structure of data and control TDM, a time gap may be required for the base station and the UE to switch from the transmission mode to the reception mode or from the reception mode to the transmission mode. For this purpose, some OFDM symbols when DL switches to UL can be set as the guard period (GP) in the self - contained sub - frame structure.

[0103] Figure 9 An example of the structure of a self - contained time slot is illustrated.

[0104] In the NR system, a time slot includes all of the DL control channel, the DL or UL data channel, the UL control channel, etc. For example, the first N symbols in the time slot can be used to transmit the DL control channel (subsequently, the DL control region), and the last M symbols in the time slot can be used to transmit the UL control channel (subsequently, the UL control region). Both N and M are integers of 0 or greater. The resource region (subsequently, the data region) between the DL control region and the UL control region can be used to transmit DL data or UL data. As an example, a time slot can correspond to one of the following configurations. List each period in chronological order.

[0105] 1. DL-only configuration

[0106] 2. UL-only configuration

[0107] 3. Hybrid UL-DL configuration

[0108] - DL region + GP (guard period) + UL control region

[0109] - DL control region + GP + UL region

[0110] DL region: (i) DL data region, (ii) DL control region + DL data region

[0111] UL region: (i) UL data region, (ii) UL data region + UL control region.

[0112] In the DL control region, PDCCH can be transmitted, and in the DL data region, PDSCH can be transmitted. In the UL control region, PUCCH can be transmitted, and in the UL data region, PUSCH can be transmitted. In the PDCCH, downlink control information (DCI), such as DL data scheduling information or UL data scheduling information, can be transmitted. In the PUCCH, uplink control information (UCI), such as ACK / NACK (acknowledgment / negative acknowledgment) information for DL data, channel state information (CSI) information, or scheduling request (SR), can be transmitted. The GP provides a time gap during the process of the gNB and the UE transitioning from the transmission mode to the reception mode or during the process of the gNB and the UE transitioning from the reception mode to the transmission mode. The symbol part within the subframe belonging to the timing of the mode change from DL to UL can be configured as the GP.

[0113] <Analog beamforming #1>

[0114] The wavelength is shortened to millimeter wave (mmW), so a large number of antenna elements can be installed in the same area. That is, the wavelength is 1 cm at 30 GHz, so a total of 100 antenna elements can be installed in a 5×5 cm panel in the form of a two-dimensional array at intervals of 0.5λ (wavelength). Therefore, a large number of antenna elements can be used in mmW to increase the beamforming (BF) gain to increase the coverage or improve the throughput.

[0115] In this case, if a transceiver unit (TXRU) is provided to adjust the transmission power and phase of each antenna element, independent beamforming for each frequency resource can be performed. However, installing TXRUs for all approximately 100 antenna elements reduces efficiency in terms of cost. Therefore, a method of using an analog phase shifter to map a large number of antenna elements to one TXRU and control the beam direction is considered. This analog beamforming can only form one beam direction in all frequency bands, so it cannot provide frequency-selective beamforming.

[0116] Hybrid beamforming (BF) with B TXRUs fewer than Q antenna elements can be considered an intermediate form between digital BF and analog BF. In this case, the number of beam directions that can be transmitted simultaneously is limited to B, although this number depends on the method of connecting B TXRUs and Q antenna elements.

[0117] <Analog Beamforming #2>

[0118] When multiple antennas are used in NR, hybrid beamforming, which is a combination of digital beamforming and analog beamforming, appears. Here, in analog beamforming (or RF beamforming), precoding (or combining) is performed at the RF end, so it is possible to achieve performance similar to digital beamforming while reducing the number of RF chains and the number of D / A (or A / D) converters. For ease of description, the hybrid beamforming structure can be represented by N TXRUs and M physical antennas. Then, the digital beamforming of L data layers transmitted at the transmitting end can be represented by an N×L matrix, the converted N digital signals are converted into analog signals via the TXRUs, and analog beamforming represented by an M×N matrix is applied.

[0119] System information of the NR system can be sent in a broadcast manner. In this case, in one symbol, analog beams belonging to different antenna panels can be sent simultaneously. A scheme of introducing a beam reference signal (BRS) as a reference signal (RS) sent by applying a single analog beam (corresponding to a specific antenna panel) is under discussion to measure the channel of each analog beam. The BRS can be defined for multiple antenna ports, and each antenna port of the BRS can correspond to a single analog beam. In this case, different from the BRS, the synchronization signal or xPBCH can be sent by applying all the analog beams within an analog beam group so as to be correctly received by any UE.

[0120] In NR, in the time domain, a synchronization signal block (SSB, or also referred to as synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel (SS / PBCH)) can consist of 4 OFDM symbols indexed in ascending order from 0 to 3 within the synchronization signal block, and the primary synchronization signal (PSS), secondary synchronization signal (SSS), and PBCH associated with the demodulation reference signal (DMRS) can be mapped to the symbols. As described above, the synchronization signal block can also be represented by an SS / PBCH block.

[0121] In NR, since multiple synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) can be sent at different times respectively and the SSB can be used for performing initial access (IA), serving cell measurement, etc., it is preferably to send the SSB first when the transmission time and resources of the SSB overlap with those of other signals. For this purpose, the network can broadcast the transmission time and resource information of the SSB, or indicate them through UE-specific RRC signaling.

[0122] In NR, transmission and reception can be performed based on beams. If the reception performance of the current serving beam degrades, a process of searching for a new beam through so-called beam failure recovery (BFR) can be performed.

[0123] Since the BFR process is not intended to declare an error or failure of the link between the network and the UE, it can be assumed that the connection with the current serving cell is retained even if the BFR process is performed. During the BFR process, measurements of different beams configured by the network (which can be represented according to the CSI-RS port or synchronization signal block (SSB) index) can be performed, and the best beam for the corresponding UE can be selected. The UE can perform the BFR process in such a way that it performs the RACH process associated with the beam that produces good measurement results.

[0124] Now, the transmission configuration indicator (hereinafter, TCI) state will be described. The TCI state can be configured for each CORESET of the control channel, and parameters for determining the RX beam of the UE can be determined based on the TCI state.

[0125] For each DL BWP of the serving cell, the UE can be configured for three or fewer CORESETs. Additionally, the UE can receive the following information for each CORESET.

[0126] 1) The CORESET index p (e.g., one of 0 to 11, where the index of each CORESET can be uniquely determined among the BWPs of a serving cell),

[0127] 2) The PDCCH DM-RS scrambling sequence initialization value,

[0128] 3) The duration of the CORESET in the time domain (which can be given in units of symbols),

[0129] 4) The resource block set,

[0130] 5) The CCE-to-REG mapping parameter,

[0131] 6) The antenna port quasi co-location, which indicates the quasi co-location (QCL) information of the DM-RS antenna port used for receiving the PDCCH in each CORESET (from a set of antenna port quasi co-locations provided by a higher layer parameter called "TCI-State"),

[0132] 7) An indication of the existence of the transmission configuration indication (TCI) field for a specific DCI format transmitted by the PDCCH in the CORESET, etc.

[0133] QCL will be described. Two antenna ports are said to be quasi co-located (QCL) if the characteristics of the channel through which the symbols on one antenna port are transmitted can be inferred from the characteristics of the channel through which the symbols on the other antenna port are transmitted. For example, when two signals A and B are transmitted from the same transmit antenna array applying the same / similar spatial filters, the two signals can experience the same / similar channel states. From the perspective of the receiver, when receiving one of the two signals, the other signal can be detected by using the channel characteristics of the received signal.

[0134] In this sense, when signals A and B are said to be quasi co-located (QCL), this can mean that signals A and B have experienced similar channel conditions. Therefore, the channel information estimated for detecting signal A is also useful for detecting signal B. In this document, the channel conditions can be defined according to, for example, Doppler frequency shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread, spatial reception parameters, etc.

[0135] The "TCI-State" parameter associates one or two downlink reference signals with the corresponding QCL types (QCL types A, B, C, and D, see Table 4).

[0136] [Table 4]

[0137] QCL type Description QCL-Type A Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread QCL-Type B Doppler shift, Doppler spread QCL-Type C Doppler shift, average delay QCL-Type D Spatial Rx parameter

[0138] Each "TCI-State" may include parameters for configuring the QCL relationship between one or two downlink reference signals and the DM-RS ports of the PDSCH (or PDDCH) or the CSI-RS ports of the CSI-RS resources.

[0139] In addition, for each DL BWP configured for a UE in a serving cell, the UE may be provided with 10 (or fewer) search space sets. For each search space set, the UE may be provided with at least one of the following information.

[0140] 1) Search space set index s (0 ≤ s < 40), 2) Association between CORESET p and search space set s, 3) PDCCH monitoring periodicity and PDCCH monitoring offset (in slot units), 4) PDCCH monitoring pattern within a slot (e.g., indicating the first symbol of the CORESET in the slot for PDCCH monitoring), 5) Number of slots in which search space set s exists, 6) Number of PDCCH candidates for each CCE aggregation level, 7) Information indicating whether search space set s is a CSS or a USS.

[0141] In NR, CORESET #0 can be configured by PBCH (or UE-specific signaling for handover or PSCell configuration or BWP configuration). The search space (SS) set #0 configured by PBCH can monitor different offsets (e.g., slot offset, symbol offset) for each associated SSB. This may be required to minimize the search space timing monitored by the UE. Alternatively, this may be required to provide beam scanning control / data regions capable of performing control / data transmission based on each beam in order to persistently communicate with the UE in the case where the best beam of the UE changes dynamically.

[0142] Figure 10 Physical channels and typical signal transmissions are illustrated.

[0143] Refer to Figure 10 , in a wireless communication system, the UE receives information from the BS via the downlink (DL), and the UE transmits information to the BS via the uplink (UL). The data transmitted / received by the BS and the UE includes data and various control information, and there are various physical channels according to the type / purpose of the information transmitted / received by the BS and the UE.

[0144] A UE that is powered on again in a power-off state or newly enters a cell performs an initial cell search operation such as adjusting synchronization with the BS (S11). To this end, the UE receives a primary synchronization channel (PSCH) and a secondary synchronization channel (SSCH) from the BS to adjust synchronization with the BS and acquire information such as a cell identity (ID). In addition, the UE may receive a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) from the BS to acquire broadcast information in the cell. In addition, the UE may receive a downlink reference signal (DL RS) in the initial cell search step to identify a downlink channel state.

[0145] (Initial) cell search is a process in which a UE acquires time and frequency synchronization with a cell and detects the cell ID of the cell. The cell search may be based on the primary synchronization signal and the secondary synchronization signal of the cell, and the PBCH DMRS.

[0146] After completing the initial cell search, the UE may receive a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and a corresponding physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) to acquire more specific system information (S12).

[0147] Thereafter, the UE may perform a random access procedure to complete access to the BS (S13 to S16). Specifically, the UE may send a preamble through a physical random access channel (PRACH) (S13), and may receive a random access response (RAR) to the preamble through a PDCCH and a PDSCH corresponding thereto (S14). Thereafter, the UE may send a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) by using the scheduling information in the RAR (S15), and may perform a contention resolution procedure (which may be referred to as a process of receiving a contention resolution message) similar to the PDCCH and the PDSCH corresponding thereto (S16).

[0148] After performing the above-mentioned process, the UE may perform PDCCH / PDSCH reception (S17) and PUSCH / physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmission (S18) as a typical uplink / downlink signal transmission process. The control information sent by the UE to the BS is called uplink control information (UCI). UCI includes hybrid automatic repeat and request (HARQ) confirmation (ACK) / negative ACK (NACK), scheduling request (SR), channel state information (CSI), etc. CSI includes channel quality indicator (CQI), precoding matrix indicator (PMI), rank indication (RI), etc. Typically, UCI is transmitted through PUCCH. However, when control information and data are to be transmitted simultaneously, UCI may be transmitted through PUSCH. In addition, the UE may transmit UCI irregularly through PUSCH according to the request / instruction of the network.

[0149] To enable reasonable battery consumption when configuring Bandwidth Adaptation (BA), only one uplink BWP (bandwidth part) and one downlink BWP can be activated at a time in the serving cell, or only one downlink / uplink BWP pair for each uplink carrier, and all other BWPs configured in the UE are deactivated. In the deactivated BWPs, the UE does not monitor the PDCCH and does not perform transmissions on the PUCCH, PRACH, and UL-SCH.

[0150] For BA, the RX and TX bandwidths of the UE do not necessarily have to be as wide as the cell bandwidth and can be adjusted. That is, it can be commanded to change in width (e.g., reduced for low activity periods for power saving), shift in the frequency domain (e.g., to increase scheduling flexibility), and change in subcarrier spacing (e.g., to allow for different services). A subset of the entire cell bandwidth of the cell is called a Bandwidth Part (BWP), and BA is obtained by configuring the BWP for the UE and by notifying the UE of the currently active BWP among the configured BWPs. When configuring BA, the UE only needs to monitor the PDCCH on one active BWP. That is, it is not necessary to monitor the PDCCH over the entire downlink frequency of the cell. The BWP Inactivity Timer (independent of the DRX Inactivity Timer mentioned above) is used to switch the active BWP to the default BWP. That is, when the PDCCH decoding is successful, the timer restarts, and when the timer expires, it switches to the default BWP.

[0151] Next, the integrated access and backhaul link (IAB) will be described. Hereinafter, for ease of explanation, the proposed scheme will be described based on the new RAT (NR) system. However, the scope of the system to which the proposed scheme is applied can be extended to other systems such as 3GPP LTE / LTE-A systems in addition to the NR system.

[0152] One of the potential technologies aimed at realizing future cellular network configuration scenarios and applications is a technology that supports wireless backhaul and relay links, enabling flexible and very dense configuration of NR cells without having to proportionally densify the transport network.

[0153] Compared with LTE, it is expected that in NR, in combination with the native deployment of massive MIMO or multi-beam systems, a larger bandwidth (e.g., mmWave spectrum) can be utilized, thus having the opportunity to use the research, development, and configuration of integrated access and backhaul links. By constructing multiple control and data channels / processes defined in a way that provides connection or access to the UE, it is possible to more easily configure a dense network of self-backhauled NR cells in a more integrated manner. Such a system is referred to as an integrated access and backhaul link (IAB).

[0154] The following definitions are made in this disclosure.

[0155] -AC(x): The access link between node (x) and the UE.

[0156] -BH(xy): The backhaul link between node (x) and node (y).

[0157] At this time, a node may refer to a donor gNB (donor gNB) or a relay node (RN). Here, the donor gNB or the donor node may be a gNB that provides a function to support the backhaul for the IAB node.

[0158] When there are relay node 1 and relay node 2, and relay node 1 and relay node 2 are connected by a backhaul link and relay the data transmitted and received by relay node 2, relay node 1 is named the parent node of relay node 2, and relay node 2 is named the child node of relay node 1.

[0159] The technical features separately described in one of the drawings in this specification can be implemented separately or simultaneously.

[0160] The following drawings are used to illustrate a specific example of this specification. The names of specific devices or the names of specific signals / messages / fields recorded in the drawings are only for illustration, so the technical features of this specification are not limited to the specific names used in the following drawings.

[0161] The following introduces the network control repeater (NCR) and its operation method in the NR environment. Hereinafter, NCR may be abbreviated as a repeater or a repeater. Hereinafter, MT may be referred to as NCR-MT (mobile terminal or mobile terminal), and RU may be referred to as NCR-Fwd (forward).

[0162] <Transport network architecture for 5G>

[0163] Figure 11 An example of a transport network architecture for 5G is illustrated.

[0164] ITU-T (Telecommunication Standardization Sector) has selected a transport network architecture for 5G consisting of three logical elements: CU (Central Unit), DU (Distributed Unit), and RU (Remote Unit), as shown in (a) of Figure 11 . In this model, the mid and lower layer functions are divided into DU and RU. The RU implements the RF function, and depending on the functional division between the RU and the DU, it may also implement the low-PHY and high-PHY functions. Depending on the network requirements, the CU, DU, and RU are combined into different combinations to form actual physical network elements.

[0165] For example, as shown in (b) to (d) of

[0166] , the CU, DU, and RU are combined into various combinations. Thereby, flexibility is provided to include various network architectures, applications, and transport network requirements. Figure 11 As shown in

[0167] The transport network between the 5GC and the CU is called the backhaul. The backhaul network implements the 3GPP NG interface. Similarly, the transport network between the CU and the DU is called the midhaul. The midhaul network implements the 3GPP F1 interface. Finally, the transport network between the DU and the RU is called the fronthaul. The backhaul, midhaul, and fronthaul are collectively referred to as xhaul. Figure 11

[0168] A reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS), also known as an intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) and a large intelligent surface (LIS), is a programmable structure that changes the electrical and magnetic properties of the surface to control the propagation of electromagnetic waves (EM).

[0169] In addition to the electromagnetic wave control function, the RIS integrates a detection function to detect the wireless environment. When the RIS is configured in the environment where a wireless system operates, the properties of the wireless channel can be at least partially controlled.

[0170] ​The inherent functions of RIS can provide many advantages, including the potential to improve stability and coverage performance through beamforming or range extension. With the ability to control the propagation environment, there are some changes in the existing wireless system design paradigm, where the wireless channel is mostly considered an uncontrollable presence that distorts the transmitted signal. Traditional transmitters (TX) and receivers (RX) are designed to equally disperse the influence of the channel. Various scenarios can be imagined, from the case of configuring a RIS on a wall to the case of transmitting signals from a predetermined direction.

[0171] By using RIS, it is possible to provide a 'penetration effect' that transmits external signals to the base station signals inside the building, and a'reflection effect' in a NLoS (non-line-of-sight) environment, thereby improving the coverage of blind spots.

[0172] <Network-controlled repeater in NR>

[0173] (1) Conventional RF repeater

[0174] In the past, the RF repeater was a non-regenerative type of relay node that simply amplified and forwarded all received signals. The main advantages of the RF repeater are low cost, ease of configuration, and no additional latency. The main disadvantage is that it may increase system interference (pollution) by amplifying both signals and noise.

[0175] (2) Rel-17 WI's RF repeater (RAN4)

[0176] The RF repeater is specified in Rel-17 of RAN4 for the FR1 band FDD / TDD and the FR2 band. Only RF requirements are included in the Rel-17 WI (Work Item Description). It is explicitly stated in the RAN4 WI that "it is assumed that the repeater does not perform adaptive beamforming towards the UE".

