User equipment, wireless communication method, device, medium and program product

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a user equipment, a wireless communication method, an apparatus, a medium and a program product, and specifically provides a user equipment (UE) for wireless communication, comprising: a transceiver comprising one or two receive antenna ports; a processor coupled to the transceiver, the transceiver and the processor configured to cause the UE to satisfy an adjusted Reference Sensitivity REFSENS requirement for reception of downlink signals in the case of improving the maximum transmit power supported by the lightweight RedCap UE for transmission of uplink signals, where the bandwidth configuration of the UE supports a first maximum operating bandwidth and the bandwidth configuration of the UE supports a second maximum operating bandwidth. The adjusted REFSENS requirement is obtained through adjustment based on the 2RX REFSENS requirement, and the first maximum working bandwidth is not larger than the maximum value of the working bandwidth suitable for the 2RX REFSENS requirement.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present disclosure generally relates to wireless communication technology, and more particularly to a user equipment for wireless communication, a wireless communication method and apparatus, a computer readable storage medium and a program product. BACKGROUND

[0002] The fifth generation mobile communication technology (5G) is a new generation of broadband mobile communication technology, which has the characteristics of high speed, low latency and large connection. New radio (NR) is a key technology of 5G wireless network, which was first proposed by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) in Rel-15 standard. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Radio Communication Sector (ITU-R) has formulated the general roadmap of 5G “IMT-2020”, which defines three major application scenarios of 5G, namely, enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable and low-latency communications (uRLLC) and massive machine type communications (mMTC). eMBB is mainly aimed at ensuring mobile communication with ultra-high transmission data rate and large coverage. uRLLC mainly faces vertical industry application scenarios with extremely high requirements for latency and reliability. mMTC mainly faces large-scale connection, low power consumption, low data rate, and low-cost Internet of Things (IoT) application scenarios.

[0003] However, as 5G technology is applied, it is realized that the wireless communication technology for the three major application scenarios cannot well solve the needs of some middle-end Internet of Things scenarios. For middle-end Internet of Things scenarios, terminal devices need to have lower complexity and cost and smaller device size compared to eMBB and uRLLC, and can provide better connectivity and higher transmission rate compared to previous mMTC. In this context, Reduced Capability (RedCap) NR was first proposed by 3GPP in the Rel-17 standard research process, and was originally called NR-lite. User equipment (UE) using 5G RedCap technology has reduced complexity and lower energy consumption compared to conventional 5G NR UE, and can be applied to some Internet of Things scenarios.

[0004] According to current standard protocols, the radio frequency transmit power available to a RedCap UE is limited, for example, in Rel-17 standards, only power class 3 (PC3) requirements for frequency range 1 (FR1) can be applied to RedCap UEs, and the maximum transmit power defined by the PC3 requirement is 23 dBm. Current RedCap UEs cannot use higher maximum transmit power. RedCap UEs and non-RedCap 5G NR UEs (referred to as "conventional UEs") usually work in the same network. Even if the maximum transmit power allowed for conventional UEs is increased, the cell coverage of a 5G cell is still limited by the power class limited RedCap UEs. Moreover, the data transmission rate of a RedCap UE located at the edge of a cell will be reduced due to communication quality. Therefore, in order to expand the cell coverage of a 5G deployment or improve the data transmission rate of a RedCap UE at the edge of a cell, improvements to UEs, particularly RedCap UEs, are needed. SUMMARY

[0005] The present application aims to solve at least some of the above problems to provide an improved UE for wireless communication, a wireless communication method and apparatus, a computer readable storage medium or computer program product, so that UEs, particularly reduced capability UEs, can communicate with higher transmit power.

[0006] According to an aspect of the present disclosure, a user equipment (UE) for wireless communication is provided, comprising: a transceiver comprising one or two receive antenna ports; a processor coupled with the transceiver, the transceiver and the processor configured to cause the UE to: in a case where a maximum transmit power supported by a light-weight RedCap UE for transmission of uplink signals is increased, meet an adjusted reference sensitivity (REFSENS) requirement for reception of downlink signals, wherein a bandwidth configuration of the UE supports a first maximum operating bandwidth, the adjusted REFSENS requirement is adjusted based on a two receive antenna port REFSENS requirement, and the first maximum operating bandwidth is not greater than a maximum value of operating bandwidths to which the two receive antenna port REFSENS requirement applies.

[0007] According to another aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: transmitting an uplink signal with a first power class (PC) requirement to increase a maximum transmit power supported by a light RedCap UE, wherein the UE comprises one or two receive antenna ports, and a bandwidth configuration of the UE supports a first maximum operating bandwidth, the UE is configured to meet an adjusted reference sensitivity (REFSENS) requirement for reception of a downlink signal, the adjusted REFSENS requirement is adjusted based on a two receive antenna port REFSENS requirement, and the first maximum operating bandwidth is not greater than a maximum of operating bandwidths to which the two receive antenna port REFSENS requirement applies.

[0008] According to another aspect of the disclosure, there is provided an apparatus for wireless communication applied in a user equipment (UE), the apparatus comprising: a transmitting unit configured to transmit an uplink signal with a first power class (PC) requirement to increase a maximum transmit power supported by a light RedCap UE; and a receiving unit configured to receive a downlink signal in a manner to meet an adjusted reference sensitivity (REFSENS) requirement, wherein the UE comprises one or two receive antenna ports, a bandwidth configuration of the UE supports a first maximum operating bandwidth, the adjusted REFSENS requirement is adjusted based on a two receive antenna port REFSENS requirement, and the first maximum operating bandwidth is not greater than a maximum of operating bandwidths to which the two receive antenna port REFSENS requirement applies.

