Systems and methods for paging in conjunction with measurement reporting

Abstract

In a wireless communication, a user equipment, UE, may be configured to have a lower power sleep period and a wake-up period. During a wake-up period, the UE may perform a paging operation that includes synchronizing, monitoring and decoding a paging notification that schedules a paging message, receiving the paging message, and decoding the paging message. When performing the paging operation, the UE has an opportunity to measure one or more attributes of a wireless channel. In some embodiments, the UE is configured to measure a channel attribute using a downlink signal during the paging operation, and to report the measurement. Technical advantages may include the ability to measure attributes of the wireless channel using the downlink signal that has been transmitted for the purpose of the paging operation and report measurement results to a network, which may then be used by the network to achieve more efficient control and operation.

Description

[0001] priority

[0002] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 519,078, filed August 11, 2023, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0003] This application relates to wireless communication, and more specifically, to measurement and reporting associated with paging. Background Technology

[0004] In some wireless communication systems, electronic devices such as user equipment (UE) communicate wirelessly with the wireless network through one or more transmit-and-receive points (TRPs). A TRP can be a terrestrial TRP (T-TRP) or a non-terrestrial TRP (NT-TRP). An example of a T-TRP can be a fixed base station or node B. An example of an NT-TRP can be a TRP that can move in space for relocation, such as a TRP mounted on a drone, aircraft, and / or satellite.

[0005] Wireless communication from a UE to one or more TRPs is called uplink communication. Wireless communication from one or more TRPs to a UE is called downlink communication. Uplink and downlink communication require resources. For example, a UE can wirelessly transmit data to a TRP in uplink communication over a specific frequency (or frequency range) for a specific duration. Frequency and duration are examples of resources, often referred to as time-frequency resources. Resources can also include, for example, resources in the spatial domain (e.g., the beam used), resources in the power domain (e.g., transmission power), etc.

[0006] A UE or a group of UEs can be configured, for example, to have sleep periods and wake-up periods based on discontinuous reception (DRX) cycles. During the sleep period, the UE is in a low-power sleep mode. During the wake-up period, the UE or a group of UEs can be used to perform paging operations to determine whether the UE has been paged to receive data from the network. Paging operations can include: downlink synchronization, monitoring and decoding paging notifications for scheduled paging messages, receiving the paging message, and decoding the paging message. The paging message can indicate which UEs have been paged. When the network has data to send to a UE, the network can page the UE in the paging message. As used herein, "data" can be interchangeably referred to as information and may include service and / or control information.

[0007] When performing a paging operation, the UE only performs necessary steps, such as synchronization, receiving paging notification, and receiving paging messages, to determine whether the UE has been paged. The UE does not use any additional steps unrelated to paging to supplement the paging operation. Summary of the Invention

[0008] When performing a paging operation, the UE has the opportunity to measure one or more attributes of the radio channel. In some instances, this might be as follows: for example, when the UE performs downlink synchronization, it performs a measurement as part of one or more steps in implementing the paging operation. However, this measurement is not reported to the TRP under any circumstances, regardless of whether the UE is being paged. More generally, the UE has the opportunity during a paging operation to measure, for example, one or more channel attributes that are not required for implementing the paging operation and are not currently being measured during the paging operation. For example, when receiving a synchronization signal to perform downlink synchronization before monitoring for paging notification, the UE might measure the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the synchronization signal to obtain an indication of channel quality, even though this is not required for synchronization and subsequent reception of paging notifications and paging messages. However, the UE does not currently perform such a measurement, let alone report it to the TRP. Configuring the UE to measure one or more channel attributes (e.g., SNR) during a paging operation and report this measurement to the TRP can provide useful information to the network. The network can use the information provided by the UE to enable more efficient control and operation. For example, the network can use information provided by the UE to improve the quality and / or efficiency of communication within the network. For instance, the network can use measurements reported by each UE to determine which UEs have high SNR channels, allowing the network to communicate with these UEs using lower power. As another example, if the measurement is a beam-level measurement (e.g., indicating which beams have the highest received channel quality), the network can use the reported measurements to infer the location of each UE, for example, inferring that the UE is in the direction of the beam with the highest reported channel quality. Knowing the location of UEs has advantages, such as the ability to schedule spatially separated UEs on overlapping time-frequency resources and / or UEs in locations requiring sensing can be used to perform sensing.

[0009] In some embodiments of this document, one or more UEs are used to measure at least one channel attribute using downlink signals during a paging operation. The downlink signal may be, for example, a synchronization signal (e.g., in a synchronization signal block (SSB)) or a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) (e.g., in a control channel carrying paging notification or in a data channel carrying a paging message). The at least one channel attribute measured by the UE may be, for example, reference signal received power (RSRP), and / or reference signal received quality (RSRQ), and / or signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and / or signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR), and / or channel quality, and / or Doppler shift, and / or Doppler spread, and / or average delay, and / or delay spread. The UE may be used to report the measurement results to the TRP even if the UE is not paged. For example, the UE may be used to report the results during the wake-up period of a paging operation before the UE returns to sleep.

[0010] Some embodiments offer technical advantages including the ability to measure one or more attributes of a radio channel using downlink signals already transmitted for paging operations, and to report the measurement results to the network, which can then use the measurement results to achieve more efficient or optimized control and operation. Paging operations are complemented by measurement and reporting. By using downlink signals already transmitted for paging operations, the UE can perform measurement and reporting as part of the paging operation, significantly reducing overhead compared to configuring a separate timing (different from the paging timing) during which dedicated downlink signals must be transmitted to the UE for measurement and reporting.

[0011] The embodiments are not limited to TRPs and UEs, but are more generally applicable to situations where the network is paging an entity communicating with the network. For example, instead of a UE, an NT-TRP can be paged and can perform measurements and reporting. The TRP paging the NT-TRP sends downlink signals as part of the paging process, although in this scenario, the downlink signals from the network may be wirelessly transmitted via a link considered a backhaul link, depending on the implementation. As another example, instead of a TRP, a “primary UE” representing the network operation can page other UEs and send downlink signals. In this scenario, the downlink signals from the primary UE may be wirelessly transmitted via a link considered a sidelink, depending on the implementation. In summary, more generally, these methods can be performed by apparatuses and devices, where “apparatus” and “device” are merely different labels for easier differentiation between the two entities. Moreover, more generally, a “downlink signal” can be any signal received by the entity being paged during the paging operation.

[0012] In one aspect, a method performed by a device (e.g., a UE) is provided. The method may include waking from a sleep mode to perform a paging operation. During the paging operation, the method may include measuring at least one channel attribute using a downlink signal. The method may further include sending information to the device based on the measured at least one channel attribute. In some embodiments, the sending is performed when the device is not paged. That is, even if the device is not paged, the device can still be used to measure the at least one channel attribute and send the information based on the measured at least one channel attribute. In some embodiments, the device is user equipment (UE), which is a transmit-and-receive point (TRP) in a wireless communication system.

[0013] In some embodiments, measuring the at least one channel attribute using the downlink signal may include measuring at least one of the following: reference signal received power (RSRP); reference signal received quality (RSRQ); signal-to-noise ratio (SNR); signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR); channel quality; Doppler shift; Doppler spread; average delay; or delay spread.

[0014] In some embodiments, the information based on at least one measured channel attribute may include at least one of the following: an indication of at least one measured channel attribute; or a report derived from at least one measured channel attribute (e.g., a CSI report).

[0015] In some embodiments, before measuring the at least one channel attribute, the method may include receiving a message configuring the at least one channel attribute to be measured. In some embodiments, the message may be received as at least one of the following: radio resource control (RRC) signaling; medium access control (MAC) control element (MAC-CE); synchronization signal block (SSB); system information (SI); downlink control information (DCI); low-power wake-up signal (LP-WUS); or paging notification.

[0016] In some embodiments, the downlink signal may be received on a first beam, and the method may include performing beam-level measurements during the paging operation. In some embodiments, beam-level measurements may be performed by: measuring at least one channel attribute of the first beam using the downlink signal received on the first beam; and for each of one or more other beams: receiving a corresponding downlink signal on the beam and using the corresponding downlink signal received on the beam to measure at least one channel attribute of the beam. In some embodiments, the information transmitted may be based on at least one measured channel attribute of the first beam and at least one measured channel attribute of each of the one or more other beams. In some embodiments, the information transmitted may include indications of one or more beams having measured channel attributes.

[0017] In some embodiments, a plurality of downlink signals, including the downlink signal, may be received during the paging operation. In some embodiments, the plurality of downlink signals may have a quasi-co-location (QCL) relationship with each other. In some embodiments, measuring the at least one channel attribute may include measuring the at least one channel attribute using at least one of the plurality of downlink signals.

[0018] In some embodiments, the paging operation may be associated with a paging timing within a wake-up period. In some embodiments, sending the information may include sending the information within the wake-up period. In some embodiments, the method may include receiving a message configuring one or more paging operations. For example, the message may configure the one or more paging operations by configuring at least one of the following: one or more wake-up periods; one or more sleep periods; a discontinuous reception (DRX) period; or one or more paging timings within a wake-up period. In some embodiments, the message may further configure at least one of the following: one or more wake-up periods during which the device will send the information based on at least one measured channel attribute; one or more paging timings during which the device will send the information; the at least one channel attribute to be measured; one or more channel attributes to be reported as part of the information; the manner in which the information will be sent; or uplink time-frequency resources for sending the information. In some embodiments, the message may configure the one or more paging operations by configuring at least one of the following: one or more wake-up periods; one or more sleep periods; a discontinuous reception (DRX) period; or one or more paging timings within a wake-up period. In some embodiments, the message is received in at least one of the following: RRC signaling; MAC-CE; DCI; SSB; SI; or LP-WUS.