[0177] (3) Rel-18 Network controlled repeater for NR

[0178] Coverage is a fundamental aspect of cellular network configuration. Mobile network operators provide overall coverage based on various types of network nodes. The configuration of a regular full-stack cell is an option, but it is not always feasible (e.g., in cases where there is no backhaul availability), and it may also be unaffordable economically.

[0179] As a result, new types of network nodes are considered to increase the flexibility of the network configuration of mobile network operators. For example, integrated access and backhaul (IAB), as a new type of network node that does not require a wired backhaul, was introduced in Rel-16 and improved in Rel-17. Another type of network node is an RF repeater that simply amplifies and forwards all received signals. RF repeaters have been widely deployed to supplement the coverage provided by regular full-stack cells in 2G, 3G, and 4G.

[0180] RF repeaters provide a cost-effective means of expanding network coverage, but there are limitations. RF repeaters simply perform amplification and forwarding operations without considering various elements that can improve performance. These elements include information about semi-static and / or dynamic downlink / uplink configurations, adaptive transmitter / receiver spatial beamforming, on-off (on-off) states, etc.

[0181] A network control repeater (NCR) enhances the function of receiving and processing side control information from the network compared to existing RF repeaters. Side control information allows the network control repeater to perform amplification and forwarding operations in a more efficient manner. Potential advantages can include mitigating the amplification of unnecessary noise, better spatial directional transmission and reception, simplified network integration, etc.

[0182] Regarding the research on the network control repeater (NCR), the focus will be on the following scenarios and assumptions.

[0183] The network control repeater is an in-band RF repeater used to expand network coverage in the FR1 and FR2 frequency bands, and the FR2 configuration assigns priorities for both outdoor and O2I scenarios.

[0184] The network control repeater is transparent to the UE.

[0185] The network control repeater maintains both the base station-repeater link and the repeater-UE link simultaneously.

[0186] Cost-effectiveness is a core consideration for the network control repeater.

[0187] It is necessary to study and identify the following side control information.

[0188] Beamforming information, timing information for aligning the transceiver boundary of the network control repeater, UL-DL TDD configuration information, on-off (on-off) information for implementing effective interference management and improving energy efficiency, power control information for performing effective interference management, etc.

[0189] It is necessary to study and identify the L1 / L2 signals (including corresponding configurations) for transmitting side control information. From the management aspect of the network control repeater, it is necessary to study the identification and authentication of the network control repeater.

[0190] It can be considered that the NCR is composed of an RU and an MT.

[0191] Figure 12 An example of the topology where the NCR performs transceiver between the base station and the UE is shown.

[0192] Refer to Figure 12 , there is a CU and / or a DU in the base station, and the NCR is connected to the base station. The NCR is composed of an MT and an RU.

[0193] The RU is only composed of the RF layer. The RU receives the signal sent by the base station at the RF end and forwards it to the UE, and receives the signal sent by the UE at the RF end and forwards it to the base station.

[0194] The RU only forwards the signals between the base station and the UE, and cannot autonomously generate signals / channels to send to the base station / UE or receive signals / channels from the base station / UE for detection.

[0195] The RU can consider adjusting the transceiver beam direction, DL / UL direction, on / off status, transmit (Tx) power, etc. at the RF end in order to forward the received signal. However, such operations of the RU cannot be determined by the NCR itself and are completely controlled by the base station.

[0196] The MT includes the RF layer and L1 layer, L2 layer, and / or L3 layer. For example, the MT is only composed of the RF layer and L1 layer or L1 / L2 layer. Or, the MT can be composed of the RF layer and L1 / L2 / L3 layer.

[0197] The MT detects / receives the signals / channels sent by the base station, and the MT generates the signals / channels to be sent to the base station for transmission. In addition, the MT receives the information required to control the operation of the RU (i.e., side control information) from the base station. The MT does not perform transceiver with the UE.

[0198] Figure 13This is a diagram for comparing the operations of NCR and existing RF repeaters.

[0199] Referring to Figure 13 (a) thereof, in the case of an existing RF repeater, beamforming in all (omni)-direction or a fixed direction is performed. On the other hand, as shown in Figure 13 (b) thereof, in NCR, the Tx / Rx beam direction of NCR is adaptively adjusted according to the position of the UE and the channel condition of the UE, thereby obtaining a beamforming gain.

[0200] In the case of an existing RF repeater, in a TDD system, the DL / UL directions cannot be distinguished and the transceiver operations in the DL and UL directions are always performed simultaneously. Or only a fixed TDD configuration is applied and the switching between the DL direction and the UL direction is performed in a specified time pattern. On the other hand, in NCR, the DL / UL switching is performed by NCR considering the TDD configuration. Thereby, the DL / UL operation is adaptively performed, reducing the power waste and interference generated by forwarding unnecessary signals.

[0201] In the case of an existing RF repeater, the power of the received signal is always amplified and forwarded regardless of whether the signal is sent from the base station and the UE or not. Thereby, power is wasted unnecessarily and the interference generated to the surroundings is increased. In the case of NCR, an ON / OFF (turn on / turn off) operation is performed. When there is no signal to be forwarded to the base station / UE, the operation of the RU is turned off and unnecessary signals are not forwarded.

[0202] In the case of an existing RF repeater, the power of the received signal is amplified and forwarded at a fixed ratio. In the case of NCR, when the signal is transmitted with an unnecessary high power, the transmission power of NCR is reduced, thereby reducing the influence of the interference generated to the surroundings. When the signal is transmitted with a low power, the transmission power of NCR is increased, so that the signal is stably forwarded to the receiver.

[0203] In the case of an existing RF repeater, the operation is performed without knowing the DL / UL time slot boundary. On the other hand, in the case of NCR, in order to adaptively adjust the beamforming, ON / OFF, DL / UL direction, Tx power, etc. as described above, NCR needs to know the transceiver boundaries of DL and UL. Thereby, different operations of the RU are applied according to each unit time (for example, time slot / symbol).

[0204] Figure 14 Illustrate the links between the base station, NCR, and UE.

[0205] Refer to Figure 14 , NCR includes NCR-MT(=MT) and NCR-Fwd(=RU).

[0206] NCR-MT is defined as a functional entity that communicates with a base station (gNB) via a control link (C-link) for information exchange (e.g., side control information). The C-link is based on the NR Uu interface.

[0207] The side control information is information used at least for NCR-Fwd control.

[0208] NCR-Fwd is defined as a functional entity that amplifies and forwards UL / DL RF signals between a base station and a user equipment (UE) via a backhaul link and an access link. The operation of NCR-Fwd is controlled according to the side control information received from the base station.

[0209] The content of the present disclosure is described assuming operations in NCR. However, the content of the present disclosure may not be applied to NCR but to a device. For example, the content of the present disclosure is applied for the operation of RIS. To this end, RIS can be used to replace NCR mentioned in the present disclosure for extension / interpretation. In this case, RU performs the role of forwarding signals from the base station to the UE and signals from the UE to the base station in RIS, and MT performs the role of receiving side control information for controlling signal transmission of RU from the base station.

[0210] Hereinafter, the term network can be interpreted as replaced by a base station or CU / DU. In addition, the term base station can be interpreted as replaced by a network, CU, or DU.

[0211] In NCR, in order to forward the signals received by RU, it is possible to consider adjusting the transmit / receive beam direction, DL / UL direction, ON / OFF state, transmit power, etc. at the RF side. However, the operation of this RU cannot be determined by NCR itself but can be completely controlled by the base station. To this end, MT can receive information (i.e., side control information) required to control the operation of RU from the base station. At least some or all of this side control information can be conveyed via L1 / L2 signaling (such as DCI (e.g., DCI format 2_8), MAC-CE).

[0212] The side control information may include, for example, all or part of the following information.

[0213] 1) Beamforming information. This represents information about the Tx / Rx beam directions of the RU. Such information includes the beam directions for UL Tx from the base station, DL Rx from the base station, DL Tx to the UE, and / or UL Rx from the UE.

[0214] 2) Timing information to align transmission / reception boundaries of network - controlled repeater. This represents the information used by the RU to align Tx / Rx time slots or symbol boundaries.

[0215] 3) Information on UL - DL TDD configuration. This represents information about the DL / UL directions of the RU.

[0216] 4) On - off information for efficient interference management and improved energy efficiency. This represents information about the on - off operation of the RU.

[0217] 5) Power control information for efficient interference management. This represents information about the transmission power of the RU. Such information includes the UL transmission power to the base station and / or the DL transmission power to the UE.

[0218] At this time, it is necessary to define which beam direction or index of the RU the beamforming information received by the MT through side control information actually indicates.

[0219] When adaptive beamforming is performed in the RU - UE link, the side control information of the MT can be used to indicate the directions of the Tx and Rx beams of the RU. This disclosure describes a method for determining which beam the side control information indicates in the transmission and reception of the access link of the RU.

[0220] Figure 15 The Tx beam direction operated by the gNB (base station) and the Tx beam direction operated by the RU in the single - hop NCR topology between gNB - NCR - UE are shown.

[0221] Reference Figure 15 , the gNB can operate N FH = 4Tx beams, and the RU can operate N AC = 4Tx beams. In this example, the RU can receive the DL signal from the gNB using the Tx beam of the gNB's Tx#3, and the UE can receive the DL signal from the RU using the Tx beam of the RU's Tx#1.

[0222] The beam pairs of the gNB-MT and / or gNB-RU links can be fixed and configured during the implementation phase, or can be determined through beam adaptation operations between the gNB and the MT. At this time, the method of determining and transmitting the transmit / receive beams of the RU for the RU-UE link can be explained, for example, through the following process.

[0223] Step 1. Report information about the number of transmit / receive beams of the RU (N AC ) to the gNB. At this time, the value of N AC is reported by the MT to the gNB.

[0224] Step 2. The gNB determines and indicates the RU that actually performs transmission and reception on the beam index information. The MT receives the information from the gNB through side control information.

[0225] Step 3. Perform transmission and reception by applying the beam direction of the RU based on the indicated information.

[0226] The beam index can be used to indicate the access link beam.

[0227] The following operations can be supported to convey information about the physical beams representing the NCR-Fwd supported for the access link. The gNB and the NCR can be made aware of this information through OAM (Operation, Administration, and Maintenance). How to represent the beam information in this option can be implementation-dependent (e.g., as declared by the NCR vendor). In this option, depending on the implementation, the beams for the access link in NCR-Fwd can be configured for the gNB and the NCR through OAM. The beam index of the side control information (SCI) can correspond to the configured beams in sequence.

[0228] Currently, a beam index - based indication unit has been agreed upon for access link beam indication operations. Specifically, depending on the manufacturer's implementation, the physical beams generated by the NCR can be configured to notify the gNB and the NCR of the physical beams via OAM, and the gNB can ultimately configure it in ascending order in the form of an index to achieve access link beam directions based on the beam index. For example, if information on 19 physical beams that can generate the NCR access link according to the implementation is provided via OAM, the gNB can appropriately determine which of the 19 physical beams can be set as indices. For example, by configuring a total of 16 beam indices from #0 to #15.

[0229] Depending on the form of periodicity (periodic, aperiodic, semi - persistent), relevant parameters such as period, start time slot / symbol, duration, reference SCS, etc. can be defined, and a configuration composed of these parameters can be provided for periodic, aperiodic, and semi - persistent beam directions to the access link.

[0230] On the other hand, ON / OFF information has also been discussed in terms of pursuing energy efficiency and cost - effectiveness of the NCR. To reduce unnecessary energy consumption, NCR - Fwd can default to operating in the OFF state. In this OFF state, it can be set to the ON state by performing access link beam indication (for both FR1 / FR2).

[0231] There may be a situation where NCR - Fwd is recognized as ON through beam indication for operations that do not require beams. For example, in the case of CSI - RS / SRS channel measurement, if the channel quality is already protected and no further reference signal transmission is required, operations may not be performed for specific beams. To accommodate this situation, it can be considered to dynamically indicate the beam index to be turned off in the ON state.

[0232] Aperiodic beam indication and dynamic turn - off indication can be configured in the form of DCI sent via PDCCH, which can be received by NCR - MT. Specifically, since the dynamic turn - off indication operation will target the beam indices that have been implicitly turned on (for the access link), it can be considered to configure a DCI that combines aperiodic beam indication and dynamic turn - off indication.

[0233] In this disclosure, considering the above - mentioned situations, when an aperiodic beam indication for NCR - Fwd is received or when it is received in combination with a dynamic turn - off indication, the composition of the payload bits of the DCI and its interpretation / determination method are described.

[0234] Side control information can be applied differently for each time resource. In this case, it is necessary to indicate the side control information for each time resource.

[0235] When transmitting sidelink control information via MAC-CE and / or DCI, the sidelink control information can be transmitted via different MAC-CEs and / or DCIs for each time resource unit. In this case, there is a burden of having to transmit the sidelink control information for each time resource unit. Taking this into account, when transmitting the sidelink control information once, it is also possible to indicate the sidelink control information for multiple time resource units.

[0236] In this case, there may be the following disadvantages: the sidelink control information for multiple time resource units should be determined and set in advance, but there are the following advantages: efficient signaling becomes possible. For this purpose, when indicating the sidelink control information, information about the time resources to which the indication is applied can be provided together. Alternatively, for multiple time resources (sets), the sidelink control information applied to each time resource (set) can be indicated.

[0237] In the present disclosure, a method for configuring the content of the sidelink control information indicated to the NCR in the FDD environment by considering various sidelink control information in the NCR operating in the NR environment is described.

[0238] In the present disclosure, a method for indicating various sidelink control information when the gNB indicates to the MT the sidelink control information applicable to the RU in a specific time resource for the RU operation in the NCR is described.

[0239] Hereinafter, the description is made on the assumption that all or part of the following information is included and indicated in the sidelink control information. However, other information may also be included and indicated together with the sidelink control information. The information that can be included in the sidelink control information and the operation of the RU according to this information can be as follows.

[0240] 1) Beamforming information

[0241] Information about the Tx beam direction and / or Rx beam direction applied by the RU can be included in the sidelink control information and indicated from the gNB to the MT. The beamforming information can include all or part of the following: i) Information about the direction of the UL-Tx and / or DL-Rx beam of the RU for the gNB-RU link. If information about the UL-Tx beam direction is indicated, the RU will perform UL transmission to the gNB according to the indicated UL-Tx beam direction. If information about the DL-Rx beam direction is indicated, the RU will perform DL reception from the gNB according to the indicated DL-Rx beam direction. ii) Information about the direction of the UL-Tx and / or DL-Rx beam of the RU for the RU-UE link

[0242] 2) On / Off information

[0243] Information on whether the RU is operating can be included in the side control information and indicated from the gNB to the MT. When indicated as ON by the on / off information, the RU performs Tx / Rx operations for the gNB-RU link and Tx / Rx operations for the RU-UE link. When indicated as OFF by the on / off information, the RU does not perform Tx / Rx operations for the gNB-RU link and Tx / Rx operations for the RU-UE link.

[0244] 3) DL / UL Information

[0245] Information on the DL / UL direction of the RU can be included in the side control information and indicated from the gNB to the MT. When DL is indicated by the DL / UL information, the RU performs DL reception from the gNB on the gNB-RU link and DL transmission to the UE on the RU-UE link. That is, the RU receives the DL signal from the gNB and forwards (transmits) the received signal to the UE. When UL is indicated by the DL / UL information, the RU performs UL transmission to the gNB on the gNB-RU link and UL reception from the UE on the RU-UE link, i.e., the RU receives the UL signal from the UE and forwards the received signal to the gNB for transmission.

[0246] 4) Tx Power Control Information

[0247] Information on the gain value of the Tx power applied when forwarding and transmitting the signal received by the RU can be included in the side control information and indicated from the gNB to the MT.

[0248] The Tx power information may include all or part of the following:

[0249] i) Information on the UL Tx power gain of the RU for the gNB-RU link.

[0250] When the UL Tx power gain is indicated, the RU performs UL transmission on the gNB-RU link by applying the value of the UL signal received from the RU-UE link, and the value of the UL signal is increased by the gain value compared to the received power as the UL Tx power (i.e., Rx power * gain).

[0251] ii) Information on the DL-Tx power gain of the RU for the RU-UE link.

[0252] When the DL-Tx power gain is indicated, the RU performs DL transmission on the RU-UE link by applying the DL-Tx power as the value that increases the power of the DL signal received from the gNB-RU link by the gain value compared to the received power (i.e., Rx power * gain).

[0253] <Method for Configuring Content of Sidelink Control Information>

[0254] Below, a method for indicating each piece of information together when the gNB indicates sidelink control information for the operation of the RU in a specific time resource to the MT is described.

[0255] 1. Separate indication

[0256] Several pieces of information included in the sidelink control information can be independently indicated from the gNB to the MT. For example, each piece of information can be classified according to the value (status) it may have, as follows:

[0257] 1) Enable / disable information.

[0258] The value (0 or 1) of the enable / disable information can be used to indicate whether the RU is enabled or disabled, as shown in the following table.

[0259] [Table 5]

[0260] Status (index) 0 1 On / Off information On Off

[0261] 2) DL / UL information

[0262] As shown in the following table, the DL operation or UL operation of the RU can be indicated according to the value (0 or 1) of the DL / UL information.

[0263] [Table 6]

[0264] Status (index) 0 1 DL / UL information DL UL

[0265] Alternatively, the DL operation, UL operation, or flexible operation of the RU can be indicated based on the value (0 or 1) of the DL / UL information, as shown in the following table. In this case, flexible can mean that it is not determined whether the RU will operate in DL or UL.

[0266] [Table 7]

[0267] Status (index) 0 1 2 DL / UL information DL UL Flexible

[0268] 3) Beam information

[0269] As shown in the following table, the value of the beam index corresponding to the RU can be indicated according to the value of the beam information.

[0270] [Table 8]

[0271] Status (index) 0 1 2 3 … N-1 Beam information Beam index 0 Beam index 1 Beam index 2 Beam index 3 … Beam index N - 1

[0272] This beam information can be indicated independently for the gNB-RU link and the RU-UE link, or only the RU-UE link can be indicated.

[0273] For the gNB-RU link, the beam index may refer to the DL Rx beam index in the DL resource and the UL Tx beam index in the UL resource.

[0274] And / or, for the RU-UE link, the beam index may refer to the DL-Tx beam index in the DL resource and the UL Rx beam index in the UL resource.

