Method and apparatus for performing small data transmission in wireless communication system

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a method of performing an operation for a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system. Specifically, the method comprises the steps of: receiving a paging message for triggering a mobile terminal (MT)-small data transmission (SDT) procedure from a network; an MT-SDT process is initiated; and transmitting a radio resource control (RRC) recovery request message to the network in response to the paging message, in which the RRC recovery request message includes information indicating that mobile initiation (MO) uplink data is available based on the mobile initiation (MO) uplink data being generated prior to transmitting the RRC recovery request message.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a wireless communication system, and more particularly, to a method and an apparatus for performing small data transmission (SDT) in a wireless communication system. Background Art

[0002] The introduction of new radio communication technologies has led to an increase in the number of user equipments (UEs) served by a base station (BS) in a prescribed resource area, and has also led to an increase in the amount of control information and data transmitted by the BS to the UEs. Since the resources generally available for communication between the BS and the UEs are limited, new technologies are needed to enable the BS to efficiently receive / transmit uplink data / downlink data and / or uplink control information / downlink control information using the limited radio resources. Specifically, in applications where performance critically depends on latency / delay, overcoming latency or delay has become an important challenge. Summary of the Invention

[0003] Technical Problem

[0004] Accordingly, an object of the present disclosure is to provide a method and an apparatus for performing small data transmission (SDT) in a wireless communication system.

[0005] Technical Solution

[0006] The object of the present disclosure can be achieved by a method for operating a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising the steps of: receiving, from a network, a paging message for triggering a mobile terminal (MT)-small data transmission (SDT) process; initiating the MT-SDT process; and sending, in response to the paging message, a radio resource control (RRC) resume request message to the network, wherein, based on mobile-originated (MO) uplink data being generated before sending the RRC resume request message, the RRC resume request message includes information indicating the availability of the MO uplink data.

[0007] In addition, a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system is proposed, the UE comprising: at least one transceiver; at least one processor; and at least one computer memory, the at least one computer memory being operatively connected to the at least one processor and storing instructions which, when executed, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising: receiving a paging message from a network for triggering a mobile terminal (MT)-small data transmission (SDT) process; initiating the MT-SDT process; and in response to the paging message, sending a radio resource control (RRC) resume request message to the network, wherein, based on mobile-originated (MO) uplink data being generated before sending the RRC resume request message, the RRC resume request message includes information indicating the availability of the MO uplink data.

[0008] Preferably, based on the MO uplink data not being generated before sending the RRC resume request message, the RRC resume request message includes information indicating that the MT-SDT process has been initiated.

[0009] Preferably, based on the MO uplink data being generated before sending the RRC resume request message, the RRC resume request message further includes information indicating whether the MO uplink data can be sent in the RRC inactive state.

[0010] More preferably, based on the RRC resume request message including information indicating that the MO uplink data can be sent in the RRC inactive state, an uplink grant for sending the MO uplink data is received from the network.

[0011] More preferably, based on the RRC resume request message including information indicating that the MO uplink data cannot be sent in the RRC inactive state, an RRC resume message for transitioning to the RRC connected state is received from the network.

[0012] Those skilled in the art will understand that the effects that can be achieved through the present disclosure are not limited to the effects specifically described above, and other advantages of the present disclosure will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description.

[0013] Beneficial effects

[0014] According to the present disclosure, in the case where uplink data is generated after an MT-SDT is initiated and before feedback for a paging message is sent, the network can know whether uplink data can be sent under RRC_INACTIVE. Therefore, if the UE indicates that the generated uplink data is SDT data, the network can provide uplink resources under RRC_INACTIVE, and if the UE indicates that the generated uplink data is non-SDT data, the network can send an RRC Resume message to transition to RRC_CONNECTED. If no indication is introduced, the generated uplink data can be sent after the MT-SDT process terminates.

[0015] The effects obtainable from the present disclosure may not be limited to the above effects. In addition, those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present disclosure pertains can clearly understand other unmentioned effects from the following description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] The drawings included to provide a further understanding of the present disclosure illustrate embodiments of the present disclosure and, together with the description, are used to explain the principles of the present disclosure:

[0017] Figure 1 An example of a communication system illustrating an implementation manner applying the present disclosure;

[0018] Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a communication device that can execute the method according to the present disclosure;

[0019] Figure 3 An example of a frame structure in a 3GPP-based wireless communication system is illustrated;

[0020] Figure 4 An example of a protocol stack in a wireless communication system based on the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is illustrated;

[0021] Figure 5 An example of a data flow in a 3GPP New Radio (NR) system is illustrated;

[0022] Figure 6 Examples of PDSCH time-domain resource allocation via PDCCH and examples of PUSCH time resource allocation via PDCCH are illustrated;

[0023] Figure 7 An example of physical layer processing on the transmitting side is illustrated;

[0024] Figure 8 An example of physical layer processing on the receiving side is illustrated;

[0025] Figure 9Illustrates the situation of generating uplink data after triggering the MT-SDT process;

[0026] Figure 10 Illustrates an example of managing uplink SDT data during the MT-SDT process according to the present disclosure; and

[0027] Figure 11 Illustrates an example of managing uplink non-SDT data during the MT-SDT process according to the present disclosure. Detailed Description

[0028] Now, reference will be made in detail to the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The following detailed description made with reference to the accompanying drawings is intended to explain the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, rather than showing only the embodiments that can be implemented according to the present disclosure. The following detailed description includes specific details to provide a thorough understanding of the present disclosure. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present disclosure can be practiced without these specific details.

[0029] The following technologies, devices, and systems can be applied to various wireless multi-access systems. Examples of multi-access systems include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, and multi-carrier frequency division multiple access (MC-FDMA) systems. CDMA can be implemented by radio technologies such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA) or CDMA2000. TDMA can be implemented by radio technologies such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), or Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE). OFDMA can be implemented by radio technologies such as Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, or Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA). UTRA is part of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) is part of the Evolved UMTS (E-UMTS) that uses E-UTRA. 3GPP LTE employs OFDMA in the DL and SC-FDMA in the UL. LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) is an evolved version of 3GPP LTE.

[0030] For ease of description, implementations of the present disclosure are mainly described with respect to 3GPP-based wireless communication systems. However, the technical features of the present disclosure are not limited thereto. For example, although the following detailed description is given based on a mobile communication system corresponding to a 3GPP-based wireless communication system, aspects of the present disclosure that are not limited to 3GPP-based wireless communication systems are applicable to other mobile communication systems. For terms and technologies not specifically described among the terms and technologies adopted in the present disclosure, reference may be made to wireless communication standard documents published prior to the present disclosure. For example, the following documents may be referred to.

[0031] 3GPP LTE

[0032] -3GPP TS 36.211: Physical Channels and Modulation

[0033] -3GPP TS 36.212: Multiplexing and Channel Coding

[0034] -3GPP TS 36.213: Physical Layer Procedures

[0035] -3GPP TS 36.214: Physical Layer; Measurements

[0036] -3GPP TS 36.300: General Description

[0037] -3GPP TS 36.304: User Equipment (UE) Procedures in Idle Mode

[0038] -3GPP TS 36.314: Layer 2-Measurements

[0039] -3GPP TS 36.321: Medium Access Control (MAC) Protocol

[0040] -3GPP TS 36.322: Radio Link Control (RLC) Protocol

[0041] -3GPP TS 36.323: Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP)

[0042] -3GPP TS 36.331: Radio Resource Control (RRC) Protocol

[0043] 3GPP NR (e.g., 5G)

[0044] -3GPP TS 38.211: Physical Channels and Modulation

[0045] -3GPP TS 38.212: Multiplexing and Channel Coding

[0046] -3GPP TS 38.213: Physical Layer Procedures for Control

[0047] - 3GPP TS 38.214: Physical Layer Procedures for Data

[0048] - 3GPP TS 38.215: Physical Layer Measurements

[0049] - 3GPP TS 38.300: General Description

[0050] - 3GPP TS 38.304: User Equipment (UE) Procedures in Idle Mode and in RRC Inactive State

[0051] - 3GPP TS 38.321: Medium Access Control (MAC) Protocol

[0052] - 3GPP TS 38.322: Radio Link Control (RLC) Protocol

[0053] - 3GPP TS 38.323: Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP)

[0054] - 3GPP TS 38.331: Radio Resource Control (RRC) Protocol

[0055] - 3GPP TS 37.324: Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP)

[0056] - 3GPP TS 37.340: Multi-Connectivity; General Description

[0057] In this disclosure, a user equipment (UE) can be a fixed or mobile device. Examples of a UE include various devices that send user data and / or various control information to a base station (BS) and receive user data and / or various control information from the base station (BS). In this disclosure, a BS generally refers to a fixed station that communicates with a UE and / or other BSs and exchanges various data and control information with the UE and other BSs. A BS can be referred to as an advanced base station (ABS), a Node B (NB), an evolved Node B (eNB), a base transceiver system (BTS), an access point (AP), a processing server (PS), etc. In particular, the BS of UMTS is called an NB, the BS of an evolved packet core (EPC) / Long Term Evolution (LTE) system is called an eNB, and the BS of a new radio (NR) system is called a gNB.

[0058] In the present disclosure, a node refers to a point that can transmit / receive radio signals by communicating with a UE. Various types of BSs can be used as nodes regardless of their terminology. For example, a BS, Node B (NB), eNode B (eNB), pico eNB (PeNB), home eNB (HeNB), repeater, transponder, etc. can be nodes. Additionally, a node can be other than a BS. For example, a node can be a radio frequency remote head (RRH) or a radio frequency remote unit (RRU). The power level of an RRH or RRU is generally lower than that of a BS. Since an RRH or RRU (hereinafter referred to as RRH / RRU) is generally connected to a BS through a dedicated line such as an optical cable, the cooperative communication between the RRH / RRU and the BS can be performed smoothly compared to the cooperative communication between BSs connected through radio lines. Each node is equipped with at least one antenna. The antenna can include a physical antenna, an antenna port, or a virtual antenna.

[0059] In the present disclosure, the term "cell" can refer to a geographical area to which one or more nodes provide a communication system, or can refer to radio resources. The "cell" of the geographical area can be understood as the coverage area where a node can provide services using a carrier, and the "cell" as radio resources (e.g., time-frequency resources) is associated with the bandwidth (BW) which is the frequency range configured by the carrier. The "cell" associated with radio resources is defined by a combination of downlink resources and uplink resources (e.g., a combination of a downlink (DL) component carrier (CC) and an uplink (UL) CC). A cell can be configured only by downlink resources, or can be configured by downlink resources and uplink resources. Since the DL coverage area which is the range where a node can transmit an effective signal and the UL coverage area which is the range where a node can receive an effective signal from a UE depend on the carrier carrying the signal, the coverage area of a node can be associated with the coverage area of the "cell" of the radio resources used by the node. Therefore, the term "cell" can sometimes be used to represent the service coverage area of a node, sometimes represent radio resources, or sometimes represent the range where a signal using radio resources can reach with an effective intensity.