[0019] In some embodiments, the method may include receiving a message configuring the device to send the information during the wake-up period. In some embodiments, the message may be received in at least one of the following: RRC signaling; MAC-CE; DCI; SSB; SI; LP-WUS; paging notification; or paging message. In some embodiments, the message may also indicate at least one of the following: whether the device wants to perform sensing; or whether the device is being paged.

[0020] In some embodiments, transmitting the information may include at least one of the following: transmitting the information in an uplink control channel; transmitting the information in an uplink data channel; transmitting the information during a random access procedure; transmitting the information in a wake-up signal (WUS); or transmitting the information in an uplink reference signal. In some embodiments, the information may be transmitted in the WUS by transmitting one of a plurality of WUS transmission sequences. In some embodiments, the information may be transmitted in the uplink reference signal by transmitting one of a plurality of sounding reference signal (SRS) sequences. In some embodiments, the information may be transmitted in the uplink data channel along with uplink data transmission. In some embodiments, the uplink time-frequency resources used to transmit the information may be indicated by at least one of the following: RRC signaling; MAC-CE; SSB; SI; DCI; LP-WUS; paging notification; or paging message.

[0021] In some embodiments, the downlink signal may be or include a synchronization signal (SS). In some embodiments, the method may include synchronizing with the SS before receiving a paging notification. In some embodiments, the SS may include at least one of the following: an SS in an SSB; an SS not in an SSB; a low-power synchronization signal (LP-SS); or a reference signal. In some embodiments, the SSB or the LP-SS may indicate at least one of the following: whether paging will be performed during a wake-up period; or one or more aggregation levels (ALs) of the downlink control channel used to receive paging notifications.

[0022] In some embodiments, the downlink signal may be or include a demodulation reference signal (DMRS). In some embodiments, the DMRS may be received as one of the following: an SSB used for synchronization and carrying system information bits; a control channel carrying paging notifications; or a data channel carrying paging messages.

[0023] In some embodiments, the downlink signal may be or include a sensing signal used by the device for sensing operations.

[0024] In some embodiments, the method may include receiving a paging notification during the paging operation. In some embodiments, the paging notification may indicate at least one of the following: a time-frequency resource allocation for transmitting the information; one or more channel attributes to be reported as part of the information; or one or more ALs to be used for subsequent downlink control channel transmission.

[0025] In some embodiments, the method may include receiving a paging message during the paging operation. In some embodiments, the paging message may include device-specific information indicating whether the device has been paged. In some embodiments, the paging message may also include at least one of the following common to multiple devices: time-frequency resource allocation for transmitting the information; indication of one or more channel attributes to be reported as part of the information; indication of one or more ALs to be used for subsequent downlink control channel transmission; sensing information related to sensing operations; quasi-co-location (QCL) reference signal information; or indication of uplink transmission timing adjustment (TA).

[0026] In some embodiments, the method may include: receiving an LP-WUS or a reference signal, the LP-WUS or the reference signal performing at least one of the following: triggering the device to switch to a different transceiver; indicating the location of time-frequency resources in a downlink control channel for receiving paging notifications; or indicating one or more ALs of the downlink control channel for receiving the paging notifications.

[0027] In some embodiments, the information is sent to the device when the device is not paged.

[0028] In some embodiments, an apparatus (e.g., a UE) is provided to perform any of the methods described above. For example, the apparatus may include at least one processor and a memory storing processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform any of the methods described above. For example, when executed by the at least one processor, the processor-executable instructions may cause the apparatus to perform the following operations: wake from sleep mode to perform a paging operation; during the paging operation, measure at least one channel attribute using downlink signals; and transmit information based on the measured at least one channel attribute. In some embodiments, the apparatus is a chip, such as an integrated circuit (IC) chip. In some embodiments, the apparatus does not execute the methods by executing instructions via a processor; for example, the apparatus may include circuitry that performs the methods, such as a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a graphics processing unit (GPU), or an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). More generally, the apparatus may include modules or units for performing the method, such as units or modules for waking from a sleep mode to perform a paging operation, units or modules for measuring at least one channel attribute using downlink signals during the paging operation, and units or modules for transmitting information based on the measured at least one channel attribute. In some embodiments, the apparatus may include components for performing the method steps, such as components for waking from a sleep mode to perform a paging operation, components for measuring at least one channel attribute using downlink signals during the paging operation, and components for transmitting information based on the measured at least one channel attribute.

[0029] According to one aspect of this disclosure, an apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes a control unit for waking the device from a sleep mode to perform a paging operation. The apparatus further includes a measurement unit for measuring at least one channel attribute using downlink signals during the paging operation. The apparatus also includes a communication unit for transmitting information to the device based on the measured at least one channel attribute.

[0030] On the other hand, a method is provided performed by a device (e.g., a network device such as a TRP). The method may include: transmitting a downlink signal during a paging operation. The method may further include: receiving information from the device. The information may be based on at least one channel attribute measured by the device using the downlink signal. In some embodiments, the information may be received from the device even when the device is not paged. That is, even if the device is not paged by the device, the device can still be used to measure the at least one channel attribute and transmit the information based on the measured at least one channel attribute, causing the device to receive the information in response to the paging operation. In some embodiments, the device is user equipment (UE), and the device is a transmit-and-receive point (TRP) in a wireless communication system.

[0031] In some embodiments, at least one channel property being measured may include at least one of the following: reference signal received power (RSRP); reference signal received quality (RSRQ); signal-to-noise ratio (SNR); signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR); channel quality; Doppler shift; Doppler spread; average delay; or delay spread.

[0032] In some embodiments, the information based on at least one measured channel attribute may include at least one of the following: an indication of at least one measured channel attribute; or a report derived from at least one measured channel attribute.

[0033] In some embodiments, the method may include sending a message configuring the at least one channel attribute to be measured. In some embodiments, the message may be sent as at least one of the following: radio resource control (RRC) signaling; medium access control (MAC) control element (MAC-CE); synchronization signal block (SSB); system information (SI); downlink control information (DCI); low-power wake-up signal (LP-WUS); or paging notification.

[0034] In some embodiments, the downlink signal may be transmitted on a first beam, and the corresponding downlink signal may be transmitted on each of one or more other beams. In some embodiments, the information received from the device may be based on at least one channel attribute measured by the device for the first beam and at least one channel attribute measured by the device for each of the one or more other beams. In some embodiments, the received information may include indications of one or more beams having measured channel attributes.

[0035] In some embodiments, a plurality of downlink signals, including the downlink signal, may be transmitted during the paging operation. In some embodiments, the plurality of downlink signals may have a quasi-co-location (QCL) relationship with each other. In some embodiments, the at least one channel attribute measured by the device may be measured using at least one of the plurality of downlink signals.

[0036] In some embodiments, the paging operation may be associated with a paging timing within a wake-up period of the device. In some embodiments, the information may have already been sent within the wake-up period. In some embodiments, the method may include sending a message configuring one or more paging operations. For example, the message may configure the one or more paging operations by configuring at least one of the following: one or more wake-up periods; one or more sleep periods; a discontinuous reception (DRX) period; or one or more paging timings within a wake-up period. In some embodiments, the message may also configure at least one of the following: one or more wake-up periods during which the device will send the information based on at least one measured channel attribute; one or more paging timings during which the device will send the information; the at least one channel attribute to be measured; one or more channel attributes to be reported as part of the information; the manner in which the information will be sent; or uplink time-frequency resources for sending the information. In some embodiments, the message may be sent in at least one of the following: RRC signaling; MAC-CE; DCI; SSB; SI; or LP-WUS.

[0037] In some embodiments, the method may include sending a message configuring the device to send the information during the wake-up period. In some embodiments, the message may be sent in at least one of the following: RRC signaling; MAC-CE; DCI; SSB; SI; LP-WUS; paging notification; or paging message. In some embodiments, the message may also indicate at least one of the following: whether the device wants to perform sensing; or whether the device is being paged.

[0038] In some embodiments, the information may be at least one of the following: received in an uplink control channel; received in an uplink data channel; received during a random access procedure; received in a wake-up signal (WUS); or received in an uplink reference signal. In some embodiments, the information may be received in a WUS by receiving one of a plurality of WUS transmission sequences. In some embodiments, the information may be received in an uplink reference signal by receiving one of a plurality of sounding reference signal (SRS) sequences. In some embodiments, the information may be received in the uplink data channel along with uplink data transmission. In some embodiments, the uplink time-frequency resources for receiving the information may be indicated to the device by the device in at least one of the following: RRC signaling; MAC-CE; SSB; SI; DCI; LP-WUS; paging notification; or paging message.

[0039] In some embodiments, the downlink signal may be or include a synchronization signal (SS) used by the device for synchronization. In some embodiments, the SS may be at least one of the following: an SS in an SSB; an SS not in an SSB; a low-power synchronization signal (LP-SS); or a reference signal. In some embodiments, the SSB or the LP-SS may indicate at least one of the following: whether paging will be performed during a wake-up period; or one or more aggregation levels (ALs) of the downlink control channel used to send paging notifications.

[0040] In some embodiments, the downlink signal may be or include a demodulation reference signal (DMRS). In some embodiments, the DMRS may be transmitted as an SSB used for synchronization and carrying system information bits; or a control channel carrying paging notifications; or a data channel carrying paging messages.

[0041] In some embodiments, the downlink signal may be or include a sensing signal that will be used by the device for sensing operations.