[0275] 4) Transmission (Tx) power control information

[0276] As shown in the following table, the value corresponding to the Tx power gain can be indicated according to the value of the Tx power control information.

[0277] [Table 9]

[0278]

[0279] At this time, each Tx power gain value corresponding to the Tx power gains 0, 1,..., P-1 may refer to the ratio of the Tx power to the received (Rx) power or the dB value, which indicates how many times the received power will be boosted and transmitted.

[0280] The Tx power gain may refer to the UL Tx power gain for the gNB-RU link and the DL-Tx power gain for the RU-UE link.

[0281] And / or, the Tx power gain may refer to the DL-Tx power gain in the DL resource and the UL Tx power gain in the UL resource.

[0282] 2. Implicit indication

[0283] Some information may be implied without explicit indication, or may be determined independently of the explicit indication.

[0284] 1) On / Off information

[0285] When the NCR (specifically, the MT of the NCR) is indicated or provided with beam information for a specific time resource, and / or is indicated or provided with DL / UL information, it can determine that the operation of the RU in that time resource is (implicitly) indicated as on. That is, the RU performs Tx / Rx operations for the gNB-RU link and Tx / Rx operations for the RU-UE link.

[0286] Otherwise, it can be determined that the operation of the RU in that time resource is (implicitly) indicated as off, that is, the RU does not perform Tx / Rx operations for the gNB-RU link and Tx / Rx operations for the RU-UE link.

[0287] 3. Combined indication

[0288] Multiple pieces of information included in the side control information can be combined and sent from the gNB to the MT together.

[0289] 1) The combination indication of DL / UL information and on / off information.

[0290] The DL / UL information and on / off information for the RU can be combined and indicated together.

[0291] Method 1. For example, the DL / UL information and on / off information can be combined and indicated as shown in the following table.

[0292] [Table 10]

[0293] Status (index) 0 1 2 3 On / Off and DL / UL information Off DL UL Flexible

[0294] Referring to Table 10, if the indicated state (index) corresponds to off, the NCR (specifically, the MT) can determine that its operation for the RU has been indicated as off.

[0295] If the indicated state (index) corresponds to DL, the NCR (MT) can determine that the operation for the RU is indicated as on. It can also be determined that the RU is indicated to operate as DL.

[0296] If the indicated state (index) corresponds to UL, the NCR (MT) can determine that the operation for the RU is indicated as on. And it can be determined that the RU is indicated to operate as UL.

[0297] If the indicated state (index) corresponds to flexible, the NCR (MT) can determine that the operation for the RU is indicated as on. This can also mean that it is not determined whether the RU will operate as DL or UL.

[0298] At this time, these indications may not include the state corresponding to flexible.

[0299] Method 2. As another example, the DL / UL information and on / off information can be combined and indicated together as shown in the following table.

[0300] [Table 11]

[0301]

[0302]

[0303] Referring to Table 11, if the indicated state (index) corresponds to DL, the NCR (MT) can determine that it is indicated to be on for RU operation. It can also be determined that the RU is indicated to operate as DL.

[0304] If the indication corresponds to the state (index) for UL, then NCR(MT) can determine that it is indicated as enabled for RU operation. Also, it can be determined that the RU is indicated to operate as UL.

[0305] If the indication corresponds to the state (index) for flexible, then NCR(MT) can determine that it is indicated as disabled for RU operation. If the DL / UL information of the RU is flexible (undetermined), this means that the DL / UL operation of the RU is undetermined, which can mean that the RU operation is not performed.

[0306] 2) Combined indication of DL / UL information and beam information.

[0307] The DL / UL information and beam information for the RU can be combined and indicated together.

[0308] Method 1. For example, the DL / UL information and beam information can be combined and indicated as shown in the following table.

[0309] [Table 12]

[0310] Status (index) DL / UL and beam information 0 DL beam index 0 1 DL beam index 1 2 DL beam index 2 … … <![CDATA[N D -1]]> <![CDATA[DL beam index N D -1]]> <![CDATA[N D > UL beam index 0 <![CDATA[N D +1]]> UL beam index 1 <![CDATA[N D +2]]> UL beam index 2 … … <![CDATA[N D +N U -1]]> <![CDATA[UL beam index N U -1]]>

[0311] At this time, if the indication is a beam indication for the gNB-RU link (i.e., for the RU to perform transmission and reception with the gNB), then i) if the indication corresponds to the state (index) of the DL beam index, NCR(MT) can determine that DL has been indicated for RU operation. Additionally, the corresponding DL beam index can mean the DL-Rx beam index. The RU receives the DL signal from the gNB using the corresponding DL beam index. And / or, ii) if the indication corresponds to the state (index) corresponding to the UL beam index, NCR(MT) can determine that UL is indicated for RU operation. Furthermore, the UL beam index can mean the UL-Tx beam index. The RU sends the UL signal to the gNB using the UL beam index.

[0312] Alternatively, if the indication is a beam indication for the RU-UE link (i.e., for the RU to perform transmission and reception with the UE), i) if the indication corresponds to the state (index) of the DL beam index, NCR(MT) can determine that DL has been indicated for RU operation. Additionally, the corresponding DL beam index can represent the DL-Tx beam index. The RU sends the DL signal to the UE using the corresponding DL beam index. And / or, ii) if the indication corresponds to the state (index) of the UL beam index, NCR(MT) can determine that UL is indicated for RU operation. Additionally, the corresponding UL beam index can mean the UL-Rx beam index. The RU receives the UL signal from the UE using the corresponding UL beam index.

[0313] Method 2. Among the bits indicating beam information, 1 bit as the most significant bit (MSB) or the least significant bit (LSB) can indicate whether the RU operates in DL / UL. For example, if the value of this bit is 0, it can indicate that the RU performs DL operation, and if the value of this bit is 1, it can indicate that the RU performs UL operation. The remaining bits can indicate the beam index applied by the RU.

[0314] If this indication is for the RU-UE link (i.e., for the RU to transmit and receive with the UE), then i) if the bit indicating DL / UL information indicates DL, the beam index indicated by the remaining bits can mean the DL-Rx beam index. The RU receives the DL signal from the gNB using the corresponding DL beam index. And / or, ii) if the bit indicating DL / UL information indicates UL, the beam index indicated by the remaining bits can mean the UL-Tx beam index. The RU sends the UL signal to the gNB using the corresponding UL beam index.

[0315] Alternatively, if this indication is a beam indication for the RU-UE link (i.e., for the RU to transmit and receive with the UE), then i) if the bit indicating DL / UL information indicates DL, the beam index indicated by the remaining bits can mean the DL-Tx beam index. The RU sends the DL signal to the UE using the DL beam index. And / or, ii) if the bit indicating DL / UL information indicates UL, the beam index indicated by the remaining bits can mean the UL-Rx beam index. The RU receives the UL signal from the UE using the corresponding UL beam index.

[0316] 3) Combined indication of on / off information and beam information.

[0317] The on / off information and beam information for the RU can be combined and indicated together.

[0318] Method 1. For example, the on / off information and beam information can be combined and indicated as shown in the following table.

[0319] [Table 13]

[0320]

[0321] Referring to Table 13, if the indication corresponds to the off state (index), the NCR(MT) can determine that the off has been indicated for the RU operation.

[0322] When indicating the state (index) corresponding to a beam index, it can be determined that NCR(MT) has been indicated to be turned on for RU operation. Additionally, the beam index indicated by this state can mean that i) if the indication is for the RU-UE link (i.e., for the RU and UE to perform transmission and reception), it can mean the DL Rx beam index in the DL resource and the UL Tx beam index in the UL resource. And / or, ii) if the indication is a beam indication for the RU-UE link (i.e., for the RU and UE to perform transmission and reception), it can mean the DL-Tx beam index in the DL resource and the UL-Rx beam index in the UL resource.

[0323] Method 2. Among the bits used to indicate beam information, 1 bit (MSB or LSB) can indicate whether the RU is operating in an on / off state. For example, if the value of this bit is 0, it can indicate that the RU is operating in the on state, and if the value of this bit is 1, it can indicate that the RU is operating in the off state.

[0324] The remaining bits other than the bit indicating the on / off information can indicate the beam index applied by the RU. i) If the indication is for the RU-UE link (i.e., for the RU and UE to perform transmission and reception), the beam index can indicate the DL Rx beam index in the DL resource and the UL Tx beam index in the UL resource. And / or, ii) if the indication is a beam indication for the RU-UE link (i.e., for the RU and UE to perform transmission and reception), the beam index can mean the DL-Tx beam index in the DL resource and the UL-Rx beam index in the UL resource.

[0325] Method 3. Among the beam indices indicated by the beam information, a specific beam index (e.g., beam index 0) can indicate the off operation of the RU. That is, if NCR(MT) is indicated to apply a specific beam index to the beam index of the RU, it can be determined that this indicates the RU is operating in the off mode.

[0326] 4) Combined indication of on / off information, DL / UL information, and beam information

[0327] The DL / UL information, on / off information, and beam information for the RU can be combined and indicated together.

[0328] Method 1. For example, the DL / UL information, on / off information, and beam information can be combined and indicated together as shown in the following table.

[0329] [Table 14]

[0330] Status (index) DL / UL, On / Off and beam information 0 DL beam index 0 1 DL beam index 1 2 DL beam index 2 … … <![CDATA[N D -1]]> <![CDATA[DL beam index N D -1]]> <![CDATA[N D > UL beam index 0 <![CDATA[N D +1]]> UL beam index 1 <![CDATA[N D +2]]> UL beam index 2 … … <![CDATA[N D +N U -1]]> <![CDATA[UL beam index N U -1]]> <![CDATA[N D +N U > Off

[0331] Referring to Table 14, if the indication corresponds to the off state (index) (i.e., the indication is N D +N U ), it can be determined that NCR(MT) has been indicated as off for RU operation.

[0332] When the indication corresponds to the state (index) of the beam index, it can be determined that NCR(MT) has been indicated as on for RU operation.

[0333] At this time, if the indication is a beam indication for the gNB-RU link (i.e., for the RU to perform transmission and reception with the gNB), then i) if the indication corresponds to the state (index) of the DL beam index, NCR(MT) can determine that DL has been indicated for RU operation. Additionally, the corresponding DL beam index can mean the DL-Rx beam index. The RU uses the corresponding DL beam index to receive the DL signal from the gNB. And / or ii) if the indication corresponds to the state (index) of the UL beam index, NCR(MT) can determine that UL is indicated for RU operation. Additionally, the corresponding UL beam index can mean the UL-Tx beam index. The RU uses the corresponding UL beam index to send the UL signal to the gNB.

[0334] Alternatively, if the indication is a beam indication for the RU-UE link (i.e., for the RU to perform transmission and reception with the UE), then i) if the state (index) corresponding to the DL beam index is indicated, NCR(MT) can determine that DL has been indicated for RU operation. Additionally, the DL beam index can mean the DL-Tx beam index. The RU uses the DL beam index to send the DL signal to the UE. And / or, ii) if the indication corresponds to the state (index) of the UL beam index, NCR(MT) can determine that UL is indicated for RU operation. Additionally, the corresponding UL beam index can represent the UL-Rx beam index. The RU uses the corresponding UL beam index to receive the UL signal from the UE.

[0335] Method 2. Among the bits indicating the beam information, 2 bits (MSB or LSB) can indicate whether the RU is on / off and DL / UL.

[0336] One of the above two bits can indicate whether the RU is on / off. For example, if the value of the bit is 0, it can indicate that the RU operation is on, and if the value of the bit is 1, it can indicate that the RU operation is off.

[0337] The other of the above two bits can indicate whether the RU performs DL / UL operations. For example, if the value of the bit is 0, it can indicate that the RU performs DL operations, and if the value of the bit is 1, it can indicate that the RU performs UL operations.

[0338] Alternatively, the above two bits may indicate whether the RU is on / off and DL / UL, as in the "Combined Indication of DL / UL Information and On / Off Information" proposed above.

[0339] In addition to the bits indicating whether the RU is on / off and DL / UL, the remaining bits may indicate the beam index applied by the RU.

[0340] i) If the indication is for the RU-UE link (i.e., for the RU to perform transmission and reception with the UE), the beam index may mean the DL-Rx beam index in the DL resource and the UL-Tx beam index in the UL resource.

[0341] Alternatively, ii) if the indication is a beam indication for the RU-UE link (i.e., for the RU to perform transmission and reception with the UE), the beam index may mean the DL-Tx beam index in the DL resource and the UL-Rx beam index in the UL resource.

[0342] 5) Combined indication of on / off information and Tx power control information.

[0343] The on / off information and Tx power control information of the RU may be combined and indicated together.

[0344] Method 1. For example, the on / off information and Tx power control information may be combined and indicated as shown in the following table.

[0345] [Table 15]

[0346] Status (index) On / Off and Tx power control information 0 Tx power gain 0 1 Tx power gain 1 2 Tx power gain 2 … … M-1 Tx power gain M - 1 M Off

[0347] Referring to Table 15, if the indication corresponds to the off state (index), NCR(MT) may determine that off has been indicated for RU operation.

[0348] When the indication corresponds to the state (index) of Tx power gain, it can be determined that NCR(MT) has been indicated to be on for RU operation.

[0349] At this time, the Tx power gain may mean the UL-Tx power gain of the gNB-RU link and the DL-Tx power gain of the RU-UE link.

[0350] If the indication is for the Tx power gain of the gNB-RU link (i.e., for the RU to perform UL transmission to the gNB), the Tx power gain may mean the Tx power gain for the RU's UL-Tx power. In this case, the RU sends the uplink signal received from the UE to the gNB by applying the corresponding Tx power gain. That is, compared with the received power of the received signal, the RU sets the Tx power to increase the power corresponding to the value of the Tx power gain and forwards it to the gNB.

[0351] If the indication is for the Tx power gain of the RU-UE link (i.e., for the RU to perform DL transmission to the UE), the Tx power gain may mean the Tx power gain for the RU's DL-Tx power. In this case, the RU sends the downlink signal received from the gNB to the UE by applying the corresponding Tx power gain. That is, compared with the received power of the received signal, the RU sets the Tx power to increase the power corresponding to the value of the Tx power gain and forwards it to the UE.

[0352] And / or, the Tx power gain may mean the DL-Tx power gain in the DL resource and the UL-Tx power gain in the UL resource.

[0353] In the UL resource, the corresponding Tx power gain may mean the Tx power gain for the RU's UL-Tx power. In this case, the RU sends the uplink signal received from the UE to the gNB by applying the corresponding Tx power gain. That is, compared with the received power of the received signal, the RU sets the Tx power to increase the power corresponding to the value of the Tx power gain and forwards it to the gNB.

[0354] In the DL resource, the corresponding Tx power gain may mean the Tx power gain for the RU's DL-Tx power. In this case, the RU sends the downlink signal received from the gNB to the UE by applying the corresponding Tx power gain. That is, compared with the received power of the received signal, the RU sets the Tx power to the increased power corresponding to the Tx power gain and forwards it to the UE.

[0355] <Method for indicating various side control information by DCI>

[0356] As described above, the side control information may consist of multiple pieces of information. At this time, when indicating these multiple pieces of side control information from the gNB to the MT, each piece of information may be indicated independently or together. This section specifically describes how to indicate multiple side control information to the MT.

[0357] Side control information may be sent from the gNB to the MT via MAC-CE and / or DCI. Hereinafter, when sent via MAC-CE, side control information may also be applied, but for ease of explanation, it is assumed that side control information is sent via DCI.

[0358] Side control information for the RU to operate on a specific frequency resource (e.g., a carrier and / or a sub-band within a carrier) may be indicated from the gNB to the MT via DCI. In this case, specifically, multiple pieces of side control information may be indicated as follows.

[0359] Method 1. Each piece of side control information may be indicated independently.

[0360] Method 1-1. When there are multiple pieces of side control information, each piece of side control information may be indicated independently of each other. At this time, each piece of side control information may be sent through different fields in the DCI. For example, beam information and on / off information may be sent through different fields in the DCI. Specifically, multiple pieces of side control information for operations on the same RU in the same frequency resource may be sent through consecutive fields in the DCI. In this case, each piece of side control information indicated in each field may include information about one or more time resource units (e.g., time slots).

[0361] Method 1-2. Multiple pieces of side control information may be indicated as in Method 1-1 above. In this case, when each piece of side control information includes information about one or more time resource units (e.g., time slots), there may be multiple pieces of information about one or more time resource units that each piece of side control information may carry, so that any one piece of information may be indicated and applied.

[0362] For this purpose, the MT may be configured with a set of "SCI combinations" for specific side control information.

[0363] At this time, an SCI combination ID corresponding to each "SCI combination" is set. Each "SCI combination" may contain side control information for one or more time resource units. In this case, by indicating with the SCI combination ID, side control information for one or more time resource units to be applied to the RU may be indicated to the MT. When the MT is indicated with the SCI combination ID, the MT may determine to apply the side control information for one or more time resource units in the "SCI combination" corresponding to the SCI combination ID.

[0364] These "SCI combinations" can exist and can be set independently for each side control information. For example, a "beam SCI combination" for beam information and an "on / off SCI combination" for on / off information can exist independently. In this case, an MT can be set with a set of "beam SCI combinations" and / or a set of "on / off information".

[0365] In this case, the SCI combination ID values for each side control information can be indicated by different fields in the DCI. Specifically, multiple side control information for operations on the same RU in the same frequency resource can be sent through consecutive fields in the DCI. Alternatively, the position information of the DCI field (e.g., "positionInDCI" (starting bit position of the field)) can be indicated for each side control information.

[0366] Method 2. Each side control information can be indicated together.

[0367] Method 2-1. When there are multiple side control information, multiple side control information can be indicated through the same field in the DCI via one value. The side control information can include information about one or more time resource units (e.g., time slots).

[0368] There are multiple pieces of information about one or more time resource units that the side control information can have, and one piece of information among the multiple pieces of information can be indicated and applied.

[0369] For this purpose, an MT can set a set of "SCI combinations" for a specific side control information. At this time, each "SCI combination" is set with an SCI combination ID corresponding to the "SCI combination". Each "SCI combination" can include side control information for one or more time resource units. At this time, when there are multiple side control information, each side control information can independently have information about one or more time resource units. For example, when there is beam information and on / off information in the side control information, each "SCI combination" can include the following information.

