MAC PDU transmission

Abstract

Embodiments of the present application relate generally to the field of telecommunications, in particular to devices, methods, apparatuses, and computer readable storage media for configuring, transmitting, and / or receiving a Media Access Control Protocol Data Unit (MAC PDU) comprising one or more MAC sub-headers.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Various embodiments of this application generally relate to the telecommunications field, and more specifically to devices, methods, apparatuses, and computer-readable storage media for configuring, transmitting, and / or receiving Media Access Control Protocol Data Units (MAC PDUs) including one or more MAC subheaders. Background Technology

[0002] In 5G New Radio (NR), the Media Access Control (MAC) layer provides various types of data transmission services. To accommodate these different data transmission services, several types of logical channels are defined. A MAC Protocol Data Unit (MAC PDU) can consist of one or more MAC Control Elements (MAC CEs), each corresponding to one or more functions requiring a MAC CE. According to 3GPP Technical Specification (TS) 38.321, a MAC PDU includes a subheader containing either a Logical Channel Identifier (LCID) value or an Extended LCID (eLCID) value. Summary of the Invention

[0003] The scope of protection sought by the various example embodiments is defined by the claims. Example embodiments and features (if any) described in this specification that do not fall within the scope of the claims should be interpreted as examples helpful in understanding the various embodiments.

[0004] In a first aspect, an apparatus is provided, comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least: configure a Media Access Control Protocol Data Unit (MAC PDU) including one or more MAC sub-headers and transmit the MAC PDU. The MAC sub-headers include a first indication field indicating the presence of a first information field in the MAC sub-headers, and the first information field indicating information associated with at least one of the following: Common Control Channel (CCCH), CCCH Service Data Unit (CCCHSDU) size, device type, device capability, or scheduling information.

[0005] In a second aspect, an apparatus is provided, comprising at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions, which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least: transmit a message associated with a first information field, and receive a Media Access Control Protocol Data Unit (MACPDU) including one or more MAC sub-headers. The MAC sub-headers may include a first indication field indicating the presence of the first information field in the MAC sub-headers. The first information field may indicate information associated with at least one of the following: Common Control Channel (CCCH), CCCH Service Data Unit (CCCH SDU) size, device type, device capability, or scheduling information.

[0006] In a third aspect, a method is provided, comprising the steps of: configuring a Media Access Control Protocol Data Unit (MAC PDU) including one or more MAC sub-headers; and transmitting the MAC PDU. One of the one or more MAC sub-headers may include a first indication field indicating the presence of a first information field in the MAC sub-header. The first information field may indicate information associated with at least one of the following: Common Control Channel (CCCH), size of CCCH Service Data Unit (CCCH SDU), device type, device capability, or scheduling information.

[0007] In a fourth aspect, a method is provided, comprising the steps of: transmitting a message associated with a first information field; and receiving a Media Access Control Protocol Data Unit (MAC PDU) including one or more MAC sub-headers. The MAC sub-headers may include a first indication field indicating the presence of the first information field in the MAC sub-headers. The first information field may indicate information associated with at least one of the following: the size of the Common Control Channel (CCCH), the CCCH Service Data Unit (CCCHSDU), device type, device capability, or scheduling information.

[0008] In a fifth aspect, a computer-readable medium is provided storing instructions for causing a device to perform at least the following: configuring a Media Access Control Protocol Data Unit (MAC PDU) including one or more MAC sub-headers, and transmitting the MAC PDU. One of the one or more MAC sub-headers may include a first indication field indicating the presence of a first information field in the MAC sub-header. The first information field may indicate at least one of having a Common Control Channel (CCCH), a CCCH Service Data Unit (CCCH SDU) size, a device type, device capabilities, or scheduling information. In this case, the computer program medium is a non-transitory computer-readable medium.

[0009] In a sixth aspect, a computer-readable medium is provided, including instructions stored thereon for causing a network node to at least perform the following: transmitting a message associated with a first information field, and receiving a Media Access Control Protocol Data Unit (MAC PDU) including one or more MAC sub-headers. One of the one or more MAC sub-headers may include a first indication field indicating the presence of the first information field in the MAC sub-header. The first information field may indicate information associated with at least one of the following: Common Control Channel (CCCH), CCCH Service Data Unit (CCCH SDU) size, device type, device capability, or scheduling information. In this case, the computer program medium is a non-transitory computer-readable medium.

[0010] Other features and advantages of the embodiments of this application will also become apparent from the following detailed description of specific embodiments when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate the principles of the embodiments of this application by way of example. Attached Figure Description

[0011] The embodiments of this application are presented by way of example, and their advantages are explained in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0012] Figure 1 An example communication environment 100 is illustrated, which can implement an example embodiment of this application.

[0013] Figure 2 The illustrations show some examples of MAC subheadings that can be applied to embodiments of the present invention.

[0014] Figure 3 Examples of MAC subheadings that can be applied to embodiments of this application are illustrated.

[0015] Figure 4 The illustration depicts one of the signaling processes including a configuration MAC PDU that applies to one or more MAC sub-headers in embodiments of this application.

[0016] Figure 5 The illustration shows some MAC subheaders according to embodiments of the present invention.

[0017] Figure 6 The illustration shows a flowchart of one embodiment of providing a MAC PDU that includes one or more MAC subheaders.

[0018] Figure 7 The illustration shows a flowchart of one of the embodiments for supporting MAC PDU generation.

[0019] Figure 8An example of a device including means for performing one or more of the above example embodiments is illustrated.

[0020] In all the accompanying drawings, the same or similar reference numerals may denote the same or similar elements. Detailed Implementation

[0021] The following embodiments are merely examples. The principles of this application will now be described with reference to some exemplary embodiments. It should be understood that these embodiments are for illustrative purposes only and are intended to help those skilled in the art understand and implement this application, and do not imply any limitation on the scope of this application. Various other methods may be used to implement the embodiments described herein, in addition to those described below.

[0022] In the following description and claims, unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein may have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this application pertains.

[0023] References to "an embodiment," "embodiment," "example embodiment," etc., in this application indicate that the described embodiment may include specific features, structures, elements, or characteristics, but not every embodiment must include specific features, structures, elements, or characteristics. Furthermore, these phrases do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. Additionally, when a specific feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, its effect should be considered to be within the knowledge of those skilled in the art; such feature, structure, element, or characteristic is relevant to other embodiments, whether explicitly described or not.