[0060] In the present disclosure, the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) respectively refer to a set of time-frequency resources or resource elements (REs) carrying downlink control information (DCI), and a set of time-frequency resources or REs carrying downlink data. Additionally, the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), and the physical random access channel (PRACH) respectively refer to a set of time-frequency resources or REs carrying uplink control information (UCI), a set of time-frequency resources or REs carrying uplink data, and a set of time-frequency resources or REs carrying a random access signal.

[0061] In carrier aggregation (CA), two or more component carriers (CCs) are aggregated. The UE can receive or transmit simultaneously on one or more CCs according to its capabilities. Both contiguous CCs and non-contiguous CCs support CA. When CA is configured, the UE has only one radio resource control (RRC) connection with the network. At the time of RRC connection establishment / re-establishment / handoff, one serving cell provides non-access stratum (NAS) mobility information, and at the time of RRC connection re-establishment / handoff, one serving cell provides security input. This cell is referred to as the primary cell (PCell). The PCell is a cell operating on the primary frequency, where the UE performs the initial connection establishment procedure or initiates the connection re-establishment procedure. According to the capabilities of the UE, secondary cells (SCells) can be configured to form a set of serving cells together with the PCell. The SCell is a cell that provides additional radio resources on a special cell. Therefore, a set of serving cells configured for the UE always consists of one PCell and one or more SCells. In the present disclosure, for dual connectivity (DC) operation, the term "special cell" refers to the PCell of the master cell group (MCG) or the PSCell of the secondary cell group (SCG), and otherwise the term special cell refers to the PCell. The SpCell supports physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmission and contention-based random access, and is always active. The MCG is a set of serving cells associated with the master node that includes the SpCell (PCell) and optionally one or more SCells. The SCG is a subset of serving cells associated with the secondary node for a UE configured with DC that includes the PSCell and zero or more SCells. For a UE in RRC CONNECTED that is not configured with CA / DC, there is only one serving cell consisting of the PCell. For a UE in RRC_CONNECTED that is configured with CA / DC, the term "serving cell" is used to denote a set of cells consisting of the SpCell and all SCells.

[0062] The MCG is a set of serving cells associated with at least the master BS that terminates S1-MME, and the SCG is a set of serving cells associated with the secondary BS that provides additional radio resources for the UE but is not the master BS. The SCG includes the primary SCell (PSCell) and optionally one or more SCells. In DC, two MAC entities are configured in the UE: one for the MCG and one for the SCG. Each MAC entity is configured by the RRC with serving cells that support PUCCH transmission and contention-based random access. In the present disclosure, the term SpCell refers to such a cell, while the term SCell refers to other serving cells. Depending on whether the MAC entity is associated with the MCG or the SCG respectively, the term SpCell refers to the PCell of the MCG or the PSCell of the SCG.

[0063] In the present disclosure, monitoring a channel refers to attempting to decode the channel. For example, monitoring the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) refers to attempting to decode the PDCCH (or PDCCH candidates).

[0064] In the present disclosure, "C-RNTI" refers to the Cell RNTI, "SI-RNTI" refers to the System Information RNTI, "P-RNTI" refers to the Paging RNTI, "RA-RNTI" refers to the Random Access RNTI, "SC-RNTI" refers to the Single Cell RNTI, "SL-RNTI" refers to the Sidelink RNTI, "SPS C-RNTI" refers to the Semi-Persistent Scheduling C-RNTI, and "CS-RNTI" refers to the Configured Scheduling RNTI.

[0065] Figure 1 An example of a communication system 1 implementing the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0066] The three main requirement categories of 5G include: (1) the category of Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), (2) the category of Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC), and (3) the category of Ultra-Reliable and Low-Latency Communication (URLLC).

[0067] Some use cases may require multiple categories for optimization, and other use cases may focus only on one Key Performance Indicator (KPI). 5G supports such various use cases using flexible and reliable methods.

[0068] eMBB far exceeds basic mobile Internet access and covers rich two-way work and media and entertainment applications in the cloud and augmented reality. Data is one of the core driving forces of 5G, and in the 5G era, dedicated voice services can be provided for the first time. In 5G, voice is expected to be simply processed as an application using the data connection provided by the communication system. The main reason for increasing service capacity is due to the increase in content size and the increase in the number of applications that require high data transfer rates. As more and more devices are connected to the Internet, streaming services (audio and video), video conferencing, and mobile Internet access will be used more widely. Many of these applications require always-on connections to push real-time information and alerts to users. Cloud storage and applications are growing rapidly in the mobile communication platform and can be applied to both work and entertainment. Cloud storage is a special use case that accelerates the growth of uplink data transfer rates. 5G is also used for remote work in the cloud. When using a tactile interface, 5G requires a much lower end-to-end latency to maintain a good user experience. Entertainment, such as cloud gaming and video streaming, is another core element that increases the demand for mobile broadband capabilities. Entertainment is essential for smartphones and tablets anywhere, including high-mobility environments such as trains, vehicles, and airplanes. Other use cases are augmented reality for entertainment and information search. In this case, augmented reality requires very low latency and instantaneous data capacity.

[0069] In addition, one of the most promising 5G use cases involves the ability to smoothly connect embedded sensors in all fields, i.e., mMTC. It is expected that the number of potential IoT devices will reach 204 billion in 2020. Industrial IoT is one of the categories that play a major role in implementing smart cities, asset tracking, smart utilities, agriculture, and security infrastructure through 5G.

[0070] URLLC includes new services that will transform industries, such as autonomous vehicles, through remote control and ultra-reliable / available low-latency links over the main infrastructure. The levels of reliability and latency are necessary for controlling smart grids, automating industries, implementing robots, and controlling and adjusting drones.

[0071] 5G is a means of providing streams evaluated at hundreds of megabits per second to gigabits per second and can complement fiber to the home (FTTH) and cable-based broadband (or DOCSIS). Such high speeds are needed to deliver TV at resolutions of 4K or more (6K, 8K, and more), as well as virtual reality and augmented reality. Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) applications include nearly immersive motion games. Specific applications may require special network configurations. For example, for VR games, game companies need to incorporate core servers into the edge network servers of network operators to minimize latency.

[0072] The expected automobile, along with many use cases for vehicle mobile communication, is a new and important driving force in 5G. For example, the entertainment of passengers requires high simultaneous capacity and mobile broadband with high mobility. This is because future users continue to expect high-quality connections regardless of their location and speed. Another use case in the automotive field is the AR dashboard. The AR dashboard enables the driver to identify objects in the dark in addition to the objects seen through the front window, and displays the distance to the objects and the movement of the objects by overlapping the information told to the driver. In the future, wireless modules enable communication between vehicles, information exchange between vehicles and supporting infrastructure, and information exchange between vehicles and other connected devices (e.g., devices accompanied by pedestrians). The safety system guides alternative routes of behavior, enabling the driver to drive more safely, thereby reducing the risk of accidents. The next stage will be remotely controlled or self-driving vehicles. This requires very high reliability and very fast communication between different self-driving vehicles and between vehicles and infrastructure. In the future, self-driving vehicles will perform all driving activities, and the driver will only focus on abnormal traffic that the vehicle cannot identify. The technical requirements of self-driving vehicles require ultra-low latency and ultra-high reliability, increasing traffic safety to a level that cannot be achieved by humans.

[0073] Smart cities and smart homes / buildings, which are mentioned as intelligent societies, will be embedded in high-density wireless sensor networks. The distributed network of smart sensors will identify the conditions for cost-effective and energy-efficient maintenance of the city or home. Similar configurations can be performed for the corresponding home. All temperature sensors, window and heating controllers, burglar alarms, and household appliances are wirelessly connected. Many of these sensors are typically low in data transfer rate, power, and cost. However, certain types of devices may require real-time HD video to perform monitoring.

[0074] The consumption and distribution of energy, including heat or gas, are distributed at a higher level, making automatic control of the distribution sensor network necessary. The smart grid collects information and uses digital information and communication technologies to connect sensors to each other and act based on the collected information. Since this information can include the behavior of supply companies and consumers, the smart grid can improve the distribution of fuels such as electricity through methods with efficiency, reliability, economic feasibility, production sustainability, and automation. The smart grid can also be considered another sensor network with low latency.

[0075] Critical mission applications (e.g., e-health) are one of the 5G use cases. The health segment includes many applications that can enjoy the benefits of mobile communication. The communication system can support teletherapy that provides clinical treatment at remote locations. Teletherapy can help reduce the barrier of distance and improve access to medical services that are not continuously available in remote rural areas. Teletherapy is also used to perform critical treatments and save lives in emergency situations. A wireless sensor network based on mobile communication can provide remote monitoring and sensors for parameters such as heart rate and blood pressure.

[0076] Wireless and mobile communication are becoming increasingly important in the field of industrial applications. Cabling is costly in terms of installation and maintenance. Therefore, the possibility of replacing cables with reconfigurable wireless links is an attractive opportunity in many industrial fields. However, to achieve such a replacement, the wireless connection needs to establish a latency, reliability, and capacity similar to that of cables, and the management of the wireless connection needs to be simplified. When connecting to 5G, low latency and a very low error probability are new requirements.

[0077] Logistics and freight tracking are important use cases of mobile communication, which allow the use of location-based information systems to track inventory and packages anywhere. The use cases of logistics and freight tracking generally require low data rates but need location information with a wide range and reliability.

[0078] Referring Figure 1 , communication system 1 includes wireless devices, a base station (BS), and a network. Although Figure 1 Example 5G networks are illustrated as an example of the network of communication system 1, but the implementation of the present disclosure is not limited to 5G systems and can be applied to future communication systems other than 5G systems.

[0079] The BS and the network can be implemented as wireless devices, and a specific wireless device 200a can operate as a BS / network node relative to other wireless devices.

[0080] A wireless device refers to a device that performs communication using a radio access technology (RAT), such as 5G New RAT (NR) or Long-Term Evolution (LTE), and can be referred to as a communication / wireless / 5G device. The wireless device may include, but is not limited to, 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 wireless communication capabilities, an autonomous driving vehicle, and a vehicle capable of performing communication between vehicles. The 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) mounted 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.