[0370] i) Beam information for one or more time resource units, ii) On / off information for one or more time resource units.

[0371] In this case, by indicating with the SCI combination ID, the side control information for one or more time resource units to be applied to the RU can be indicated to the MT. When indicating the MT with the SCI combination ID, it can determine to apply the side control information for one or more time resource units in the "SCI combination" corresponding to the SCI combination ID. Even when there are multiple pieces of side control information, one SCI combination ID is indicated, and the side control information corresponding to the indicated SCI combination ID is applied.

[0372] <Method for Indicating Side Control Information in FDD Environment>

[0373] In the case of RF repeaters introduced in the prior art, it is considered that they operate in the FR1 FDD / TDD band and the FR2 band. In the case of NCR, it can also be assumed that they operate in the FDD band as well as the TDD band.

[0374] 1. DL / UL specific beam indication.

[0375] When the NCR operates in the TDD band, beam correspondence between the DL-Tx beam and the UL-Rx beam can be assumed for the access link of NCR-Fwd. For example, when NCR-Fwd performs DL-Tx in a specific beam direction in the access link, it can perform UL-Rx in the same beam direction. In this case, when NCR-Fwd has performed DL transmission to a specific UE in a specific beam direction, the UL reception from that UE can apply a UL beam (in the same beam direction) associated with / matching the beam used for DL transmission.

[0376] The corresponding DL beam and UL beam in the access link have the same beam index. The forwarding direction of the beam indicated in the access link can be determined based on the corresponding time domain resource and the UL / DL TDD configuration.

[0377] That is to say, when indicating that NCR-Fwd applies a specific beam index in a specific time resource, if the time resource is a DL resource, the beam index can mean the index of the DL beam, and if the time resource is a UL resource, the beam index can mean the index of the UL beam.

[0378] In addition, if NCR operates in the FDD band, NCR-Fwd will use independent RF and antennas for DL and UL carriers. Therefore, it may be difficult to assume beam correlation / matching between the DL-Tx beam and the UL-Rx beam for the access link of NCR-Fwd. In this case, when NCR-Fwd has performed DL transmission to a specific UE in a specific beam direction, it is difficult to assume that a UL beam (in the same beam direction) that is beam-related / matched to the beam used for DL transmission can be applied to UL reception from that UE.

[0379] Therefore, in an FDD environment, in order for NCR-Fwd to perform forwarding operations to the access link, in the case of beam indication involving the beam information applied by NCR-Fwd, it is necessary to independently indicate or determine beam index information for DL and UL.

[0380] For this purpose, when indicating beam index information, the beam index information for DL and the beam index information for UL can be independently indicated, that is, NCR-MT can independently receive from the gNB the DL beam index information applied to DL and the UL beam index information applied to UL.

[0381] Below, a specific method is described for indicating the beam index applicable to the access link of NCR-Fwd from the gNB for DL and UL and the time resource for applying the beam index.

[0382] Method 1. The DL beam index and / or UL beam index applied to the access link of NCR-Fwd can be indicated, and information about the time domain resource for applying the corresponding beam index can be indicated for each DL beam index and UL beam index. For example, the DL beam index #i and the UL beam index #j can be indicated, and the time domain resource information to which the DL beam index #i is applied and the time domain resource information to which the UL beam index #j is applied can be independently indicated. Such indication can be performed for multiple DL beam indexes and multiple UL beam indexes. In this case, multiple DL beam indexes applied to the access link of NCR-Fwd can be indicated, and information about the time domain resource for applying each DL beam index can be indicated. Multiple UL beam indexes applied to the access link of NCR-Fwd can be indicated, and information about the time domain resource for applying each UL beam index can be indicated.

[0383] Method 2. It is possible to indicate a pair of a DL beam index and a UL beam index applied to an access link of NCR-Fwd, and it is possible to indicate information about a time-domain resource to which the corresponding beam pair is applied. For example, a DL beam index #i and a UL beam index #j can be indicated as a pair, and it is possible to indicate time-domain resource information to which the beam pair (DL beam index #i and UL beam index #j) is applied. This indication can be performed for multiple beam pairs. In this case, multiple pairs of DL beam indexes and UL beam indexes applied to an access link of NCR-Fwd are indicated, and it is possible to indicate, for each beam pair, information about a time-domain resource to which each beam pair is applied. At this time, a specific beam pair may consist of only a DL beam index or a UL beam index.

[0384] Method 3. Continuous time resources can be divided into multiple time resource units, and it is possible to indicate DL beam index and / or UL beam index information applied to each time resource unit.

[0385] At this time, each time resource unit may consist of continuous symbol resources or time slot resources. The number (i.e., length) of symbols or time slots constituting each time resource unit may be the same for all time resource units. Alternatively, the number (i.e., length) of symbols or time slots constituting each time resource unit may be different for each time resource unit.

[0386] Method 4. Continuous time resources can be divided into multiple time resource units, and it is possible to indicate pair information of a DL beam index and a UL beam index applied to each time resource unit.

[0387] For this purpose, for multiple beam pairs, DL beam index and UL beam index information constituting each beam pair can be set in advance. In this case, it is possible to indicate information (e.g., index of a beam pair) about a beam pair applied to each time resource unit. At this time, a specific beam pair may consist of only a DL beam index or a UL beam index.

[0388] At this time, each time resource unit may consist of continuous symbol resources or time slot resources. The number (i.e., length) of symbols or time slots constituting each time resource unit may be the same for all time resource units. Alternatively, the number (i.e., length) of symbols or time slots constituting each time resource unit may be different for each time resource unit.

[0389] When the DL beam index and / or UL beam index information to be applied to the access link in a specific time resource is indicated to NCR-Fwd through the above indication, NCR-Fwd can perform DL transmission by applying the DL beam corresponding to the indicated DL beam index in the time resource, and can perform UL reception by applying the UL beam corresponding to the indicated UL beam index.

[0390] When the DL beam index information and UL beam index information applied to the access link of NCR-Fwd are indicated independently and dynamically by DCI, the DL beam indication information and UL beam indication information can be indicated by the same field in the DCI. Alternatively, they can be indicated by different fields in the DCI.

[0391] When the DL beam indication information and UL beam indication information are indicated by different fields in the DCI, the DL beam indication information and UL beam indication information can be transmitted by consecutive fields. In this case, for example, the position information of the DCI field (e.g., "positionInDCI" (the position of the start bit of the field)) to which the DL beam indication information and UL beam indication information are indicated is indicated, and NCR-MT can determine the position of the DCI field to which the DL beam indication information is indicated through the position information of the corresponding DCI field. At this time, NCR-MT can determine the next field of the corresponding DCI field as the position of the DCI field to which the UL beam indication information is indicated.

[0392] Alternatively, the position information of the DCI field (e.g., "positionInDCI" (the position of the start bit of the field)) to which the DL beam indication information and UL beam indication information are indicated can be indicated. NCR-MT can determine the positions of the DCI field to which the DL beam indication information is indicated and the DCI field to which the UL beam indication information is indicated through the position information of the corresponding DCI field.

[0393] 2. DL / UL specific on-off indication.

[0394] When NCR operates in the FDD band, DL and UL operations can be performed simultaneously. In this case, the presence of the signal / channel on which NCR-Fwd performs forwarding can vary depending on the DL and UL directions. Therefore, in the case of the on-off indication indicating whether to perform the forwarding operation of NCR-Fwd in the FDD environment, it is necessary to indicate or determine the on-off information independently for DL and UL.

[0395] Therefore, when indicating the on-off information as described above, the on-off information for DL and the on-off information for UL can be indicated independently. That is, the NCR-MT can independently receive the on-off information applied to DL and the on-off information applied to UL from the gNB.

[0396] Next, a specific method for indicating the on-off information for applicable DL and UL and the time resources for applying the on-off information when the gNB instructs the NCR-MT to apply the on-off information to the access link of NCR-Fwd is described.

[0397] Method 1. Information on the time domain resources for which the "on" is applied to the forwarding operation for NCR-Fwd can be indicated. In this case, the time domain resource information for which the DL operation is "on" and the time domain resource information for which the UL operation is "on" can be indicated independently.

[0398] Alternatively, information on the time domain resources for which the "off" is applied to the forwarding operation for NCR-Fwd can be indicated. In this case, the time domain resource information for which the DL operation is "off" and the time domain resource information for which the UL operation is "on" can be indicated independently.

[0399] Method 2. The continuous time resources are divided into multiple time resource units, and the on / off information for the DL and UL operations applied to each time resource unit can be indicated. That is, the on-off information for the DL operation and / or the on-off information for the UL operation can be indicated for each time resource unit.

[0400] At this time, each time resource unit can be composed of continuous symbol resources or time slot resources. The number (i.e., length) of symbols or time slots constituting each time resource unit can be the same for all time resource units. Alternatively, the number (i.e., length) of symbols or time slots constituting each time resource unit can be different for each time resource unit.

[0401] When it is indicated to NCR-Fwd that the DL operation is on (or not off) on specific time resources through the above indication, NCR-Fwd can perform the DL forwarding operation on the corresponding time resources. And / or, when it is indicated to NCR-Fwd that the UL operation is on (or not off) on specific time resources, NCR-Fwd can perform the UL forwarding operation on the corresponding time resources.

[0402] Alternatively, when the DL operation is indicated to be not enabled (or disabled) in a specific time resource to NCR-Fwd through the above indication, NCR-Fwd does not perform the DL forwarding operation in the corresponding time resource. And / or, when the UL operation is indicated to be not enabled (or disabled) in a specific time resource to NCR-Fwd, NCR-Fwd does not perform the UL forwarding operation in the corresponding time resource.

[0403] Alternatively, when the enable-disable information is indicated in the FDD band, the enable-disable information can generally be applied to both DL and UL operations. That is, when the NCR-Fwd operation is indicated to be enabled (or not disabled) in a specific time resource, NCR-Fwd can perform the forwarding operations for both DL and UL in the corresponding time resource. Alternatively, when the NCR-Fwd operation is indicated to be not enabled (or disabled) in a specific time resource, NCR-Fwd does not perform the forwarding operations for both DL and UL in that time resource.

[0404] As described above, in the time resource where the beam index is not indicated, the operation of NCR-Fwd can be determined to be disabled, and in the time resource where the beam index is indicated, the operation of NCR-Fwd can be determined to be enabled. In this case, in the FDD environment, the corresponding method can be applied to DL and UL respectively. That is, in the time resource where the DL beam index is not indicated, the DL operation of NCR-Fwd can be determined to be disabled, and in the time resource where the DL beam index is indicated, the DL operation of NCR-Fwd can be determined to be enabled. In the time resource where the UL beam index is not indicated, the UL operation of NCR-Fwd can be determined to be OFF, and in the time resource where the UL beam index is indicated, the UL operation of NCR-Fwd can be determined to be ON.

[0405] Alternatively, when a specific beam index is indicated for a specific time resource, the operation of NCR-Fwd can be determined to be disabled, and for the time resource indicated with a different beam index, the operation of NCR-Fwd can be determined to be enabled. In this case, this method can be applied to DL and UL respectively in the FDD environment. That is, when a specific DL beam index is indicated for a specific time resource, the DL operation of NCR-Fwd can be determined to be disabled, and when a different DL beam index is indicated for the time resource, the DL operation of NCR-Fwd can be determined to be enabled. When a specific UL beam index is indicated for a specific time resource, the UL operation of NCR-Fwd can be determined to be disabled, and when a different UL beam index is indicated for the time resource, the UL operation of NCR-Fwd can be determined to be enabled.

[0406] When the on - off information of the DL and the on - off information of the UL applied to the access link of NCR - Fwd are independently and dynamically indicated by DCI, the on - off information of the DL and the on - off information of the UL can be indicated by the same field in the DCI. Alternatively, they can be indicated by different fields in the DCI.

[0407] When the on - off information of the DL and the on - off information of the UL are indicated by different fields within the DCI, the on - off information of the DL and the on - off information of the UL can be sent through consecutive fields. In this case, for example, the position information of the DCI field (e.g., "positionInDCI" (the position of the starting bit of the field)) to which the on - off information of the DL and the on - off information of the UL are indicated is indicated, and the NCR - MT can determine the position of the DCI field to which the on - off information of the DL is indicated based on the position information of the corresponding DCI field. At this time, the NCR - MT can determine the next field of the DCI field to which the on - off information of the DL is indicated as the position of the DCI field to which the on - off information of the UL is indicated.

[0408] Alternatively, the position information of the DCI fields (e.g., "positionInDCI" (the position of the starting bit of the field)) indicating the on - off information of the DL and the on - off information of the UL can be indicated. The NCR - MT can determine the positions of the DCI field indicating the on - off information of the DL and the DCI field indicating the on - off information of the UL based on the position information of the corresponding DCI fields.

[0409] The above - mentioned on - off information of the DL can include the on - off information of the DL and information about the time - domain resources to which this information is applied. In addition, the on - off information of the UL can include the on - off information of the UL and information about the time - domain resources to which this information is applied.

[0410] Next, the operations and DCI for activating / deactivating these configurations when semi - statically setting side control information when operating NCR in the NR environment are described.

[0411] <Signaling for Side Control Information>

[0412] For signaling access link beam indication, periodic, semi - persistent, and aperiodic indications can be supported.

[0413] 1. Periodic Configuration

[0414] In the case of periodic configuration, the beam index and the periodic time resource information of the applied beam can be set by RRC signaling. For this purpose, the time resources of the applied beam can be set for each beam through one configuration for multiple beams.

[0415] The time resources consist of consecutive symbol resources defined by a start time and a duration and can exist periodically. In this case, it may be a problem whether one beam index is mapped to one time resource or can be applied to multiple time resources.

[0416] The main purpose of the periodic setting is to set the beam information for transmitting semi-static and periodic signals / channels, where different semi-static and periodic signals / channels can be transmitted in the same beam direction. For example, when transmitting SSB and SIB1 in the same beam direction, the time resources corresponding to the SSB transmission resources and the time resources corresponding to the SIB1 transmission resources should be set to be transmitted in the same beam direction. Considering this, one beam index can be mapped to multiple time resources.

[0417] Regarding the periodicity of the time resources, it is necessary to clarify whether all the time resources within the periodic configuration have the same period or whether each time resource can have a different period.

[0418] Figure 16 The time resources with a period are shown.

[0419] Referring to Figure 16 In (a) of, consider setting the time resources for SSB transmission and SIB1 transmission sent in the same beam direction (e.g., beam #0) with different periods. In order to set the transmission resources of SSB and SIB1 to have the same period, the time resources should be set to match the multiples of the periods of SSB and SIB1, as shown in Figure 16 In (b) of. Therefore, it is necessary to set three time resources with the same period. In addition, if each time resource can have an independent period, two time resources with different periods can be set, as shown in Figure 16 In (c) of.

[0420] 2. Semi-persistent configuration (semi-static configuration)

[0421] In the case of establishing semi-persistent side control information, it is mainly necessary to perform beam indication in the time resources where the channels (such as SPS (semi-persistent scheduling)-PDSCH and CG (configured grant)-PUSCH) that are transmitted semi-persistently are forwarded. Considering that the transmission of these semi-persistent channels is configured by RRC and activated / deactivated by MAC-CE or DCI, the semi-persistent configuration of the side control information is configured by RRC and activated / deactivated at least by DCI.

[0422] The method in the above periodic configuration can be applied to set such semi-persistent sidelink control information.

[0423] In addition, these SPS PDSCH and CG-PUSCH are UE-specific configured, and multiple configurations can be configured for the same UE and activated / deactivated on a per-configuration unit basis. Considering these points, NCR-MT can be configured with multiple semi-persistent configurations with sidelink control information, and operations to activate / deactivate them may be required on a per-configuration basis.

[0424] When setting the sidelink control information semi-persistently, a configuration index value can be set for each configuration for the operation of the semi-persistent configuration unit used to activate / deactivate the sidelink control information.

[0425] 3. Aperiodic indication

[0426] NCR can support the aperiodic indication of the access link beam and the time resource corresponding to the beam via DCI signaling.

[0427] For the beam indication of the time resource on which a specific signal / channel is transmitted, the operation of indicating the beam index and the time resource to which the beam is applied can be supported via DCI.

[0428] In addition, the operation of indicating multiple beam indexes and the time resources to which each beam index is applied can also be supported by a single aperiodic beam indication. When sequentially forwarding multiple signals / channels (such as PDCCH-PDSCH-PUCCH transmission and PDCCH-PUSCH transmission), it may be more efficient to signal the beam indication of the transmission resources for each channel at one time rather than signaling them separately. This behavior may also be useful when transmitting signals / channels for different UEs on adjacent time resources.

[0429] <DCI for activating / deactivating semi-persistent sidelink control information>

[0430] The sidelink control information for the operation of NCR-Fwd may require two DCIs: one DCI carries aperiodic sidelink control information, and the other DCI is used to activate / deactivate the configuration of the semi-persistent sidelink control information.

[0431] The DCI carrying aperiodic sidelink control information can include the following fields:

[0432] 1) Beam / off indication field.

[0433] The beam indication and the off-state indication can be supported by the aperiodic sidelink control information. In this case, the beam indication and the off-state indication can be combined and indicated by a single DCI field (for example, the beam / off indication field) instead of being indicated separately.

[0434] 2) Time resource indication field.

[0435] It may include a time resource indication field to indicate the time resource for applying the beam / turn-off indication. This field may indicate the time resource composed of consecutive symbols by indicating the starting symbol position and the symbol length.

[0436] To support beam and turn-off state indications for multiple time resources, there may be multiple time resource indication fields.

[0437] 3) HARQ-ACK for DCI-related fields.

[0438] To support the feedback of HARQ-ACK for PDCCH carrying side control information, for example, the DCI may include all or some of the following fields:

[0439] i) Time domain resource allocation, ii) PDSCH-to-HARQ_Feedback timing indicator, iii) PUCCH resource indicator, iv) Downlink allocation index.

[0440] The setting of semi-persistent side control information is performed through RRC signaling / messages and can be activated / deactivated by DCI on a configured basis. The following information may be indicated via the DCI configured for activating / deactivating the semi-persistent side control information:

[0441] i) Configuration index field: To perform activation / deactivation on a configured basis for semi-persistent side control information, the index of the configuration for applying the activation / deactivation indication should be indicated.

[0442] ii) Activation / deactivation indication field: This may be a field indicating whether the configuration index indicated by the configuration index field is activated or deactivated.