[0024] It should be understood that although the terms “first,” “second,” etc., may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are used only to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first element may be referred to as a second element, and similarly, a second element may be referred to as a first element, without departing from the scope of the exemplary embodiments. As used herein, the term “and / or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

[0025] As used herein, “at least one of the following: ” and “at least one of ” and similar wording, wherein the list of two or more elements is connected by “and” or “or”, indicates at least one of the elements, or at least any two or more of the elements, or at least all the elements.

[0026] As used herein, unless explicitly stated otherwise, the execution step “in response to A” does not indicate that the step is executed immediately after “A” occurs, and may include one or more intermediate steps.

[0027] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to limit the exemplary embodiments. As used herein, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well. It should also be understood that when the terms “comprise,” “comprising,” “has,” “having,” “include,” and / or “including” are used herein, they specify the presence of the stated features, elements, and / or components, etc., but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components, and / or combinations thereof.

[0028] As used in this application, the term "circuit" may refer to one or more of the following:

[0029] (a) Hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations using only analog and / or digital circuits); and

[0030] (b) A combination of hardware circuitry and software, such as (if applicable):

[0031] (i) a combination of analog and / or digital hardware circuitry with software / firmware; and

[0032] (ii) Hardware processors and any parts of software (including digital signal processors), software, and memory, which work together to enable a device such as a mobile phone or server to perform various functions.

[0033] (various functions); and

[0034] (c) Hardware circuitry and / or processors, such as microprocessors or a portion thereof, that require software (e.g., firmware) to operate, but which may not exist when not needed to run.

[0035] This definition of "circuit" applies to all uses of the term in this application (including in any claim). As another example, as used in this application, the term "circuit" also covers implementations of hardware circuits or processors (or processors) or hardware circuits or processors and their accompanying software and / or firmware. For example, and where applicable to a particular claim element, the term "circuit" also covers baseband integrated circuits or processor integrated circuits for mobile devices, or similar integrated circuits in servers, cellular network devices, or other computing or networking devices.

[0036] As used herein, the term "communication network" refers to a network that conforms to any suitable communication standard, such as New Radio (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), High-Speed ​​Packet Access (HSPA), Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), etc. Furthermore, communication between terminal devices and network devices in a communication network can be performed according to any suitable intergenerational communication protocol, including but not limited to first-generation (1G), second-generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, third-generation (3G), fourth-generation (4G), 4.5G, fifth-generation (5G), sixth-generation (6G) communication protocols and / or any other currently known or future-developed protocols. The embodiments of this application can be applied to various communication systems. Given the rapid development of communication, there will certainly be future types of communication technologies and systems that can embody the content of this application. This should not be construed as limiting the scope of this application to the aforementioned systems.

[0037] As used herein, the term "network device" refers to a node in a communications network through which terminal devices access the network and receive services. Depending on the terminology and technology applied, a network device can refer to a base station (BS) or access point (AP), such as a Node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved Node B (eNodeB or eNB), an NRNB (also known as a gNB), a Radio Access Network (RAN) node, a Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN) node, a Remote Radio Unit (RRU), a Radio Head (RH), a Transmit and Receive Point (TRP), a Remote Radio Head (RRH), a relay, an Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) node, a low-power node (such as a femtosecond or picosecond), a non-terrestrial network (NTN) or non-terrestrial network equipment (such as satellite network equipment, low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, and geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) satellites), aircraft network equipment, etc. In some exemplary embodiments, a separate Radio Access Network (RAN) architecture includes a centralized unit (CU) and a distributed unit (DU) at the IAB donor node. An IAB node consists of: a mobile terminal (IAB-MT) portion, which behaves similarly to a UE when facing its parent node; and a DU portion, which behaves similarly to a base station when facing its next-hop IAB node.

[0038] The term "terminal device" refers to any terminal device capable of wireless communication. By way of example and not limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE), subscriber station (SS), portable subscriber station, mobile station (MS), user device, or access terminal (AT). Terminal devices may include, but are not limited to, mobile phones, cellular phones, smartphones, Voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, tablets, wearable terminal devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), laptops, desktop computers, image capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback devices, in-vehicle wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop embedded devices (LEE), laptop mounted devices (LME), USB dongles, smart devices, wireless pre-installed equipment (CPE), Internet of Things (IoT) devices, watches or other wearable devices, head-mounted displays (HMDs), vehicles, drones, medical devices and applications (e.g., remote surgery), industrial devices and applications (e.g., robots and / or other wireless devices operating in industrial and / or automated processing chain environments), consumer electronics devices, devices operating on commercial and / or industrial wireless networks, etc. Terminal equipment may also correspond to the mobile terminal (MT) portion of an IAB node (e.g., a relay node). In the following description, the term "terminal equipment" may be used interchangeably with the other terms explained above.

[0039] As used herein, the terms “resource,” “transmission resource,” “resource block,” “physical resource block” (PRB), “uplink resource,” “downlink resource,” or “sidelink resource” can refer to any resource used to perform communication (e.g., communication between a terminal device and a network device), such as time-domain resources, frequency-domain resources, spatial-domain resources, code-domain resources, or any other resource capable of communication. Hereinafter, unless explicitly stated otherwise, resources in both the frequency and time domains will be used as examples of transmission resources to describe some preferred embodiments of this application. It is worth noting that the exemplary embodiments of this application are also applicable to other resources in other fields.

[0040] Communication environment

[0041] Figure 1 An example communication environment 100 is illustrated, which can implement an example embodiment of this application.

[0042] In communication environment 100, multiple communication devices, including terminal device 110 and network device 120, can communicate with each other. Network device 120 can serve a coverage area, referred to as cell 125. Terminal device 110 can access the communication network through cell 125. In some example embodiments, both terminal device 110 and network device 120 can be configured to implement beamforming technology and communicate with each other via multiple beams.

[0043] In some example embodiments, the link from network device 120 to terminal device 110 is called a downlink (DL), and the link from terminal device 110 to network device 120 is called an uplink (UL). In the DL, network device 120 is a Tx device (or transmitter), and terminal device 110 is an Rx device (or receiver). In the UL, user equipment 110 is a Tx device (or transmitter), and network device 120 is an Rx device (or receiver). The link between terminal device 110 and other terminal devices (not shown) is called a sidelink (SL). In the SL, one terminal device is a Tx device (or transmitter), and the other terminal device is an Rx device (or receiver).