[0009] According to another aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium storing program instructions for wireless communication, which when executed by a processor of a user equipment, cause the user equipment to perform the method for wireless communication as described above.

[0010] According to another aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a computer program product comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to perform the method for wireless communication as described above.

[0011] One of the advantages of embodiments of the disclosure is that the maximum transmit power of an uplink signal of a reduced capability UE is increased to expand a cell coverage range of a 5G deployment or to increase a data transmission rate of such a UE at a cell edge, while an adjusted REFSENS requirement is applied to reception of a downlink signal to enable the UE to meet the adjusted REFSENS requirement and thus to pass a possible network entry standard.

[0012] It should be appreciated that the above-mentioned advantages need not all be achieved in one or some particular embodiments, but can be partially dispersed in different embodiments according to the present disclosure. Embodiments according to the present disclosure can have one or some of the above-mentioned advantages, and can alternatively or additionally have other advantages.

[0013] Other features of the present application, which are believed to be novel, are set forth in the appended claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0014] The accompanying drawings, which constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the present disclosure and, together with the description, explain the principles of the present disclosure.

[0015] The present disclosure can be understood more fully by reference to the following detailed description and illustrative

[0016] Figure 1 A network environment diagram of a user equipment (UE) according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0017] Figure 2 A component diagram of a UE according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0018] Figure 3 A diagram showing interference of uplink transmit power to downlink is shown.

[0019] Figure 4 A flowchart of a method for wireless communication according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0020] Figure 5 A component diagram of an apparatus for wireless communication according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0021] Figure 6 An exemplary electronic device that can be used to implement an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0022] For ease of understanding, the positions, sizes, shapes, and so on of the structures illustrated in the drawings and the like are sometimes schematically illustrated. Therefore, the present disclosure is not limited to the positions, sizes, shapes, and so on disclosed in the drawings and the like. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] Various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described hereinafter in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the relative arrangement of the components and steps set forth in these embodiments, numerical expressions, and numerical values are not limiting to the scope of the present disclosure unless otherwise specifically stated.

[0024] The following description of at least one exemplary embodiment is merely exemplary in nature and is in no way intended to limit the disclosure, its application, or uses.

[0025] In the present disclosure, the limitation such as "first", "second" is merely for the convenience of distinguishing, unless otherwise specified, it does not represent the order between the described elements.

[0026] Techniques, methods, and devices known to those of ordinary skill in the relevant art can not be discussed in detail herein, but should be considered as part of the specification where appropriate.

[0027] To extend the cell coverage of 5G deployment or improve the data transmission rate of RedCap UEs at the cell edge, embodiments of the present disclosure propose that RedCap UEs transmit uplink signals with a larger maximum transmit power than the requirements for baseline UEs (e.g., UEs conforming to the 5G NR protocol specification and / or existing RedCap UEs) in the existing standard protocol. However, when the maximum transmit power of uplink signals is increased, for RedCap UEs, the reception of downlink signals can not meet the reference sensitivity (REFSENS) requirements set for baseline UEs. Therefore, embodiments of the present disclosure also propose that while increasing the maximum transmit power of uplink signals of RedCap UEs, an adjusted REFSENS requirement is applied to the reception of downlink signals, so that RedCap UEs can meet the adjusted REFSENS requirement and thus be able to pass the possible network standard test.

[0028] In the following of the present disclosure, unless otherwise specified, 5G and NR can be used interchangeably. In addition, it should be recognized that although various aspects of the present disclosure are described in connection with terminology commonly used in 5G technology, various aspects of the present disclosure can be applied to RAT (Radio Access) technologies after 5G (e.g., 6G).

[0029] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a network environment of a UE according to embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. As shown in FIG. 1, the network environment of the UE includes a UE 100, a base station 200, and a core network 300. The UE 100 can be a RedCap UE, and the base station 200 can be a gNB. Figure 1As shown, the wireless network 130 can be part of or can include constituent elements of an NR network. The wireless network 130 can include one or more base stations (BSs) 200, one or more first-type UEs 110 (including 110a and 110b, collectively referred to as “first-type UEs 110”) and one or more second-type UEs 100 (including 100a and 100b, collectively referred to as “second-type UEs 100”), and other network elements (not shown). A BS 200 is a network device that communicates with UEs, and can also be referred to as a Node B (NB), an eNB, a gNB, an Access Point (AP), or a Transmission and Reception Point (TRP), etc. in some cases. Each BS can provide communication coverage for a particular area, which is referred to as a cell. The wireless network 130 can be one cell provided by a BS 200, and can be any one of a macro cell, a micro cell, a pico cell, or a femto cell, etc. Accordingly, the BS 200 can be one of a macro BS, a micro BS, a pico BS, or a femto BS, etc. Each BS 200 can serve one or more cells. In the case of a larger cell coverage (e.g., cell radius of several kilometers), the BS 200 can also include one or more relay BSs (also known as relay stations or relays).

[0030] The first-type UEs 110 and the second-type UEs 100 can be collectively referred to as UEs. The UEs can be distributed within the wireless network 130. Each UE can be mobile or stationary. A wireless communication link 120 (including links 120a, 120b, 120c, and 120d) is established between the UE and the BS 200, where the link between the UE and the BS 200 is called an uplink for the BS 200 to the UE and a downlink for the BS 200 to the UE. The UE can also be referred to as an access terminal, a terminal, a mobile station, a subscriber unit, etc. The UE can be a cellular communication phone (including a smartphone), a wireless communication device, a handheld device, a computer, a wearable device, a media device, a sensor device, a vehicle device, etc.