[0443] iii) HARQ-ACK for DCI-related fields: For the stable forwarding operation of NCR-Fwd, NCR-Fwd may perform HARQ-ACK feedback for DCI reception so that the gNB can determine whether the NCR-MT has received the DCI for activating / deactivating the semi-persistent side control information. For this purpose, all or some fields such as time domain resource allocation, PDSCH-to-HARQ feedback timing indicator, PUCCH resource indicator, downlink allocation index may be required.

[0444] The DCI format for the DCI used to activate / deactivate the semi-persistent side control information may be as follows.

[0445] Path 1. A separate DCI format different from the DCI for the sidelink control information (first DCI) can be used for the DCI for activating / deactivating the semi-persistent sidelink control information (second DCI). In this case, the second DCI can include all or part of the DCI fields as proposed above.

[0446] Path 2. Different from the DCI for the sidelink control information (first DCI), a separate DCI format can be used for the DCI for activating / deactivating the semi-persistent sidelink control information (second DCI). In this case, if the DCI format is used for activating / deactivating the semi-persistent sidelink control information, some or all of the DCI fields can be configured or interpreted differently compared to when the DCI is for the sidelink control information.

[0447] For example, for the same DCI format, when it is used as the DCI for activating / deactivating the semi-persistent sidelink control information (second DCI) and when it is used as the DCI for the sidelink control information (first DCI), the fields constituting the DCI format can be interpreted differently. That is, it can be determined that the DCI fields are configured differently according to whether the UE determines that the DCI format is used as the second DCI or the first DCI. At this time, it can be assumed that some DCI fields exist commonly for the two DCIs (first DCI and second DCI), and it can be determined that only some of the remaining DCI fields are interpreted differently. For example, for the fields required for feedback of HARQ-ACK for the DCI, it can be determined that they exist commonly for the two DCIs.

[0448] As another example, the fields of the DCI format can be configured based on the case where the same DCI is used to indicate the sidelink control information, but when the DCI format is used as the DCI for activating / deactivating the semi-persistent sidelink control information, some fields can be interpreted differently.

[0449] The beam indication field or the beam / off indication field can be used to indicate the configuration index. In this case, the NCR-MT can determine that the configuration index value is indicated by the beam / off indication field.

[0450] The time resource indication field can be used to indicate activation or deactivation. In this case, the NCR-MT can determine that the activation or deactivation is indicated by the value indicated by the time resource indication field.

[0451] To enable the NCR-MT to distinguish between the first DCI and the second DCI, in the case of the second DCI, a different RNTI from the RNTI of the first DCI can be used to perform CRC scrambling.

[0452] The base station instructs the NCR-MT to set up semi-persistent sidelink control information via RRC. Thereafter, the base station uses DCI (e.g., the second DCI mentioned above) to instruct the NCR-MT to activate / deactivate the configuration information of the semi-persistent sidelink control information.

[0453] The NCR-MT receives the configuration information of the semi-persistent sidelink control information from the base station via RRC. Thereafter, the NCR-MT receives the activation / deactivation information of the configuration information of the semi-persistent sidelink control information from the base station via DCI (e.g., the second DCI mentioned above).

[0454] When the NCR is instructed to activate the configuration of a specific semi-persistent sidelink control information, it applies the corresponding semi-persistent sidelink control information to perform the forwarding operation of NCR-Fwd. When the NCR is instructed to deactivate the configuration of a specific semi-persistent sidelink control information, it does not apply the corresponding semi-persistent sidelink control information to the forwarding operation of NCR-Fwd.

[0455] Next, a method for interpreting / determining DCI fields when an NCR combines received aperiodic beam indication and / or dynamic deactivation indication of an access link during operation in an NR environment is described.

[0456] The operation in an NCR is assumed to describe the content of the present disclosure. However, the content of the present disclosure can also be applied to devices other than the NCR. Specifically, the content of the present disclosure can be applied to operations in a RIS. For this purpose, the NCR mentioned in the present disclosure can be replaced with a RIS and extended / interpreted. In this case, the RU can perform the role of forwarding signals from the gNB to the UE and from the UE to the gNB in the RIS, and the MT can perform the role of receiving sidelink control information for controlling signal transmission of the RU from the gNB.

[0457] In the present disclosure, the term "network" can be interpreted as being replaced by a gNB or a CU / DU. In addition, the term "gNB" can be interpreted as being replaced by a network, a CU, or a DU.

[0458] In this specification, the RU of the NCR (i.e., NCR-RU) can be denoted as NCR-Fwd. That is, the RU described in the present disclosure can be interpreted as an alternative to the existing NCR-RU and NCR-Fwd, and can be used interchangeably with the same meaning. The link between the gNB and the NCR-MT can be denoted as a control link or a c-link, the link between the gNB and the NCR-Fwd can be denoted as a backhaul link, and the link between the NCR-Fwd and the UE can be denoted as an access link.

[0459] NCR-MT can be defined as a functional entity that communicates with the gNB via a control link (C-link) to enable information exchange (e.g., side control information). The C-link can be based on the NR Uu interface. The side control information is at least used for NCR-Fwd control.

[0460] NCR-Fwd can be defined as a functional entity that performs UL / DL RF signal amplification and forwarding between the gNB and the UE via a backhaul link and an access link. The operation of NCR-Fwd is controlled according to the side control information received from the gNB.

[0461] NCR goes beyond the limitations of existing repeaters that simply amplify and transmit signals, and enables more intelligent RU operation control. To this end, a new MT is introduced to exchange side control information between the gNB and the MT, thereby enabling RU operation control.

[0462] Therefore, compared with existing repeaters, NCR can have the feature of being able to perform adaptive beamforming in the RU-UE link using side control information. However, since the cost-effectiveness of NCR emerges as an important factor, it may be difficult to have the same full control ability as the gNB.

[0463] In other words, in order to perform adaptive beamforming for the transmission and reception of the RU in the RU-UE link equipped with NCR, there is a characteristic that the decision of the gNB should be followed. More specifically, the direction of the transmission beam applied by the RU when forwarding the signal received from the gNB to the UE and the direction of the reception beam applied by the RU when forwarding the signal received from the UE to the gNB are both determined by the gNB, and the information about which transmission and reception beams the RU actually applies can be provided by the gNB to the MT as side control information.

[0464] In NCR, in order to forward the signal received by the RU, it is possible to consider adjusting the transmission / reception beam direction, DL / UL direction, on / off, Tx power, etc. at the RF end. However, the behavior of these RUs cannot be determined by the NCR itself and can be fully controlled by the gNB. To this end, the MT can receive the information (i.e., side control information) required to control the operation of the RU from the gNB. This side control information can be delivered via L1 / L2 signaling such as MAC-CE and DCI.

[0465] The following describes a specific method for interpreting the relevant DCI when the NCR receives an aperiodic beam indication and / or combines it with a dynamic shutdown indication to perform dynamic beam operation on the access link of the NCR-Fwd. For example, this can be used for the following purposes.

[0466] 1) When the NCR that supports the aperiodic beam direction has the ability of dynamic shutdown operation and the gNB knows this,

[0467] 2) When receiving an aperiodic beam indication alone or when receiving an aperiodic beam indication combined with a dynamic shutdown indication,

[0468] 3) To correctly interpret / determine the DCI field so that waste of the DCI field does not occur within the limited DCI payload bits and to normally perform the dynamic beam operation of NCR-Fwd.

[0469] For the above purposes, a method to be applied when receiving an aperiodic beam indication supported by NCR is specifically described. Additionally, considering that NCR can support dynamic shutdown operations, the configurable DCI information of the dynamic shutdown indication, how to interpret the DCI information, and how to interpret / determine the DCI information when receiving it in the form of a DCI combining an aperiodic beam indication and a dynamic shutdown indication are specifically described.

[0470] <NCR Operation Procedure When Receiving Aperiodic Beam Indication and Dynamic Shutdown Indication>

[0471] When NCR-MT receives and interprets the DCI related to the aperiodic beam indication from the gNB, NCR-Fwd can correspondingly perform a dynamic beam operation through the access link. This DCI information can be included in the side control information and is received by NCR-MT from the gNB through the control link.

[0472] Based on the information obtained by interpreting the DCI of the aperiodic beam indication received from the gNB for the access link, NCR-MT performs a dynamic beam operation on the indicated beam index and the time resource of the access link mapped to it for NCR-Fwd.

[0473] That is to say, NCR-MT can obtain the aperiodic beam indication information by receiving the DCI for the aperiodic beam indication from the gNB. Based on this, NCR can determine the beam index information associated with each time resource. Based on this information, NCR-Fwd performs transmission / reception operations in the beam direction corresponding to the associated beam index for each time resource.

[0474] More specifically, through interpreting the fields included when NCR-MT receives the DCI of the aperiodic beam indication from the gNB, such a dynamic beam operation in the access link of NCR-Fwd is possible.

[0475] Representative DCI information that requires such an explanation includes, for example, L fields consisting of beam information and T time resource information fields containing time resource information for the L beam information. Each beam information field may indicate a beam index information. More specifically, for each beam index indicated by each of the L beam information fields, there may be an associated time resource. The field in the DCI representing this time resource is called the time resource information field and may consist of T fields. Here, T can take two forms.

[0476] i) When one beam information field has one mapped time resource information field (i.e., T = L).

[0477] ii) Or, there may be only one time resource information field, and this field has multiple time resource information (i.e., T = 1).

[0478] For example, each of the L beam information fields may be mapped to a bit value in the bit width of a time resource information field. These bit values may be pointers indicating one of the predefined time resources listed by RRC signaling. Thus, the beam index pointed to by any beam information field may have its start time, slot / symbol offset, duration, etc. determined according to the information in the time resource information field associated with it.

[0479] On the other hand, if the NCR operates in the off state, it may mean that there is no beam indication for a specific time resource. Or, conversely, if there is a beam indication for the NCR for a specific time resource, it can be implicitly determined that the time resource is on.

[0480] In this way, when there is a time resource for which the NCR determines to operate in the on state by receiving a beam indication, a dynamic off indication can be received, which indicates to perform an off operation on some time resources. When applied as indicated by the dynamic off indication received by the NCR-MT, the NCR-Fwd can operate in the off state and does not perform a forwarding operation. This is the basic operation process of the dynamic off indication.

[0481] The DCI for the aperiodic beam indication may contain other information in addition to the beam information and its time resource information. That is, there may be additional fields in the DCI, such as MCS (Modulation and Coding Scheme), TPC (Transmit Power Control), NDI (New Data Indicator), RV (Redundancy Version), etc.

[0482] In the following, the possibility of additional field configurations in the DCI for non-periodic beam indication is not excluded. Instead, for the purpose of clarifying the proposed method, an example is described where the DCI includes a beam information field and a time resource information field (or a combination thereof) as time resource information related to the beam. Even if there are other fields in the DCI in addition to the beam information field and the time resource information field, the method proposed in the present disclosure can be applied in the same way.

[0483] Next, how the NCR receiving non-periodic beam indication or dynamic beam indication interprets the DCI information is specifically described.

[0484] <Interpretation method when receiving DCI containing non-periodic beam indication>

[0485] Through receiving non-periodic beam indication, dynamic beam operation on the access link of NCR-Fwd is possible. When the number of physical beams supported by the NCR is N AC and the number of beam indexes that can be configured therein is N (N ≤ N AC ), the operation can be performed as follows.

[0486] NCR-MT receives a non-periodic beam indication for the access link from the gNB. The above non-periodic beam indication can be composed of each indicating one DCI information. NCR-MT can interpret the bit values of the DCI fields according to this DCI configuration. Specifically, it interprets a list of L beam information fields that can represent up to N beam indexes of the DCI information and the time resource information fields mapped to them. Specifically, when NCR-MT receives a non-periodic beam indication, it refers to L beam information fields separated by bit width, where the bit width can be interpreted as ceil(log2N) bits representing N access link beam indexes. Here, ceil(x) calculates the smallest integer greater than or equal to x.

[0487] At this time, each of the L beam information fields can be represented as a bit value that determines the beam index according to the allocated bit width, and the beam index is the access link beam operation unit of NCR-Fwd. For example, if the bit width is 2 bits, up to 4 beam indexes can be represented by 4 bit values {00, 01, 10, 11}.

[0488] When NCR-MT interprets the beam information field, it can determine the beam index of the access link of NCR-Fwd, and obtain the timing information for performing the dynamic beam operation of the access link of NCR-Fwd according to the time resource mapped to it. Thereafter, in the access link of NCR-Fwd, the dynamic beam operation is performed according to the beam index information interpreted / determined by NCR-MT and the start time, slot / symbol offset, duration, etc. of the time resource mapped to it.

[0489] During the execution of dynamic beam operation on the access link of NCR-Fwd, considering the limited DCI payload size received by NCR-MT, the interpretation of DCI information can vary depending on how the bit-width size of the beam information field assigned to represent N beam indices is defined.

[0490] This means that defining a larger bit-width allows fewer L values to form the list of the beam information field, while defining a smaller bit-width allows more L values, i.e., the number of candidates for the beam that can be indicated, and thus more freely form a large list of the beam information field.

[0491] In addition, the maximum number of DCI payload bits commonly known in 5G standard technology is 140 bits, excluding CRC. Therefore, the fields should be configured within the limited DCI payload size. In the DCI information of the aperiodic beam indication, it is assumed that two types of fields, L beam information fields and T time resource information fields mapped to them (where T = L or T = 1), are determined by considering the DCI payload size.

[0492] Considering the limitation of the DCI payload size, the number N of beam indices on the access link can be interpreted in the following way, which is a factor in defining the bit-width of the beam information field.

[0493] Method 1. NCR can be determined by interpreting N according to the number set by gNB.

[0494] The above N value has the characteristic that it can affect the DCI payload size. Therefore, setting the N value as a configurable value instead of fixing it may be more effective in configuring DCI information. That is, in the case of a fixed N value, regardless of the structure of the DCI field, the receiving NCR-MT should always interpret it according to a constant bit-width, while in the case of a configurable N value, there is flexibility to reduce unnecessary bit waste.

[0495] For example, if N is fixed at 16 and interpreted, each beam indication field should be interpreted as a 4-bit unit regardless of the optimal value. However, if it is possible to set / reset within N = {2, 4, 8, 16}, the bit-width to be interpreted for each beam indication field can be flexibly adjusted according to the N value set to 1, 2, 3, 4 bits.

[0496] For this purpose, the network can set the value of N to NCR-MT. That is, NCR-MT can receive the value of N from the network. This configuration can be indicated by RRC signaling, etc. Based on this, NCR-MT can determine the bit-width of the beam indication field.

[0497] The NCR-MT can receive an aperiodic beam indication from the gNB and determine the beam index corresponding to each bit value of each bit-width unit of ceil(log2N) bits for the L beam information fields for DCI information. To configure such bit-width units without waste, a method can be considered where the gNB sets / resets the corresponding N value so that it does not exceed the DCI payload size limit.

[0498] For example, if the gNB wants to configure the number of beam indices as N = 16 and L = 16 beam information fields, and the allowed payload size for these fields is 60 bits (i.e., ceil(log2N)*L = 64 bits, thus exceeding 60 bits), then the NCR-MT can be reset to N = 15 (i.e., ceil(log2N)*L = 60 bits). As another example, if the gNB wants to configure the number of beam indices as N = 8 and L = 8 beam information fields, and the allowed payload size for the corresponding fields is 24 bits, then the NCR-MT can set N = 8 as it is and apply it.

[0499] When the NCR-MT receives an aperiodic beam indication, if it knows the number of beam indices of the access link, i.e., the set of beams of the access link, it can apply it as the N value. That is, when the NCR-MT is set to multiple access link beams that can be indicated by an aperiodic beam indication, the number of corresponding access link beams can be determined as N.

[0500] For example, when the NCR-MT receives an aperiodic beam indication, if it contains 16 beam indices of the access link, it can be determined as N = 16 and applied.

[0501] When the NCR-MT determines that a specific beam index is indicated according to the above operation process, it can interpret the time resource information mapped to the corresponding beam index. At this time, the gNB can set / reset the N value by also considering the DCI payload size determined by T = L or T = I, and the NCR-MT can interpret this value as N.

[0502] Method 2. The NCR can be determined by interpreting N as a fixed value or a default value.

[0503] If the NCR cannot determine the information that the gNB wants to set or intentionally does not set, then N can be defined and interpreted as a fixed value or a default value.

[0504] The NCR-MT can receive an aperiodic beam indication from the gNB and determine a beam index corresponding to each bit value of each bit-width unit having ceil(log2N) bits for L beam information fields for DCI information. At this time, the NCR can define and apply a fixed value for the N value, which can maximize the use of the payload size.

[0505] One method is to configure the L beam information fields (L max = N) as many times as possible within the allowed payload size, and define the N with the maximum value as a fixed value (ceil(log2N)*N bits is the maximum value within the allowed payload size). However, the value of N cannot be greater than N AC , which is the number of physically supported beams in the access link of the NCR.

[0506] For example, if the predefined payload size limit of the beam information field is 55 bits, the NCR-MT can determine the number of available beam indexes as 13 (i.e., 52-bit payload) based on the condition ceil(log2N)*N bits ≤ 55 bits, and apply a fixed value of N = 13.

[0507] If it is difficult for the NCR-MT to determine the N value for some reason, a method of predefined default value can be considered to ensure the minimum aperiodic beam indication operation. If the N value to be set according to the FR1 or FR2 frequency band cannot be interpreted, the NCR-MT can apply the N defined as the default value.

[0508] Considering that the number of beams in the FR2 frequency band may be large, the number of beams supported by the NCR (N = N AC ) can be applied as the default value. On the other hand, considering that the number of beams in the FR1 frequency band can be relatively small or can be an omnidirectional signal, the default value can be applied as N = 1. Or, regardless of the FR1 / FR2 frequency band, the default value can be applied as N = 1.

[0509] When the NCR-MT determines that a specific beam index is indicated, it can interpret the time resource information mapped to the beam index. At this time, the DCI payload size determined according to T = L or T = l can also be considered, and the fixed or default value of N can be defined as in the above operation method, and the NCR-MT can interpret this value as N.

[0510] The above method may have the problem of lack of flexibility because it is interpreted by maintaining a predefined value (whether it is a fixed value or a default value). However, it has the advantage of not requiring additional signaling because it is fixed to the committed value without the need for separate configuration.