[0044] Communication in communication environment 100 can be implemented according to any suitable communication protocol (including but not limited to: cellular communication protocols such as first generation (1G), second generation (2G), third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), fifth generation (5G), and sixth generation (6G), wireless local area network communication protocols such as IEEE 802.11, and / or any other currently known or future-developed protocols). Furthermore, this communication can utilize any suitable wireless communication technology, including but not limited to: code division multiple access (CDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division duplex (FDD), time division duplex (TDD), multiple input multiple output (MIMO), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDM), discrete Fourier transform spread spectrum OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM), and / or any other currently known or future-developed technology.

[0045] It should be understood that Figure 1 The number of devices and their connections shown are for illustrative purposes only and do not imply any limitation. Communication environment 100 may include any suitable number of devices configured to implement the exemplary embodiments of this application.

[0046] MAC PDU

[0047] Figure 2 Examples of MAC subheadings that can be applied to embodiments of this application are illustrated. For example, Figure 2 (a) shows an example of a downlink MAC PDU, and Figure 2 (b) shows an example of an uplink MAC PDU.

[0048] A MAC PDU is a bit string of byte-aligned length (i.e., a multiple of 8 bits). The bit string is represented using a table, where the most significant bit is the leftmost bit of the first row and the least significant bit is the rightmost bit of the last row. More generally, the bit string is read from left to right, following the row-by-row reading order. The bit order of each parameter field in a MAC PDU is indicated by the first and most significant bit of the leftmost bits and the last and least significant bits of the rightmost bits.

[0049] The MAC SDU is a bit string of byte-aligned length (i.e., a multiple of 8 bits). The MAC SDU is included in the MAC PDU starting from the first bit. The MAC CE is a bit string of byte-aligned length (i.e., a multiple of 8 bits). The MAC subheader is a bit string of byte-aligned length (i.e., a multiple of 8 bits). Each MAC subheader is immediately preceding the corresponding MAC SDU, MAC CE, or padding. The MAC entity should ignore the values ​​of reserved bits in the downlink MAC PDU.

[0050] refer to Figure 2 (a) or 2(b), a MAC PDU includes one or more MAC sub-PDUs. Each MAC sub-PDU includes one of the following:

[0051] - MAC subheader only (including padding);

[0052] -MAC subheader and MAC SDU;

[0053] - MAC subheader and MAC CE; or

[0054] -MAC subheader and padding.

[0055] MAC SDUs can have variable sizes.

[0056] Refer again Figure 2 In (a) and 2(b), the MAC CEs are placed together. The DL MAC sub-PDU with the MAC CE is placed before any MAC sub-PDU with a MAC SDU and the MAC sub-PDU with padding. The UL MAC sub-PDU with the MAC CE is placed after all MAC sub-PDUs with MAC SDUs and before the MAC sub-PDU with padding in the MAC PDU. The padding size can be zero.

[0057] Each MAC entity can send a maximum of one MAC PDU per TB.

[0058] Figure 3 Examples of MAC subheadings that can be applied to embodiments of this application are illustrated.

[0059] Each MAC sub-header corresponds to MAC SDU, MAC CE, or padding. (See reference) Figure 3 In (a) and 3(b), the MAC subheader, excluding the fixed-size MAC CE, padding, and the MAC SDU including the UL Common Control Channel (CCCH), consists of the header fields R / F / LCID / (eLCID) / L. (See reference) Figure 3 (c) and 3(d), the MAC subheader for a fixed-size MAC CE, padding and including the UL CCCH in the MAC SDU may consist of two header fields R / LCID for a size of 1 byte or R / LCID / eLCID for a size of 2 bytes.

[0060] The MAC subheading consists of at least one of the following fields: such as the LCID field, eLCID field, L field, F field, and R field. Alternatively or additionally, the MAC subheading may include two or more L fields, two or more eLCID fields, and two or more R fields. The MAC subheading is octet aligned.

[0061] The LCID field identifies the logical channel instance (e.g., index or code point) of the corresponding MAC SDU or the type of corresponding MAC CE or padding, as described in Tables 1 and 2 for DL-SCH and UL-SCH. Each MAC subheader has one LCID field. The LCID field is 6 bits in size. If the LCID field is set to 34, an additional 8-bit byte follows the 8-bit byte including the LCID field in the MAC subheader. If the LCID field is set to 33, two additional 8-bit bytes follow the 8-bit byte including the LCID field in the MAC subheader. For MBS broadcasts, if the same LCID is assigned to logical channels corresponding to different G-RNTIs, the logical channel is identified based on both the G-RNTI and the LCID.

[0062] The eLCID field identifies the logical channel instance of the corresponding MAC SDU or the type of the corresponding MAC CE, as described in Tables 6.2.1-1a, 6.2.1-1b, 6.2.1-1c, 6.2.1-2a, and 6.2.1-2b of TS38.321 for DL-SCH and UL-SCH. The eLCID field is 8 bits or 16 bits in size. Only during configuration, on NR backhaul links between IAB nodes or between IAB nodes and IAB donors, or for multicast MTCH, is the eLCID space, in a two-to-eight-bit byte format, used along with the associated MAC sub-header format.

[0063] The length (L) field indicates the length of the corresponding MAC SDU or variable-size MAC CE in bytes per bit. Each MAC subheader has an L field, except for subheaders corresponding to fixed-size MAC CEs, padding, and MAC SDUs including UL CCCH.

[0064] The Format (F) field indicates the size of the length field. Each MAC subheader has an F field, except for subheaders corresponding to fixed-size MAC CEs, padding, and MAC SDUs including UL CCCH. The F field is 1 bit in size. A value of 0 in the F field indicates 8 bits for the length field, while a value of 1 indicates 16 bits for the length field.

[0065] The reserved (R) bit can be set to 0.

[0066] As mentioned above, the LCID value can identify the logical channel instance of the corresponding MAC CE type. For downlink shared channel (DL-SCH), as shown in Table 1, and for uplink shared channel (UL-SCH), as shown in Table 2, as follows.

[0067] [Table 1]

[0068]

[0069] [Table 2]

[0070]

[0071]

[0072] As can be seen from the tables, very few LCID values ​​are currently available for new MAC CE values. Reserved values ​​can be used to introduce new MAC CEs. However, as shown in Tables 1 and 2, currently only 12 LCID values ​​are available for DL-SCH and 10 for UL-SCH. Although a large number of eLCID values ​​are available in both the downlink and uplink directions, using eLCID values ​​always results in an additional byte of overhead in the MAC subheading compared to LCID values.