[0081] In the present disclosure, wireless devices 100a to 100f may be referred to as user equipment (UE). The user equipment (UE) may include, for example, a cellular phone, a smart phone, a laptop computer, a digital broadcast terminal, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a portable multimedia player (PMP), a navigation system, a slate personal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a superbook, a vehicle, a vehicle having an autonomous driving function, a connected car, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), an artificial intelligence (AI) module, a robot, an augmented reality (AR) device, a virtual reality (VR) device, a mixed reality (MR) device, a hologram device, a public safety device, an MTC device, an IoT device, a medical device, a Fintech device (or financial device), a security device, a weather / environment device, a device related to 5G services, or a device related to the fourth industrial evolution field. The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) may be, for example, an aircraft driven by a wireless control signal without a person being on board. The VR device may include, for example, a device for implementing an object or background of a virtual world. The AR device may include, for example, a device implemented by connecting an object or background of a virtual world to an object or background of the real world. The MR device may include, for example, a device implemented by merging an object or background of a virtual world into an object or background of the real world. The hologram device may include, for example, a device for implementing a 360-degree stereoscopic image by recording and reproducing stereoscopic information, which uses an interference phenomenon of light generated when two lasers called holographic imaging meet. The public safety device may include, for example, an image relay device or an image device wearable on a user's body. The MTC device and the IoT device may be, for example, devices that do not require direct human intervention or manipulation. For example, the MTC device and the IoT device may include smart meters, vending machines, thermometers, smart light bulbs, door locks, or various sensors. The medical device may be, for example, a device for the purpose of diagnosing, treating, alleviating, curing, or preventing diseases. For example, the medical device may be a device for the purpose of diagnosing, treating, alleviating, or correcting injuries or wounds. For example, the medical device may be a device for the purpose of examining, replacing, or modifying a structure or function. For example, the medical device may be a device for the purpose of regulating pregnancy. For example, the medical device may include a device for treatment, a device for operation, a device for (in vitro) diagnosis, a hearing aid, or a device for surgery. The security device may be, for example, a device installed to prevent possible dangers and maintain safety. For example, the security device may be a camera, a CCTV, a recorder, or a black box. The Fintech device may be, for example, a device capable of providing financial services such as mobile payment. For example, the Fintech device may include a payment device or a point of sale (POS) system. The weather / environment device may include, for example, a device for monitoring or predicting weather / environment.

[0082] Wireless devices 100a to 100f can be connected to network 300 via BS200. AI technology can be applied to wireless devices 100a to 100f, and wireless devices 100a to 100f can be connected to AI server 400 via network 300. Network 300 can be configured using 3G networks, 4G (e.g., LTE) networks, 5G (e.g., NR) networks, and super 5G networks. Although wireless devices 100a to 100f can communicate with each other via BS200 / network 300, wireless devices 100a to 100f can perform direct communication (e.g., sidelink communication) with each other without going through the BS / network. For example, vehicles 100b-1 and 100b-2 can perform direct communication (e.g., vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) / vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication). IoT devices (e.g., sensors) can perform direct communication with other IoT devices (e.g., sensors) or other wireless devices 100a to 100f.

[0083] Wireless communications / connections 150A and 150b can be established between wireless devices 100a to 100f / BS200 - BS200. Herein, wireless communications / connections can be established through various RATs (e.g., 5G NR) such as uplink / downlink communication 150a and sidelink communication 150b (or D2D communication). The wireless devices and the BS / wireless devices can send / receive radio signals to / from each other through wireless communications / connections 150a and 150b. For example, wireless communications / connections 150a and 150b can send / receive signals through various physical channels. To this end, 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 sending / receiving radio signals can be performed based on various proposals of the present disclosure.

[0084] Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a communication device that can execute the method according to the present disclosure.

[0085] Referring to Figure 2 , the first wireless device 100 and the second wireless device 200 can send / receive radio signals to / from external devices through various RATs (e.g., LTE and NR). In Figure 2 , {the first wireless device 100 and the second wireless device 200} can correspond to {wireless devices 100a to 100f and BS200} and / or {wireless devices 100a to 100f and wireless devices 100a to 100f} of Figure 1 .

[0086] The first wireless device 100 may include one or more processors 102 and one or more memories 104, and additionally may further include one or more transceivers 106 and / or one or more antennas 108. The processor 102 may control the memory 104 and / or the transceiver 106 and may be configured to implement the functions, processes, and / or methods described in the present disclosure. For example, the processor 102 may process information within the memory 104 to generate first information / signals, and then transmit radio signals including the first information / signals via the transceiver 106. The processor 102 may receive radio signals including second information / signals via the transceiver 106, and then store the information obtained by processing the second information / signals in the memory 104. The memory 104 may be connected to the processor 102 and may store various information related to the operation of the processor 102. For example, the memory 104 may store software code including commands for performing part or all of the processes controlled by the processor 102 or for performing the processes and / or methods described in the present disclosure. Herein, the processor 102 and the memory 104 may be part of a communication modem / circuit / chip designed to implement a RAT (e.g., LTE or NR). The transceiver 106 may be connected to the processor 102 and transmit and / or receive radio signals via one or more antennas 108. Each of the transceivers 106 may include a transmitter and / or a receiver. The transceiver 106 may be used interchangeably with a radio frequency (RF) unit. In the present disclosure, a wireless device may represent a communication modem / circuit / chip.

[0087] The second wireless device 200 may include one or more processors 202 and one or more memories 204, and additionally may also include one or more transceivers 206 and / or one or more antennas 208. The processor 202 may control the memory 204 and / or the transceiver 206 and may be configured to implement the functions, processes, and / or methods described in this disclosure. For example, the processor 202 may process the information within the memory 204 to generate third information / signals, and then transmit radio signals including the third information / signals via the transceiver 206. The processor 202 may receive radio signals including fourth information / signals via the transceiver 206, and then store the information obtained by processing the fourth information / signals in the memory 204. The memory 204 may be connected to the processor 202 and may store various information related to the operation of the processor 202. For example, the memory 204 may store software code including commands for performing part or all of the processes controlled by the processor 202 or for performing the processes and / or methods described in this disclosure. Herein, the processor 202 and the memory 204 may be part of a communication modem / circuit / chip designed to implement a RAT (e.g., LTE or NR). The transceiver 206 may be connected to the processor 202 and transmit and / or receive radio signals via one or more antennas 208. Each of the transceivers 206 may include a transmitter and / or a receiver. The transceiver 206 may be used interchangeably with the RF unit. In this disclosure, a wireless device may represent a communication modem / circuit / chip.

[0088] In the following, the hardware components of wireless devices 100 and 200 will be described in more detail. One or more protocol layers may be implemented by, but not limited to, one or more processors 102 and 202. For example, one or more processors 102 and 202 may implement one or more layers (e.g., functional layers such as PHY, MAC, RLC, PDCP, RRC, and SDAP). One or more processors 102 and 202 may generate one or more protocol data units (PDUs) and / or one or more service data units (SDUs) according to the functions, processes, proposals, and / or methods disclosed in this disclosure. One or more processors 102 and 202 may generate messages, control information, data, or information according to the functions, processes, proposals, and / or methods disclosed in this disclosure. One or more processors 102 and 202 may generate signals (e.g., baseband signals) including PDUs, SDUs, messages, control information, data, or information according to the functions, processes, proposals, and / or methods disclosed in this disclosure and provide the generated signals to one or more transceivers 106 and 206. One or more processors 102 and 202 may receive signals (e.g., baseband signals) from one or more transceivers 106 and 206 and obtain PDUs, SDUs, messages, control information, data, or information according to the functions, processes, proposals, and / or methods disclosed in this disclosure.

[0089] One or more processors 102 and 202 may be referred to as a controller, microcontroller, microprocessor, or microcomputer. One or more processors 102 and 202 may be implemented by hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof. For example, one or more application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), one or more digital signal processors (DSPs), one or more digital signal processing devices (DSPDs), one or more programmable logic devices (PLDs), or one or more field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) may be included in one or more processors 102 and 202. The functions, processes, proposals, and / or methods disclosed in this disclosure may be implemented using firmware or software, and the firmware or software may be configured to include modules, processes, or functions. The firmware or software configured to execute the functions, processes, proposals, and / or methods disclosed in this disclosure may be included in one or more processors 102 and 202 or stored in one or more memories 104 and 204 for driving by one or more processors 102 and 202. The functions, processes, proposals, and / or methods disclosed in this disclosure may be implemented using firmware or software in the form of code, commands, and / or command sets.

[0090] One or more memories 104 and 204 may be connected to one or more processors 102 and 202 and store various types of data, signals, messages, information, programs, code, instructions, and / or commands. One or more memories 104 and 204 may be configured by read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), flash memory, hard disk drive, register, cache memory, computer-readable storage medium, and / or combinations thereof. One or more memories 104 and 204 may be located inside and / or outside one or more processors 102 and 202. One or more memories 104 and 204 may be connected to one or more processors 102 and 202 through various technologies such as wired or wireless connections.

[0091] One or more transceivers 106 and 206 may transmit user data, control information, and / or radio signals / channels mentioned in the methods and / or operational flowcharts of the present disclosure to one or more other devices. One or more transceivers 106 and 206 may receive user data, control information, and / or radio signals / channels mentioned in the functions, processes, proposals, methods, and / or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure from one or more other devices. For example, one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may be connected to one or more processors 102 and 202 and transmit and receive radio signals. For example, one or more processors 102 and 202 may execute control so that one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may transmit user data, control information, or radio signals to one or more other devices. One or more processors 102 and 202 may execute control so that one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may receive user data, control information, or radio signals from one or more other devices. One or more transceivers 106 and 206 may be connected to one or more antennas 108 and 208, and one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may be configured to transmit and receive user data, control information, and / or radio signals / channels mentioned in the functions, processes, proposals, methods, and / or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure through one or more antennas 108 and 208. In the present disclosure, one or more antennas may be multiple physical antennas or multiple logical antennas (e.g., antenna ports). One or more transceivers 106 and 206 may convert received radio signals / channels, etc. from RF band signals to baseband signals to facilitate processing of received user data, control information, radio signals / channels, etc. using one or more processors 102 and 202. One or more transceivers 106 and 206 may convert user data, control information, radio signals / channels, etc. processed using one or more processors 102 and 202 from baseband signals to RF band signals. To this end, one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may include (analog) oscillators and / or filters. For example, transceivers 106 and 206 may, under the control of processors 102 and 202, up-convert an OFDM baseband signal to a carrier frequency through their (analog) oscillators and / or filters and transmit the up-converted OFDM signal at the carrier frequency. Transceivers 106 and 206 may receive an OFDM signal at the carrier frequency and down-convert the OFDM signal to an OFDM baseband signal through their (analog) oscillators and / or filters under the control of processors 102 and 202.