[0511] The above methods can be applied independently, but multiple methods can be applied together according to the situation. For example, if N is interpreted as a fixed value as described in Method 2 above, but the gNB can set the value of N, then the new interpretation of N can be applied in the same form as Method 1.

[0512] Based on the methods proposed above, the dynamic beam operation of NCR can be performed / expected as follows.

[0513] 1. NCR-MT receives DCI for the aperiodic beam indication from the gNB and obtains the aperiodic beam indication information. Based on this, NCR determines the beam index information associated with each time resource. Based on this information, NCR-Fwd performs transmission / reception operations (i.e., dynamic beam operations) in the beam direction corresponding to the beam index associated with each time resource.

[0514] 2. The DCI for the above operation includes L beam information fields.

[0515] One beam index among the N beam indexes can be indicated by each beam information field. The bit width of each beam information field can vary according to the value of N. For example, NCR-MT can determine the bit width of each beam information field as ceil(log2N) (however, when N = 1, the bit width is interpreted as 1 bit).

[0516] 3. In the above operation, NCR-MT needs to know the bit width to interpret the beam information field, and for this purpose, it needs to know the value of N. For this purpose, NCR-MT uses at least one of the methods proposed above to determine the value of N.

[0517] <DCI Interpretation Method for NCR Supporting Dynamic Shutdown Operation>

[0518] Looking at the dynamic shutdown operation process in the access link of NCR-Fwd, NCR-MT can receive a dynamic shutdown indication from the gNB for the time resource determined to be in the on state. NCR does not perform a forwarding operation for the time resource for which it receives the dynamic shutdown indication.

[0519] To perform the dynamic shutdown operation of NCR-Fwd, the bit value of the beam information field in the DCI information of the aperiodic beam indication received by NCR-MT can be expressed by combining the access link beam index and the number of shutdown states of the corresponding beam index. That is, among the values indicated by the beam indication field, a specific value can mean a shutdown state indication rather than a beam index. Or, among the beam indexes indicated by the beam indication field, a specific beam index can mean a shutdown state.

[0520] For dynamic shutdown indication, DCI can be configured in a form similar to the aperiodic beam indication, but with a different interpretation for the bit width of the beam information field.

[0521] Meanwhile, the NCR operating in TDD basically has a single OFF state. That is, if a beam index is performing beam operations regardless of UL / DL (implicit ON state), then there can only be one OFF state for that beam index. That is, if the NCR is indicated as OFF for a specific time resource, it may not perform the forwarding operation regardless of the UL / DL operation on that time resource.

[0522] The NCR performing FDD operations in a paired spectrum environment can be considered. The NCR can perform the forwarding operations for DL and UL simultaneously or independently in the FDD environment. The NCR can determine that the forwarding operation is ON in the resources where beam indication has been indicated to be received. In this case, it can be determined that the forwarding operation is ON for both DL and UL.

[0523] However, since the presence or absence of the forwarding signaling for DL and UL in a specific time resource is independent, the NCR may need to perform the forwarding operation only for a specific direction among DL and UL and not for the other direction. That is, the NCR can perform the OFF operation (not perform the forwarding operation) only for the DL operation or the UL operation in a specific time resource, or may not perform the OFF operation for both DL and UL operations. Specifically, if it is assumed that the ON state is only when the UL / DL beams are operating simultaneously, the OFF state in the NCR with this type of FDD operation can be one of the following three: {only UL OFF, only DL OFF, both UL / DL OFF}. That is, if the NCR is indicated as "only UL OFF" for a specific time resource, it may not perform the forwarding operation for the UL operation. If the NCR is indicated as "only DL OFF" for a specific time resource, it may not perform the forwarding operation for the DL operation. If the NCR is indicated as "both UL / DL OFF" for a specific time resource, it may not perform the forwarding operation for both DL and UL operations.

[0524] Therefore, when the number of branches representing the OFF state of the NCR supporting dynamic OFF operation is k, the operation can be performed as follows.

[0525] The NCR-MT receives a dynamic shutdown indication for the access link from the gNB. The dynamic shutdown indication may consist of each indicating a DCI message. The NCR-MT can interpret the bit values of the DCI fields according to this DCI configuration. More specifically, it interprets L beam information fields in the DCI message that can express up to N beam indices and the time resource information field mapped thereto. Specifically, when the NCR-MT refers to the L beam information fields separated by bit-width units when receiving the dynamic shutdown indication, the bit width can be interpreted as ceil(log2(N + k)) bits, which can express N access link beam indices and k shutdown states.

[0526] In the shutdown state that defines the above k value, as described above, in the NCR operating in TDD and the NCR operating in FDD, the number of cases may be different.

[0527] When operating in TDD, in the NCR, when the shutdown state is activated, for the on state in which the beam is operating, there is only one case where k = 1, regardless of UL / DL. In other words, if it is indicated that the NCR-Fwd operates in the shutdown state in a specific time resource, the NCR-Fwd does not perform the forwarding operation in this time resource.

[0528] On the other hand, when operating as FDD, since it is assumed that the case where both UL and DL are operating is the on state, it can be interpreted as a total of three cases, that is, k = 3, such as the state where only UL is closed (i.e., only DL is on), the state where only DL is closed (i.e., only UL is on), and the state where both UL and DL are closed. If it is indicated that the NCR-Fwd is "only UL closed" in a specific time resource, the NCR-Fwd does not perform the UL forwarding operation in this time resource. If it is indicated that the NCR-Fwd is "only DL closed" in a specific time resource, the NCR-Fwd does not perform the DL forwarding operation in this time resource. When it is indicated that the NCR-Fwd is "both UL / DL closed" in a specific time resource, the NCR-Fwd does not perform the forwarding operations for UL and DL in this time resource.

[0529] Alternatively, when operating as FDD, the shutdown state can be represented as two states: DL closed and UL closed. In this case, it can be interpreted as k = 2. If the NCR-Fwd is indicated as "UL closed" in a specific time resource, the NCR-Fwd does not perform the UL forwarding operation in this time resource. If the NCR-Fwd is indicated as "DL closed" in a specific time resource, the NCR-Fwd does not perform the DL forwarding operation in this time resource. When the NCR-Fwd is indicated as both "DL closed" and "UL closed" in a specific time resource, the NCR-Fwd does not perform any forwarding operations for DL and UL.

[0530] At this time, each of the L beam information fields can be represented as a beam index and a bit value. The beam index is the access link beam operation unit of NCR-Fwd, and the bit value determines the off state of the corresponding beam index according to the allocated bit width. For example, if the bit width is 3 bits, it can be represented within the 8-bit value {000, 001, 010, 011, 100, 101, 110, 111}: for TDD NCR, up to 7 beam indexes and 1 off state for each index, and for FDD NCR, up to 5 beam indexes and 3 off states for each index.

[0531] When NCR-MT interprets the beam information field, it can determine the beam index of the access link of NCR-Fwd and obtain the timing information for performing the dynamic off operation of the access link of NCR-Fwd based on the time resource mapped to it. Then, in the access link of NCR-Fwd, the dynamic off operation is performed based on the beam index information interpreted / determined by NCR-MT and the start time, slot / symbol offset, duration, etc. of the time resource mapped to it.

[0532] During the process of performing the dynamic off operation of the access link of NCR-Fwd, considering the limited DCI payload size received by NCR-MT, the interpretation of DCI information can vary according to how the bit width size allocated to the beam information field representing k off states with N beam indexes is defined.

[0533] This means that the larger the defined bit width, the smaller the value of L for the list that can form the beam information field, and the smaller the defined bit width, the larger the value of L (i.e., the number of candidates that can steer the beam), and the greater the degree of freedom for forming a large list of beam information fields.

[0534] Since, except for CRC, the maximum number of DCI payload bits that are generally known is 140 bits, the fields should be configured within the limited DCI payload size. Even when combining the dynamic off indication, the DCI information for the aperiodic beam indication can be determined by considering the DCI payload size, by considering two types of fields: L beam information fields and T (T = L or T = 1) time resource information fields mapped to them.

[0535] Considering the limitation of the DCI payload size, the number N of beam indexes of the access link (which is a factor defining the bit width of the beam information field) and N + k (which is the combination of k off states for the corresponding beam index) can be interpreted as follows.

[0536] Method 1. The NCR can be determined by interpreting N + k according to the quantity configured by the gNB.

[0537] The value of N can affect the DCI payload size. Therefore, when the value of N is configurable rather than fixed, configuring the DCI information can be more effective. That is to say, in the case of a fixed N value, regardless of the structure of the DCI field, the receiving NCR-MT should always interpret it according to a constant bit width, while in the case of a configurable N value, there is flexibility to reduce unnecessary bit waste.

[0538] Therefore, the gNB can set the value of N by considering the k value for determining TDD / FDD.

[0539] If there is no problem with restricting the DCI payload size by considering the k value for determining TDD / FDD, then the NCR-MT can apply the NCR by interpreting it as the value of N, which is the total number of candidate beams. In this case, the NCR can determine, interpret, and apply the k value by itself. That is to say, in the case where the NCR operates in TDD, it can interpret / apply k = 1, and in the case where the NCR operates in FDD, it can interpret / apply k = 3 or k = 2.

[0540] However, if the DCI payload size limit is reached and it is difficult to use the value of N as it is, the NCR-MT can reset the value of N by considering other parameters from the gNB. In this case, N + k can be reset by additionally considering the k value determined by whether the NCR operates in TDD / FDD (i.e., the gNB also determines whether to use TDD / FDD).

[0541] For example, in the case of an NCR environment operating in TDD, when the payload size limit of the beam information field is 60 bits, if the number of beam indices that the gNB wants to set is N = 15 and the number of beam information fields is also L = 15, considering the off state k = 1 for TDD NCR, 60 bits can be satisfied by ceil(log2(N + k)) * L bits. Therefore, the NCR-MT can apply the value set to N = 15 as it is.

[0542] As another example, in an NCR environment operating in FDD, if the payload size limit for the beam information field is 60 bits, and the number of beam indices that the gNB wants to set is N = 15, and the number of beam information fields is L = 15, then considering the off state k = 3 for FDD NCR, ceil(log2(N + k)) * L = 75 bits, which exceeds 60 bits and causes a problem. In this case, the gNB can i) reset L to 4 while keeping N = 15 as it is, or ii) reset N from N = 15 to N = 13. In the above i), when L is decreased and reset to 4, the payload size limit is satisfied by ceil(log2(N + k)) * L = 60 bits. In the above ii), if the NCR-MT interprets N = 13, then the beam information field can also be at most L max = 13 and ceil(log2(N + k)) * L = 52 bits, and thus, the 60-bit payload size limit can be satisfied. When the gNB selects an appropriate method among the two reset methods (i) and (ii), the NCR-MT applies the corresponding N value when interpreting the received dynamic off indication.

[0543] For clarity, the payload for the T time resource fields mapped to the beam information field is not considered, but payload sizes set to T = L or T = 1 can also be considered, and in the working manner described above, the gNB can reset the value of N by considering the k value representing the off state of the NCR operating in TDD or FDD, and the NCR-MT can interpret this value as N.

[0544] Method 2. The NCR can be determined by interpreting it as a fixed or default value for N and k.

[0545] If for some reason, the DCI information cannot be set by the gNB and should be determined as a mutually agreed value, then the number of beam indices N can be defined as a fixed or default value. However, the value of N cannot be greater than N AC , N AC is the number of physically supported beams in the NCR access link.

[0546] N (N ≤ N AC ) can be defined as a fixed value so that the beam information field can use the maximum value not exceeding the payload size limit. In addition, when the NCR operates in TDD, there can be one off state (k = 1) for the beam index, and when the NCR operates in FDD, there can be two or three off states (k = 2 or k = 3) for the beam index.

[0547] In other words, NCR-MT interprets both the number L of beam information fields and the number of beam indices for them as N, that is, it can calculate and apply an N value that can have the maximum value closest to the finite payload size of ceil(log2(N + k)) * N bits.

[0548] For example, in an NCR environment operating in TDD, when the payload size limit of the beam information field is 25 bits, if NCR-MT is determined to be N = 7, considering the closed state k = 1 for TDD NCR, it becomes 21 bits according to ceil(log2(N + k)) * N bits, which satisfies the payload size limit, so it can be determined to be N = 7.

[0549] If NCR-MT has difficulty determining the N value for some reason, the N value can be determined as a predefined default value to ensure minimum dynamic shutdown indication operation. If NCR-MT cannot interpret the N value according to the FR1 or FR2 band, if default values for N have been defined, NCR-MT can apply these values. Alternatively, if NCR-MT does not receive the value of N from the gNB or cannot determine it based on the information from the gNB, the default value can be applied. Considering that the number of beams in the FR2 band may be large, the number of beams supported by NCR (N = N AC ) can be applied as it is. In addition, in the FR1 band, considering that the number of beams is relatively small or it can be an omnidirectional signal, a default value of N = 1 can be applied. Alternatively, regardless of the band, a default value of N = 1 can be applied.

[0550] The default value can also be applied to the k value for distinguishing the operations of TDD / FDD. When operating as TDD, k = 1 can be applied, and when operating as FDD, k = 3 or k = 2 can be applied. Alternatively, k = 1 can be applied as the default value regardless of whether it is TDD / FDD.

[0551] For clarity, in the operation mode, the payload for the T time resource fields mapped to the beam information fields is not considered, but the payload size determined according to T = L or T = 1 can also be considered, and considering k = 1 or k = 3 representing the closed state of NCR for TDD or FDD operations as in the above operation mode, and defining fixed values and / or default values, and NCR-MT can interpret this value as N.

[0552] This method may have the problem of lack of flexibility because it interprets by maintaining fixed values or default values, but it has the advantage of no additional signaling because it is fixed to the committed value without the need for separate configuration.

[0553] The methods proposed above can be applied independently, but multiple methods can be applied together depending on the situation. For example, if N or k is interpreted as a fixed value, but if the gNB is in a situation where it can set the value of N or k, then it can interpret N + k by newly applying N + k in the same form as Method 1.

[0554] Based on the methods proposed above, the dynamic closing operation of NCR can be expected as follows.

[0555] 1. NCR-MT receives DCI for the dynamic closing indication from the gNB and obtains the information for performing the closing operation. Based on this, NCR determines the time resource for performing the closing operation. Based on this information, NCR-Fwd does not perform the forwarding operation in the time resource indicated to perform the closing operation. (i.e., the dynamic closing operation)

[0556] 2. Additionally, for NCR operating in the FDD environment, it can receive DCI for the dynamic closing indication to receive information about "the time resource for performing the DL closing operation", "the time resource for performing the UL closing operation", and / or "the time resource for performing both the DL closing operation and the UL closing operation".

[0557] Based on this information, NCR-Fwd does not perform the DL forwarding operation in the time resource indicated to perform the DL closing operation. That is, if NCR-Fwd determines to perform the forwarding operation by receiving beam index information in a specific time resource and is indicated to perform the DL closing operation, then it does not perform the DL forwarding operation but performs the UL forwarding operation.

[0558] It does not perform the UL forwarding operation in the time resource indicated to perform the UL closing operation. That is, if NCR-Fwd determines to perform the forwarding operation by being indicated with beam index information in a specific time resource, but is indicated to perform the UL closing operation, then it does not perform the UL forwarding operation and performs the DL forwarding operation.

[0559] It does not perform the DL and UL forwarding operations in the time resource indicated to perform both the DL closing operation and the UL closing operation. That is, when NCR-Fwd determines to perform the forwarding operation by being indicated with beam index information in a specific time resource, but is indicated to perform both the DL closing operation and the UL closing operation, it does not perform the UL and DL forwarding operations.

[0560] Alternatively, it can receive information about "the time resource for performing the DL closing operation" and / or "the time resource for performing the UL closing operation". Based on this information, NCR-Fwd does not perform the DL forwarding operation in the time resource indicated to perform the DL closing operation. It does not perform the UL forwarding operation in the time resource indicated to perform the UL closing operation.

[0561] If NCR-Fwd determines to perform a forwarding operation by being indicated with beam index information at a specific time resource, but is indicated to perform a DL shutdown operation without performing a UL shutdown operation, it does not perform a DL forwarding operation and performs a UL forwarding operation.

[0562] If NCR-Fwd determines to perform a forwarding operation by being indicated with beam index information at a specific time resource, but is indicated to perform a UL shutdown operation without performing a DL shutdown operation, it does not perform a UL forwarding operation and performs a DL forwarding operation.

[0563] When NCR-Fwd is indicated to perform a forwarding operation by receiving beam index information at a specific time resource, but is indicated to perform both a DL shutdown operation and a UL shutdown operation, it does not perform UL and DL forwarding operations.

[0564] Alternatively, it can receive information on "time resources for performing shutdown operations for both DL and UL". In this case, NCR-Fwd does not perform forwarding operations for both DL and UL in the time resources where it is indicated to perform shutdown operations.

[0565] 3. For the above operations, the DCI can include L beam information fields. One beam index among N beam indexes can be indicated by each beam information field. Alternatively, one shutdown operation among k shutdown operations can be indicated.

[0566] For TDD, NCR determines k to be 1. When a specific value in the beam information field is indicated, NCR determines that a shutdown operation is indicated.

[0567] For FDD, NCR determines k to be 3. When a specific value (value 1) is indicated through the beam information field, NCR determines that a DL shutdown operation is indicated. When another specific value (value 2) is indicated, it determines that a UL shutdown operation is indicated. When another specific value (value 3) is indicated, it determines that DL and UL shutdown operations are indicated.

[0568] Alternatively, NCR determines k to be 2. When a specific value (value 1) is indicated through the beam information field, NCR determines that a DL shutdown operation is indicated. When another specific value (value 2) is indicated, NCR determines that a UL shutdown operation is indicated.

[0569] Optionally, NCR determines k to be 1. When a specific value in the beam information field is indicated, NCR determines that shutdown operations are indicated for both DL and UL.

[0570] In addition, the bit width of each beam information field can vary according to the values of N and k. For example, NCR-MT determines the bit width of each beam information field as ceil(log2(N + k)).

[0571] 4. For the above operations, NCR-MT needs to know the bit width to interpret the beam information field, and for this purpose, it needs to know the value of N. For this purpose, NCR-MT uses at least one of the methods proposed in this disclosure to determine the value of N.

[0572] Figure 17 Shows an operation method of NCR including NCR-MT and NCR-Fwd in a wireless communication system.