[0031] In the wireless network 130, the UE and BS200 communicate via radio spectrum. The radio spectrum used can be divided into multiple frequency ranges. For example, the usable frequency ranges can be divided into frequency range 1 (FR1) and frequency range 2 (FR2), where FR1 has a frequency range of 410MHz-7.125GHz and FR2 has a frequency range of 24.25GHz-52.6GHz. Since the frequency of FR1 is mainly below 6GHz, it is also referred to as the sub-6GHz band. FR2 is also referred to as the millimeter-wave band. It should be understood that since the frequency ranges included in FR1 and FR2 may be modified, the contents of this disclosure can be applied to modified FR1 and FR2.

[0032] The power class (PC) requirement adopted by the UE can be defined as the maximum transmit power over a given channel bandwidth. In 5G NR, 3GPP defines various UE power classes for the FR1 and FR2 frequency ranges. Due to the different frequency characteristics of FR1 and FR2, the measurement parameters and indicators required for the PC also differ. Within the FR1 frequency range, the UE power class is specified using cable measurements, with the measurement indicator being the maximum output power. Within the FR2 frequency range, the UE power class requirement is specified using over-the-air (OTA) measurements, and the measurement indicators include:

[0033] • Total Radiated Power (TRP) defines the upper limit of the total power radiated in all directions.

[0034] • Maximum effective isotropic radiated power

[0035] The maximum EIRP (Electronic Energy Input Registry) limit is used to meet regulatory requirements, namely ensuring that the device does not transmit high power that could cause health problems or generate excessive interference. The maximum EIRP considers the maximum antenna gain that the device can produce in a particular direction.

[0036] • Minimum Effective Isotropic Radiated Power (EIRP) is used to ensure that the device can produce minimum output power in at least one of a particular direction.

[0037] This disclosure focuses on the power level requirements of FR1. The power level requirements include the power level grade, the corresponding maximum transmit power value, and the applicable frequency band. In some embodiments, the power level requirements of FR1 are shown in Table 1 below:

[0038]

[0039]

[0040] Table 1 Power values and band distribution of different power class requirements in FR1

[0041] The first type of UE 110 is referred to as baseline UE in this document. The baseline UE is a reference for various capability changes of the UE according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Different capabilities of the UE according to embodiments of the present disclosure can be changed with reference to the corresponding capability of different baseline UEs.

[0042] The second type of UE 100 is a UE according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Compared with the baseline UE, it has reduced capabilities, including complexity, cost, and power consumption, etc.

[0043] For example, in terms of maximum transmit power, the second type of UE adopts a first PC requirement defining a first maximum transmit power, while the first type of UE adopts a default PC requirement defining a second maximum transmit power, the first maximum transmit power being greater than the second maximum transmit power. In other words, the PC requirement that the second type of UE can adopt improves the maximum transmit power compared with the default PC requirement of the first type of UE. The first type of UE can be a UE that meets the existing 5G NR communication protocol standard, including a regular UE and a RedCap UE. For example, according to the communication protocol standard requirement, in FR1, the default PC requirement of the UE (here referring to the regular UE) and the RedCap UE is the PC3 requirement, corresponding to a defined maximum transmit power of 23 dBm, as shown in Table 1 above. In the present disclosure, the “default PC requirement” adopted by a UE refers to the PC requirement that the UE adopts in general or most cases. The default PC requirement does not exclude the UE from adopting other PC requirements, but means that the PC requirement has a greater probability of being selected compared with other PC requirements.

[0044] Alternatively or additionally, the first maximum transmit power is greater than the maximum transmit power corresponding to the PC requirement that the RedCap UE can adopt. In fact, according to the existing 5G NR communication protocol standard, the PC requirement that the RedCap UE can adopt can only be the PC3 requirement, corresponding to a maximum transmit power of 23 dBm. The power class requirement adopted by the second type of UE defines a maximum transmit power higher than 23 dBm. For example, the second type of UE can adopt the PC2 requirement in FR1, and the PC2 requirement specifies a maximum transmit power of 26 dBm. Table 2 below lists the operating frequency bands that the second type of UE can support for the PC2 requirement.

[0045]

[0046] Table 2 Operating frequency bands that the second type of UE can support for PC2

[0047] For example, in terms of receive antenna ports, the second type of UE has one or at most two receive antenna ports, while the first type of UE has more than two receive antenna ports. For example, in FR1, as one of the first type of UE, a 5G NR UE supports a minimum of 2 antenna ports for reception simultaneously in some frequency bands, while a minimum of 4 antenna ports for reception simultaneously in some other frequency bands. Accordingly, the maximum MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) layer for downlink signal reception by the first type of UE is a minimum of 2 layers or 4 layers. In some embodiments, the second type of UE can be limited to have only one receive antenna port, which is quite different from the first type of UE, which is required to support a minimum of 2 receive antenna ports. The second type of UE uses 1 or at most 2 antenna ports for reception in the supported frequency bands. Due to the reduced number of receive antenna ports, the corresponding required MIMO layers are reduced to 1 layer (for 1 receive antenna port) or at most 2 layers (for 2 receive antenna ports).

[0048] For example, in terms of operating bandwidth, the second type of UE has an equal or smaller maximum operating bandwidth compared to the first type of UE. The bandwidth configuration of the second type of UE supports a first maximum operating bandwidth. The bandwidth configuration of the first type of UE supports a second maximum operating bandwidth, which is not smaller than the first maximum operating bandwidth. In some embodiments, the first type of UE is a UE that complies with the 3GPP 5G NR standard protocol specification (non-RedCap part). For example, the first type of UE can be a UE for eMBB application scenarios. In FR1, the maximum operating bandwidth supported by this type of UE is 100 MHz. In contrast, the maximum operating bandwidth supported by the second type of UE is smaller than that of the first type of UE, for example, it can be 20 MHz. This reduces the requirements for the radio frequency front-end filter of the second type of UE and also reduces the requirements for the baseband processing capability. In other embodiments, the first type of UE is a RedCap UE that meets the current existing 5G NR communication protocol standard. In FR1, the maximum operating bandwidth supported by this type of UE is 20 MHz. In contrast, the maximum operating bandwidth supported by the second type of UE can be equal to it, i.e., also 20 MHz.