[0042] In some embodiments, the method may include sending a paging notification during the paging operation. In some embodiments, the paging notification may indicate at least one of the following: time-frequency resource allocation for the device to transmit the information; one or more channel attributes to be reported as part of the information; or one or more ALs to be used for subsequent downlink control channel transmission.

[0043] In some embodiments, the method may include sending a paging message during the paging operation. In some embodiments, the paging message may include device-specific information indicating whether the device has been paged. In some embodiments, the paging message may also include at least one of the following common to multiple devices: time-frequency resource allocation for transmitting the information; indication of one or more channel attributes to be reported as part of the information; indication of one or more ALs to be used for subsequent downlink control channel transmission; sensing information related to sensing operations; quasico-location (QCL) reference signal information; or indication of uplink transmission timing adjustment (TA).

[0044] In some embodiments, the method may include: transmitting an LP-WUS or a reference signal, the LP-WUS or the reference signal performing at least one of the following: triggering the device to switch to a different transceiver; indicating the location of time-frequency resources in the downlink control channel used by the device to transmit paging notifications; or indicating one or more ALs of the downlink control channel used by the device to transmit the paging notifications.

[0045] In some embodiments, a device (e.g., a network device such as a TRP) is provided to perform any of the methods described above. For example, the device may include at least one processor and a memory storing processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the device to perform any of the methods described above. For example, when executed by the at least one processor, the processor-executable instructions may cause the device to perform the following operations: transmit a downlink signal during a paging operation; receive information from a device, wherein the information is based on at least one channel attribute measured by the device using the downlink signal. In some embodiments, the device is a chip, such as an integrated circuit (IC) chip. In some embodiments, the device does not execute the method by executing instructions via a processor; for example, the device may include circuitry for performing the method, such as a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a graphics processing unit (GPU), or an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). More generally, the device may include modules or units for performing the method, such as units or modules for transmitting downlink signals during a paging operation, and units or modules for receiving the information from the device. In some embodiments, the device may include components for performing the method steps, for example, the device may include components for transmitting downlink signals during paging operations, and components for receiving the information from the device.

[0046] According to one aspect of this disclosure, an apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes a communication unit configured to: transmit a downlink signal during a paging operation; and receive information from the device, wherein the information is based on at least one channel attribute measured by the device using the downlink signal.

[0047] Finally, in one aspect, a computer-readable medium is provided, on which computer-readable instructions are stored, which, when executed, cause any of the methods described herein to be performed. The computer-readable medium may be non-transitory. In another aspect, a computer program product is provided, on which instructions for performing any of the methods described herein are stored. In another aspect, an apparatus is provided for performing any of the methods described herein. In another aspect, a processor is provided for executing instructions to cause the apparatus to perform any of the methods described herein. In another aspect, an integrated circuit is provided for performing any of the methods described herein. Attached Figure Description

[0048] Embodiments are described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0049] Figure 1 A network diagram of an exemplary communication system;

[0050] Figure 2 This is a block diagram of an exemplary electronic device;

[0051] Figure 3 This is a block diagram of another exemplary electronic device;

[0052] Figure 4 This is a block diagram of an exemplary component module;

[0053] Figure 5 Three UEs communicating with a TRP in a communication system are shown according to some embodiments;

[0054] Figure 6 Paging operations according to some embodiments are illustrated;

[0055] Figure 7 An example is shown where the UE has both a low-power receiver and a main receiver;

[0056] Figure 8 The paging operation is illustrated according to some embodiments when the UE simultaneously implements the main receiver and the wake-up receiver;

[0057] Figure 9 The method performed by the UE and TRP according to some embodiments is shown;

[0058] Figure 10 It shows Figure 9 One example is where the downlink signal is a synchronization signal;

[0059] Figure 11 The transmission of multiple downlink beams according to some embodiments is illustrated;

[0060] Figure 12 It shows the Figure 9 The modifications include additional initial steps related to the configuration;

[0061] Figure 13 This illustrates the combination of two UEs. Figure 12 An example;

[0062] Figure 14 and Figure 15 It shows Figure 10 Two examples. Detailed Implementation

[0063] For illustrative purposes, specific exemplary embodiments will be explained in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0064] The method described herein is implemented in a communication system that implements wireless communication. Therefore, an exemplary communication system incorporating wireless communication is described first below.

[0065] Exemplary communication systems and devices

[0066] This application can be applied to sixth-generation (6G) or future generation communication systems. An exemplary communication system (which may be a 6G communication system) is shown below.

[0067] refer to Figure 1 The following simplified schematic diagram of a communication system 100 is provided as an illustrative example and is not limiting. The communication system 100 includes a radio access network (RAN) 120. The RAN 120 may be a next-generation (e.g., sixth-generation, 6G, or later) RAN or a traditional (e.g., 5G, 4G, 3G, or 2G) RAN. One or more electric devices (EDs) 110a to 120j (generally referred to as 110) may be interconnected with each other or connected to one or more network nodes (170a and 170b, generally referred to as 170) within the RAN 120. A core network 130 may be part of the communication system and may depend on or be independent of the radio access technology used in the communication system 100. Furthermore, the communication system 100 includes a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 140, the Internet 150, and other networks 160. A base station or TRP is an example of 170, and a UE is an example of 110.

[0068] Figure 2An exemplary communication system 100 is illustrated. Generally, the communication system 100 enables multiple wireless or wired components to transmit data and other content. The purpose of the communication system 100 may be to provide content such as voice, data, video, and / or text via broadcast, multicast, and unicast. The communication system 100 can operate by sharing resources such as carrier spectrum bandwidth among its constituent components. The communication system 100 may include terrestrial communication systems and / or non-terrestrial communication systems. The communication system 100 can provide a wide range of communication services and applications (e.g., earth monitoring, remote sensing, passive sensing and positioning, navigation and tracking, autonomous delivery, and mobility). The communication system 100 can provide high availability and robustness through the joint operation of terrestrial and non-terrestrial communication systems. For example, integrating a non-terrestrial communication system (or components thereof) into a terrestrial communication system can create a multi-layered heterogeneous network. Compared to traditional communication networks, heterogeneous networks can achieve better overall performance through efficient multi-link joint operation, more flexible function sharing, and faster physical layer link switching between terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks.

[0069] Terrestrial and non-terrestrial communication systems can be considered as subsystems of a communication system. In the example shown, communication system 100 includes electronic devices (EDs) 110a to 110d (generally referred to as ED 110), radio access networks (RANs) 120a and 120b, a non-terrestrial communication network 120c (which may also be a RAN or part of a RAN), a core network 130, a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 140, the Internet 150, and other networks 160. RANs 120a and RAN 120b include corresponding base stations (BSs) 170a and 170b, which are generally referred to as terrestrial transmit and receive points (T-TRPs) 170a and 170b. The non-terrestrial communication network 120c includes access nodes 120c, which are generally referred to as non-terrestrial transmit and receive points (NT-TRP) 172.

[0070] Alternatively or additionally, any ED 110 can be used to connect to, access, or communicate with any other T-TRP 170a, T-TRP 170b, and NT-TRP 172, the Internet 150, the core network 130, the PSTN 140, other networks 160, or any combination thereof. In some examples, ED 110a can communicate uplink and / or downlink with T-TRP 170a via interface 190a. In some examples, ED 110a, 110b, and 110d can also communicate directly with each other via one or more sidelink air interfaces 190b. In some examples, ED 110d can communicate uplink and / or downlink with NT-TRP 172 via interface 190c.

[0071] Air interfaces 190a and 190b can use similar communication technologies, such as any applicable wireless access technology. For example, communication system 100 can implement one or more channel access methods in air interfaces 190a and 190b, such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), or single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA). Air interfaces 190a and 190b can utilize other higher-dimensional signal spaces, which may involve combinations of orthogonal and / or non-orthogonal dimensions.

[0072] The 190c air interface enables communication between the ED 110d and one or more NT-TRP172s via a wireless link or simply through a link. In some examples, the link is a dedicated connection for unicast transmission, a connection for broadcast transmission, or a connection for multicast transmission between a group of EDs and one or more NT-TRPs.

[0073] RAN 120a and RAN 120b communicate with core network 130 to provide various services, such as voice, data, and other services, to ED 110a, ED 110b, and ED 110c. RAN 120a and RAN 120b and / or core network 130 may communicate directly or indirectly with one or more other RANs (not shown), which may or may not be directly served by core network 130, and may or may not use the same radio access technology as RAN 120a and / or RAN 120b. Core network 130 may also serve as a gateway access between (i) RAN 120a and RAN 120b and / or ED 110a, ED 110b, and ED 110c and (ii) other networks (e.g., PSTN 140, Internet 150, and other networks 160). Additionally, some or all of ED 110a, ED 110b, and ED 110c may include the ability to communicate with different wireless networks via different wireless links using different wireless technologies and / or protocols. ED 110a, ED 110b, and ED 110c may communicate with a service provider or exchange (not shown) via a wired communication channel and with the Internet 150, rather than wirelessly (or also wirelessly). PSTN 140 may include a circuit-switched telephone network for providing plain old telephone service (POTS). The Internet 150 may include a network of computers and / or subnets (intranets) and incorporate protocols such as Internet Protocol (IP), Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), and User Datagram Protocol (UDP). ED 110a, ED 110b, and ED 110c may be multimode devices capable of operating according to multiple wireless access technologies and include multiple transceivers required to support these technologies.