[0092] In an implementation of the present disclosure, a UE may be used as a transmitting device in the uplink (UL) and a receiving device in the downlink (DL). In an implementation of the present disclosure, a BS may be used as a receiving device in the UL and a transmitting device in the DL. Hereinafter, for ease of description, unless otherwise stated or described, it is mainly assumed that the first wireless device 100 is used as a UE, and the second wireless device 200 is used as a BS. For example, a processor 102 connected to, installed in, or initiated in the first wireless device 100 may be configured to perform UE behavior according to an implementation of the present disclosure or control a transceiver 106 to perform UE behavior according to an implementation of the present disclosure. A processor 202 connected to, installed on, or initiated in the second wireless device 200 may be configured to perform BS behavior according to an implementation of the present disclosure or control a transceiver 206 to perform BS behavior according to an implementation of the present disclosure.

[0093] In the present disclosure, at least one memory (e.g., 104 or 204) may store instructions or programs that, when executed, cause at least one processor operatively connected thereto to perform operations according to some embodiments or implementations of the present disclosure.

[0094] In the present disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium stores at least one instruction or computer program that, when executed by at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to perform operations according to some embodiments or implementations of the present disclosure.

[0095] In the present disclosure, a processing device or apparatus may include at least one processor and at least one computer memory, the at least one computer memory being connectable to the at least one processor and storing instructions that, when executed, cause the at least one processor to perform operations according to some embodiments or implementations of the present disclosure.

[0096] Figure 3 An example of a frame structure in a 3GPP-based wireless communication system is illustrated.

[0097] Figure 3The frame structure shown is merely exemplary, and the number of sub - frames, the number of time slots, and / or the number of symbols in a frame can be changed differently. In a 3GPP - based wireless communication system, OFDM parameter sets (e.g., sub - carrier spacing (SCS), transmission time interval (TTI) duration) can be configured differently among multiple cells aggregated for one UE. For example, if a UE is configured with different SCSs for cells for cell aggregation, the (absolute - time) duration of a time resource (e.g., sub - frame, time slot, or TTI) including the same number of symbols can be different among the aggregated cells. In this document, a symbol can include an OFDM symbol (or CP - OFDM symbol), an SC - FDMA symbol (or discrete Fourier transform - spread - OFDM (DFT - s - OFDM) symbol).

[0098] Referring to Figure 3 , downlink and uplink transmissions are organized into frames. Each frame has a duration of T f = 10 ms. Each frame is divided into two half - frames, where each half - frame has a duration of 5 ms. Each half - frame includes 5 sub - frames, where the duration T sf of each sub - frame is 1 ms. Each sub - frame is divided into time slots, and the number of time slots in a sub - frame depends on the sub - carrier spacing. Each time slot includes 14 or 12 OFDM symbols based on a cyclic prefix (CP). In normal CP, each time slot includes 14 OFDM symbols, and in extended CP, each time slot includes 12 OFDM symbols. The parameter set is based on an exponentially scalable sub - carrier spacing Δf = 2 u *15 kHz. The following table shows the number of OFDM symbols per time slot, the number of time slots per frame, and the number of time slots per sub - frame for normal CP according to the sub - carrier spacing Δf = 2 u *15 kHz.

[0099] [Table 1]

[0100] u <![CDATA[N slot symb > <![CDATA[N frame，u slot > <![CDATA[N subframe，u slot > 0 14 10 1 1 14 20 2 2 14 40 4 3 14 80 8 4 4 160 16

[0101] The following table shows the number of OFDM symbols per time slot, the number of time slots per frame, and the number of time slots per sub - frame for extended CP according to the sub - carrier spacing Δf = 2 u *15 kHz.

[0102] [Table 2]

[0103] u <![CDATA[N slot symb > <![CDATA[N frame,u slot > <![CDATA[N subframe，u slot > 2 12 40 4

[0104] A time slot includes a plurality of symbols (e.g., 14 or 12 symbols) in the time domain. For each parameter set (e.g., subcarrier spacing) and carrier, starting from a common resource block (CRB) N indicated by higher layer signaling (e.g., radio resource control (RRC) signaling) start,u grid N resource blocks are defined starting from size,u grid,x *N RB sc subcarriers and N subframe,u symb OFDM symbols in a resource grid, where N size,u grid,x is the number of resource blocks in the resource grid, and the subscript x is DL for downlink and UL for uplink. N RB sc is the number of subcarriers per resource block. In a 3GPP-based wireless communication system, N RB sc is typically 12. For a given antenna port p, subcarrier spacing configuration u, and transmission direction (DL or UL), there is a resource grid. The carrier bandwidth N for subcarrier spacing configuration u size,u grid is given by higher layer parameters (e.g., RRC parameters). Each element in the resource grid for antenna port p and subcarrier spacing configuration u is called a resource element (RE), and one complex symbol can be mapped to each RE. Each RE in the resource grid is uniquely identified by an index k in the frequency domain and an index l representing the symbol position relative to a reference point in the time domain. In a 3GPP-based wireless communication system, a resource block is defined by 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain.

[0105] In the 3GPP NR system, resource blocks are classified into common resource blocks (CRBs) and physical resource blocks (PRBs). CRBs are numbered upward starting from 0 in the frequency domain for subcarrier spacing configuration u. The center of subcarrier 0 of CRB 0 for subcarrier spacing configuration u coincides with "Point A" which is the common reference point for the resource block grid. In the 3GPP NR system, PRBs are defined within a bandwidth part (BWP) and are numbered from 0 to N size BWP,i - 1, where i is the number of the bandwidth part. The physical resource block n in bandwidth part i PRB and the common resource block n CRB have the following relationship: n PRB = n CRB + N size BWP,i where N size BWP,iis the common resource block where the bandwidth part starts relative to CRB 0. A BWP includes multiple consecutive resource blocks. A carrier can include up to N (e.g., 5) BWPs. A UE can be configured with one or more BWPs on a given component carrier. Among the BWPs configured for a UE, only one BWP can be active at a time. The active BWP defines the operating bandwidth of the UE within the operating bandwidth of the cell.

[0106] NR bands can be defined as two types of frequency ranges, FR1 and FR2. FR2 can also be referred to as millimeter wave (mmW). The frequency ranges in which NR can operate are shown as described in Table 3.

[0107] [Table 3]

[0108]

[0109] Figure 4 Illustrates an example of the protocol stack in a 3GPP-based wireless communication system.

[0110] Specifically, Figure 4 (a) of illustrates an example of the radio interface user plane protocol stack between a UE and a base station (BS) and Figure 4 (b) of illustrates an example of the radio interface control plane protocol stack between a UE and a BS. The control plane refers to the path through which control messages for call management by the UE and the network are transmitted. The user plane refers to the path through which data generated in the application layer (e.g., voice data or Internet packet data) is transmitted. Referring to Figure 4 (a) of, the user plane protocol stack can be divided into a first layer (Layer 1) (i.e., the physical (PHY) layer) and a second layer (Layer 2). Referring to Figure 4 (b) of, the control plane protocol stack can be divided into Layer 1 (i.e., the PHY layer), Layer 2, Layer 3 (e.g., the radio resource control (RRC) layer), and the non-access stratum (NAS) layer. Layer 1, Layer 2, and Layer 3 are referred to as the access stratum (AS).

[0111] The NAS control protocol terminates at the access management function (AMF) on the network side and performs functions such as authentication, mobility management, security control, etc.

[0112] In the 3GPP LTE system, Layer 2 is split into the following sublayers: Medium Access Control (MAC), Radio Link Control (RLC), and Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP). In the 3GPP New Radio (NR) system, Layer 2 is split into the following sublayers: MAC, RLC, PDCP, and SDAP. The PHY layer provides transport channels to the MAC sublayer, the MAC sublayer provides logical channels to the RLC sublayer, the RLC sublayer provides RLC channels to the PDCP sublayer, and the PDCP sublayer provides radio bearers to the SDAP sublayer. The SDAP sublayer provides Quality of Service (QoS) flows to the 5G core network.

[0113] In the 3GPP NR system, the main services and functions of SDAP include: mapping of QoS flows to data radio bearers; marking of QoS flow ID (QFI) in both DL and UL packets. A single SDAP protocol entity is configured for each individual PDU session.

[0114] In the 3GPP NR system, the main services and functions of the RRC sublayer include: broadcasting of system information related to AS and NAS; paging initiated by the 5G Core (5GC) or NG-RAN; establishment, maintenance, and release of the RRC connection between the UE and the NG-RAN; security functions including key management; establishment, configuration, maintenance, and release of signaling radio bearers (SRBs) and data radio bearers (DRBs); mobility functions (including: handover and context transfer; UE cell selection and reselection and control of cell selection and reselection; inter-RAT mobility); QoS management functions; control of UE measurement reports and reporting; detection and recovery of radio link failures; transfer of NAS messages from the UE to the NAS / from the NAS to the UE.

[0115] In the 3GPP NR system, the main services and functions of the PDCP sublayer for the user plane include: sequence numbering; header compression and decompression: only ROHC; transfer of user data; reordering and duplicate detection; in-sequence delivery; PDCP PDU routing (in the case of split bearers); retransmission of PDCP SDUs; encryption, decryption, and integrity protection; PDCP SDU discard; PDCP re-establishment and data recovery for RLC AM; PDCP status reporting for RLC AM; duplication of PDCP PDUs and indication of duplicate discard to the lower layer. The main services and functions of the PDCP sublayer for the control plane include: sequence numbering; encryption, decryption, and integrity protection; transfer of control plane data; reordering and duplicate detection; in-sequence delivery; duplication of PDCP PDUs and indication of duplicate discard to the lower layer.

[0116] The RLC sublayer supports three transmission modes: Transparent Mode (TM); Unacknowledged Mode (UM); and Acknowledged Mode (AM). The RLC configuration is per logical channel and is independent of the parameter set and / or transmission duration. In the 3GPP NR system, the main services and functions of the RLC sublayer depend on the transmission mode and include: transfer of upper layer PDUs; sequence numbering independent of PDCP (UM and AM); error correction via ARQ (AM only); segmentation (AM and UM) and re-segmentation (AM only) of RLC SDUs; reassembly of SDUs (AM and UM); duplicate detection (AM only); RLC SDU discard (AM and UM); RLC re-establishment; protocol error detection (AM only).