[0049] In some embodiments, the second type of UE is limited to have only one transmit antenna port, thereby reducing the complexity of the transmitter. In contrast, some first type of UE, such as a regular UE that meets the 5G NR protocol specification, can have two or more transmit antenna ports.

[0050] In some embodiments, the second type of UE is restricted to operate in a HD-FDD (Half Duplex Frequency Division Duplexing) mode in addition to full duplex mode in TDD (Time Division Duplexing) and FDD (Frequency Division Duplexing), i.e., can operate in different frequencies at different times, thereby saving the FDD band duplexer, reducing the size of the device, and saving costs. In contrast, some first type of UEs, such as conventional UEs that meet the 5G NR protocol specification, do not support the HD-FDD mode.

[0051] In some embodiments, the second type of UE is an adjusted RedCap UE. The adjusted RedCap UE is further adjusted on the basis of the RedCap UE specified in the existing 3GPP Rel-17 standard or earlier standard to further meet the adjustments regarding the power class below and other adjustments adapted to the power class adjustment. The UE can inform the BS in the capability report sent to the BS 200 whether the UE itself supports the RedCap UE function.

[0052] The following Table 3 shows the configuration differences between the first type of UE and the second type of UE introduced above. It is to be understood that the configuration differences listed in the table do not need to exist at the same time, but in some embodiments, there can be only one or more configuration items that are different.

[0053]

[0054]

[0055] Table 3 Comparison of configurations of first type of UE and second type of UE

[0056] Although Figure 1 Although the first type of UE and the second type of UE coexist in one cell is shown in the above embodiment, the presence of the first type of UE is not necessary, and in some embodiments, there can be no first type of UE, but only the second type of UE. In some embodiments, in addition to the second type of UE, there can be UEs using some other RAT technology (for example, 2G, 3G, 4G technology) in the cell.

[0057] The various aspects of the present disclosure will be described below taking the adjusted RedCap UE as an example of the second type of UE according to embodiments of the present disclosure. But it should be recognized that the technical solutions of the present disclosure are not limited to the RedCap UE or the enhanced lightweight (eRedCap) UE defined according to the Rel-17 standard and its subsequent standards, but can be applied to various UEs with reduced configuration(s) in the manner described above.

[0058] Figure 2 A constituent diagram of a UE according to embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. The UE can be a specific implementation of the UE 100a and 100b in Figure 1

[0059] The UE 100 includes a transceiver 102 and a processor 104. The transceiver 102 is configured to receive control or data signals from the processor 104 and transmit the control or data signals outward, or vice versa, receive signals from the outside and recover the control or data signals by processing such as demodulation and decoding to send to the processor 104. The transceiver 102 can include receive antenna ports 106a and 106b. Although two receive antenna ports are shown in the figure, only one receive antenna port can be included in some embodiments. Alternatively, in some cases, although two receive antenna ports are included in hardware, the UE can be configured to use only one of them for reception. In some embodiments, the receive antenna ports 106a and 106b can include corresponding antenna components. The antenna components can be one or more antenna panels, antenna groups, antenna element groups, and / or antenna arrays. In other embodiments, the receive antenna ports 106a and 106b can not include antenna components, but provide interfaces for connecting external antenna components. One or both of the receive antenna ports 106a and 106b can also be used as transmit antenna ports. Whether an antenna port is used for reception or transmission is switched by a duplexer in the Radio Frequency Frontend (RFFE). In some embodiments, although both receive antenna ports 106a and 106b can be used as transmit antenna ports, the UE is configured to use only one of them for transmission, i.e., the UE can be configured to have 1 transmit antenna port and 2 receive antenna ports, or 1 transmit antenna port and 1 receive antenna port.

[0060] ​The RFFE 108a and 108b are connected with the antenna ports 106a and 106b, respectively. The RFFE 108a and 108b mainly include one or more of a filter, a power amplifier (PA), a radio frequency switch (Switch / Tuner), and a low noise amplifier (LNA). The filter can include a duplexer, a triplexer, etc., and can be used in both the transmit path and the receive path. The duplexer is composed of two band-stop filters of different frequencies, and because of frequency division duplexing (FDD), the receive and transmit channels operate at the same time, and the duplexer is used to prevent mutual interference between the transmit signal and the receive signal. The power amplifier is mainly applied to the transmit path and is used to amplify the radio frequency signal. The power level used by the UE affects the operating parameters of the power amplifier. The radio frequency switch is used to realize the switching of the circuit, including the switching of the transceiver circuit and the switching of different frequency bands / antennas. The low noise amplifier is mainly applied to the receive path and is used to amplify the received signal.

[0061] The modems 112a and 112b are connected with the RFFE 108a and 108b, respectively, for modulating (e.g., digital-to-analog conversion, up-conversion, etc.) the uplink signal to be transmitted or demodulating (e.g., down-conversion, analog-to-digital conversion, etc.) the received downlink signal. When the UE uses 2 receive antenna ports, the transceiver 102 further includes a MIMO detector 114. The MIMO detector 114 is connected between the modems corresponding to each receive antenna port and the receive processor, and is used for combining and detecting the multiple receive signals. The receive processor 258 can decode the detected signal and provide the decoded information to the processor 104. The transmit processor 118 obtains the control / data information from the processor 104 and performs encoding processing.