[0573] Refer to Figure 17 , via NCR-MT, receive beam index information for a beam index applied to an access link between NCR-Fwd and UE and time resource information related to the beam index from a base station (S171). At this time, the beam index information separately indicates a downlink beam index and an uplink beam index applied to the access link.

[0574] For example, the beam index information can include both a downlink beam index and an uplink beam index.

[0575] In this case, the base station can semi-statically / semi-persistently / dynamically indicate {downlink beam index, uplink beam index, time resource} to NCR (specifically, NCR-MT) through the beam index information and the time resource information.

[0576] In some embodiments, the beam index information may indicate a beam pair index for a beam pair of a downlink beam index and an uplink beam index. The beam pair index is associated with a pair of a specific downlink beam index and a specific uplink beam index.

[0577] In this case, the base station can semi-statically / semi-persistently / dynamically indicate {beam pair index, time resource} to NCR (specifically, NCR-MT) through the beam index information and the time resource information.

[0578] According to an embodiment, the beam index information indicates a downlink beam index or an uplink beam index through a beam index value. Specifically, if the beam index value is a value within a first range (e.g., 0 to N1), it can be interpreted as a downlink beam index, and if the beam index value is a value within a second range (N1 + 1 to N2), it can be interpreted as an uplink beam index. NCR (specifically, NCR-MT) can determine whether it indicates a downlink beam or an uplink beam by knowing the beam index value.

[0579] In this case, the base station can semi-statically / semi-persistently / dynamically indicate {DL / UL beam index, time resource} to the NCR (specifically, NCR-MT) through beam index information and time resource information. According to the beam index value described above, the above "DL / UL beam index" can be interpreted as a DL beam index or a UL beam index.

[0580] According to an embodiment, the beam index information includes a beam index value and an indicator, and depending on the value of the indicator, the beam index value can be interpreted as a downlink beam index or an uplink beam index.

[0581] In this case, the base station can semi-statically / semi-persistently / dynamically indicate {DL / UL indicator, beam index, time resource} to the NCR (specifically, NCR-MT) through beam index information and time resource information. If the "DL / UL indicator" indicates DL, the beam index is interpreted as a downlink beam index, and if the "DL / UL indicator" indicates UL, the beam index is interpreted as an uplink beam index.

[0582] In addition, according to an embodiment, the time resource information may include a first time resource related to the downlink beam index and a second time resource related to the uplink beam index.

[0583] In addition, the base station can implicitly / explicitly indicate to the NCR-MT to distinguish between the downlink (DL) turn-on / off and the uplink (UL) turn-on / off of the NCR-Fwd.

[0584] For example, the NCR-MT determines / controls the NCR-Fwd to operate in an on state in the time resource indicated by the DL beam index, and determines / controls the NCR-Fwd to operate in an on state in the time resource indicated by the UL beam index.

[0585] That is, the NCR-Fwd performs an on operation in the first time resource associated with the downlink beam index. And / or, the NCR-Fwd performs an on operation in the second time resource associated with the uplink beam index.

[0586] In an embodiment, if the beam index value indicated by the beam index information is a specific value, the NCR-Fwd performs an off operation in the time resource related to the beam with the beam index value. That is, the NCR-MT determines that the NCR-Fwd is indicated to perform an off operation in the time resource related to the beam with the beam index value.

[0587] In an embodiment, when the beam index value indicated by the beam index information is a first value, NCR-Fwd performs a downlink shutdown operation in the time resource associated with the beam having the first value; when the beam index value is a second value, NCR-Fwd performs an uplink shutdown operation in the time resource associated with the beam having the second value; and when the beam index value is a third value, NCR-Fwd performs both a downlink shutdown operation and an uplink shutdown operation in the time resource associated with the beam having the third value.

[0588] In a case where the base station semi-statically / semi-persistently / dynamically indicates {DL / UL indicator, beam index, time resource} to the NCR (specifically, NCR-MT) via beam index information and time resource information, the DL / UL indicator can be extended (e.g., by increasing the number of bits) to indicate i) downlink, ii) uplink, iii) downlink shutdown operation, iv) uplink shutdown operation, or v) downlink shutdown operation and uplink shutdown operation.

[0589] Alternatively, the shutdown operation can be indicated via a separate field.

[0590] For example, the base station can semi-statically / semi-persistently / dynamically indicate {shutdown indicator, time resource} to the NCR (specifically, NCR-MT).

[0591] That is, NCR-MT receives a shutdown indicator corresponding to the time resource, and the shutdown indicator can indicate a downlink shutdown operation or an uplink shutdown operation for the time resource.

[0592] Alternatively, the shutdown indicator can increase the number of bits to indicate i) downlink shutdown operation, ii) uplink shutdown operation, or iii) downlink shutdown operation and uplink shutdown operation for the time resource.

[0593] NCR-Fwd uses the beam indicated by the beam index in the time resource indicated by the time resource information to perform a forwarding operation (S172).

[0594] In Figure 17 an example is described where the beam index information separately indicates the downlink beam index and the uplink beam index applied to the access link. Depending on the embodiment, the beam index information can also separately indicate the downlink beam index and the uplink beam index applied to the backhaul link between the base station and NCR-Fwd.

[0595] According to the above method, the beam indices and on / off operations of the DL and UL of the access link applied to NCR-Fwd in an FDD environment can be distinguished and indicated. Therefore, the DL forwarding operation and the UL forwarding operation can be performed independently, thereby improving the transmission efficiency.

[0596] Figure 18 Shows the signaling and operations between the base station, NCR, and UE when the Figure 17 method is applied.

[0597] Referring to Figure 18 , the base station sends the beam index information for the beam index and the time resource information related to the beam index to the NCR-MT of the NCR including NCR-MT and NCR-Fwd (S181).

[0598] As described above, the beam index information separately indicates the downlink beam index and the uplink beam index applied to the access link between NCR-Fwd and the UE. Depending on the implementation, the beam index information may also separately indicate the downlink beam index and the uplink beam index applied to the backhaul link between the base station and NCR-Fwd.

[0599] The NCR (NCR-MT) determines the beam to be used in the time resource indicated by the time resource information based on the beam index information, and determines the on / off operation of NCR-Fwd in this time resource (S182). This has been described above with reference to Figure 17 this.

[0600] The NCR performs a forwarding operation with the base station based on the beam index information and the time resource information (S183).

[0601] The NCR performs a forwarding operation with the UE based on the beam index information and the time resource information (S184).

[0602] Figure 19 Illustrates a wireless device applicable to this specification.

[0603] Referring to Figure 19 , the first wireless device 100 and the second wireless device 200 can send / receive wireless signals through various radio access technologies (such as LTE, NR).

[0604] The first wireless device 100 includes at least one processor 102 and at least one memory 104, and may further include at least one transceiver 106 and / or at least one antenna 108. The processor 102 may be configured to control the memory 104 and / or the transceiver 106, and implement the descriptions, functions, processes, proposals, methods, and / or operation flows disclosed herein. For example, the processor 102 may process the information in the memory 104 to generate first information / signals, and then may transmit radio signals including the first information / signals through the transceiver 106. Additionally, the processor 102 may receive radio signals including second information / signals through the transceiver 106, and may store the information obtained from the signal processing of the second information / signals in the memory 104. The memory 104 may be connected to the processor 102, and may store various pieces of information related to the operation of the processor 102. For example, the memory 104 may store software code, which includes instructions for performing part or all of the processing controlled by the processor 102 or for performing the descriptions, functions, processes, proposals, methods, and / or operation flowcharts disclosed herein. Here, the processor 102 and the memory 104 may be part of a communication modem / circuit / chip designed to implement radio communication technologies (such as LTE or NR). The transceiver 106 may be connected to the processor 102, and may transmit and / or receive radio signals via at least one antenna 108. The transceiver 106 may include a transmitter and / or a receiver. The transceiver 106 may be replaced by a radio frequency (RF) unit. In this specification, a wireless device may refer to a communication modem / circuit / chip.

[0605] The processor 102 may be included in a network control repeater (NCR), and the NCR includes an NCR-mobile terminal (MT) and an NCR-forward (Fwd). The processor 102 receives, through the NCR-MT, beam index information for a beam index applied to an access link between the NCR-Fwd and the UE and time resource information related to the beam index, and the NCR-Fwd performs a forwarding operation using the beam indicated by the beam index in the time resource indicated by the time resource information. The beam index information separately indicates a downlink beam index and an uplink beam index applied to the access link.

[0606] The second wireless device 200 includes at least one processor 202 and at least one memory 204, and may also include at least one transceiver 206 and / or at least one antenna 208. The processor 202 may be configured to control the memory 204 and / or the transceiver 206, and implement the descriptions, functions, processes, proposals, methods, and / or operation flows disclosed herein. For example, the processor 202 may process the information in the memory 204 to generate third information / signals, and then may transmit radio signals including the third information / signals through the transceiver 206. Additionally, the processor 202 may receive radio signals including fourth information / signals through the transceiver 206, and may store the information obtained from the signal processing of the fourth information / signals in the memory 204. The memory 204 may be connected to the processor 202, and may store various pieces of information related to the operation of the processor 202. For example, the memory 204 may store software code, which includes instructions for performing part or all of the processing controlled by the processor 202 or for performing the descriptions, functions, processes, proposals, methods, and / or operation flowcharts disclosed herein. Here, the processor 202 and the memory 204 may be part of a communication modem / circuit / chip designed to implement radio communication technologies (e.g., LTE or NR). The transceiver 206 may be connected to the processor 202, and may transmit and / or receive radio signals via at least one antenna 208. The transceiver 206 may include a transmitter and / or a receiver. The transceiver 206 may be replaced by an RF unit. In this specification, a wireless device may refer to a communication modem / circuit / chip.

[0607] The processor 202 may be included in a base station. The processor 202 sends beam index information for a beam index applied to an access link between NCR-Fwd and a UE and time resource information related to the beam index to the NCR-MT of an NCR including NCR-MT and NCR-Fwd. The beam index information separately indicates a downlink beam index and an uplink beam index applied to the access link.

[0608] In the following, the hardware components of wireless devices 100 and 200 are described in detail. At least one protocol layer can be, but is not limited to, implemented by at least one processor 102 and 202. For example, at least one processor 102 and 202 can implement at least one layer (e.g., functional layers such as PHY, MAC, RLC, PDCP, RRC, and SDAP layers). The at least one processor 102 and 202 can generate at least one protocol data unit (PDU) and / or at least one service data unit (SDU) according to the descriptions, functions, processes, proposals, methods, and / or operation flowcharts disclosed herein. The at least one processor 102 and 202 can generate messages, control information, data, or information according to the descriptions, functions, processes, proposals, methods, and / or operation flowcharts disclosed herein. The at least one processor 102 and 202 can generate signals (e.g., baseband signals) including PDU, SDU, messages, control information, data, or information according to the functions, processes, proposals, and / or methods disclosed herein, and can provide the signals to at least one transceiver 106 and 206. The at least one processor 102 and 202 can receive signals (e.g., baseband signals) from at least one transceiver 106 and 206, and can obtain PDU, SDU, messages, control information, data, or information according to the descriptions, functions, processes, proposals, methods, and / or operation flowcharts disclosed herein.

[0609] The at least one processor 102 and 202 can be referred to as a controller, microcontroller, microprocessor, or microcomputer. The at least one processor 102 and 202 can be implemented by hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof. For example, at least one application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), at least one digital signal processor (DSP), at least one digital signal processing device (DSPD), at least one programmable logic device (PLD), or at least one field programmable gate array (FPGA) can be included in the at least one processor 102 and 202. One or more processors 102 and 202 can be implemented as including at least one computer readable medium (CRM) based on instructions executed by at least one processor.

[0610] The descriptions, functions, processes, proposals, methods, and / or operation flowcharts disclosed herein can be implemented using firmware or software, and the firmware or software can be configured to include modules, processes, functions, etc. The firmware or software configured to execute the descriptions, functions, processes, proposals, methods, and / or operation flowcharts disclosed herein can be included in the at least one processor 102 and 202, or can be stored in at least one memory 104 and 204 and can be executed by the at least one processor 102 and 202. The descriptions, functions, processes, proposals, methods, and / or operation flowcharts disclosed herein can be implemented using firmware or software in the form of code, instructions, and / or instruction sets.

[0611] At least one of memories 104 and 204 may be connected to at least one of processors 102 and 202 and may store various forms of data, signals, messages, information, programs, codes, instructions, and / or commands. At least one of memories 104 and 204 may be configured as ROM, RAM, EPROM, flash memory, hard disk drive, register, cache, computer-readable storage medium, and / or a combination thereof. At least one of memories 104 and 204 may be provided inside and / or outside at least one of processors 102 and 202. Additionally, at least one of memories 104 and 204 may be connected to at least one of processors 102 and 202 by various techniques such as wired or wireless connections.

[0612] At least one of transceivers 106 and 206 may send user data, control information, radio signals / channels, etc. mentioned in the methods and / or operation flowcharts disclosed herein to at least one different device. At least one of transceivers 106 and 206 may receive user data, control information, radio signals / channels, etc. mentioned in the descriptions, functions, processes, proposals, methods, and / or operation flowcharts disclosed herein from at least one different device. For example, at least one of transceivers 106 and 206 may be connected to at least one of processors 102 and 202 and may send and receive radio signals. For example, at least one of processors 102 and 202 may control at least one of transceivers 106 and 206 to send user data, control information, or radio signals to at least one different device. Additionally, at least one of processors 102 and 202 may control at least one of transceivers 106 and 206 to receive user data, control information, or radio signals from at least one different device. At least one of transceivers 106 and 206 may be connected to at least one of antennas 108 and 208 and may be configured to send or receive user data, control information, radio signals / channels, etc. mentioned in the descriptions, functions, processes, proposals, methods, and / or operation flowcharts disclosed herein through at least one of antennas 108 and 208. In this document, at least one antenna may be multiple physical antennas or may be multiple logical antennas (e.g., antenna ports). At least one of transceivers 106 and 206 may transform the received radio signals / channels from RF band signals into baseband signals for processing the received user data, control information, radio signals / channels, etc. using at least one of processors 102 and 202. At least one of transceivers 106 and 206 may transform the user data, control information, radio signals / channels, etc. processed using at least one of processors 102 and 202 from baseband signals into RF band signals. To this end, at least one of transceivers 106 and 206 may include (analog) oscillators and / or filters.

[0613] Figure 20 An example of the structure of the signal processing module is shown. Here, signal processing can be performed in Figure 19 processors 102 and 202.

[0614] Referring to Figure 20 , the transmitting device (e.g., a processor, a processor and a memory, or a processor and a transceiver) in the UE or the BS may include a scrambler 301, a modulator 302, a layer mapper 303, an antenna port mapper 304, a resource block mapper 305, and a signal generator 306.

[0615] The transmitting device may transmit one or more codewords. The coded bits in each codeword are scrambled by the corresponding scrambler 301 and transmitted on a physical channel. A codeword may be referred to as a data string and may be equivalent to a transport block that is a data block provided by the MAC layer.

[0616] The modulator 302 may modulate the scrambled bits into complex-valued modulation symbols. The modulator 302 may modulate the scrambled bits according to a modulation scheme to arrange complex-valued modulation symbols representing positions on a signal constellation diagram. The modulation scheme is not limited, and m-PSK (m-phase shift keying) or m-QAM (m-quadrature amplitude modulation) may be used to modulate the coded data. The modulator may be referred to as a modulation mapper.

[0617] The complex-valued modulation symbols may be mapped to one or more transmission layers by the layer mapper 303. The complex-valued modulation symbols on each layer may be mapped by the antenna port mapper 304 for transmission on an antenna port.

[0618] Each resource block mapper 305 may map the complex-valued modulation symbols for each antenna port to appropriate resource elements in the virtual resource blocks allocated for transmission. The resource block mapper may map the virtual resource blocks to physical resource blocks according to an appropriate mapping scheme. The resource block mapper 305 may allocate the complex-valued modulation symbols for each antenna port to appropriate subcarriers and multiplex the complex-valued modulation symbols according to users.

[0619] Each signal generator 306 may modulate the complex-valued modulation symbols, i.e., antenna-specific symbols, for each antenna port according to a specific modulation scheme (e.g., OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing)) to generate a complex-valued time-domain OFDM symbol signal. The signal generator may perform an IFFT (inverse fast Fourier transform) on the antenna-specific symbols and may insert a CP (cyclic prefix) into the time-domain symbols on which the IFFT has been performed. The OFDM symbols are subjected to digital-to-analog conversion and upconversion and then transmitted to the receiving device through each transmitting antenna. The signal generator may include an IFFT module, a CP insertion unit, a digital-to-analog converter (DAC), and an upconverter.

[0620] Figure 21 Another example of the structure of the signal processing module in the transmitting device is shown. Here, signal processing can be performed in a processor of a UE / BS such as Figure 19 processors 102 and 202.

[0621] Referring to Figure 21 , the transmitting device in the UE or BS (e.g., a processor, a processor and a memory, or a processor and a transceiver) may include a scrambler 401, a modulator 402, a layer mapper 403, a precoder 404, a resource block mapper 405, and a signal generator 406.

[0622] The transmitting device may scramble the coded bits in the codeword through the corresponding scrambler 401, and then transmit the scrambled coded bits through a physical channel.

[0623] The scrambled bits are modulated into complex-valued modulation symbols by the modulator 402. The modulator may modulate the scrambled bits according to a predetermined modulation scheme to arrange the complex-valued modulation symbols representing positions on the signal constellation. The modulation scheme is not limited, and π / 2-BPSK (π / 2-binary phase shift keying), m-PSK (m-phase shift keying), or m-QAM (m-quadrature amplitude modulation) may be used to modulate the coded data.

[0624] The complex-valued modulation symbols may be mapped to one or more transmission layers by the layer mapper 403.

[0625] The complex-valued modulation symbols on each layer may be precoded by the precoder 404 for transmission on an antenna port. Here, the precoder may perform transform precoding on the complex-valued modulation symbols and then perform precoding. Alternatively, the precoder may perform precoding without performing transform precoding. The precoder 404 may process the complex-valued modulation symbols according to MIMO using multiple transmit antennas to output antenna-specific symbols, and assign the antenna-specific symbols to the corresponding resource block mapper 405. The output z of the precoder 404 may be obtained by multiplying the output y of the layer mapper 403 by an N×M precoding matrix W. Here, N is the number of antenna ports, and M is the number of layers.