[0073] Return to reference Figure 3 In (a) and (b), the MAC subheader currently contains only one reserved (R) bit, used for flexible-sized MAC CEs and MAC SDUs that do not include the UL CCCH. Reference Figure 3 (c) and 3(d), the MAC subheader contains two R bits, used for the fixed-size MAC CE and the MAC SDU including the UL CCCH.

[0074] One approach is to use the R bit as an indicator for LCID expansion, allowing an additional 64 LCID spaces to be added when the R bit is set to 1. However, this would exhaust the last available R bit, and the MAC PDU would be unable to expand in the future.

[0075] The LCID space (or instances, indexes) in Table 1 or Table 2 is almost entirely used for NR, but many use cases will benefit from LCID. This is because LCID only reserves 6 bits in the MAC subheader, which has 1 byte (compared to the 2 or 3 bytes occupied by eLCID), thus reducing overhead. This is extremely important for Message A (MsgA) or Message 3 (Msg3) of the random access procedure, where the minimum size of the MACPDU is designed to have cell coverage as good as traditional methods.

[0076] However, as 3GPP is specifying new features for Rel-18 and future versions, it is necessary to bring the new information to the network as early as possible (e.g., in MsgA / Msg3) for coverage enhancement, redcap (capability reduction), NTN and / or Mult-SIM features.

[0077] Furthermore, partitioning the RACH preamble is not a practical solution, as excessive partitioning for different features increases the collision rate. Additionally, not all network devices and user equipment (UEs) support random access partitioning due to its complexity. Moreover, using the last R bit for LCID extension results in the MAC header having no reserved bits. Specific Implementation

[0079] In a first embodiment of this application, it is proposed to encode the second (2nd) bit from the left in the MAC subheading to indicate the presence of a "new LCID" field in the MAC subheading when the MAC subheading is the first MAC subheading in a MAC PDU. In this case, the MAC PDU can be included in message A (MsgA) and / or message 3 (Msg3) of the random access procedure (i.e., the MAC PDU can be retrieved or stored in the MsgA / Msg3 buffer). This is because, considering that the MAC subheading is either used for CCCH or C-RNTIMAC CE (since they have the highest priority according to the specified multiplexing rules), the first MAC subheading will always be encoded without an F field.

[0080] The second bit from the left can be an indicator field (or a first indicator field) indicating the presence of a new LCID field or a traditional LCID field. A traditional LCID field can be... Figure 3 And the LCID field explained in its description.

[0081] Alternatively or additionally, the above may apply only to the MAC subheader of the CCCH. Thus, in some examples, this indication has been used as an indication of the CCCH SDU, and the new LCID field may be used to indicate the size of the CCCH SDU (e.g., 48 bits or 64 bits) and additional information related to the device, device type, device capabilities, and / or different numbers of repetitions.

[0082] In some examples of the first embodiment, the indication field is immediately followed by an additional indication field (or a second indication field) that indicates the size of the CCCH SDU. For example, the CCCH SDU size is one of two different sizes (e.g., 48 bits or 64 bits), and a new LCID field follows the additional indication field, specifying additional information related to the device, device type, device capabilities, and / or different numbers of repetitions.

[0083] Alternatively, in some examples of the first embodiment, the indication field is immediately followed by an additional indication field (or a second indication field) that indicates the CCCH or Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) MAC CE, and a new LCID field follows this additional indication field that indicates additional information related to the device, device type, device function, and / or different number of repetitions.

[0084] In some examples of the first embodiment, the size of the new LCID field can be 1 to 6 bits long.

[0085] In some examples of the first embodiment, a separate table, different from Tables 1 and 2, can be defined for the new LCID field to accommodate different combinations of terminal device features and different CCCH SDU sizes. In this case, 2 n Each LCID will be used for different feature combinations of n features (n = the number of features equal to or greater than 1) for each CCCH SDU size.

[0086] In some examples of the first embodiment, only one CCCH size (e.g., 48 bits or 64 bits) is supported for the new LCID.

[0087] In a second embodiment of this application, it is proposed to encode the leftmost bit (e.g., the first bit) of the MAC subheading to indicate the presence of a new LCID field in the MAC subheading and the presence of at least one additional R bit in the MAC subheading. For example, the third bit from the left in the MAC subheading can be allocated as an R bit, and the new LCID field will be 5 bits long. When using the last bit in the current MAC subheading, future expansion of the MAC subheading can be achieved by means of the additional R bit. In this case, the new LCID can be used for any MAC subheading (e.g., even for MAC subPDUs that include a variable-size MAC CE and thus a variable-size length field).

[0088] In some examples of the second embodiment, the "new LCID" field can be 1-5 bits long.

[0089] Figure 4 The illustration depicts one of the signaling processes for configuring a MAC PDU, including one or more MAC sub-headers, applicable to embodiments of this application.

[0090] refer to Figure 4 The communication environment includes a terminal device (110) and a network device (120). The communication environment may also include one or more terminal devices or one or more network devices. Each of the terminal device 110 and the network device 120 includes components for performing... Figure 4 The apparatus depicts a signaling process. Additionally or alternatively, each of the terminal device 110 and the network device 120 includes at least one memory storing instructions for at least one processor, which, when executed by at least one processor, cause the terminal device 110 or the network device 120 to at least perform... Figure 4 And the signaling process explained in the following explanation.

[0091] At point 410, network device 120 transmits a message related to the first information field, and terminal device receives the message related to the first information field. For example, the message may indicate that the first information field is supported by network device 120.

[0092] Terminal device 110 can determine whether a first information field (e.g., new LCID) is supported. This determination is made explicitly based on a message transmitted from a network device. Alternatively, the determination is made implicitly at 410. For example, the determination is based on features enabled in the cell (e.g., PUCCH repetition for Msg4), the device type of terminal devices allowed to access the cell (e.g., RedCap UE), or whether the cell is a non-terrestrial network (NTN) cell. The message and the first information field can be used to configure the MAC subheading. The message can be broadcast via a System Information Block (SIB). Phase 410 can be configured as optional.

[0093] At 420, terminal device 110 is configured (or generated) to include a Media Access Control Protocol Data Unit (MAC PDU) comprising one or more MAC subheaders. At 420, terminal device 110 generates one or more MAC subheaders by setting each of the fields to be included in the MAC subheader (such as reserved bits, a first indication field, a second indication field, and / or a new LCID field).