[0062] The number of processors 104 can be one or a combination of more than one. In some embodiments, the receive processor 116 and the transmit processor 118 can also be part of the processor 104, unlike what is shown in FIG. 1. Figure 2

[0063] ​The reference sensitivity REFSENS (also referred to as "reference sensitivity power level") of a UE reflects the ability of the UE to receive data of a specified reference measurement channel at a given average throughput under low signal level conditions, which is characterized by the minimum average power of each antenna port of the UE under certain average throughput. In the radio frequency class test of an operator or network access authentication, the REFSENS of the UE needs to meet certain REFSENS requirements. In the receiving path of the UE 100, the number and performance of antennas, filters, radio frequency switches and low noise amplifiers in the RFFE, demodulation and decoding methods, and whether MIMO reception is used, all have an impact on the reference sensitivity of the UE 100.

[0064] However, even if the receiving path configuration of the UE is kept unchanged, changing the uplink transmit power will cause a change in the downlink reception REFSENS in some cases. Figure 3 A schematic diagram showing the interference of the uplink transmit power increase on the downlink is shown. As shown in Figure 3 When the UE uses the FDD mode, due to the lack of sufficient frequency spacing between the uplink and downlink frequency bands, the high-order self-adjustment or intermodulation components of some frequencies in the uplink frequency band may fall in the downlink frequency band, forming interference. The amplitude of the interference is affected by the uplink transmit power. When the uplink transmit power changes, the amplitude of the interference also changes accordingly, causing the REFSENS to change, and the originally determined REFSENS requirement needs to be adjusted. In particular, in the case of uplink transmit power increase, the interference will be more significant, causing the REFSENS to deteriorate and failing to meet the originally determined REFSENS requirement.

[0065] To solve the above problems, in an embodiment of the present disclosure, the transceiver 102 and the processor 104 are configured to cause the UE 100 to meet an adjusted reference sensitivity REFSENS requirement for reception of a downlink signal in the case of increasing the maximum transmit power supported by a lightweight RedCap UE for transmission of an uplink signal. The adjusted REFSENS requirement is obtained based on adjustment of a two-receiving-antenna-port (2RX) REFSENS requirement. The first maximum operating bandwidth is not greater than the maximum value of the operating bandwidth applicable to the 2RX REFSENS requirement.

[0066] In some embodiments, to improve the maximum transmit power supported by the RedCap UE for the transmission of the uplink signal, the transceiver 102 and the processor 104 are further configured to cause the UE 100 to employ a first power class PC requirement for the transmission of the uplink signal. The first PC requirement defines a first maximum transmit power, and the first maximum transmit power is greater than a preset maximum transmit power for the RedCap UE. The preset maximum transmit power for the RedCap UE is a maximum transmit power artificially agreed in advance and allowed to be used by the existing RedCap UE for transmitting the uplink signal. In some cases, this can be achieved by agreeing on a default PC requirement allowed to be employed by the RedCap UE. Specifically, a default PC requirement can be agreed to be employed by the RedCap UE, which defines a second maximum transmit power, and the preset maximum transmit power can be the second maximum transmit power. For example, the default PC requirement for the RedCap UE is PC3 requirement in FR1, which corresponds to a defined second maximum transmit power of 23dBm, and according to the embodiments of the present disclosure, the UE employs a first PC requirement, and the first PC requirement defines a first maximum transmit power higher than 23dBm, for example, PC2 requirement in FR1 can be employed, which corresponds to a defined first maximum transmit power of 26dBm. The UE according to the embodiments of the present disclosure can employ the default second maximum transmit power, can employ the improved first maximum transmit power, or both, and switch according to the specific use scenario. That is, compared with the maximum transmit power supported by the RedCap UE in the default case, the method according to the embodiments of the present disclosure improves the maximum transmit power of the uplink signal by employing the first PC requirement defining a greater maximum transmit power.

[0067] 2RX REFSENS requirement is a REFSENS requirement defined under the condition that the UE has 2 receive antenna ports. The UE with 2 receive antenna ports can be the first type of UE introduced above, i.e., the baseline UE. Further, in addition to requiring the UE to have 2 receive antenna ports, the 2RX REFSENS requirement is defined under the condition that at least one of the following conditions is met:

[0068] · employs the same duplex mode as the RedCap UE of the embodiments of the present disclosure. Accordingly, both the 2RX REFSENS requirement and the adjusted REFSENS requirement are defined under the same duplex mode. That is, if the RedCap UE works in one of a TDD mode, an FDD mode, or an HD-FDD mode, the 2RX REFSENS requirement is also for the mode.

[0069] · employs the same duplex mode as the RedCap UE of the embodiments of the present disclosure. Accordingly, both the 2RX REFSENS requirement and the adjusted REFSENS requirement are defined under the same duplex mode. That is, if the RedCap UE works in one of a TDD mode, an FDD mode, or an HD-FDD mode, the 2RX REFSENS requirement is also for the mode.

[0070] The maximum applicable operating bandwidth is greater than or equal to the maximum operating bandwidth supported by the bandwidth configuration of the RedCap UE in the embodiments of this disclosure. As shown in Tables 4-6...

[0071] As shown, the maximum operating bandwidth applicable to 2RX REFSENS in different frequency bands is 50MHz, 100MHz, and 20MHz. In contrast, the maximum operating bandwidth supported by the RedCap UE of the embodiments of this disclosure is 20MHz.

[0072] The maximum transmit power defined by the power class requirement is less than the maximum transmit power defined by the power class requirement adopted by the RedCap UE according to embodiments of this disclosure. For example, the UE is required to adopt a default power class requirement, which is the PC3 requirement defined under FR1. For example, the 2RXREFSENS requirement in Tables 4-6 is obtained when the power class requirement is the default PC3 requirement. However, the power class requirement adopted by the RedCap UE according to embodiments of this disclosure is the PC2 requirement defined under FR1.