[0074] Figure 3Another example is shown of the ED 110, base station 170 (e.g., 170a and / or 170b) (referred to as T-TRP 170), and NT-TRP172. The ED 110 is used to connect people, objects, machines, etc. The ED 110 can be widely used in various scenarios, such as cellular communication, device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-everything (V2X), peer-to-peer (P2P), machine-to-machine (M2M), machine-type communications (MTC), Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), industrial control, autonomous driving, telemedicine, smart grids, smart furniture, smart offices, smart wearables, smart transportation, smart cities, drones, robots, remote sensing, passive sensing, positioning, navigation and tracking, autonomous delivery, and mobility.

[0075] Each ED 110 represents any suitable end-user equipment for wireless operation and may include (or be referred to as) devices such as: user equipment / device (UE), wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU), mobile station, fixed or mobile subscriber unit, cellular phone, station (STA), machine type communication (MTC) device, personal digital assistant (PDA), smartphone, laptop, computer, tablet, wireless sensor, consumer electronics device, smart book, vehicle, automobile, truck, bus, train, or IoT device, industrial equipment, or devices within the aforementioned devices (e.g., communication module, modem, or chip). Next-generation ED 110 may be referred to using other terms. Each ED 110 connected to T-TRP 170 and / or NT-TRP 172 may be dynamically or semi-statically turned on (i.e., established, activated, or enabled), turned off (i.e., released, deactivated, or disabled), and / or used in response to one or more of the following: connectivity availability and connectivity necessity.

[0076] ED 110 includes a transmitter 201 and a receiver 203 coupled to one or more antennas 204. Only one antenna 204 is shown. Alternatively, one, some, or all of the antennas may be panels. The transmitter 201 and receiver 203 may, for example, be integrated as a transceiver. The transmitter (or transceiver) is used to modulate data or other content for transmission by at least one antenna 204 or via a network interface controller (NIC). The receiver (or transceiver) is used to demodulate data or other content received by at least one antenna 204. Each transceiver includes any suitable structure for generating signals for wireless or wired transmission and / or for processing signals received wirelessly or wiredly. Each antenna 204 includes any suitable structure for transmitting and / or receiving wireless or wired signals.

[0077] ED 110 includes at least one memory 208. Memory 208 stores instructions and data used, generated, or collected by ED 110. For example, memory 208 may store software instructions or modules for implementing some or all of the functions and / or embodiments described herein and executed by one or more processing units 210. Each memory 208 includes any suitable one or more volatile and / or non-volatile storage and retrieval devices. Any suitable type of memory can be used, such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), hard disk, optical disk, subscriber identity module (SIM) card, memory stick, secure digital (SD) memory card, or on-processor cache.

[0078] ED 110 may also include one or more input / output devices (not shown) or interfaces (e.g., Figure 1 (A wired interface connecting to the Internet 150). Input / output devices support interaction with users or other devices on the network. Each input / output device includes any suitable structure for providing or receiving information from the user, such as a speaker, microphone, keypad, keyboard, display, or touchscreen, including network interface communication.

[0079] ED 110 also includes a processor 210 for performing various operations, including operations related to preparing for uplink transmissions to NT-TRP 172 and / or T-TRP 170, operations related to processing downlink transmissions received from NT-TRP 172 and / or T-TRP 170, and operations related to processing sidelink transmissions to and from another ED 110. Processing operations related to preparing for uplink transmissions may include operations such as encoding, modulation, transmit beamforming, and generating symbols for transmission. Processing operations related to processing downlink transmissions may include operations such as receive beamforming, demodulation, and decoding of received symbols. According to an embodiment, the downlink transmission may be received by receiver 203, possibly using receive beamforming, and processor 210 may extract signaling from the downlink transmission (e.g., by detecting and / or decoding signaling). Examples of signaling may be reference signals transmitted by NT-TRP 172 and / or T-TRP 170. In some embodiments, processor 276 performs transmit beamforming and / or receive beamforming based on beam direction indications received from T-TRP 170, such as beam angle information (BAI). In some embodiments, processor 210 may perform operations related to network access (e.g., initial access) and / or downlink synchronization, such as operations related to detecting synchronization sequences, decoding, and acquiring system information. In some embodiments, processor 210 may perform channel estimation, for example, using reference signals received from NT-TRP 172 and / or from T-TRP 170.

[0080] Although not shown in the figures, processor 210 may be part of transmitter 201 and / or receiver 203. Although not shown in the figures, memory 208 may be part of processor 210.

[0081] The processing components of processor 210, transmitter 201, and receiver 203 can each be implemented by the same or different processors, which execute instructions stored in memory (e.g., memory 208). Alternatively, some or all of the processing components of processor 210, transmitter 201, and receiver 203 can be implemented using special-purpose circuits such as field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), graphics processing units (GPUs), or application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs).

[0082] In some implementations, T-TRP 170 may be referred to by other names such as: base station, base transceiver station (BTS), wireless base station, network node, network equipment, network-side equipment, transmit / receive node, Node B, evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), femtocell, next-generation NodeB (gNB), transmission point (TP), site controller, access point (AP), or wireless router, relay station, remote radio head, ground node, ground network equipment, or ground base station, base band unit (BBU), remote radio unit (RRU), active antenna unit (AAU), remote radio head (RRH), central unit (CU), distribution unit (DU), location node, etc. T-TRP 170 can be a macro BS, micro BS, relay node, host node, or a combination thereof. T-TRP 170 may refer to the aforementioned device or a component within the aforementioned device (e.g., a communication module, modem, or chip).

[0083] In some embodiments, the various parts of T-TRP 170 can be distributed. For example, some modules of T-TRP 170 may be located remotely from the device housing the antenna of T-TRP 170 and may be coupled to the device housing the antenna via a communication link (not shown), sometimes referred to as a fronthaul, such as a common public radio interface (CPRI). Therefore, in some embodiments, the term T-TRP 170 may also refer to modules on the network side that perform processing operations such as ED 110 location determination, resource allocation (scheduling), message generation, and encoding / decoding; these modules are not necessarily part of the device housing the antenna of T-TRP 170. These modules may also be coupled to other T-TRPs. In some embodiments, T-TRP 170 may actually be multiple T-TRPs operating together to serve ED 110 through cooperative multicast or similar methods.

[0084] T-TRP 170 includes at least one transmitter 252 and at least one receiver 254 coupled to one or more antennas 256. Only one antenna 256 is shown. Alternatively, one, some, or all of the antennas may be panels. The transmitter 252 and receiver 254 may be integrated as a transceiver. T-TRP 170 also includes a processor 260 for performing operations including: preparing a transmission for downlink transmission to ED 110, processing an uplink transmission received from ED 110, preparing a transmission for backhaul transmission to NT-TRP 172, and processing a transmission received from NT-TRP 172 via backhaul. Processing operations related to preparing a transmission for downlink or backhaul transmission may include operations such as encoding, modulation, precoding (e.g., MIMO precoding), transmit beamforming, and generating symbols for transmission. Processing operations related to processing received uplink transmissions or transmissions received via backhaul may include operations such as receive beamforming, demodulation, and decoding of received symbols. Processor 260 may also perform operations related to network access (e.g., initial access) and / or downlink synchronization, such as generating the contents of a synchronization signal block (SSB) and generating system information. In some embodiments, processor 260 also generates beam direction indications, such as BAI, which can be scheduled for transmission by scheduler 253. Processor 260 performs other network-side processing operations that may be described herein, such as determining the location of ED 110 and determining the location for deploying NT-TRP 172. In some embodiments, processor 260 may generate signaling, for example, for configuring one or more parameters of ED 110 and / or one or more parameters of NT-TRP 172. Any signaling generated by processor 260 is transmitted by transmitter 252. It should be noted that, alternatively, the term "signaling" as used herein may be referred to as control signaling. Dynamic signaling can be transmitted in control channels such as the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), while static or semi-static higher-layer signaling can be included in messages transmitted in data channels such as the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH).

[0085] Scheduler 253 may be coupled to processor 260. Scheduler 253 may be included in T-TRP 170 or may operate separately from T-TRP 170. Scheduler 253 may schedule uplink, downlink, and / or backhaul transmissions, including issuing scheduling grants and / or configuring unscheduled (“configuration grants”) resources. T-TRP 170 also includes memory 258 for storing information and data. Memory 258 stores instructions and data used, generated, or collected by T-TRP 170. For example, memory 258 may store software instructions or modules for implementing some or all of the functions and / or embodiments described herein and executed by processor 260.

[0086] Although not shown in the figures, processor 260 may be part of transmitter 252 and / or receiver 254. Similarly, although not shown in the figures, processor 260 may implement scheduler 253. Although not shown in the figures, memory 258 may be part of processor 260.

[0087] The processing components of processor 260, scheduler 253, transmitter 252, and receiver 254 can each be implemented by the same or different one or more processors, which execute instructions stored in memory (e.g., memory 258). Alternatively, some or all of the processing components of processor 260, scheduler 253, transmitter 252, and receiver 254 can be implemented using dedicated circuitry such as FPGA, GPU, or ASIC.