[0117] In the 3GPP NR system, the main services and functions of the MAC sublayer include: mapping between logical channels and transport channels; multiplexing / demultiplexing MAC SDUs belonging to one or different logical channels into / from transport blocks (TBs) delivered to / from the physical layer on the transport channel; scheduling information reporting; error correction via HARQ (one HARQ entity per cell in the case of carrier aggregation (CA)); priority handling among UEs via dynamic scheduling; priority handling among the logical channels of one UE via logical channel prioritization; padding. A single MAC entity can support multiple parameter sets, transmission timings, and cells. The mapping restrictions in logical channel prioritization control which parameter set(s), cell, and transmission timing a logical channel can use. The MAC provides different kinds of data transfer services. To accommodate different kinds of data transfer services, multiple types of logical channels are defined, i.e., each logical channel supports the transfer of a specific type of information. Each logical channel type is defined by what type of information is transferred. Logical channels are divided into two groups: control channels and traffic channels. Control channels are only used for the transfer of control plane information, and traffic channels are only used for the transfer of user plane information. The broadcast control channel (BCCH) is a downlink logical channel for broadcasting system control information, the paging control channel (PCCH) is a downlink logical channel for transmitting paging information, system information change notification, and indication of ongoing PWS broadcast, the common control channel (CCCH) is a logical channel for sending control information between the UE and the network and is used by UEs without an RRC connection to the network, and the dedicated control channel (DCCH) is a point-to-point bidirectional logical channel for sending dedicated control information between the UE and the network and is used by UEs with an RRC connection. The dedicated traffic channel (DTCH) is a point-to-point logical channel dedicated to one UE for transferring user information. The DTCH can exist in both the uplink and the downlink. In the downlink, there are the following connections between logical channels and transport channels: the BCCH can be mapped to the BCH; the BCCH can be mapped to the downlink shared channel (DL-SCH); the PCCH can be mapped to the PCH; the CCCH can be mapped to the DL-SCH; the DCCH can be mapped to the DL-SCH; and the DTCH can be mapped to the DL-SCH. In the uplink, there are the following connections between logical channels and transport channels: the CCCH can be mapped to the uplink shared channel (UL-SCH); the DCCH can be mapped to the UL-SCH; and the DTCH can be mapped to the UL-SCH.

[0118] Figure 5 An example of the data flow in the 3GPP NR system is illustrated.

[0119] In Figure 5In this context, "RB" represents a radio bearer, and "H" represents a header. Radio bearers are classified into two groups: data radio bearers (DRBs) for user plane data and signaling radio bearers (SRBs) for control plane data. MAC PDUs are sent / received to / from an external device via the PHY layer using radio resources. The MAC PDU arrives at the PHY layer in the form of a transport block.

[0120] At the PHY layer, the uplink transport channels UL-SCH and RACH are mapped to the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) and the physical random access channel (PRACH), respectively, and the downlink transport channels DL-SCH, BCH, and PCH are mapped to the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), the physical broadcast channel (PBCH), and the PDSCH, respectively. At the PHY layer, uplink control information (UCI) is mapped to the PUCCH, and downlink control information (DCI) is mapped to the PDCCH. The UE sends the MAC PDU related to UL-SCH via the PUSCH based on the UL grant, and the BS sends the MAC PDU related to DL-SCH via the PDSCH based on the DL assignment.

[0121] To send the data unit of the present disclosure on the UL-SCH, the UE should have uplink resources available to the UE. To receive the data unit of the present disclosure on the DL-SCH, the UE should have downlink resources available to the UE. Resource allocation includes time domain resource allocation and frequency domain resource allocation. In the present disclosure, uplink resource allocation is also referred to as uplink grant, and downlink resource allocation is also referred to as downlink assignment. The uplink grant is either received dynamically by the UE on the PDCCH in the random access response or configured semi-persistently by the RRC to the UE. The downlink assignment is either received dynamically by the UE on the PDCCH or configured semi-persistently to the UE via RRC signaling from the BS.

[0122] In UL, the BS can dynamically allocate resources to the UE via the Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) on the PDCCH. The UE always monitors the PDCCH to find a possible grant for UL transmission when its DL reception is enabled (controlled by Discontinuous Reception (DRX) when configured). Additionally, via configured grant, the BS can allocate UL resources for the initial HARQ transmission to the UE. Two types of configured UL grants are defined: Type 1 and Type 2. For Type 1, the RRC directly provides the configured UL grant (including periodicity). For Type 2, the RRC defines the periodicity of the configured UL grant, and the PDCCH addressed to the Configured Scheduling RNTI (CS-RNTI) can signal and activate the configured UL grant, or deactivate it; that is, the PDCCH addressed to the CS-RNTI indicates that the UL grant can be implicitly reused according to the periodicity defined by the RRC until deactivated.

[0123] In DL, the BS can dynamically allocate resources to the UE via the C-RNTI on the PDCCH. The UE always monitors the PDCCH to find a possible assignment when its DL reception is enabled (controlled by DRX when configured). Additionally, via Semi-Persistent Scheduling (SPS), the BS can allocate DL resources for the initial HARQ transmission to the UE: the RRC defines the periodicity of the configured DL assignment, and the PDCCH addressed to the CS-RNTI can signal and activate the configured DL assignment, or deactivate it. In other words, the PDCCH addressed to the CS-RNTI indicates that the DL assignment can be implicitly reused according to the periodicity defined by the RRC until deactivated.

[0124] <Resource allocation via PDCCH (i.e., resource allocation via DCI)>

[0125] The PDCCH can be used to schedule DL transmissions on the PDSCH and UL transmissions on the PUSCH, where the Downlink Control Information (DCI) on the PDCCH includes: a downlink assignment that at least contains the modulation and coding format related to the DL-SCH (e.g., the Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) index I_MCS), resource allocation, and Hybrid ARQ information; or an uplink scheduling grant that at least contains the modulation and coding format, resource allocation, and Hybrid ARQ information related to the UL-SCH. The size and use of the DCI carried by one PDCCH vary according to the DCI format. For example, in the 3GPP NR system, DCI format 0_0 or DCI format 0_1 is used for the scheduling of PUSCH in a cell, and DCI format 1_0 or DCI format 1_1 is used for the scheduling of PDSCH in a cell.

[0126] Figure 6 Examples of PDSCH time-domain resource allocation via PDCCH and examples of PUSCH time resource allocation via PDCCH are illustrated.

[0127] The downlink control information (DCI) carried by the PDCCH for scheduling the PDSCH or PUSCH includes the value m of the row index m+1 of the allocation table for the PDSCH or PUSCH. Apply the predefined default PDSCH time-domain allocations A, B, or C as the allocation table for the PDSCH, or apply the pdsch-TimeDomainAllocationList configured by RRC as the allocation table for the PDSCH. Apply the predefined default PUSCH time-domain allocation A as the allocation table for the PUSCH, or apply the pusch-TimeDomainAllocationList configured by RRC as the allocation table for the PUSCH. Which PDSCH time-domain resource allocation configuration to apply and which PUSCH time-domain allocation table to apply are determined according to fixed / predefined rules (e.g., Table 5.1.2.1.1-1 in 3GPP TS 38.214 v15.3.0, Table 6.1.2.1.1-1 in 3GPP TS 38.214 v15.3.0).

[0128] Each index row in the PDSCH time-domain allocation configuration defines the slot offset K0, the start and length indicator SLIV, or directly defines the start symbol S and the allocation length L, and the PDSCH mapping type assumed in PDSCH reception. Each index row in the PUSCH time-domain allocation configuration defines the slot offset K2, the start and length indicator SLIV, or directly defines the start symbol S and the allocation length L, and the PUSCH mapping type assumed in PUSCH reception. K0 for the PDSCH or K2 for the PUSCH is the timing difference between the slot with the PDCCH and the slot with the PDSCH or PUSCH corresponding to the PDCCH. SLIV is a combined indication of the start symbol S relative to the start of the slot with the PDSCH or PUSCH and the number L of consecutive symbols counted from symbol S. For the PDSCH / PUSCH mapping type, there are two mapping types: one is mapping type A, in which according to RRC signaling, the demodulation reference signal (DMRS) is in the 3rd or 4th symbol of the slot; and the other is mapping type B, in which the DMRS is in the first allocated symbol.

[0129] The scheduling DCI includes a frequency-domain resource allocation field that provides assignment information about resource blocks for PDSCH or PUSCH. For example, the frequency-domain resource allocation field may provide the UE with information about the cell for PDSCH or PUSCH transmission, information about the bandwidth part for PDSCH or PUSCH transmission, and information about the resource blocks for PDSCH or PUSCH transmission.

[0130] <Resource Allocation via RRC>

[0131] As described above, in the uplink, there are two types of transmissions without dynamic authorization: configured grant type 1, where the uplink grant is provided by RRC and stored as a configured grant; and configured grant type 2, where the uplink grant is provided by PDCCH and stored or cleared as a configured uplink grant based on L1 signaling indicating activation or deactivation of the configured uplink grant. Types 1 and 2 are configured by RRC for each serving cell and each BWP. Multiple configurations are only active simultaneously on different serving cells. For type 2, activation and deactivation between serving cells are independent. For the same serving cell, the MAC entity is configured as type 1 or type 2.

[0132] When configured grant type 1 is configured, the UE is provided with at least the following parameters via RRC signaling from the BS:

[0133] - cs-RNTI, which is the CS-RNTI for retransmission;

[0134] - periodicity, which provides the periodicity of configured grant type 1;

[0135] - timeDomainOffset, which represents the offset of the resource in the time domain relative to SFN = 0;

[0136] - timeDomainAllocation value m, which provides the row index m + 1 into the allocation table, indicating the combination of the starting symbol S, the length L, and the PUSCH mapping type;

[0137] - frequencyDomainAllocation, which provides the frequency-domain resource allocation; and

[0138] -mcsAndTBS, which provides an IMCS representing modulation order, target code rate, and transport block size. When configured grant type 1 is configured by RRC for a serving cell, the UE stores the uplink grant provided by RRC as the configured uplink grant for the indicated serving cell, and initializes or re-initializes the configured uplink grant to start in a symbol according to timeDomainOffset and S (derived from SLIV), and reappears periodically. After configuring the uplink grant for configured grant type 1, the UE considers the uplink grant to be associated with each symbol, where: [(SFN * numberOfSlotsPerFrame * numberOfSymbolsPerSlot) + (number of slots in the frame × numberOfSymbolsPerSlot) + number of symbols in the slot] = (timeDomainOffset * numberOfSymbolsPerSlot + S + N * periodicity) modulo (1024 * numberOfSlotsPerFrame * numberOfSymbolsPerSlot), for all N >= 0.