[0094] At 430, terminal device 110 transmits a MAC PDU to network device 120, and network device 120 receives a MAC PDU including one or more MAC sub-headers. The MAC sub-headers may include a first indication field indicating the presence of a first information field in the MAC sub-header. If the first indication field is set to indicate that the first information field is included in the MAC sub-header, then the MAC sub-header includes the first information field.

[0095] The first information field indicates information related to at least one of the following: the size of the Common Control Channel (CCCH), the CCCH Service Data Unit (CCCH SDU), the device type, the device capability, or the scheduling information.

[0096] The first indicator field can be set to indicate the existence of a first information field or the existence of a second information field. For example, the first information field can be a new LCID, while the second information field can be a traditional LCID field.

[0097] A MAC subheader can be the initial MAC subheader of one or more MAC subheaders. The initial MAC subheader refers to the first MAC subheader (or the very first MAC subheader) in one or more MAC subheaders included in the MAC PDU.

[0098] In some examples, the MAC PDU can be transmitted via message A (MsgA) or message 3 (Msg3) of the random access procedure.

[0099] In some examples, the MAC subheader may include a second indication field that indicates: 1) the size of the CCCH SDU, or 2) that the CCCH SDU or MAC control element (MAC CE) is included in the MAC PDU.

[0100] In some examples, the first indicator field may be followed immediately by the second indicator field, and the second indicator field may be followed immediately by the new LCID field.

[0101] In some examples, the size of the first information field can be set to one of 1 bit, 2 bits, 3 bits, 4 bits, 5 bits, and 6 bits.

[0102] In some examples, the MAC subheader may include at least one reserved bit, the first indicator field may be located in the second bit from the left in the MAC subheader, and the size of the MAC subheader may be 1 byte.

[0103] In some examples, the MAC subheader may include at least one reserved bit, the first indicator may be located in the leftmost bit of the MAC subheader, one of the at least one reserved bit may be located in the second bit from the left or the third bit from the left in the MAC subheader, and the size of the MAC subheader may be 1 byte.

[0104] Information associated with each or at least one of the following: Common Control Channel (CCCH), CCCH Service Data Unit (CCCH SDU) size, device type, device capability, or scheduling information, is defined in a new LCID table (to be explained) corresponding to the new LCID field.

[0105] In some examples, the MAC subheader may consist of at least one reserved field, a first indication field, and a new LCID field.

[0106] In some examples, the MAC subheader may consist of at least one reserved field, a first indicator field, a second indicator field, and a new LCID field.

[0107] In some examples, the MAC subheader may consist of at least one reserved field, a first indication field, a format field, and a new LCID field.

[0108] In some examples, the device type may indicate at least one of a regular user device, a degraded user device, or an extended degraded user device.

[0109] In some examples, scheduling information may indicate at least one of the following: number of repetitions, buffer status, power margin, or beam information.

[0110] Figure 5 The illustration shows some MAC subheaders according to embodiments of the present invention.

[0111] exist Figure 5 In Chinese, an octet is composed of 8 bits. For the overall function or explanation of fields such as R, F, and L, please refer to [reference needed]. Figure 3 and its description. For Figure 5 This will interpret the new indicator fields (e.g., EL and CS fields) and the new LCID field.

[0112] First, the new LCID field can identify (indicate) each additional piece of information, or a combination thereof, related to CCCH, device, device type, device capability, and / or different numbers of repetitions. Table 3 is one example of the new LCID table. It should be understood that these are merely examples of the use of the new LCID field, and the use of code points / indexes can be entirely different or in a different order.

[0113] [Table 3]

[0114]

[0115]

[0116] For example, referring to Table 3, when the new LCID field is set to "0", the new LCID field can indicate a 48-bit CCCH with Msg4 HARQACK repeat request / support. If the new LCID field is set to "4", the new LCID field can indicate a 64-bit CCCH with Msg4 HARQ ACK repeat request / support for a RedCap UE. If the new LCID field is set to "11", the new LCID field can indicate a C-RNTI MACCE with two repeating Msg4 HARQ ACK repeat requests.

[0117] Table 3 shows the case where the new LCID field size is set to 5 bits. However, considering the size of the MAC subheading and additional information, the new LCID field size can be set to 1 to 6 bits.

[0118] Alternatively or additionally, the new LCID field may indicate information associated with the device, device type, device capability and / or different repetition counts, buffer status, power margin, as shown in Table 2 or Table 3. The size of the new LCID field can be set to 5 bits.

[0119] Alternatively or additionally, the new LCID field may identify the logical channel instance (or index) of the corresponding MAC SDU or the type of the corresponding MAC CE, as described in Table 3. The size of the new LCID field may be 4 bits or 5 bits.

[0120] Secondly, in some examples of the embodiments, a first indication field can be set. This first indication field may be called an EL (Short Extended LCID) field. The EL field can indicate the format of the MAC subheading. For example, the EL field can be set to "0" to indicate an R / LCID MAC subheading.

[0121] Alternatively or additionally, the EL field may be set to "1" to indicate that the MAC SDU includes at least one UL CCCH as well as the presence of the CS field and the new LCID field in the MAC subheader.

[0122] Alternatively or additionally, the EL field can be set to "1" to indicate the presence of the CS field and the new LCID field in the MAC subheader.

[0123] Alternatively or additionally, the EL field can be set to "1" to indicate the presence of a new LCID field in the MAC subheader, or to indicate the presence of either a new LCID field or a traditional LCID field.

[0124] If the EL field is set to "0" or the EL field is not configured in the MAC subheader, the new LCID field may not appear in the MAC subheader. Alternatively, the EL field is set to "0", and the traditional LCID field (or the old LCID field) is set in the MAC subheader.

[0125] Alternatively or additionally, the EL field can indicate the format of the MAC subheader. If the EL field is set to "0", it indicates the EL / F / (e)LCIDMAC subheader. If the EL field is set to "1", it indicates the EL / F / R / (e)LCIDMAC subheader.

[0126] Third, in some examples of the embodiments, a second indicator field may be introduced. This second indicator field may be called the CS (CCCHSize) field. For example, the CS field may indicate the size of the CCCH SDU.

[0127] Alternatively or additionally, a CS field set to "0" can indicate a 48-bit CCCH SDU. A CS field set to "1" can indicate a 64-bit CCCH SDU.