[0088] Although the NT-TRP 172 is shown as a drone, it is only an example. The NT-TRP 172 can be implemented in any suitable non-terrestrial form. Furthermore, the NT-TRP 172 may be referred to by other names in some implementations, such as a non-terrestrial node, a non-terrestrial network device, or a non-terrestrial base station. The NT-TRP 172 includes a transmitter 272 and a receiver 274 coupled to one or more antennas 280. Only one antenna 280 is shown. Alternatively, one, some, or all of the antennas may be panels. The transmitter 272 and receiver 274 may be integrated as a transceiver. The NT-TRP 172 also includes a processor 276 for performing various operations, including operations related to: preparing transmissions for downlink transmission to ED 110, processing uplink transmissions received from ED 110, preparing transmissions for backhaul transmission to T-TRP 170, and processing transmissions received from T-TRP 170 via backhaul. Processing operations related to preparing a transmission for downlink or backhaul transmission may include operations such as encoding, modulation, precoding (e.g., MIMO precoding), transmit beamforming, and generating symbols for transmission. Processing operations related to processing received uplink transmissions or transmissions received via backhaul may include operations such as receive beamforming, demodulation, and decoding of received symbols. In some embodiments, processor 276 performs transmit beamforming and / or receive beamforming based on beam direction information (e.g., BAI) received from T-TRP 170. In some embodiments, processor 276 may generate signaling, for example, for configuring one or more parameters of ED 110. In some embodiments, NT-TRP 172 implements physical layer processing but does not implement higher-level functions such as medium access control (MAC) or radio link control (RLC) layer functions. Since this is only an example, in general, NT-TRP 172 may implement higher-level functions in addition to physical layer processing.

[0089] The NT-TRP 172 also includes a memory 278 for storing information and data. Although not shown in the figures, a processor 276 may be part of the transmitter 272 and / or receiver 274. Although not shown in the figures, the memory 278 may be part of the processor 276.

[0090] The processing components of processor 276, transmitter 272, and receiver 274 can each be implemented by the same or different processors, which execute instructions stored in memory (e.g., memory 278). Alternatively, some or all of the processing components of processor 276, transmitter 272, and receiver 274 can be implemented using programmable special-purpose circuitry such as FPGAs, GPUs, or ASICs. In some embodiments, NT-TRP 172 can actually be multiple NT-TRPs operating together to serve ED 110 via cooperative multicast or similar methods.

[0091] It should be noted that the "TRP" used in this article can refer to either T-TRP or NT-TRP.

[0092] T-TRP 170, NT-TRP 172 and / or ED 110 may include other components, but these components have been omitted for clarity.

[0093] One or more steps of the methods in the embodiments provided herein can be derived from, for example... Figure 4 The corresponding unit or module provided will be executed. Figure 4 Exemplary units or modules in devices such as ED 110, T-TRP 170, or NT-TRP 172 are shown. For example, operation may be controlled by an operating system module. Signals may be transmitted by a transmitting unit or transmitting module. Signals may be received by a receiving unit or receiving module. Signals may be processed by a processing unit or processing module. Some operations / steps may be performed by an artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML) module. The corresponding units or modules may be implemented using hardware, one or more components or devices executing software, or a combination thereof. For example, one or more of these units or modules may be integrated circuits, such as a programmable FPGA, GPU, or ASIC. It should be understood that if these modules are implemented by a processor using software, these modules may be retrieved by the processor, in whole or in part, individually or collectively, for processing, in single or multiple instances, and these modules themselves may include instructions for further deployment and instantiation.

[0094] Further details regarding ED 110, T-TRP 170, and NT-TRP 172 are known to those skilled in the art. Therefore, these details are omitted herein.

[0095] An air interface typically includes numerous components and associated parameters that collectively specify how transmissions are sent and / or received over a wireless communication link between two or more communication devices. For example, an air interface may include one or more components that define one or more waveforms, one or more frame structures, one or more multiple access schemes, one or more protocols, one or more coding schemes, and / or one or more modulation schemes for transmitting information (e.g., data) over a wireless communication link. Wireless communication links may support links between a radio access network and user equipment (e.g., a "Uu" link), and / or wireless communication links may support links between devices, such as links between two user equipment (e.g., a "sidelink"), and / or wireless communication links may support links between non-terrestrial (NT) communication networks and user equipment (UE). Below are some examples of the components mentioned above:

[0096] ● The waveform component allows you to specify the shape and form of the signal being transmitted. Waveform options can include orthogonal multiple access (OFDM) and non-orthogonal multiple access (NOA) waveforms. Non-limiting examples of such waveform options include Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), Filtered OFDM (f-OFDM), Time Window OFDM, Filter Bank Multicarrier (FBMC), Universal Filtered Multicarrier (UFMC), Generalized Frequency Division Multiplexing (GFDM), Wavelet Packet Modulation (WPM), Faster Than Nyquist (FTN) waveforms, and Low Peak to Average Power Ratio (PAPR) waveforms (WF).

[0097] ● The frame structure component can specify the configuration of a frame or frame group. The frame structure component can indicate one or more of the following parameters: time, frequency, pilot signature, code, or other parameters for a frame or frame group. Further details on frame structure are discussed below.

[0098] ● The multiple access scheme component can specify multiple access technology options, including technologies that define how communication devices share the common physical channel, such as: Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA), Low Density Signature Multicarrier Code Division Multiple Access (LDS-MC-CDMA), Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA), Pattern Division Multiple Access (PDMA), Lattice Partition Multiple Access (LPMA), Resource Spread Multiple Access (RSMA), and Sparse Code Multiple Access (SCMA). In addition, multiple access technology options may include: scheduled access and unscheduled access, also known as unlicensed access; non-orthogonal multiple access and orthogonal multiple access, such as using dedicated channel resources (e.g., not shared between multiple communication devices); contention-based shared channel resources and non-contention-based shared channel resources; and cognitive radio-based access.

[0099] ● The Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) protocol component can specify how transmission and / or retransmission are performed. Non-limiting examples of transmission and / or retransmission mechanism options include mechanisms for specifying the size of the scheduled data pipeline, signaling mechanisms for transmission and / or retransmission, and retransmission mechanisms.

[0100] ● Encoding and modulation components can specify how the information being transmitted is encoded / decoded and modulated / demodulated for transmission / reception purposes. Encoding can refer to methods of error detection and forward error correction. Non-limiting examples of encoding options include turbo lattice codes, turbo product codes, fountain codes, low-density parity-check codes, and polar codes. Modulation can simply refer to constellations (e.g., including modulation techniques and orders), or more specifically to various types of advanced modulation methods, such as layered modulation and low PAPR modulation.

[0101] In some implementations, the air interface can be a "generic concept." For example, once the air interface is defined, the components within it cannot be changed or adjusted. In some implementations, only a limited set of parameters or modes of the air interface can be configured, such as cyclic prefix (CP) length or multiple input multiple output (MIMO) mode. In some implementations, the air interface design can provide a unified or flexible framework to support frequency bands below 6 GHz and frequency bands above 6 GHz (e.g., millimeter wave) for both licensed and unlicensed access. For example, the flexibility of a configurable air interface provided by a scalable set of parameters and symbol durations allows for optimization of transmission parameters for different spectrum bands and different services / devices. As another example, a unified air interface can be self-contained in the frequency domain, and a frequency-domain self-contained design can support more flexible radio access network (RAN) slicing through channel resource sharing in frequency and time between different services.

[0102] The frame structure is a feature of the physical layer of wireless communication, defining the time-domain signal transmission structure, for example, to implement timing reference and timing alignment of basic time-domain transmission units. Wireless communication between communication devices can take place on time-frequency resources controlled by the frame structure. Alternatively, the frame structure may sometimes be referred to as the wireless frame structure.

[0103] Depending on the frame structure and / or the configuration of frames within the frame structure, it is possible to implement frequency division duplex (FDD) communication and / or time division duplex (TDD) communication and / or full-duplex (FD) communication. FDD communication refers to transmissions in different directions (e.g., uplink and downlink) occurring in different frequency bands. TDD communication refers to transmissions in different directions (e.g., uplink and downlink) occurring for different durations. FD communication refers to transmission and reception occurring on the same time-frequency resources; that is, the device can simultaneously transmit and receive on the same frequency resources in time.

[0104] An example of a frame structure is the one specified in Long-Term Evolution (LTE): each frame lasts for 10 ms; each frame has 10 subframes, each lasting for 1 ms; each subframe includes two time slots, each lasting for 0.5 ms; each time slot is used to transmit 7 OFDM symbols (assuming a conventional CP); each OFDM symbol has a symbol duration and a specific bandwidth (or partial bandwidth or bandwidth partition) associated with the number of subcarriers and subcarrier spacing; the frame structure is based on OFDM waveform parameters such as subcarrier spacing and CP length (where the CP has a fixed length or finite length option); the handover gap between uplink and downlink in TDD must be an integer multiple of the OFDM symbol duration.

[0105] Another example of a frame structure is that of New Radio (NR) with the following specifications: support for multiple subcarrier intervals, each corresponding to a specific parameter set; the frame structure depends on the parameter set, but in any case, the frame length is set to 10 ms, consisting of 10 subframes, each 1 ms long; and time slots are defined as 14 OFDM symbols, with the slot length depending on the parameter set. For example, the NR frame structure for a standard CP 15 kHz subcarrier interval (“Parameter Set 1”) differs from the NR frame structure for a standard CP 30 kHz subcarrier interval (“Parameter Set 2”). For the 15 kHz subcarrier interval, the slot length is 1 ms; for the 30 kHz subcarrier interval, the slot length is 0.5 ms. NR frame structures can offer greater flexibility than LTE frame structures.

[0106] Another example of a frame structure is the exemplary flexible frame structure, such as that used in 6G networks or later. In a flexible frame structure, a symbol block can be defined as the minimum duration that can be scheduled within the flexible frame structure. A symbol block can be a transmission unit with optional redundant portions (e.g., a CP portion) and information portions (e.g., data portions). An OFDM symbol is an example of a symbol block. Alternatively, a symbol block can be referred to as a symbol. Implementations of a flexible frame structure include various configurable parameters, such as frame length, subframe length, and symbol block length. A non-exhaustive list of possible configurable parameters in some implementations of a flexible frame structure includes the following:

[0107] (1) Frame: The frame length is not limited to 10 ms; it can be configurable and vary over time. In some implementations, each frame includes one or more downlink synchronization channels and / or one or more downlink broadcast channels, each of which can be transmitted in different directions using different beamforming. The frame length can have more than one possible value and can be configured according to the application scenario. For example, autonomous vehicles may require relatively fast initial access, in which case the frame length could be set to 5 ms for autonomous vehicle applications. As another example, smart meters on a house may not require fast initial access, in which case the frame length could be set to 20 ms for smart meter applications.