[0139] When configured grant type 2 is configured, at least the following parameters are provided to the UE via RRC signaling from the BS:

[0140] -cs-RNTI, which is the CS-RNTI for activation, deactivation, and retransmission; and

[0141] -periodicity, which provides the periodicity of configured grant type 2. The actual uplink grant is provided to the UE via PDCCH (addressed to CS-RNTI). After configuring the uplink grant for configured grant type 2, the UE considers the uplink grant to be associated with each symbol, where: [(SFN * numberOfSlotsPerFrame * numberOfSymbolsPerSlot) + (number of slots in the frame * numberOfSymbolsPerSlot) + number of symbols in the slot] = [(SFN start time *numberOfSlotsPerFrame * numberOfSymbolsPerSlot + slot start time *numberOfSymbolsPerSlot + symbol start time) + N * periodicity] modulo (1024 × numberOfSlotsPerFrame * numberOfSymbolsPerSlot), for all N >= 0, where SFN start time 、slot start time and symbol start time are the SFN, time slot, and symbol of the first transmission opportunity of the PUSCH where the configured uplink grant is (re)initialized, respectively. numberOfSlotsPerFrame and numberOfSymbolsPerSlot refer to the number of consecutive time slots per frame and the number of consecutive OFDM symbols per time slot, respectively.

[0142] For a configured uplink grant, the HARQ process ID associated with the first symbol of the UL transmission is derived from the following equation:

[0143] HARQ process ID = [floor(CURRENT_symbol / periodicity)] modulo nrofHARQ - Processes

[0144] where CURRENT_symbol = (SFN × numberOfSlotsPerFrame × numberOfSymbolsPerSlot + number of time slots in the frame × numberOfSymbolsPerSlot + number of symbols in the time slot), and numberOfSlotsPerFrame and numberOfSymbolsPerSlot refer to the number of consecutive time slots per frame and the number of consecutive symbols per time slot specified in TS 38.211, respectively. CURRENT_symbol refers to the symbol index of the first transmission occasion where repeated bundling occurs. If the configured uplink grant is activated and the associated HARQ process ID is less than nrofHARQ - Processes, the HARQ process is configured for the configured uplink grant.

[0145] For the downlink, the UE can be configured with semi - persistent scheduling (SPS) for each serving cell and each BWP by RRC signaling from the BS. Multiple configurations can only be active simultaneously on different serving cells. The activation and de - activation of DL SPS are independent between serving cells. For DL SPS, the DL assignment is provided to the UE via PDCCH and stored or cleared based on L1 signaling indicating SPS activation or de - activation. When configuring SPS, the following parameters are provided to the UE via RRC signaling from the BS:

[0146] -cs-RNTI, which is the CS-RNTI for activation, deactivation, and retransmission;

[0147] -nrofHARQ-Processes: which provides the number of HARQ processes for SPS configuration;

[0148] -Periodicity, which provides the periodicity of the downlink assignment for SPS configuration.

[0149] When SPS is released by the upper layer, all corresponding configurations shall be released.

[0150] After the downlink assignment is configured for SPS, the UE considers that the Nth downlink assignment occurs in the following time slots: (numberOfSlotsPerFrame * SFN + the number of time slots in the frame) = [(numberOfSlotsPerFrame * SFN start time + slot start time ) + N * Periodicity * numberOfSlotsPerFrame / 10] modulo (1024 * numberOfSlotsPerFrame), where SFN start time and slot start time are the SFN and the time slot of the first transmission of the PDSCH for which the configured downlink assignment is (re)initialized, respectively.

[0151] For the configured downlink assignment, the HARQ process ID associated with the time slot at the start of the DL transmission is derived from the following equation:

[0152] HARQ process ID = [floor(CURRENT_slot × 10 / (numberOfSlotsPerFrame × Periodicity))] modulo nrofHARQ-Processes

[0153] where CURRENT_slot = [(SFN × numberOfSlotsPerFrame) + the number of time slots in the frame], and numberOfSlotsPerFrame refers to the number of consecutive time slots per frame as defined in TS 38.211.

[0154] If the cyclic redundancy check (CRC) corresponding to the DCI format is scrambled by the CS-RNTI provided by the RRC parameter cs-RNTI and the new data indicator field for the enabled transport block is set to 0, the UE verifies the DL SPS assignment PDCCH or the configured UL grant type 2 PDCCH for scheduling activation or scheduling release. The verification of the DCI format is implemented if all fields for the DCI format are set according to Table 4 or Table 5. Table 4 shows the special fields for DL SPS and UL grant type 2 scheduling activation PDCCH verification, and Table 5 shows the special fields for DL SPS and UL grant type 2 scheduling release PDCCH verification.

[0155] [Table 4]

[0156]

[0157] [Table 5]

[0158] DCI Format 0_0 DCI Format 1_0 HARQ Process Number Set to all "0" Set to all "0" Redundancy Version Set to "00" Set to "00" Modulation and Coding Scheme Set to all "1" Set to all "1" Resource Block Assignment Set to all "1" Set to all "1"

[0159] The actual DL assignment and actual UL grant, as well as the corresponding modulation and coding scheme, are provided by the resource assignment fields (e.g., the time domain resource assignment field providing the time domain resource assignment value m, the frequency domain resource assignment field providing the frequency resource block allocation, the modulation and coding scheme field) in the DCI format carried by the DL SPS and UL grant type 2 scheduling activation PDCCH. If the verification is implemented, the UE regards the information in the DCI format as a valid activation or valid release of the DL SPS or the configured UL grant type 2.

[0160] For UL, the processor 102 of the present disclosure may transmit (or control the transceiver 106 to transmit) the data unit of the present disclosure based on the UL grant available to the UE. The processor 202 of the present disclosure may receive (or control the transceiver 206 to receive) the data unit of the present disclosure based on the UL grant available to the UE.

[0161] For DL, the processor 102 of the present disclosure may receive (or control the transceiver 106 to receive) the DL data of the present disclosure based on the DL assignment available to the UE. The processor 202 of the present disclosure may transmit (or control the transceiver 206 to transmit) the DL data of the present disclosure based on the DL assignment available to the UE.

[0162] The data unit of the present disclosure is processed at the physical layer at the transmitting side before being transmitted via the radio interface, and the radio signal carrying the data unit of the present disclosure is processed at the physical layer at the receiving side. For example, the MAC PDU including the PDCP PDU according to the present disclosure may be processed at the physical layer as follows.

[0163] Figure 7Illustrates an example of physical layer processing at the transmitting side.

[0164] The following table shows the mapping of transport channels (TrCH) and control information to their corresponding physical channels. Specifically, Table 6 specifies the mapping of uplink transport channels to their corresponding physical channels, Table 7 specifies the mapping of uplink control channel information to its corresponding physical channel, Table 8 specifies the mapping of downlink transport channels to their corresponding physical channels, and Table 9 specifies the mapping of downlink control channel information to its corresponding physical channel.

[0165] [Table 6]

[0166] TrCH Physical Channel UL-SCH PUSCH RACH PRACH

[0167] [Table 7]

[0168] Control Information Physical Channel UCI PUCCH, PUSCH

[0169] [Table 8]

[0170] TrCH Physical Channel DL-SCH PDSCH BCH PBCH PCH PDSCH

[0171] [Table 9]

[0172] Control Information Physical Channel DCI PDCCH

[0173] <Coding>

[0174] Data and control flows from / to the MAC layer are encoded to provide transmission and control services through the radio transmission link in the PHY layer. For example, a transport block from the MAC layer is encoded into codewords at the transmitting side. The channel coding scheme is a combination of error detection, error correction, rate matching, interleaving, and mapping of transport channels or control information to / from physical channels.

[0175] In the 3GPP NR system, the following channel coding schemes are used for different types of TrCH and different types of control information.

[0176] [Table 10]

[0177] [Table 11]

[0178] For the transmission of a DL transport block (i.e., DL MAC PDU) or UL transport block (i.e., UL MAC PDU), an attached transport block CRC sequence is provided for error detection at the receiving side. In the 3GPP NR system, communication devices use low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes when encoding / decoding UL-SCH and DL-SCH. The 3GPP NR system supports two LDPC base graphs (i.e., two LDPC base matrices): an LDPC base optimized for small transport blocks Figure 1 and an LDPC base optimized for larger transport blocks Figure 2 . An LDPC base Figure 1 or an LDPC base Figure 2 is selected based on the size of the transport block and the code rate R. The code rate R is indicated by the modulation and coding scheme (MCS) index IMCS. The MCS index is dynamically provided to the UE via the PDCCH scheduling the PUSCH or PDSCH, via the PDCCH activating or (re)initializing the UL configured grant 2 or DL SPS, or via RRC signaling related to UL configured grant type 1. If the CRC-attached transport block is larger than the maximum code block size for the selected LDPC base graph, the CRC-attached transport block can be segmented into code blocks, and an additional CRC sequence is attached to each code block. The maximum code block sizes for LDPC base Figure 1 and LDPC base Figure 2 are 8448 bits and 3480 bits, respectively. If the CRC-attached transport block is not larger than the maximum code block size of the selected LDPC base graph, the CRC-attached transport block is encoded using the selected LDPC base graph. Each code block of the transport block is encoded using the selected LDPC base graph. Then the LDPC-encoded blocks are rate-matched individually. Code block concatenation is performed to create a codeword for transmission on the PDSCH or PUSCH. For the PDSCH, up to 2 codewords (i.e., up to 2 transport blocks) can be transmitted simultaneously on the PDSCH. The PUSCH can be used for the transmission of UL-SCH data and layer 1 / 2 control information. Although not shown in Figure 8 , the layer 1 / 2 control information can be multiplexed with the codeword for UL-SCH data.

[0179] <Scrambling and Modulation>

[0180] The bits of the codeword are scrambled and modulated to generate a block of complex-valued modulation symbols.

[0181] <Layer Mapping>

[0182] The complex-valued modulation symbols of the codewords are mapped to one or more multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) layers. One codeword can be mapped to a maximum of 4 layers. The PDSCH can carry two codewords, and thus the PDSCH can support a maximum of 8-layer transmission. The PUSCH supports a single codeword, and thus the PUSCH can support a maximum of 4-layer transmission.

[0183] <Transform precoding>

[0184] The DL transmission waveform is conventional OFDM with a cyclic prefix (CP). For DL, transform precoding (in other words, discrete Fourier transform (DFT)) is not applied.