[0073] The 2RX REFSENS requirement can be predetermined. Table 4 lists the 2RX REFSENS requirements in the FDD band.

[0074]

[0075]

[0076] Table 4. 2RX REFSENS Requirements in FDD Bands

[0077] Table 5 lists the 2RX REFSENS requirements in the TDD band.

[0078]

[0079]

[0080] Table 5. 2RX REFSENS Requirements in TDD Bands

[0081] Table 6 lists the requirements for 2RX REFSENS using HD-FDD mode.

[0082]

[0083]

[0084] Table 6. 2RX REFSENS Requirements for HD-FDD Mode

[0085] In some embodiments, the adjusted REFSENS requirement is obtained by superimposing an adjustment amount on the 2RX REFSENS requirement. Thus, after the 2RX REFSENS requirement is determined, the size of the adjustment amount for the 2RX REFSENS requirement can be further specified so that the RedCap UE can still meet the adjusted REFSENS requirement after the uplink transmit power is boosted.

[0086] In some embodiments, the size of the adjustment amount is related to both the duplex mode in which the UE operates and the number of receive antenna ports used by the UE.

[0087] When the UE adopts a TDD or HD-FDD mode, since the uplink and downlink are performed in time division, the uplink transmit power boost has little effect on the downlink reception, and thus the adjustment amount relative to the 2RX REFSENS requirement can be 0 in these two duplex modes. When the UE adopts an FDD mode, the uplink transmit power boost has an effect on the downlink reception, and thus appropriate adjustment of the 2RX REFSENS requirement needs to be considered. In the adjustment amount, the part of the adjustment amount caused by the difference in power class that brings the largest transmit power boost is referred to as reference sensitivity degradation. The size of the reference sensitivity degradation varies with the frequency band in which the UE operates and the configured uplink channel bandwidth.

[0088] Table 7 below shows the reference sensitivity degradation when the RedCap UE (with two receive antenna ports) supports PC2. For example, when the RedCap UE operates in the n1 frequency band, the reference sensitivity degradation requirement for the specified channel bandwidth with a maximum channel bandwidth of 20 MHz is 0 dB. For example, when the RedCap UE operates in the n3 frequency band, the reference sensitivity degradation requirement for the specified channel bandwidth with a maximum channel bandwidth of 20 MHz is 0.5 dB. For example, when the RedCap UE operates in the n5 frequency band (not shown in the table), the reference sensitivity degradation requirement for the specified channel bandwidth with a maximum channel bandwidth of 20 MHz is at most 1 dB. For example, when the RedCap UE operates in the n8 frequency band, the reference sensitivity degradation requirement for the specified channel bandwidth with a maximum channel bandwidth of 20 MHz is at most 2.3 dB.

[0089]

[0090] Table 7 Reference sensitivity degradation when the RedCap UE (with two receive antenna ports) supports PC2

[0091] The adjustment amount for 2RX REFSENS requirement when UE adopts two receive antenna ports is 0. When UE adopts one receive antenna port, the part of adjustment amount caused by the reduction of receive antenna port number from two to one is referred to as single receive antenna port reference sensitivity margin (AR 1R ).

[0092] The following table 8 shows AR 1R for RedCap UE adopting one receive antenna port in TDD and FDD modes. For TDD bands, AR 1R is constant when channel bandwidth varies. For FDD bands, AR 1R depends on the downlink channel bandwidth the UE is configured with. In case of symmetric uplink and downlink channel bandwidth, the downlink channel bandwidth is equal to the uplink channel bandwidth.

[0093] Operating band Channel bandwidth (MHz) Residual ΔR 1R (dB) TDD band 5,10,15,20 2.5 FDD band 5 2.5 FDD band 10,15,20 3.0

[0094] Table 8 AR 1R

[0095] For HD-FDD mode, when RedCap UE adopts PC3 and one receive antenna port, the adjusted REFSENS requirement is shown in the following table 9. It can be seen that in some bands (e.g. n1, n3, etc.), the corresponding margin AR 1R is 2.5dB compared to table 8.

[0096]

[0097]

[0098] Table 9 REFSENS requirement for RedCap adopting one receive antenna port in HD-FDD mode

[0099] Combining the above two, when RedCap UE changes from PC3 to PC2 and reduces from adopting two receive antenna ports to one, the adjustment amount for 2RX REFSENS requirement is the sum of reference sensitivity degradation and AR 1R . The following table 10 shows the calculation method of adjustment amount for different RedCap UEs in different duplex modes.

[0100]

[0101] Table 10 Adjustment amount for different RedCap UEs in different duplex modes

[0102] In particular, it can be seen that, in FDD mode, when the RedCap UE adopts PC2 and one receive antenna port, the adjustment amount is the sum of Table 7 and Table 8, as shown in Table 11 below.

[0103]

[0104]

[0105] Table 11 Adjustment amount of RedCap UE in FDD mode with PC2 and one receive antenna port

[0106] Figure 4 A flowchart of a method for wireless communication according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. The method 400 can be performed by a UE (e.g., the second type of UE introduced above) according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 400 includes step 402, in which the UE according to embodiments of the present disclosure transmits an uplink signal with a first power class (PC) requirement to improve the maximum transmit power supported by the RedCap UE. The UE includes one or two receive antenna ports. The bandwidth configuration of the UE supports a first maximum operating bandwidth. The UE is also configured to satisfy an adjusted REFSENS requirement for reception of a downlink signal. The adjusted REFSENS requirement is adjusted from a two receive antenna port (2RX) REFSENS requirement. The first maximum operating bandwidth is not greater than the maximum of the operating bandwidths to which the 2RX REFSENS requirement applies.