[0128] Alternatively or additionally, the CS field may indicate that the CCCH SDU or C-RNTIMACCE is included in the MAC subheader. For example, a CS field set to "0" indicates that the CCCH SDU is included in the MAC subheader, and a CS field set to "1" indicates that the C-RNTIMACCE is included in the MAC subheader.

[0129] refer to Figure 5 (a) discloses a 1-byte MAC subheader. The MAC subheader may include an R field, an EL field, a CS field, and a new LCID field. Each of the R, EL, and CS fields is 1 bit in size, while the new LCID field is 5 bits in size. In some examples, the CS field may not be included in the MAC subheader. In this case, the new LCID field may be 6 bits in size. The R bit may be placed in the leftmost bit of the MAC subheader, the EL field may be placed in the second bit from the left, and the CS field may be placed in the third bit from the left.

[0130] refer to Figure 5 (b) discloses a 2-byte MAC subheader. The first octet of the MAC subheader may include the EL field, F field, R field, and a new LCID field. The L field is set in the second octet. The EL field can be placed in the leftmost bit of the MAC subheader, and the F field immediately follows the EL field. The F field is followed by the R field and the new LCID field. The positions of the EL and R fields can be interchanged.

[0131] refer to Figure 5 (c) discloses a 3-byte MAC subheader. The configuration of the first octet in the MAC subheader can be compared with... Figure 5 The configuration of the MAC subheader is the same as in (b). The L field occupies two octet bytes in the MAC subheader.

[0132] refer to Figure 5 (d) discloses a one-byte MAC subheader. The MAC subheader includes an EL field, two R fields, and a new LCID field. The positions of the EL field and the third R field can be interchanged.

[0133] exist Figure 5 In some examples of embodiments, additional information such as device / device type / device capability / buffer status / power margin / etc. may be defined, without limitation.

[0134] For example, additional information may indicate each of the following or a combination thereof:

[0135] 1) Is terminal device 110 a regular NRUE, a RedCap UE, or an eRedCap UE?

[0136] 2) Does terminal device 110 request / support repeated PUCCH responses for Msg4 feedback / ACK?

[0137] 3) How many repetitions should be used for PUCCH repetitions of Msg4 feedback / ACK;

[0138] 4) Is the UE's buffer state higher than the threshold level?

[0139] 5) Whether the power margin is higher / lower than the threshold level; and

[0140] 6) Has the power margin changed by the threshold amount since the previous PHR was launched?

[0141] According to the embodiments and examples, the R field of each MAC subheading can be reserved for future use. Furthermore, the new LCID space (e.g., instances, indexes, or code points) can be expanded by at least 32 indexes. Additionally, network device 120 can interpret the new MAC subheading based on the UL authorization encoded by the MAC PDU.

[0142] Additional information in the embodiments may refer to information other than that indicated by conventional LCID (see Table 1 or Table 2).

[0143] Figure 6 The diagram illustrates a flowchart of one embodiment for configuring a MAC PDU including one or more MAC sub-headers, and Figure 7 The illustration shows a flowchart of one of the embodiments for supporting the generation of MAC PDUs.

[0144] refer to Figure 6 The terminal device 110 executes method 600, which includes the following steps:

[0145] Configuration 610 includes a Media Access Control Protocol Data Unit (MAC PDU) with one or more MAC sub-headers, and

[0146] Launch 620MAC PDU.

[0147] One or more MAC subheaders may include a first indication field indicating the presence of a first information field in the MAC subheader, and the first information field may indicate information associated with at least one of the following: common control channel (CCCH), CCCH service data unit (CCCH SDU), device type, device capability, or scheduling information.

[0148] In some examples of the embodiments, the method may further include the step of receiving a message associated with the first information field. In this case, the MAC subheading can be configured based on the message. The message is transmitted via SIBx (where x is an integer value from 1 to 20) or RRC signaling.

[0149] refer to Figure 7 The network device 120 executes method 700, including the following steps:

[0150] Transmit the message related to the first information field of the 710; and

[0151] Receive 720 Media Access Control Protocol Data Unit (MAC PDU) including one or more MAC sub-headers.

[0152] In some examples of this embodiment, the MAC subheader in one or more MAC subheaders may include a first indication field that indicates the presence of a first information field in the MAC subheader.

[0153] exist Figure 6 and Figure 7 In the illustrated embodiment, the first information field may indicate information associated with at least one of the following: common control channel (CCCH), CCCH service data unit (CCCH SDU) size, device type, device capability, or scheduling information.

[0154] The first indicator field can be set to indicate the existence of a first information field or the existence of a second information field. For example, the first information field can be a new LCID, while the second information field can be a traditional LCID field.

[0155] A MAC subheader can be the initial MAC subheader of one or more MAC subheaders. The initial MAC subheader refers to the first MAC subheader (or the first MAC subheader at the very beginning) among one or more MAC subheaders included in the MAC PDU.

[0156] In some examples, the MAC PDU can be transmitted via message A (MsgA) or message 3 (Msg3) of the random access procedure.

[0157] In some examples, the MAC subheader may include a second indication field that indicates: 1) the size of the CCCH SDU, or 2) that the CCCH SDU or MAC control element (MAC CE) is included in the MAC PDU.

[0158] In some examples, the first indicator field may be followed immediately by the second indicator field, and the second indicator field may be followed immediately by the new LCID field.

[0159] In some examples, the size of the first information field can be set to 1 bit, 2 bits, 3 bits, 4 bits, 5 bits, and 6 bits.

[0160] In some examples, the MAC subheader may include at least one reserved bit, the first indicator field may be located at the second bit from the left in the MAC subheader, and the size of the MAC subheader may be 1 byte.

[0161] In some examples, the MAC subheading may include at least one reserved bit, the first indicator may be located at the leftmost bit of the MAC subheading, one of the at least one reserved bit may be located at the second bit from the left or the third bit from the left in the MAC subheading, and the size of the MAC subheading may be 1 byte.

[0162] Information associated with each or at least one of the following: Common Control Channel (CCCH), CCCH Service Data Unit (CCCH SDU) size, device type, device capability, or scheduling information, is defined in a new LCID table (to be explained) corresponding to the new LCID field.

[0163] In some examples, the MAC subheader may consist of at least one reserved field, a first indication field, and a new LCID field.

[0164] In some examples, the MAC subheader may consist of at least one reserved field, a first indicator field, a second indicator field, and a new LCID field.