[0185] The UL transmission waveform is conventional OFDM with CP, where the transform precoding function that performs DFT spreading can be disabled or enabled. In the 3GPP NR system, for UL, if enabled, transform precoding can be selectively applied. Transform precoding extends the UL data in a special way to reduce the peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) of the waveform. Transform precoding is a form of DFT. In other words, the 3GPP NR system supports two options for the UL waveform: one is CP-OFDM (the same as the DL waveform), and the other is DFT-s-OFDM. Whether the UE must use CP-OFDM or DFT-s-OFDM is configured by the BS via RRC parameters.

[0186] <Subcarrier mapping>

[0187] Layers are mapped to antenna ports. In DL, for the mapping of layers to antenna ports, transparent (non-codebook-based) mapping is supported, and how beamforming or MIMO precoding is performed is transparent to the UE. In UL, for the mapping of layers to antenna ports, both non-codebook-based mapping and codebook-based mapping are supported.

[0188] For each antenna port (i.e., layer) used for the transmission of a physical channel (e.g., PDSCH, PUSCH), the complex-valued modulation symbols are mapped to the subcarriers in the resource blocks allocated to the physical channel.

[0189] <OFDM modulation>

[0190] The communication device on the transmitting side generates a time-continuous OFDM baseband signal on the subcarrier spacing configuration u and antenna port p in the TTI for the physical channel by adding a cyclic prefix (CP) and performing IFFT. For example, for each OFDM symbol, the communication device on the transmitting side can perform an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) on the complex-valued modulation symbols mapped to the resource blocks in the corresponding OFDM symbol and add CP to the IFFT-ed signal to generate the OFDM baseband signal.

[0191] <Up-conversion>

[0192] The communication device at the transmitting side up-converts the OFDM baseband signal for antenna port p, subcarrier spacing configuration u, and OFDM symbol l to the carrier frequency f0 of the cell assigned to the physical channel.

[0193] Figure 2 The processors 102 and 202 in can be configured to perform encoding, scrambling, modulation, layer mapping, transform precoding (for UL), subcarrier mapping, and OFDM modulation. The processors 102 and 202 can control the transceivers 106 and 206 connected to the processors 102 and 202 to up-convert the OFDM baseband signal to the carrier frequency to generate a radio frequency (RF) signal. The RF signal is transmitted to an external device through the antennas 108 and 208.

[0194] Figure 8 An example of the physical layer processing at the receiving side is illustrated.

[0195] The physical layer processing at the receiving side is basically the inverse processing of the physical layer processing at the transmitting side.

[0196] <Frequency down-conversion>

[0197] The communication device at the receiving side receives the RF signal at the carrier frequency through the antenna. The transceivers 106 and 206 that receive the RF signal at the carrier frequency down-convert the carrier frequency of the RF signal to the baseband to obtain an OFDM baseband signal.

[0198] <OFDM demodulation>

[0199] The communication device at the receiving side obtains complex-valued modulation symbols via CP separation and FFT. For example, for each OFDM symbol, the communication device at the receiving side removes the CP from the OFDM baseband signal and performs an FFT on the OFDM baseband signal with the CP removed to obtain the complex-valued modulation symbols for antenna port p, subcarrier spacing u, and OFDM symbol l.

[0200] <Subcarrier demapping>

[0201] Subcarrier demapping is performed on the complex-valued modulation symbols to obtain the complex-valued modulation symbols of the corresponding physical channel. For example, the processor 102 can obtain the complex-valued modulation symbols mapped to the subcarriers belonging to the PDSCH from among the complex-valued modulation symbols received in the bandwidth part. For another example, the processor 202 can obtain the complex-valued modulation symbols mapped to the subcarriers belonging to the PUSCH from among the complex-valued modulation symbols received in the bandwidth part.

[0202] <Transform de-precoding>

[0203] If transform precoding has been enabled for an uplink physical channel, inverse transform precoding (e.g., IDFT) is performed on the complex-valued modulation symbols of the uplink physical channel. For a downlink physical channel and an uplink physical channel for which transform precoding is disabled, inverse transform precoding is not performed.

[0204] <Layer demapping>

[0205] The complex-valued modulation symbols are demapped to one or two codewords.

[0206] <Demodulation and descrambling>

[0207] The complex-valued modulation symbols of a codeword are demodulated and descrambled to bits of the codeword.

[0208] <Decoding>

[0209] A codeword is decoded to a transport block. For UL-SCH and DL-SCH, an LDPC base is selected according to the size of the transport block and the code rate R Figure 1 or an LDPC base Figure 2 . A codeword may include one or more coded blocks. Each coded block is decoded to a CRC-attached code block or a CRC-attached transport block using the selected LDPC base graph. If code block segmentation is performed on the CRC-attached transport block at the transmitting side, the CRC sequence is removed from each of the CRC-attached code blocks, thereby obtaining code blocks. The code blocks are concatenated into a CRC-attached transport block. The transport block CRC sequence is removed from the CRC-attached transport block, thereby obtaining the transport block. The transport block is passed to the MAC layer.

[0210] In the physical layer processing at the above-mentioned transmitting side and receiving side, the time-domain and frequency-domain resources related to subcarrier mapping, OFDM modulation, and frequency up-conversion / down-conversion (e.g., OFDM symbols, subcarriers, carrier frequencies) may be determined based on resource allocation (e.g., UL grant, DL assignment).

[0211] For uplink data transmission, the processor 102 of the present disclosure may apply (or control the transceiver 106 to apply) the above-mentioned physical layer processing at the transmitting side to the data unit of the present disclosure to wirelessly transmit the data unit. For downlink data reception, the processor 102 of the present disclosure may apply (or control the transceiver 106 to apply) the above-mentioned physical layer processing at the receiving side to the received radio signal to obtain the data unit of the present disclosure.

[0212] For downlink data transmission, the processor 202 of the present disclosure may apply the above physical layer processing on the transmitting side (or control transceiver 206 to apply) to the data unit of the present disclosure to wirelessly transmit the data unit. For uplink data reception, the processor 202 of the present disclosure may apply (or control transceiver 206 to apply) the above physical layer processing on the receiving side to the received radio signal to obtain the data unit of the present disclosure.

[0213] <Configured Grant-based Small Data Transmission (CG-SDT)>

[0214] In the following, the uplink transmission based on configured uplink grant in the NR system is described.

[0215] There are two types of transmission without dynamic grant:

[0216] - Configured grant type 1, where the uplink grant is provided by RRC and stored as a configured uplink grant;

[0217] - Configured grant type 2, where the uplink grant is provided by PDCCH and stored or cleared as a configured uplink grant based on L1 signaling indicating the activation or deactivation of the configured uplink grant.

[0218] Type 1 and type 2 are configured by RRC for each serving cell of each BWP. Multiple configurations can be active simultaneously in the same BWP. For type 2, the activation and deactivation between serving cells are independent. For the same BWP, the MAC entity can be configured with both type 1 and type 2.

[0219] When the configured uplink grant type 1 is configured for the BWP of the serving cell in the upper layer, the MAC entity shall store the uplink grant provided by the upper layer as the configured uplink grant indicating the BWP for the serving cell, and initialize or re-initialize the configured uplink grant to start in a symbol and reappear periodically.

[0220] When the configured uplink grant is released by the upper layer, all corresponding configurations shall be released and all corresponding uplink grants shall be cleared.

[0221] If at least one configured uplink grant confirmation has been triggered and not cancelled and the MAC entity has UL resources allocated for a new transmission, and if in this MAC entity, at least one configured uplink grant is configured by configuredGrantConfigToAddModList, the MAC entity shall indicate the multiplexing and assembly process to generate a multi-entry configured uplink grant confirmation MAC CE.

[0222] Otherwise, the MAC entity shall indicate the multiplexing and assembly process to generate the configured grant acknowledgement MAC CE and cancel all triggered configured uplink grant acknowledgements.

[0223] For configured grant type 2, the MAC entity shall clear the configured uplink grant immediately after the first transmission of the multi-entry configured grant acknowledgement MAC CE or the configured grant acknowledgement MAC CE that acknowledges the deactivation of the configured uplink grant.

[0224] In 3GPP NR Release 17, a UE in the RRC_INACTIVE state can send data without transitioning to the RRC_CONNECTED state. The data sent in the RRC_INACTIVE state is typically small and infrequent. A UE in the RRC_INACTIVE state uses a two-step or four-step RA procedure (RA-SDT) or uses configured grant (CG-SDT) to send data.

[0225] Not all data can be sent in the RRC_INACTIVE state. The network configures which data is allowed to be sent in the RRC_INACTIVE state based on the data characteristics. The network configures for each radio bearer or logical channel of the UE whether data transmission of each radio bearer or logical channel is allowed in the RRC_INACTIVE state.

[0226] Data that can be sent in the RRC_INACTIVE state is called SDT data, and data that cannot be sent in the RRC_INACTIVE state is called non-SDT data. SDT data is sent through an SDT RB in the RRC_INACTIVE state, and non-SDT data is sent through a non-SDT RB in the RRC_CONNECTED state.

[0227] When generating SDT data in the RRC_INACTIVE state, the UE triggers an SDT procedure to send the SDT data in the RRC_INACTIVE state. The UE selects one between the RA-SDT procedure and the CG-SDT procedure. During the SDT procedure, the UE sends the SDT data together with an RRCResumeRequest (or RRCResumeRequest1) message.

[0228] Between RA-SDT and CG-SDT, CG-SDT has priority over RA-SDT. That is, if the CG-SDT condition is met, the UE selects the CG-SDT procedure, and if the CG-SDT resources are not available, the UE selects the RA-SDT procedure.

[0229] The conditions for executing the CG-SDT procedure are as follows:

[0230] - If CG-SDT is configured on the selected UL carrier; and

[0231] - If the configured grant type 1 resources are valid; and

[0232] - If at least one of the SSBs with SS-RSRP higher than cg-SDT-RSRP-ThresholdSSB is available.

[0233] In summary, SDT is a process that allows data and / or signaling transmission while remaining in the RRC_INACTIVE state without transitioning to RRC_CONNECTED.

[0234] SDT is enabled on a radio bearer basis. The network configures for each radio bearer of the UE whether data transmission of each radio bearer is allowed under RRC_INACTIVE. The data belonging to the radio bearer can be sent under RRC_INACTIVE and is called SDT data, and the data not belonging to the radio bearer cannot be sent and is called non-SDT data.

[0235] In 3GPP NR Release 17, SDT can be initiated by the UE rather than by the network. That is, only MO (Mobile Originated)-SDT is supported and MT (Mobile Terminated)-SDT is not supported.