[0108] (2) Subframe Duration: Subframes may or may not be defined within a flexible frame structure, depending on the implementation. For example, a frame may be defined to include time slots but not subframes. In frames where subframes are defined, such as for temporal alignment, the duration of the subframes can be configurable. For example, the length of a subframe can be configured to 0.1 ms, 0.2 ms, 0.5 ms, 1 ms, 2 ms, or 5 ms, etc. In some implementations, if subframes are not needed in a specific scenario, the subframe length can be defined to be the same as the frame length or undefined.

[0109] (3) Time Slot Configuration: Time slots may or may not be defined in a flexible frame structure, depending on the implementation. In frames where time slots are defined, the definition of time slots (e.g., in terms of duration and / or the number of symbol blocks) can be configurable. In one implementation, time slot configuration is common to all UEs or a group of UEs. In this case, time slot configuration information can be sent to the UE on a broadcast channel or one or more common control channels. In other implementations, time slot configuration can be UE-specific, in which case time slot configuration information can be sent on a UE-specific control channel. In some implementations, time slot configuration signaling can be sent together with frame configuration signaling and / or subframe configuration signaling. In other implementations, time slot configuration can be sent independently of frame configuration signaling and / or subframe configuration signaling. Typically, time slot configuration can be system-wide, base station-wide, UE group-wide, or UE-specific.

[0110] (4) Subcarrier spacing (SCS): SCS is a parameter in a scalable parameter set that allows the SCS to range from 15 kHz to 480 kHz. The SCS can vary with the frequency of the spectrum and / or the maximum UE velocity to minimize the effects of Doppler shift and phase noise. In some examples, there can be separate transmit and receive frames, and the SCS of symbols in the receive frame structure can be configured independently of the SCS of symbols in the transmit frame structure. The SCS in the receive frame can differ from the SCS in the transmit frame. In some examples, the SCS of each transmit frame can be half the SCS of each receive frame. If the SCS differs between the receive and transmit frames, the difference does not necessarily have to be scaled by a factor of 2, for example, by using the inverse discrete Fourier transform (IDFT) instead of the fast Fourier transform (FFT) to achieve more flexible symbol durations. Other examples of frame structures can be used with different SCS.

[0111] (5) Flexible transmission duration of the basic transmission unit: The basic transmission unit can be a symbol block (or alternatively a symbol), typically comprising a redundant portion (called CP) and an information portion (e.g., data). However, in some implementations, the CP can be omitted from the symbol block. The CP length can be flexible and configurable. The CP length can be fixed within a frame or can vary flexibly within a frame, and the CP length may change with frame changes, with frame group changes, with subframe changes, with time slot changes, or dynamically with scheduling changes. The information portion (e.g., data) can be flexible and configurable. Another possible parameter associated with the definable symbol block is the ratio of the CP duration to the information (e.g., data) duration. In some implementations, the symbol block length can be adjusted based on channel conditions (e.g., multipath delay, Doppler) and / or delay requirements and / or available duration. For example, the symbol block length can be adjusted to accommodate the available duration within a frame.

[0112] (6) Flexible handover gap: A frame may include a downlink portion for downlink transmission from the base station and an uplink portion for uplink transmission from the UE. A gap may exist between each uplink and downlink portion, which is called a handover gap. The handover gap length (duration) can be configurable. The handover gap duration can be fixed within the frame or can be flexibly varied within the frame, and the handover gap duration may change with frame changes, with frame group changes, with subframe changes, with time slot changes, or dynamically with scheduling changes.

[0113] Base stations and other equipment can cover a cell. Wireless communication with the device can take place on one or more carrier frequencies. A carrier frequency is called a carrier. Alternatively, a carrier can be called a component carrier (CC). A carrier can be characterized by its bandwidth and reference frequency (e.g., the center frequency, lowest frequency, or highest frequency of the carrier). A carrier can be on licensed spectrum or unlicensed spectrum. Wireless communication with the device can also, or alternatively, take place on one or more bandwidth parts (BWPs). For example, a carrier can have one or more BWPs. Generally, wireless communication with the device can take place on a spectrum. A spectrum can include one or more carriers and / or one or more BWPs.

[0114] A cell may include one or more downlink resources and optionally one or more uplink resources, or a cell may include one or more uplink resources and optionally one or more downlink resources, or a cell may include both one or more downlink resources and one or more uplink resources. For example, a cell may include only one downlink carrier / BWP, or only one uplink carrier / BWP, or multiple downlink carriers / BWP, or multiple uplink carriers / BWP, or one downlink carrier / BWP and one uplink carrier / BWP, or one downlink carrier / BWP and multiple uplink carriers / BWP, or multiple downlink carriers / BWP and one uplink carrier / BWP, or multiple downlink carriers / BWP and multiple uplink carriers / BWP. In some implementations, alternatively or additionally, a cell may include one or more sidelink resources, including sidelink transmit and receive resources.

[0115] A BWP is a set of continuous or non-continuous frequency subcarriers on a carrier, or a set of continuous or non-continuous frequency subcarriers on multiple carriers, or a set of non-continuous or continuous frequency subcarriers. A BWP may have one or more carriers.

[0116] In some implementations, a carrier may have one or more BWPs. For example, a carrier may have a bandwidth of 20 MHz and consist of one BWP, or a carrier may have a bandwidth of 80 MHz and consist of two adjacent consecutive BWPs. In other implementations, a BWP may have one or more carriers. For example, a BWP may have a bandwidth of 40 MHz and consist of two adjacent consecutive carriers, each with a bandwidth of 20 MHz. In some implementations, a BWP may include discontinuous spectrum resources consisting of multiple discontinuous carriers, where the first carrier of the discontinuous multiple carriers may be in the mmW band, the second carrier may be in a low-frequency band (e.g., the 2 GHz band), the third carrier (if present) may be in the THz band, and the fourth carrier (if present) may be in the visible light band. Resources within a carrier belonging to a BWP may be contiguous or discontinuous. In some implementations, a BWP has discontinuous spectrum resources on a single carrier.

[0117] Wireless communication can be performed on occupied bandwidth. Occupied bandwidth can be defined as the width of the frequency band such that the average transmitted power below the lower frequency limit and above the upper frequency limit are respectively equal to a specified percentage of the total average transmitted power. ,For example, The value is 0.5%.

[0118] The carrier, BWP, or occupied bandwidth can be dynamically indicated by network devices (e.g., base stations) in physical layer control signaling such as DCI, semi-statically indicated in radio resource control (RRC) signaling or in the medium access control (MAC) layer, or predefined according to the application scenario; or determined by the UE as a function of other parameters known to the UE, or may be uniformly specified by standards, for example.

[0119] Control information is sometimes referred to in this document. Control information may sometimes be alternatively referred to as control signaling or signaling. In some cases, for example, control information may be dynamically transmitted at the physical layer of the control channel, such as in the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). An example of dynamically indicated control information is information transmitted in physical layer control signaling, such as uplink control information (UCI) transmitted in the PUCCH, downlink control information (DCI) transmitted in the PDCCH, or sidelink control information (SCI) transmitted in the physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH). Dynamic indication can be an indication at a lower layer (e.g., physical layer / layer 1 signaling) rather than at a higher layer (e.g., except in RRC signaling or MAC CE). Semi-static indication can be an indication in semi-static signaling. Semi-static signaling as used in this document may refer to non-dynamic signaling, such as higher-layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling) and / or MAC CE. Dynamic signaling as used in this document may refer to dynamic signaling, such as physical layer control signaling transmitted in the physical layer, such as DCI transmitted in PDCCH, UCI transmitted in PUCCH, or SCI transmitted in PSCCH.

[0120] Figure 5 Three EDs communicating with TRP 352 in a communication system according to some embodiments are shown. This communication system can be the communication system 100 described above. These three EDs are shown as different UEs, referred to as UE 110x, UE 110y, and UE 110z. However, an ED does not necessarily have to be a UE. In the following, reference numeral 110 is used to refer to any one of UE 110x, UE 110y, UE 110z, or any other UE (e.g., UE 110a to UE 110j described above).

[0121] TRP 352 may be a T-TRP 170 or an NT-TRP 172. In some embodiments, the various parts of TRP 352 may be distributed. For example, some modules of TRP 352 may be located remotely from the device housing the antenna or panel of TRP 352 and may be coupled to the device housing the antenna or panel via a communication link (not shown). Therefore, in some embodiments, the term TRP 352 may also refer to modules on the network side that perform processing operations such as resource allocation (scheduling), message generation, and encoding / decoding, which are not necessarily part of the device housing the antenna and / or panel of TRP 352. For example, modules that are not necessarily part of the device housing the antenna / panel of TRP 352 may include one or more modules that generate downlink signals, paging notifications, and paging messages as described herein. These modules may also be coupled to other TRPs. In some embodiments, TRP 352 may actually be multiple TRPs operating together to serve UE 110 through cooperative multicast or similar means.