[0107] In some embodiments, transmitting the uplink signal with the first PC requirement to improve the maximum transmit power supported by the RedCap UE can be achieved by defining the first PC requirement to define a first maximum transmit power, and the first maximum transmit power is greater than a pre-set maximum transmit power for the RedCap UE.

[0108] Further details about the method, in particular about the PC requirement, the 2RX REFSENS requirement, and how to obtain the adjusted REFSENS requirement, have been introduced above and will not be repeated here.

[0109] Figure 5 An apparatus for wireless communication according to embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. The apparatus 500 can be applied in a UE, for example, can be applied in a second type of UE as shown in Figure 1 In some embodiments, the UE includes one or two receive antenna ports. The bandwidth configuration of the UE supports a first maximum operating bandwidth. In some embodiments, the UE is a 5G RedCap UE or a 5G eRedCap UE.

[0110] The apparatus 500 includes a transmitting unit 502 and a receiving unit 504. The transmitting unit 502 is configured to transmit uplink signals according to a first PC requirement to increase the maximum transmit power supported by the lightweight RedCap UE. The receiving unit 504 is configured to receive downlink signals in a manner that meets adjusted REFSENS requirements. The adjusted REFSENS requirements are based on 2RX REFSENS requirements. The first maximum operating bandwidth is not greater than the maximum value of the operating bandwidth applicable to the 2RX REFSENS requirements.

[0111] Further details regarding the device, particularly the PC requirements, 2RX REFSENS requirements, and how to obtain the adjusted REFSENS requirements, have been described in detail above and will not be repeated here.

[0112] Figure 6 Exemplary electronic devices that can be used to implement the methods according to embodiments of this disclosure are shown. The RedCap UE according to embodiments of this disclosure can be implemented as such an electronic device. Figure 6 As shown, the electronic device 600 may include one or more processors 602. The one or more processors 602 may be any type of processor and may include, but are not limited to, one or more general-purpose processors or dedicated processors (such as dedicated processing chips). The processor 602 may execute instructions to implement the methods for wireless communication described above. The one or more processors 602 may include... Figure 2 The processor 104 shown.

[0113] Electronic device 600 may also include or be connected to non-transitory storage device 604, which may be any non-transitory storage device capable of storing data, and may include, but is not limited to, disk drives, optical storage devices, solid-state storage, floppy disks, flexible disks, hard disks, magnetic tapes or any other magnetic media, compressed disks or any other optical media, cache memory and / or any other storage chip or module, and / or any other medium from which a computer may read data, instructions and / or code. Non-transitory storage device 604 may store various dynamic and static instructions and / or data for processor 602 to read and / or execute in order to implement the methods for wireless communication described above.

[0114] The processor 602 and / or the storage device 604 can be connected or communicate with the bus 606 via one or more interfaces. The bus 606 can include, but is not limited to, an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, a Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, an Enhanced ISA (EISA) bus, a Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) local bus, and a PCI bus or a PCI-e bus, etc.

[0115] The I / O device 608 can be any external device that can interact with the electronic device 600. Examples of the I / O device 608 can include, but are not limited to, a keyboard, a touchpad, a mouse, a joystick or other pointing device, a microphone, a speaker, a display, or a printer, etc.

[0116] The electronic device 600 can further include a network interface 610. The network interface 610 can be any kind of device or system that can enable communication with external devices and / or networks, and can include, but is not limited to, a modem, a network card, an infrared communication device, a wireless communication device, and / or a chipset (such as a Bluetooth device, a WiFi device, a WiMax device, a cellular communication facility, etc.).

[0117] The I / O device 608 and / or the network interface 610 can also be communicatively coupled with the processor 602 and / or the storage device 604 via the bus 606.

[0118] The present disclosure can be implemented as any combination of an apparatus, a system, an integrated circuit, and a non-transitory computer readable medium or a computer program on a computer program product. One or more processors can be implemented as an integrated circuit (IC), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or a large scale integrated circuit (LSI), a system LSI, a super LSI, or a ultra LSI component that performs part or all of the functions described in the present disclosure.

[0119] The present disclosure includes the use of software, an application, a computer program, or an algorithm. The software, the application, the computer program, or the algorithm can be stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium or a computer program product to enable a computer such as one or more processors to perform the steps described above and in the accompanying drawings. For example, one or more memories store software or an algorithm in executable instructions, and one or more processors can execute a set of instructions associated with the software or the algorithm to provide various functionalities according to the embodiments described in the present disclosure.

[0120] Software and computer programs (which can also be referred to as programs, software applications, applications, components, or code) comprise machine instructions for a programmable processor, and can be implemented in a high-level procedural, object-oriented, functional, logical, or assembly language or machine language. The term "computer-readable medium" refers to any computer program product, apparatus or device, such as a magnetic disk, optical disk, solid state storage device, memory, and programmable logic devices (PLDs), including a computer readable medium that receives machine instructions as a computer-readable signal, used to provide machine instructions or data to a programmable data processing apparatus.

[0121] By way of example, computer-readable media can include dynamic random access memory (DRAM), read only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM) or electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), compact disk read only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired computer-readable program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer, or a general-purpose or special-purpose processor. Disk and disc, as used herein, includes compact discs (CDs), laser discs, optical discs, digital versatile discs (DVDs), floppy disks and blu-ray discs where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above are also included within the scope of computer-readable media.

[0122] The subject matter of the present disclosure is provided as an example of an apparatus, system, method, and program for performing the features described in this disclosure. However, other features or variations can be expected in addition to the above-described features. It can be expected that implementation of components and functions of the present disclosure can be accomplished with any newly-occurring technology that can replace any of the above-mentioned technologies.