[0236] If less than the configured amount of UL data is waiting for transmission across all radio bearers for which SDT is enabled, the DL RSRP is higher than the configured threshold, and valid SDT resources are available, the UE initiates MO-SDT. The SDT process is initiated using a transition on a configured grant (CG-SDT) or a 2-step / 4-step RA procedure (RA-SDT).

[0237] Once MO-SDT is initiated, downlink data can be received via dynamic assignment from the network during the ongoing SDT process, but downlink data cannot initiate the SDT process.

[0238] However, in 3GPP NR Release 18, network-initiated SDT (i.e., MT-SDT) is supported for downlink SDT data. If the network has downlink SDT data for the UE under RRC_INACTIVE, the network can trigger the MT-SDT process by sending an indication message (e.g., a paging message) to notify the UE of the existence of downlink SDT data.

[0239] Upon receiving an indication message, the UE initiates an MT-SDT procedure to respond to the indication message and send a feedback message. That is, the UE initiates an RRC resume procedure and sends an RRC resume request message, and then monitors the PDCCH for scheduling downlink SDT data or decodes the PDSCH to receive SDT data.

[0240] The feedback message can be sent by using CG resources (including CG-SDT resources or separate CG resources), RA resources (including RA-SDT resources, separate RA resources, or legacy RA resources), or any UL resources associated with the MT-SDT procedure.

[0241] Recently, in the 3GPP standard, it has been agreed that for paging, an MT-SDT indication with at least one bit per UE shall be explicitly included via the paging message.

[0242] After detecting MT-SDT, RA-SDT, and CG-SDT procedures after an MT-SDT paging trigger, they can be reused as a baseline.

[0243] According to the agreement, the UE can use non-SDT random access resources to access the network for MT-SDT transmission. The UE can also use configured grant resources and / or MO-RA resources. The network should be able to distinguish why the UL access is triggered (i.e., implicit or explicit indication by the UE). In addition, MT-SDT is data belonging to the bearers configured for SDT. If the data belongs to these bearers, the network can only trigger the MT-SDT procedure. In addition, the network can configure only MT-SDT without configuring MO-SDT RA resources and / or CG-SDT. Similar to the MO-SDT procedure, subsequent UL / DL data belonging to SDT bearers while in INACTIVE is allowed. A new resume reason in RRC resume, a code point MT-SDT indication, will be introduced.

[0244] Figure 9 The situation of generating uplink data after triggering the MT-SDT procedure is shown.

[0245] Referring to Figure 9 , assume that only MT-SDT can be configured without MO-SDT resources. Therefore, if the UE receives a paging message including an MT-SDT indication, the UE initiates an MT-SDT procedure, and since no MO-SDT resources are configured, the feedback message (e.g., RRCResumeRequest message) can be sent via non-SDT resources (e.g., legacy RA resources or any UL resources associated with the MT-SDT procedure).

[0246] Additionally, assume that radio bearers can be configured commonly for uplink SDT and downlink SDT. In this case, if uplink data belonging to the radio bearers configured for SDT is generated while initiating the MT-SDT procedure before sending a feedback message, the UE can send an RRC resume request message with a resume cause as mo-Data because the UE sets the resume cause as mo-Data in the current 3GPP NR standard.

[0247] Note that if the UE sets a resume cause for MT-SDT, the network may not provide uplink resources under RRC_INACTIVE (i.e., during the MT-SDT procedure), so uplink data can be sent after the MT-SDT procedure terminates. Therefore, blaming the resume cause on MT-SDT is an unreasonable choice.

[0248] In other words, there will be cases where an RRC Resume Request including a resume cause is sent as mo-Data via traditional RA resources. Therefore, the network does not know whether resources for uplink resources are needed during the MT-SDT procedure or whether a transition to RRC_CONNECTED is needed. Therefore, whether the UE has uplink SDT data or non-SDT data should be indicated to the network.

[0249] In the present disclosure, it is proposed that the UE should indicate to the network whether the UE has uplink SDT data or non-SDT data.

[0250] Specifically, the UE is configured with MT-SDT, and an indication message for triggering MT-SDT is received. The indication message for triggering MT-SDT can be a paging message, RRC signaling, L2 signaling, or L1 signaling.

[0251] If uplink data is not generated, the UE sends a feedback message for the indication message. Here, the feedback message can be an RRC resume request message, RRC signaling, L2 signaling, or L1 signaling.

[0252] If uplink SDT data or uplink non-SDT data is generated before sending a feedback message for the indication message (e.g., an RRC resume request message), the UE uses uplink resources to send the feedback including the indication. Here, the indication can indicate at least one of the following items:

[0253] - Whether the generated uplink data can be sent under RRC_INACTIVE.

[0254] - Whether the generated uplink data is SDT data or non-SDT data.

[0255] - Whether the generated uplink data belongs to the radio bearer / logical channel configured for SDT.

[0256] Preferably, the indication can be either a traditional recovery cause or a new parameter, a new recovery cause. Additionally, the uplink resource can be a UL resource associated with the MT-SDT process, a CG resource (including a CG-SDT resource or a separate CG resource), or an RA resource (including an RA-SDT resource, a separate RA resource, or a traditional RA resource).

[0257] Figure 10 An example of managing uplink SDT data during the MT-SDT process according to the present disclosure is shown.

[0258] Referring to Figure 10 , assume that the UE is configured with MT-SDT. If a paging message for triggering MT-SDT is received, the UE initiates the MT-SDT process. That is, the UE can initiate an RRC resume process.

[0259] If uplink SDT data is generated before sending an RRCResumeRequest message in response to the paging message, the UE sets a recovery cause indicating that the generated UL data can be sent in the RRC_INACTIVE state.

[0260] Then, the UE uses a traditional RA resource to send an RRC resume request message including the recovery cause.

[0261] The network that receives the RRC resume request message including the recovery cause provides an uplink resource for the generated uplink data to be sent in the RRC_INACTIVE state.

[0262] Figure 11 An example of managing uplink non-SDT data during the MT-SDT process according to the present disclosure is shown.

[0263] Referring to Figure 11 , assume that the UE is configured with MT-SDT. If a paging message for triggering MT-SDT is received, the UE initiates the MT-SDT process. That is, the UE can initiate an RRC resume process.

[0264] If uplink non-SDT data is generated before sending an RRCResumeRequest message in response to the paging message, the UE sets a recovery cause indicating that the generated UL data cannot be sent in the RRC_INACTIVE state.

[0265] Then, the UE uses a traditional RA resource to send an RRC resume request message including the recovery cause.

[0266] The network that receives an RRC resume request message including a resume reason sends an RRC resume message to transition to the RRC_CONNECTED state.

[0267] According to the present disclosure, in the case where uplink data is generated after initiating MT-SDT and before sending feedback for a paging message, the network can know whether uplink data can be sent under RRC_INACTIVE. Therefore, if the UE indicates that the generated uplink data is SDT data, the network can provide uplink resources under RRC_INACTIVE, and if the UE indicates that the generated uplink data is non-SDT data, the network can send an RRC resume message to transition to RRC_CONNECTED. If the indication is not introduced, the generated uplink data can be sent after the MT-SDT process terminates.

Claims

1. A method for performing operations for a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising the steps of: Receiving a paging message from a network for triggering a mobile terminal (MT)-small data transfer (SDT) procedure; Initiating the MT-SDT procedure; And In response to the paging message, sending a radio resource control (RRC) resume request message to the network, Wherein, based on mobile originated (MO) uplink data being generated before sending the RRC resume request message, the RRC resume request message includes information indicating the availability of the MO uplink data.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein Based on the MO uplink data not being generated before sending the RRC resume request message, the RRC resume request message includes information indicating that the MT-SDT procedure has been initiated.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein, Based on the MO uplink data being generated before sending the RRC resume request message, the RRC resume request message further includes information indicating whether the MO uplink data can be sent in the RRC inactive state.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein, Based on the RRC resume request message including information indicating that the MO uplink data can be sent in the RRC inactive state, receiving an uplink grant from the network for sending the MO uplink data.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein, Based on the RRC resume request message including information indicating that the MO uplink data cannot be sent in the RRC inactive state, receiving an RRC resume message from the network for transitioning to the RRC connected state.

6. A user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the UE comprising: At least one transceiver; At least one processor; And At least one computer memory, the at least one computer memory being operatively connected to the at least one processor and storing instructions, the instructions when executed causing the at least one processor to perform operations, the operations including: Receiving a paging message from a network for triggering a mobile terminal (MT)-small data transfer (SDT) procedure; Initiating the MT-SDT procedure; and In response to the paging message, sending a radio resource control (RRC) resume request message to the network, Wherein, based on mobile originated (MO) uplink data being generated before sending the RRC resume request message, the RRC resume request message includes information indicating the availability of the MO uplink data.

7. The UE according to claim 6, wherein, Based on the MO uplink data not being generated before sending the RRC resume request message, the RRC resume request message includes information indicating that the MT-SDT procedure has been initiated.

8. The UE according to claim 6, wherein, Based on the MO uplink data being generated before sending the RRC resume request message, the RRC resume request message further includes information indicating whether the MO uplink data can be sent in the RRC inactive state.

9. The UE according to claim 8, wherein, Based on the RRC resume request message including information indicating that the MO uplink data can be sent in the RRC inactive state, receiving an uplink grant from the network for sending the MO uplink data.

10. The UE according to claim 8, wherein, Receiving, from the network, an RRC resume message for transitioning to the RRC connected state, based on the RRC resume request message including information that the MO uplink data cannot be sent in the RRC inactive state.

11. An apparatus for a user equipment (UE), the apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one computer memory, operatively coupled to the at least one processor and storing instructions that, when executed, cause the at least one processor to perform operations including: receiving, from a network, a paging message for triggering a mobile terminal (MT)-small data transfer (SDT) procedure; initiating the MT-SDT procedure; and sending, in response to the paging message, a radio resource control (RRC) resume request message to the network, wherein, based on mobile originated (MO) uplink data being generated before sending the RRC resume request message, the RRC resume request message includes information indicating that the MO uplink data is available.

12. A computer-readable storage medium storing at least one computer program, the computer program including instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations for a user equipment (UE) including: receiving, from a network, a paging message for triggering a mobile terminal (MT)-small data transfer (SDT) procedure; initiating the MT-SDT procedure; and sending, in response to the paging message, a radio resource control (RRC) resume request message to the network, wherein, based on mobile originated (MO) uplink data being generated before sending the RRC resume request message, the RRC resume request message includes information indicating that the MO uplink data is available.

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