[0626] Each resource block mapper 405 maps the complex-valued modulation symbols for each antenna port to appropriate resource elements in the virtual resource blocks allocated for transmission.

[0627] The resource block mapper 405 may assign the complex-valued modulation symbols to appropriate subcarriers and multiplex the complex-valued modulation symbols according to users.

[0628] Each signal generator 406 can modulate complex-valued modulation symbols according to a specific modulation scheme (e.g., OFDM) to generate a complex-valued time-domain OFDM symbol signal. The signal generator 406 can perform an IFFT (Inverse Fast Fourier Transform) on antenna-specific symbols and can insert a CP (Cyclic Prefix) into the time-domain symbols on which the IFFT has been performed. The OFDM symbols are subjected to digital-to-analog conversion and upconversion and then transmitted to the receiving device via each transmitting antenna. The signal generator 406 can include an IFFT module, a CP insertion unit, a digital-to-analog converter (DAC), and an upconverter.

[0629] The signal processing process of the receiving device can be the inverse process of the signal processing process of the transmitting device. Specifically, the processor of the transmitting device decodes and demodulates the RF signal received through the antenna port of the transceiver. The receiving device can include multiple receiving antennas, and the signals received through the receiving antennas are restored to a baseband signal and then multiplexed and demodulated according to MIMO to be restored to the data string intended to be transmitted by the transmitting device. The receiving device can include: a signal restoration unit that restores the received signal to a baseband signal; a multiplexer that combines and multiplexes the received signals; and a channel demodulator that demodulates the multiplexed signal string into corresponding codewords. The signal restoration unit, the multiplexer, and the channel demodulator can be configured as integrated modules or independent modules for performing their functions. More specifically, the signal restoration unit can include: an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) that converts an analog signal into a digital signal; a CP removal unit that removes the CP from the digital signal; an FET module that applies an FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) to the signal from which the CP has been removed to output a frequency-domain signal; and a resource element demapper / equalizer that restores the frequency-domain symbols to antenna-specific symbols. The antenna-specific symbols are restored to the transport layer by the multiplexer, and the transport layer is restored to the codewords intended to be transmitted by the transmitting device by the channel demodulator.

[0630] Figure 22 An example of a wireless communication device according to an implementation example of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0631] Refer to Figure 22 , a wireless communication device (e.g., a UE) can include at least one of a processor 2310 such as a digital signal processor (DSP) or a microprocessor, a transceiver 2335, a power management module 2305, an antenna 2340, a battery 2355, a display 2315, a keyboard 2320, a global positioning system (GPS) chip 2360, a sensor 2365, a memory 2330, a subscriber identity module (SIM) card 2325, a speaker 2345, and a microphone 2350. Multiple antennas and multiple processors can be provided.

[0632] The processor 2310 may implement the functions, processes, and methods described in this specification. Figure 22 The processor 2310 in Figure 19 may be the processors 102 and 202 in

[0633] The memory 2330 is connected to the processor 2310 and stores information related to the operation of the processor. The memory may be located inside or outside the processor and is connected to the processor through various technologies such as wired connections and wireless connections. Figure 22 The memory 2330 in Figure 19 may be the memories 104 and 204 in

[0634] The user may use various technologies such as pressing buttons on the keyboard 2320 or initiating sounds using the microphone 2350 to input various types of information such as phone numbers. The processor 2310 may receive and process the user information and perform appropriate functions such as making a call using the input phone number. In some scenarios, data may be obtained from the SIM card 2325 or the memory 2330 to perform appropriate functions. In some scenarios, the processor 2310 may display various types of information and data on the display 2315 to facilitate the user.

[0635] The transceiver 2335 is connected to the processor 2310 and sends and / or receives RF signals. The processor may control the transceiver to initiate communication or send RF signals including various types of information or data such as voice communication data. The transceiver includes a transmitter and a receiver for sending and receiving RF signals. The antenna 2340 may facilitate the sending and receiving of RF signals. In some example implementations, when the transceiver receives an RF signal, the transceiver may forward the signal and convert it to a baseband frequency for processing by the processor. The signal may be processed through various technologies such as converting it to audible or readable information for output through the speaker 2345. Figure 22 The transceiver in Figure 19 may be the transceivers 106 and 206 in

[0636] Although not shown in Figure 22 various components such as a camera and a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port may be additionally included in the UE. For example, the camera may be connected to the processor 2310.

[0637] Figure 22 is an example implementation of the UE, and the example implementations of the present disclosure are not limited thereto. The UE does not necessarily need to include Figure 22All components shown in. That is, some of the components (e.g., keyboard 2320, GPS chip 2360, sensor 2365, and SIM card 2325) may not be essential components. In this case, they may not be included in the UE.

[0638] Figure 23 Another example of a wireless device is shown.

[0639] According to Figure 23 , the wireless device may include at least one processor 102, 202, at least one memory 104, 204, at least one transceiver 106, 206, and one or more antennas 108, 208.

[0640] Figure 19 The example of the wireless device described in is different from the example of the wireless device described in Figure 23 in that the processors 102 and 202 and the memories 104 and 204 are separate in Figure 19 while in the example of Figure 23 , the memories 104 and 204 are included in the processors 102 and 202. That is, the processor and the memory may form a chipset.

[0641] Figure 24 Another example of the wireless device applied to this specification is shown. The wireless device can be implemented in various forms according to use cases / services.

[0642] Referring to Figure 24 , the wireless devices 100 and 200 may correspond to the wireless device of Figure 19 and may be configured by various elements, components, units / parts, and / or modules. For example, each of the wireless devices 100 and 200 may include a communication unit 110, a control unit 120, a storage unit 130, and additional components 140. The communication unit may include a communication circuit 112 and a transceiver 114. For example, the communication circuit 112 may include one or more processors 102 and 202 and / or one or more memories 104 and 204. For example, the transceiver 114 may include Figure 19One or more transceivers 106 and 206 and / or one or more antennas 108 and 208. The control unit 120 is electrically connected to the communication unit 110, the storage unit 130, and the additional components 140, and controls the overall operation of the wireless device. For example, the control unit 120 may control the electrical / mechanical operations of the wireless device based on programs / codes / commands / information stored in the storage unit 130. Additionally, the control unit 120 may send the information stored in the storage unit 130 to the outside (e.g., other communication devices) via the communication unit 110 through a wireless / wired interface, or store the information received from the outside (e.g., other communication devices) via the communication unit 110 through a wireless / wired interface in the storage unit 130.

[0643] The additional components 140 can be configured in various ways according to the type of the wireless device. For example, the additional components 140 may include at least one of a power unit / battery, an input / output (I / O) unit, a drive unit, and a computing unit. The wireless device can be implemented in the form of, but not limited to: a robot ( Figure 25 100a), a vehicle ( Figure 25 100b-1 and 100b-2), an XR device ( Figure 25 100c), a handheld device ( Figure 25 100d), a household appliance ( Figure 25 100e), an IoT device ( Figure 25 100f), a digital broadcast UE, a holographic device, a public safety device, an MTC device, a medical device, a fintech device (or financial device), a security device, a climate / environment device, an AI server / device ( Figure 25 400), a BS ( Figure 25 200), a network node, etc. According to use cases / services, the wireless device can be used in a mobile or fixed location.

[0644] In Figure 24In [the figure], all kinds of elements, components, units / parts, and / or modules in the wireless devices 100 and 200 can all be connected to each other through a wired interface, or at least a part of them can be wirelessly connected through the communication unit 110. For example, in each of the wireless devices 100 and 200, the control unit 120 and the communication unit 110 can be connected by a wired connection, and the control unit 120 and the first units (e.g., 130 and 140) can be wirelessly connected through the communication unit 110. Additionally, each element, component, unit / part, and / or module within the wireless devices 100 and 200 can further include one or more elements. For example, the control unit 120 can be constructed by a set of one or more processors. For example, the control unit 120 can be constructed by a set of a communication control processor, an application processor, an electronic control unit (ECU), a graphics processing unit, and a memory control processor. For another example, the storage unit 130 can be constructed by a random access memory (RAM), a dynamic RAM (DRAM), a read-only memory (ROM), a flash memory, a volatile memory, a non-volatile memory, and / or a combination thereof.

[0645] Figure 25 Illustrated is the communication system 1 applied to this specification.

[0646] Refer to Figure 25, the communication system 1 applied to this specification includes wireless devices, a base station (BS), and a network. Herein, a wireless device refers to a device that performs communication using a radio access technology (RAT) (e.g., 5G new RAT (NR)) or Long-Term Evolution (LTE)), and can be referred to as a communication / radio / 5G device. The wireless device may include, without limitation, a robot 100a, vehicles 100b-1 and 100b-2, an extended reality (XR) device 100c, a handheld device 100d, a household appliance 100e, an Internet of Things (IoT) device 100f, and an artificial intelligence (AI) device / server 400. For example, a vehicle may include a vehicle with a wireless communication function, an autonomous vehicle, and a vehicle capable of performing vehicle-to-vehicle communication. Herein, a vehicle may include an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) (e.g., a drone). The XR device may include an augmented reality (AR) / virtual reality (VR) / mixed reality (MR) device and may be implemented in the form of a head-mounted device (HMD), a head-up display (HUD) installed in a vehicle, a TV, a smartphone, a computer, a wearable device, a household appliance device, a digital sign, a vehicle, a robot, etc. The handheld device may include a smartphone, a smart tablet, a wearable device (e.g., a smartwatch or smart glasses), and a computer (e.g., a notebook). The household appliance may include a TV, a refrigerator, and a washing machine. The IoT device may include sensors and smart meters. For example, the BS and the network may be implemented as wireless devices, and a specific wireless device 200a may operate as a BS / network node with respect to other wireless devices.

[0647] The wireless devices 100a to 100f may be connected to the network 300 via the BS 200. AI technology may be applied to the wireless devices 100a to 100f, and the wireless devices 100a to 100f may be connected to the AI server 400 via the network 300. The network 300 may be configured using a 3G network, a 4G (e.g., LTE) network, or a 5G (e.g., NR) network. Although the wireless devices 100a to 100f may communicate with each other through the BS 200 / network 300, the wireless devices 100a to 100f may perform direct communication (e.g., sidelink communication) with each other without passing through the BS / network. For example, the vehicles 100b-1 and 100b-2 may perform direct communication (e.g., vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) / vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication). In addition, an IoT device (e.g., a sensor) may perform direct communication with other IoT devices (e.g., sensors) or other wireless devices 100a to 100f.

[0648] Wireless communication / connections 150a, 150b, or 150c can be established between wireless devices 100a to 100f / BS200 or BS200 / BS200. Herein, the wireless communication / connections can be established via various RATs (e.g., 5G NR) such as uplink / downlink communication 150a, sidelink communication 150b (or D2D communication), or inter-BS communication (e.g., relay, integrated access and backhaul (IAB)). The wireless device and the BS / wireless device can transmit / receive radio signals to / from each other via the wireless communication / connections 150a and 150b. For example, the wireless communication / connections 150a and 150b can transmit / receive signals via various physical channels. To this end, based on various proposals of the present disclosure, at least a part of various configuration information configuration processes, various signal processing processes (e.g., channel encoding / decoding, modulation / demodulation, and resource mapping / demapping), and resource allocation processes for transmitting / receiving radio signals can be performed.

[0649] NR supports multiple parameter sets (or multiple subcarrier spacing (SCS) ranges) to support various 5G services. For example, when the SCS is 15 kHz, it supports wide areas in traditional cellular bands; when the SCS is 30 kHz / 60 kHz, it supports dense cities, lower latency, and wider carrier bandwidths; when the SCS is 60 kHz or higher, it supports bandwidths greater than 24.25 GHz to overcome phase noise.

[0650] NR frequency bands can be defined as two types of frequency ranges (FR1 and FR2). The values of the frequency ranges can change. For example, the two types of frequency ranges (FR1 and FR2) can be as shown in Table 16. For ease of description, FR1 in the frequency range for the NR system can refer to the "range below 6 GHz", and FR2 can refer to the "range above 6 GHz" and can be referred to as millimeter wave (mmW).

[0651] [Table 16]

[0652] Frequency range specification Corresponding frequency range Subcarrier spacing FR1 450MHz – 6000MHz 15, 30, 60kHz FR2 24250MHz – 52600MHz 60, 120, 240kHz

[0653] As exemplified above, the values of the frequency ranges of the NR system can change. For example, FR1 can include frequency bands from 410 MHz to 7125 MHz as shown in Table 17 below. That is, FR1 can include a frequency band of 6 GHz (or 5850, 5900, 5925 MHz, etc.) or greater. For example, the frequency band of 6 GHz (or 5850, 5900, 5925 MHz, etc.) or greater included in FR1 can include unlicensed frequency bands. The unlicensed frequency bands can be used for various purposes, such as communication for vehicles (e.g., autonomous driving).

[0654] [Table 17]

[0655] Frequency range specification Corresponding frequency range Subcarrier spacing FR1 410MHz – 7125MHz 15, 30, 60kHz FR2 24250MHz – 52600MHz 60, 120, 240kHz

[0656] The claims disclosed in this specification can be combined in various ways. For example, the technical features in the method claims of this specification can be combined to be implemented or executed in a device, and the technical features in the device claims of this specification can be combined to be implemented or executed in a method. Additionally, the technical features in the method claims and device claims of this specification can be combined to be implemented or executed in a device. Additionally, the technical features in the method claims and device claims of this specification can be combined to be implemented or executed in a method.

Claims

1. A method for operating a network control repeater (NCR) in a wireless communication system, the NCR including an NCR-mobile terminal (MT) and an NCR-forwarder (Fwd), the method comprising the steps of: receiving, by the NCR-MT, from a base station, beam index information for a beam index applied to an access link between the NCR-Fwd and a user equipment (UE), and time resource information associated with the beam index; and performing, by the NCR-Fwd, a forwarding operation at a time resource indicated by the time resource information using a beam indicated by the beam index; wherein the beam index information separately indicates a downlink beam index and an uplink beam index applied to the access link.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The beam index information includes both the downlink beam index and the uplink beam index.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein The beam index information includes a beam pair index for a beam pair of the downlink beam index and the uplink beam index.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The beam index information indicates the downlink beam index or the uplink beam index via a beam index value, and wherein the beam index value is interpreted as the downlink beam index based on the beam index value being a value within a first range, and is interpreted as the uplink beam index based on the beam index value being a value within a second range.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein The beam index information includes a beam index value and an indicator, and wherein, depending on the value of the indicator, the beam index value is interpreted as the downlink beam index or the uplink beam index.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein The time resource information includes a first time resource associated with the downlink beam index and a second time resource associated with the uplink beam index.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein At a first time resource associated with the downlink beam index, the NCR-Fwd performs a turn-on operation.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein, At a second time resource associated with the uplink beam index, the NCR-Fwd performs a turn-on operation.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein Based on the beam index value indicated by the beam index information being a specific value, the NCR-Fwd performs a turn-off operation in a time resource associated with the beam having the beam index value.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein, Based on the beam index value indicated by the beam index information being a first value, the NCR-Fwd performs a downlink turn-off operation in a time resource associated with the beam having the first value, based on the beam index value being a second value, the NCR-Fwd performs an uplink turn-off operation in a time resource associated with the beam having the second value, and based on the beam index value being a third value, the NCR-Fwd performs a downlink turn-off operation and an uplink turn-off operation in a time resource associated with the beam having the third value.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The beam index information includes a beam index value and an indicator, and wherein the beam index information indicates i) downlink, ii) uplink, iii) downlink turn-off operation, iv) uplink turn-off operation, or v) downlink turn-off operation and uplink turn-off operation depending on the value of the indicator.

12. The method according to claim 1, the method further comprising the steps of: Receiving a closing indicator corresponding to the time resource, wherein the closing indicator indicates a downlink closing operation or an uplink closing operation for the time resource.

13. The method according to claim 1, the method further comprising the steps of: Receiving a closing indicator corresponding to the time resource, wherein the closing indicator indicates i) a downlink closing operation, ii) an uplink closing operation, or iii) a downlink closing operation and an uplink closing operation for the time resource.

14. A network control repeater NCR, the NCR comprising an NCR-mobile terminal MT and an NCR-forwarding Fwd, the NCR comprising: At least one transceiver; At least one memory; And At least one processor, the at least one processor being operatively coupled to the at least one memory and the at least one transceiver, wherein the at least one processor is adapted to: Receive, from the base station via the NCR-MT, beam index information for a beam index applied to an access link between the NCR-Fwd and a user equipment UE, and time resource information associated with the beam index; and Cause the NCR-Fwd to perform a forwarding operation using the beam indicated by the beam index at a time resource indicated by the time resource information, wherein the beam index information separately indicates a downlink beam index and an uplink beam index applied to the access link.

15. An apparatus of a network control repeater NCR, the NCR comprising an NCR-mobile terminal MT and an NCR-forwarding Fwd, the apparatus comprising: At least one memory; And At least one processor, the at least one processor being operatively coupled to the at least one memory, wherein the at least one processor is adapted to: Receive, from the base station via the NCR-MT, beam index information for a beam index applied to an access link between the NCR-Fwd and a user equipment UE, and time resource information associated with the beam index; and Cause the NCR-Fwd to perform a forwarding operation using the beam indicated by the beam index at a time resource indicated by the time resource information, wherein the beam index information separately indicates a downlink beam index and an uplink beam index applied to the access link.

16. A method of operating a base station in a wireless communication system, the method comprising the steps of: Sending, to the NCR-MT of an NCR comprising an NCR-mobile terminal MT and an NCR-forwarding Fwd, beam index information for a beam index applied to an access link between the NCR-Fwd and a user equipment UE, and time resource information associated with the beam index, wherein the beam index information separately indicates a downlink beam index and an uplink beam index applied to the access link.

17. A base station, the base station comprising: At least one transceiver; At least one memory; And At least one processor, the at least one processor being operatively coupled to the at least one transceiver and the at least one memory, wherein the at least one processor is adapted to: send beam index information for a beam index applied to an access link between the NCR-Fwd and a user equipment UE, and time resource information associated with the beam index, to the NCR of an NCR including a network control repeater NCR-Mobile Terminal MT and NCR-Forwarding Fwd, wherein the beam index information separately indicates a downlink beam index and an uplink beam index applied to the access link.

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