[0123] In addition, the above description provides an example, and does not limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the claims set forth in the claims. Changes can be made in the function and arrangement of elements discussed without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Various embodiments can omit, substitute, or add various procedures or components as appropriate. For instance, features described with respect to certain embodiments can be incorporated into other embodiments as appropriate.

[0124] Similarly, while operations are depicted in the drawings in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring such order, nor that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing can be advantageous.

Claims

1. A user equipment (UE) for wireless communication, comprising: a transceiver comprising one or two receive antenna ports; a processor coupled with the transceiver, the transceiver and the processor configured to cause the UE to: satisfy an adjusted reference sensitivity (REFSENS) requirement for reception of a downlink signal, in a case that a maximum transmit power supported by a light connected RedCap (Reduction in Capability) UE for transmission of an uplink signal is increased, wherein a bandwidth configuration of the UE supports a first maximum operating bandwidth, the adjusted REFSENS requirement is adjusted based on a two receive antenna port reference sensitivity (2RX REFSENS) requirement, and the first maximum operating bandwidth is not greater than a maximum value of an operating bandwidth to which the 2RX REFSENS requirement applies.

2. The UE of claim 1, wherein, the UE is a light connected RedCap UE or an enhanced light connected eRedCap UE.

3. The UE of claim 1 or 2, wherein, the transceiver and the processor are further configured to cause the UE to: adopt a first power class (PC) requirement for transmission of an uplink signal, wherein the first PC requirement defines a first maximum transmit power that is greater than a preset maximum transmit power for the RedCap UE.

4. The UE of claim 3, wherein, the preset maximum transmit power is a second maximum transmit power defined by a default PC requirement adopted by the RedCap UE.

5. The UE of claim 1 or 2, wherein, the adjusted REFSENS requirement is adjusted by an adjustment amount on top of the 2RX REFSENS requirement, and a size of the adjustment amount depends at least on: a duplex mode in which the UE operates; and a number of receive antenna ports used by the UE.

6. The UE of claim 5, wherein, In a case where a duplex mode in which the UE operates is frequency division duplex (FDD) and a number of receive antenna ports used by the UE is one, the adjustment amount is a single receive antenna port reference sensitivity margin ΔR 1R and a sum of reference sensitivity degradation caused by a power level difference.

7. The UE of claim 6, wherein, the ΔR 1R depending on the downlink channel bandwidth the UE is configured with.

8. The UE of claim 6, wherein, the reference sensitivity degradation depends on a frequency band in which the UE operates and an uplink channel bandwidth configured. 9.The UE of claim 1, wherein the first PC requirement is a PC2 requirement defined within a 5G frequency range (FR1), and the default PC requirement is a PC3 requirement defined within the FR1. 10.A method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: transmitting an uplink signal with a first power class (PC) requirement to increase a maximum transmit power supported by a light connected RedCap (Reduction in Capability) UE, wherein the UE comprises one or two receive antenna ports, and a bandwidth configuration of the UE supports a first maximum operating bandwidth, wherein the UE is configured to satisfy an adjusted reference sensitivity (REFSENS) requirement for reception of a downlink signal, wherein the adjusted REFSENS requirement is adjusted based on a two receive antenna port reference sensitivity (2RX REFSENS) requirement, and the first maximum operating bandwidth is not greater than a maximum value of an operating bandwidth to which the 2RX REFSENS requirement applies.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein, the UE is a light connected RedCap UE or an enhanced light connected eRedCap UE.

12. The method of claim 10 or 11, wherein, the first PC requirement defines a first maximum transmit power that is greater than a preset maximum transmit power for the RedCap UE.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein, The preset maximum transmit power is a second maximum transmit power defined by a default PC requirement adopted by the RedCap UE.

14. The method of claim 10 or 11, wherein, The adjusted REFSENS requirement is obtained by superimposing an adjustment amount on the 2RX REFSENS requirement, and the size of the adjustment amount depends at least on: a duplex mode operated by the UE; and a number of receive antenna ports used by the UE.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein, In a case where a duplex mode in which the UE operates is frequency division duplex (FDD) and a number of receive antenna ports used by the UE is one, the adjustment amount is a single receive antenna port reference sensitivity metric ΔR 1R a sum of a reference sensitivity degradation caused by a power level difference.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein, the ΔR 1R depending on the downlink channel bandwidth the UE is configured with.

17. The UE of claim 15, wherein, The reference sensitivity degradation depends on a frequency band and a configured uplink channel bandwidth operated by the UE.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the first PC requirement is a PC2 requirement defined within a 5G frequency range FR1, and the default PC requirement is a PC3 requirement defined within the FR1.

19. A computer-readable storage medium storing program instructions for wireless communication, which when executed by a processor of a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to perform the method of any of claims 10-18.

20. A computer program product comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to perform the method of any of claims 10-18.

21. An apparatus for wireless communication, applied in a user equipment (UE), the apparatus comprising: a transmitting unit configured to transmit an uplink signal by adopting a first power class (PC) requirement to improve a maximum transmit power supported by a lightweight reduced capability (RedCap) UE; and a receiving unit configured to receive a downlink signal in a manner satisfying an adjusted reference sensitivity (REFSENS) requirement, wherein the UE comprises one or two receive antenna ports, a bandwidth configuration of the UE supports a first maximum operating bandwidth, the adjusted REFSENS requirement is adjusted based on a two-receive-antenna-port reference sensitivity (2RX REFSENS) requirement, and the first maximum operating bandwidth is not greater than a maximum value of an operating bandwidth applicable to the 2RX REFSENS requirement. ​

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