[0122] TRP 352 includes a transmitter 354 and a receiver 356, which can be integrated into a transceiver. Transmitter 354 and receiver 356 are coupled to one or more antennas 358. Only one antenna 358 is shown. Alternatively, one, some, or all of the antennas may be panels. Processor 360 of TRP 352 performs (or controls TRP 352 to perform) the operations described herein performed by TRP 352, such as generating and transmitting downlink signals, paging notifications, and paging messages. Generating messages for downlink transmission may include: arranging information in a message format, encoding messages, modulating, performing beamforming (if necessary), etc. Processing uplink transmissions (e.g., information related to channel attribute measurements from the UE) may include: performing beamforming (if necessary), demodulating and decoding received messages, etc. Although not shown in the figures, processor 360 may be part of transmitter 354 and / or receiver 356. TRP 352 also includes memory 362 for storing information.

[0123] The processing components of processor 360, transmitter 354, and receiver 356 may be implemented by the same or different processors, which execute instructions stored in memory (e.g., memory 362). Alternatively, some or all of the processing components of processor 360 and / or transmitter 354 and / or receiver 356 may be implemented using dedicated circuitry such as a programmable FPGA, GPU, or ASIC.

[0124] If TRP 352 is T-TRP 170, then transmitter 354 may be or include transmitter 252, receiver 356 may be or include receiver 254, processor 360 may be or include processor 260 and may implement scheduler 253, and memory 362 may be or include memory 258. If TRP 352 is NT-TRP 172, then transmitter 354 may be or include transmitter 272, receiver 356 may be or include receiver 274, processor 360 may be or include processor 276, and memory 362 may be or include memory 278.

[0125] As described above, each UE 110 (e.g., each of UE 110x, UE 110y, and UE 110z) includes a corresponding processor 210, memory 208, transmitter 201, receiver 203, and one or more antennas 204 (or alternatively, panels). For simplicity, only the processor 210, memory 208, transmitter 201, receiver 203, and antenna 204 in UE 110x are shown, but the other UEs 110y and UE 110z also include the same corresponding components.

[0126] Processor 210 performs (or controls UE 110 to perform) the operations described herein performed by UE 110, such as cycling between sleep and wake-up, performing paging operations, measuring channel attributes using downlink signals, etc. Processor 210 generates messages for uplink transmissions and processes received downlink transmissions. Generating messages for uplink transmissions may include: arranging information in a message format, encoding the message, modulating it, performing beamforming (if necessary), etc. Processing received downlink transmissions may include: performing beamforming (if necessary), demodulating and decoding the received messages, etc. Although not shown in the figures, processor 210 may be part of transmitter 201 and / or receiver 203.

[0127] Power saving is a criterion that can be considered in wireless networks, and can be, for example, a performance metric. In one example of power saving, UE 110 and / or TRP 352 can operate according to discontinuous reception (DRX) and / or discontinuous transmission (DTX), where UE 110 or TRP 352 can be in a low-power sleep mode most of the time and periodically wake up to receive or send information on demand. Paging is a function that can contribute to power saving and can be associated with DRX or DTX. For example, a group of UEs in sleep mode can wake up to receive paging messages during a paging time (configured periodically). In one example, UEs 110x to UE 110z constitute a paging group or subgroup. The term "group" as used herein also includes subgroups. A group of UEs may be configured, for example, according to a DRX cycle to have sleep periods and wake-up periods, during which each UE 110 is in a low-power sleep mode. During the wake-up period, each UE 110 in this group is used to wake up from sleep mode and perform a paging operation, which includes: performing downlink timing synchronization, monitoring and detecting / decoding paging notifications for scheduled paging messages, receiving paging messages, and decoding paging messages. The paging message indicates which UEs have been paged. When the network has data to send to a UE, the network pagees that UE in the paging message.

[0128] Figure 6 The paging operation of each UE 110 in a paging group according to some embodiments is illustrated. UE 110 cycles, for example, between a sleep mode during a sleep period and a wake-up mode during a wake-up period according to the DRX cycle. In sleep mode, the UE may, for example, have no transmitting or receiving activity, and / or the UE may attempt to minimize the power consumption of its transceiver background operation, or even shut down its transceiver.

[0129] UE 110 wakes up from sleep mode and enters a wake-up period, during which UE 110 remains awake for a period of time, such as 20 ms. During the wake-up period, UE 110 initiates paging operations, including: firstly, performing downlink synchronization using a synchronization signal (SS) 402. SS 402 can be located at a predefined time-frequency position and can be a predefined sequence. The way UE 110 uses SS 402 for synchronization is implementation-specific. However, in one example, UE 110 can perform a correlation operation between the received SS 402 and the predefined sequence at different time points and find the strongest correlation corresponding to the timing of UE synchronization. SS 402 can, for example, be located in a synchronization signal block (SSB). For example, SS 402 can be the primary synchronization signal (PSS) and / or secondary synchronization signal (SSS) in the SSB. However, more generally, SS 402 does not necessarily have to be in an SSB, nor does it necessarily have to be a PSS or SSS. In some implementations, SS 402 may alternatively be, for example, a reference signal or a low-power synchronization signal (LP-SS), which may or may not be dedicated to synchronization for the purpose of performing paging.

[0130] Following downlink timing synchronization, the UE monitors and detects paging notification 404 in the control channel (e.g., in the DCI). In one example, paging notification 404 is carried by a common PDCCH. In some embodiments, alternatively, paging notification 404 may be referred to as paging DCI or paging group-based DCI. In some embodiments, since multiple PDCCH candidates with one or more aggregation levels (ALs) are defined / configured within a control resourceset (CORESET), the UE 110 may need to perform blind detection on the PDCCHs among the multiple PDCCH candidates. In some embodiments, the UE 110 monitors paging notification 404 during a configured paging timing. There may be more than one paging timing during a wake-up period.

[0131] Paging notification 404 schedules paging message 406 in the data channel (e.g., in PDSCH). For example, paging notification 404 indicates the time-frequency position of paging message 406 in the data channel. Paging message 406 indicates which UEs in the paging group have been paged. For example, it may be that UE 110x has been paged but UE 110y and UE 110z have not. If UE 110 is paged, UE 110 can perform further operations, such as transceiver type switching and / or random access procedures and / or radio resource control (RRC) state transitions for downlink service reception or initiation of uplink transmission.

[0132] In some embodiments, paging notification 404 may be sent in a specific time slot (e.g., in the region of the first few symbols of the time slot), while the time-frequency resource location of paging message 406 (indicated in paging notification 404) is separated by one or more subsequent time slots.

[0133] In some embodiments, a paging timing is configured for UE 110. The paging timing can be the period during which UE 110 is expected to receive paging notification 404 and paging message 406. In other embodiments, the paging timing can be the period during which UE 110 is expected to receive paging notification 404, but paging message 406 may be scheduled at a later time that is not necessarily considered part of the paging timing. More than one paging timing may be configured within a wake-up period.

[0134] It should be noted that, in Figure 6 In the examples and elsewhere in this document, it is assumed that both paging notification 404 and paging message 406 exist simultaneously, wherein paging notification 404 schedules paging message 406. However, in some embodiments, only paging notification 404 may exist (e.g., a DCI indicating that one or more UEs are paged). In this case, paging notification 404 may alternatively be referred to as a paging message. Furthermore, in some embodiments, for example, since paging notification 404 may notify content or notification messages other than paging, paging notification 404 may be more generally referred to as downlink notification.

[0135] In some embodiments, UE 110 may have a low-power wake-up receiver (LP-WUR) and switch to the primary receiver, for example, in response to a trigger from TRP 352. Figure 7An example of a UE 110 simultaneously featuring a low-power receiver and a main receiver is shown. In the example shown, the UE 110 has a transceiver 202 for transmitting and receiving wireless transmissions. Transceiver 202 includes a "normal" / traditional or main receiver (MR, or alternatively referred to as the main radio) 292, which consumes more power than the LP-WUR and is the main receiver used for receiving wireless communications. Transceiver 202 also includes an LP-WUR called a wake-up receiver (WUR) 294. It should be noted that WUR and LP-WUR are terms used interchangeably herein. The power consumption of WUR 294 is less than that of MR 292, and the cost of WUR 294 may be lower than that of MR 292. WUR 294 may be used, for example, for synchronization and may also be used for partial paging operations. The operation performed by WUR 294 can be referred to as wake-up reception. Figure 7 In the variant, alternatively, two separate transceivers may exist: a low-cost / low-power transceiver implementing the WUR 294 and a conventional or general-purpose transceiver implementing the MR 292. Switching from the WUR 294 to the MR 292 may require switching from the low-cost / low-power transceiver to the conventional / general-purpose transceiver.

[0136] Figure 8 The following embodiments illustrate paging operations when UE 110 simultaneously implements MR 292 and WUR 294. In step 452, TRP 352 sends a synchronization signal (SS), which is received by WUR 294 during the wake-up period. The SS is used by UE 110 to perform synchronization. In step 454, TRP 352 sends a low-power wake-up signal (LP-WUS), which triggers UE 110 to switch from WUR 294 to MR 292, as shown in step 456. In this example, MR 292 is used to perform subsequent paging operations. In step 458, paging is performed, including UE 110 receiving a paging notification that a paging message has been scheduled. If UE 110 is paged in the paging message, UE 110 can perform random access, as shown in step 460.

[0137] In some embodiments, the TRP 352 may also have a low-power transceiver and a master (“normal”) transceiver or a conventional transceiver. The low-power transceiver may be used by the TRP 352, for example, to transmit LP-WUS. In some embodiments, the TRP 352 may use the master transceiver for one or more paging operations, such as for transmitting SS (e.g., in an SSB). In other embodiments, the TRP 352 may use the low-power transceiver for one or more paging operations, such as for transmitting low-power SS (LP-SS). In one example, the TRP 352 uses its low-power transceiver to perform... Figure 8 Steps 452 and 454 (where the SS in step 452 is an LP-SS), and TRP 352 switches to the primary receiver for paging 458. Similarly, in this example, UE 110 uses its WUR 294 to perform steps 452 and 454, and then switches to its MR 292 for paging 458.