[0165] In some examples, the MAC subheader may consist of at least one reserved field, a first indication field, a format field, and a new LCID field.

[0166] In some examples, the device type may indicate at least one of a regular user device, a degraded user device, or an extended degraded user device.

[0167] In some examples, scheduling information may indicate at least one of the following: number of repetitions, buffer status, power margin, or beam information.

[0168] One embodiment of this application provides a computer program medium, including a means for causing a device to execute... Figure 6 and Figure 7 The device may be a terminal device 110 or a network device 120. It also includes program instructions for one of the methods described herein.

[0169] In some examples of one embodiment, the computer program medium may be a non-transitory computer-readable medium.

[0170] The configuration structure of the MAC sub-header can be found by referring to Figure 5 (a) to Figure 5 (d) One of the MAC subheadings as explained. Additionally, the MAC subheading can use the following when the first indicator field indicates a traditional LCID field or when the first indicator field is set to "0". Figure 3 Explain using (a) to 3(d).

[0171] This description primarily focuses on the uplink direction, illustrating MAC PDU configuration and transmission according to embodiments of the present invention. However, these embodiments can be extended to the downlink direction. For example, method 600 can be performed by network device 120, and step 720 can be performed by terminal device 110.

[0172] Figure 8An example of a device 800 is illustrated, which includes means for performing one or more of the above-described example embodiments. For example, device 800 may be a device such as terminal device 110 or network device 120, or a device that includes terminal device 110 or network device 120, or a device included in terminal device 110 or network device 120, and supports the above-described embodiments.

[0173] Device 800 may include, for example, circuitry or chipsets suitable for implementing one or more of the example embodiments described above. Device 800 may be an electronic device including one or more electronic circuits. Device 800 may include communication control circuitry 810, such as at least one processor, and at least one memory 820 storing instructions 822, which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause device 800 to perform one or more of the example embodiments described above, for example... Figures 1 to 7 The embodiments described herein. Such instructions 822 may include, for example, computer program code (software). At least one processor and at least one memory storing the instructions may provide means for providing or causing the execution of any of the methods and / or blocks described above.

[0174] The processor is coupled to memory 820. The processor is configured to read data from memory 820 and write data to memory 820. Memory 820 may include one or more memory cells. Memory cells may be volatile or non-volatile. It should be noted that one or more non-volatile memory cells and one or more volatile memory cells may be present, or alternatively, one or more non-volatile memory cells, or alternatively, one or more volatile memory cells. Volatile memory may be, for example, random access memory (RAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), or synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM). Non-volatile memory may be, for example, read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, optical memory, or magnetic memory. Generally, memory may be referred to as a non-transitory computer-readable medium. The term "non-transitory" as used herein refers to the limitation of the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not tactile), rather than the limitation of data storage persistence (e.g., RAM versus ROM). Memory 820 stores computer-readable instructions that are executed by the processor. For example, non-volatile memory stores computer-readable instructions, and the processor uses volatile memory to execute instructions, as well as for temporary storage of data and / or instructions.

[0175] The computer-readable instructions may have been pre-stored in memory 820, or alternatively or additionally, they may be received by the device via an electromagnetic carrier signal and / or copied from a physical entity such as a computer program product. Execution of the computer-readable instructions causes device 800 to perform one or more of the functions described above.

[0176] The memory 820 can be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as semiconductor-based memory devices, flash memory, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory, and / or removable memory. The memory may include a configuration database for storing configuration data, such as a current list of neighboring cells, and, in some example embodiments, the structure of frames used in detected neighboring cells.

[0177] In some example embodiments, a non-transitory computer-readable medium may be provided. The non-transitory computer-readable medium may include methods for performing... Figure 4 , 6 Instructions to 7 and the embodiments explained in the description.

[0178] For example, a non-transitory computer-readable medium may include program instructions that, when executed by a device, cause the device to perform at least the following: configure a Media Access Control Protocol Data Unit (MAC PDU) including one or more MAC sub-headers; and transmit the MAC PDU. In this case, the MAC sub-headers in the one or more MAC sub-headers include a first indication field indicating the presence of a first information field in the MAC sub-header, and the first information field indicating information associated with at least one of the following: Common Control Channel (CCCH), CCCH Service Data Unit (CCCH SDU) size, device type, device capability, or scheduling information.

[0179] As another example, a non-transitory computer-readable medium may be provided. The non-transitory computer-readable medium may include program instructions that, when executed by a device, cause the device to at least: transmit a message associated with a first information field; and receive a Media Access Control Protocol Data Unit (MACPDU) including one or more MAC sub-headers. In this case, the MAC sub-headers in the one or more MAC sub-headers include a first indication field indicating the presence of the first information field in the MAC sub-header, and the first information field indicates information associated with at least one of the following: the size of the Common Control Channel (CCCH), the CCCH Service Data Unit (CCCH SDU), the device type, the device capability, or scheduling information.

[0180] Refer again Figure 8The device 800 may also include or be connected to a communication interface 830, such as a radio unit, which includes hardware and / or software for establishing a communication connection with one or more wireless communication devices according to one or more communication protocols. The communication interface 830 includes at least one transmitter (Tx) and at least one receiver (Rx), which may be integrated into or connected to the device 800. The communication interface 830 may provide means for performing some blocks of the one or more example embodiments described above. The communication interface 830 may include one or more components controlled by a corresponding control unit, such as: a power amplifier, a digital front-end (DFE), an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), a digital-to-analog converter (DAC), a frequency converter, a (de)modulator, and / or encoder / decoder circuitry.

[0181] Communication interface 830 provides the device with radio communication capabilities for communication within a wireless communication network. For example, the communication interface may provide a radio interface to one or more wireless communication devices. Device 800 may also include or connect to another interface toward or to access nodes of the core network, such as a network coordinator device or an AMF, and / or the wireless communication network.

[0182] The device 800 may also include a scheduler 840 configured to allocate radio resources. The scheduler 840 may be configured together with the communication control circuitry 810 or separately.

[0183] It is worth noting that device 800 may also include Figure 8 Various components not shown. These components may be hardware components and / or software components.

[0184] The techniques and methods described herein can be implemented in various ways. For example, these techniques can be implemented in hardware (one or more devices), firmware (one or more devices), software (one or more modules), or a combination thereof. For hardware implementation, the apparatus of the example embodiments can be implemented within one or more application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), digital signal processing devices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), graphics processing units (GPUs), processors, controllers, microcontrollers, microprocessors, other electronic units designed to perform the functions described herein, or a combination thereof. For firmware or software, its implementation can be implemented by modules (e.g., procedures, functions, etc.) of at least one chipset that perform the functions described herein. Software code can be stored in a memory unit and executed by a processor. The memory unit can be implemented internally or externally to the processor. In the latter case, it can be communicatively coupled to the processor in various ways, as is known in the art. Furthermore, the components of the systems described herein can be rearranged and / or supplemented by additional components to facilitate the achievement of various aspects described herein, and they are not limited to the precise configuration shown in the given figures, as will be understood by those skilled in the art.

[0185] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the concept of the present invention can be implemented in various ways as technology advances. The embodiments are not limited to the exemplary embodiments described above, but may vary within the scope of the claims. Therefore, all words and expressions should be interpreted broadly, and they are intended to illustrate rather than limit the exemplary embodiments.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising: At least one processor; as well as At least one memory storing instructions, which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the device to perform at least the following: Configure a Media Access Control Protocol Data Unit (MAC PDU) that includes one or more MAC sub-headers; as well as Transmit the MAC PDU, Wherein, the MAC sub-header in the one or more MAC sub-headers includes a first indicator field, which indicates the presence of a first information field in the MAC sub-header, and The first information field indicates information associated with at least one of the following: the size of the Common Control Channel (CCCH), the CCCH Service Data Unit (CCCH SDU), the device type, the device capability, or the scheduling information.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein, To cause the device to perform further actions: Receive messages related to the first information field, and The MAC sub-header is configured based on the message.

3. An apparatus comprising: At least one processor; as well as At least one memory storing instructions, which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the device to perform at least the following: Transmit the message associated with the first information field; as well as Receive Media Access Control Protocol Data Unit (MAC PDU) including one or more MAC sub-headers. Wherein, the MAC sub-header in the one or more MAC sub-headers includes a first indicator field, which indicates the presence of a first information field in the MAC sub-header, and The first information field indicates information associated with at least one of the following: the size of the Common Control Channel (CCCH), the CCCH Service Data Unit (CCCH SDU), the device type, the device capability, or the scheduling information.

4. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein, The first indication field indicates the existence of either the first information field or the second information field.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein, The first information field is the New Logical Control Channel Identifier (LCID), and the second information field is the traditional LCID field.

6. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein, The MAC subheader is the initial MAC subheader of the one or more MAC subheaders.

7. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein, The MAC PDU is transmitted via message AMsgA or message 3Msg3 from the random access procedure.

8. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein, The MAC subheader includes a second indication field that indicates: 1) the size of the CCCH SDU, or 2) the CCCH SDU or MAC control element, CE included in the MAC PDU, and The first indicator field is immediately followed by the second indicator field, and the second indicator field is immediately followed by the new LCID field.

9. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein, The size of the first information field is one of 1 bit, 2 bits, 3 bits, 4 bits, 5 bits, and 6 bits.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein: The MAC sub-header includes at least one reserved bit. The first indication field is located at the second bit from the left in the MAC sub-header, and The size of the MAC sub-header is 1 byte.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein: The MAC sub-header includes at least one reserved bit. The first indication is located at the leftmost bit of the MAC sub-header. One of the at least one reserved bits is located at the second or third leftmost bit in the MAC sub-header, and The size of the MAC sub-header is 1 byte.

12. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein, The device type indicates at least one of a standard user equipment, a reduced-capacity user equipment, or an extended reduced-capacity user equipment; and The scheduling information indicates at least one of the following: number of repetitions, buffer status, power margin, or beam information.

13. A method comprising: Configure a Media Access Control Protocol Data Unit (MAC PDU) that includes one or more MAC sub-headers; as well as Transmit the MAC PDU, Wherein, one of the one or more MAC sub-headers includes a first indication field, which indicates the presence of a first information field in the MAC sub-header, and The first information field indicates information associated with at least one of the following: the size of the Common Control Channel (CCCH), the CCCH Service Data Unit (CCCH SDU), the device type, the device capability, or the scheduling information.

14. The method of claim 13, comprising: Receive messages related to the first information field. The MAC sub-header is configured based on the message.

15. A method comprising: Transmit the message associated with the first information field; as well as Receive Media Access Control Protocol Data Unit (MAC PDU) including one or more MAC sub-headers. Wherein, the MAC sub-header in the one or more MAC sub-headers includes a first indication field, which indicates the presence of a first information field in the MAC sub-header, and The first information field indicates information associated with at least one of the following: the size of the Common Control Channel (CCCH), the CCCH Service Data Unit (CCCH SDU), the device type, the device capability, or the scheduling information.

16. The method as claimed in any one of claims 13 to 15, wherein, The first indication field indicates the existence of either the first information field or the second information field.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein, The first information field is the New Logical Control Channel Identifier (LCID), and the second information field is the traditional LCID field.

18. The method according to any one of claims 13 to 19, wherein, The MAC subheader is the starting MAC subheader of the one or more MAC subheaders.

19. The method according to any one of claims 13 to 18, wherein, The MAC PDU is transmitted via message AMsgA or message 3Msg3 from the random access procedure.

20. The method according to any one of claims 13 to 19, wherein, The MAC subheader includes a second indication field that indicates: 1) the size of the CCCH SDU, or 2) the CCCH SDU or MAC control element, where the CE is included in the MAC PDU, and The first indication field is immediately followed by the second indication field, and the second indication field is immediately followed by the new LCID field.

21. The method as claimed in any one of claims 13 to 20, wherein, The size of the first information field is one of 1 bit, 2 bits, 3 bits, 4 bits, 5 bits, and 6 bits.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein: The MAC sub-header includes at least one reserved bit. The first indication field is located at the second bit from the left in the MAC sub-header, and The size of the MAC sub-header is 1 byte.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein: The MAC sub-header includes at least one reserved bit. The first indication is located at the leftmost bit of the MAC sub-header. One of the at least one reserved bits is located at the second or third leftmost bit in the MAC sub-header, and The size of the MAC subheader is 1 byte.

24. A computer program medium comprising program instructions for causing a device to perform the method of claims 13 to 23.

25. The computer program medium as claimed in claim 24, wherein, The computer program medium is a non-transitory computer-readable medium.

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