[0138] In some embodiments, LP-WUS can be a simplified paging notification sent to UE 110 and received by WUR 294. Although in Figure 8 Not shown, but in some embodiments, UE 110 may send a wake-up signal (WUS), which may be an uplink low-power signal. The WUS may be received by the low-power transceiver of TRP 352 or the master receiver of TRP 352, depending on the implementation. In some embodiments, when UE 110 is in power-saving mode, UE 110 may use WUR 294 and WUS, and UE 110 may be triggered to switch to MR 292. In some embodiments, UE 110 may be triggered to switch back from MR 292 to WUR 294. In some embodiments, the triggering or switching between MR 292 and WUR 294 may be indicated by TRP 352 (e.g., in DCI) or based on certain conditions, such as traffic load, application type configured by the network (e.g., in RRC), etc.

[0139] In some embodiments, when TRP 352 operates using a low-power transceiver and transmits LP-SS as SS 456, LP-SS can be received by WUR 294 of UE 110, as shown, or in other embodiments it can be received by MR292 of UE 110.

[0140] As described above, when performing a paging operation, UE 110 has the opportunity to measure one or more attributes of the radio channel. In some cases, this may be the case where, for example, UE 110 performs some measurement as part of one or more steps in implementing the paging operation while performing synchronization. However, this measurement is not necessarily a channel attribute, and in any case, regardless of whether the UE is being paged, this measurement is not reported to TRP 352. More generally, UE 110 has the opportunity to measure one or more channel attributes during a paging operation that are not required to implement the paging operation and are not currently being measured during the paging operation. For example, when receiving SS 402 to perform synchronization before monitoring paging notification 404, UE 110 may measure the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the synchronization signal 402 to obtain an indication of channel quality, even if this is not required for synchronization and subsequent reception of paging notification 404 and paging message 406. Since UE 110 is already receiving SS 402, UE 110 can easily measure and deduce the channel conditions based on this signal.

[0141] Configuring UE 110 to measure one or more channel attributes (e.g., SNR) during paging operations and report that measurement to TRP352 can provide useful information to the network. The network can use this information to, for example, better optimize scheduling and / or help suppress or avoid interference and / or better control communication and / or better control sensing.

[0142] In some embodiments herein, even if UE 110 is not paged, UE 110 will perform and report one or more channel attribute measurements during the paging operation. This avoids information waste (e.g., by reporting rather than discarding valuable information) and provides information more efficiently because it utilizes downlink signals already transmitted for paging purposes, rather than a separate timing configured by the network (different from paging) during which dedicated downlink signals must be sent to UE 110 for measurement and reporting. In some embodiments, configuration and signaling procedures are disclosed to provide measurement information from UEs in a paging group, wherein the measurement information is obtained by measuring downlink signals transmitted from the network during the paging operation. In one example, the downlink signal may be a broadcast or cell common synchronization or reference signal, which may be transmitted prior to paging notification. In another example, the downlink signal may be a demodulation reference signal (DMRS).

[0143] Figure 9A method performed by UE 110 and TRP 352 according to some embodiments is illustrated. In step 502, UE 110 wakes from sleep mode to perform a paging operation. In step 504, UE 110 performs the paging operation, for example, synchronizing and receiving paging notifications and / or paging messages. During the paging operation, TRP 352 transmits downlink signals as shown in step 506. In step 508, UE 110 uses the downlink signals to measure at least one channel attribute. The measured channel attribute is an attribute of the downlink channel transmitting the downlink signals. In some embodiments, alternatively, the channel attribute may be referred to as a "channel metric" or simply "metric". In step 510, UE 110 transmits information based on the measured at least one channel attribute. In step 512, TRP 352 receives the information. Steps 510 and 512 are shown as being performed after paging operation 504. However, alternatively, steps 510 and 512 may be performed as part of paging operation 504.

[0144] Figure 10 It shows Figure 9 In one example of the method, the downlink signal transmitted by TRP 352 in step 506 is a synchronization signal (SS) 402, which UE 110 uses to perform synchronization before monitoring paging notification 404. UE 110 uses SS 402 not only to perform downlink timing synchronization but also to measure at least one channel attribute (e.g., SNR) of the downlink channel that transmitted SS 402. Subsequent paging operations include: TRP 352 transmitting paging notification 402 and paging message 404, and UE 110 receiving paging notification 402 and paging message 404.

[0145] exist Figure 9 In some embodiments of the method, the measurement of at least one channel attribute performed in step 508 may include measuring at least one of the following using a downlink signal: reference signal received power (RSRP); reference signal received quality (RSRQ); signal-to-noise ratio (SNR); signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR); channel quality; Doppler shift; Doppler spread; average delay; delay spread; or other channel characteristics.

[0146] One or more of the channel attributes mentioned above can be or represent typical important parameters used to measure the quality of cellular network signals and channels. For example, RSRP measures the average power received from a reference signal (where “reference signal” refers to the downlink signal measured in step 508, even if it is not literally called “reference signal”). In one example, a typical range for RSRP could be approximately –44 dBm (good) to –140 dBm (bad). As another example, RSRQ measures the quality of the received signal (where “reference signal” also refers to the downlink signal measured in step 508, even if it is not literally called “reference signal”). In one example, a typical range for RSRQ is, for example, -19.5 dB (bad) to -3 dB (good). SINR represents the signal-to-noise ratio of the downlink signal and is also a measure of signal quality. The channel quality indicator (CQI) can be another measure of channel quality and can be used to optimize, for example, the use of modulation and coding schemes. These attributes can present an overall picture of one or more UEs in terms of geographic information and / or channel conditions / quality. In some embodiments, the measurement performed in step 508 may measure the state of the channel. In some embodiments, the measurement result may be referred to as channel state information (CSI).

[0147] exist Figure 9 In some embodiments of the method, UE 110 may receive configuration information that configures one or more channel attributes to be measured in step 508. For example, in the measurement Figure 9Before configuring at least one channel attribute in step 508, UE 110 may receive a message (e.g., sent by TRP 352). This message may configure at least one channel attribute to be measured in step 508. In some embodiments, the message may be received by UE 110 in at least one of the following: radio resource control (RRC) signaling; medium access control (MAC) control element (MAC-CE); synchronization signal block (SSB) (e.g., the same SSB carrying SS 402); system information (SI); downlink control information (DCI) (e.g., DCI in a PDCCH carrying paging notification 404); low-power wake-up signal (LP-WUS) (e.g., in… Figure 8 The message configuring at least one channel attribute to be measured may be received semi-statically or dynamically, or in a combination of semi-static and dynamic methods (in which case the message may be distributed across multiple messages), for example, via RRC signaling or MAC-CE for configuring a set of possible channel attributes to be measured, and DCI for dynamically indicating which channel attribute(s) should be measured in a given paging operation. In some embodiments, the message configuring at least one channel attribute may be received when UE 110 is in an inactive or idle state (e.g., where UE 110 may remain silent or in sleep mode) or in an active or connected state (e.g., where UE 110 may actively engage in service transmission with the network). In some embodiments, the message configuring at least one channel attribute may configure relevant information, such as a measurement threshold related to when the channel attribute should be reported. For example, the message may indicate that if a channel attribute is below a certain measurement threshold (e.g., signal strength is very low), the channel attribute does not need to be reported. In some embodiments, the message configuring at least one channel attribute to be measured can also configure other information. For example, the message can also configure paging-related information, such as one or more wake-up periods, sleep periods, paging timings, etc.

[0148] exist Figure 9In some embodiments of the method, the downlink signal transmitted by TRP 352 for measuring at least one channel attribute can be a synchronization signal (SS), such as... Figure 10 As shown in the example. If the downlink signal is an SS, UE 110 can use the SS to measure at least one channel attribute and perform synchronization. Synchronization can be performed before UE 110 receives paging notification 404. In some embodiments, the SS can be in an SSB; for example, the SS can be a PSS and / or an SSS. In other embodiments, the SS is not in an SSB. For example, the SS can be an SS dedicated to synchronization for the purpose of performing paging. In some embodiments, the SS can be a low-power synchronization signal (LP-SS). In some embodiments, the SS can be a reference signal, such as a paging reference signal. In some embodiments, the LP-SS or SSB (or the SS in the SSB) can be referred to as the reference signal.

[0149] exist Figure 9 In some embodiments of the method, the downlink signal may not be SS, but may be another downlink signal transmitted during the paging operation and not necessarily used for synchronization. For example, in some embodiments, the downlink signal may be or include a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) or other downlink reference signals. TRP 352 may transmit the DMRS at one or more points during the paging operation. The DMRS may be used by UE 110 to perform channel estimation. When performing channel estimation, channel attributes may be measured; for example, UE 110 may have estimation information on channel conditions or quality. Alternatively, although UE 110 uses the DMRS for channel estimation, the DMRS is not typically used to measure certain channel attributes such as SNR. However, in step 508, the DMRS may be additionally used to measure one or more channel attributes of interest. The measured channel attribute corresponds to the downlink channel through which the DMRS was transmitted. In one example, the DMRS is located in a data channel that also carries the paging message 406; for example, the DMRS is used to estimate the PDSCH carrying the paging message 406, and the DMRS is also used to measure at least one channel attribute. In another example, the DMRS resides in the control channel that also carries paging notification 404. For instance, the DMRS is used to estimate the PDCCH carrying paging notification 404, and the DMRS is also used to measure at least one channel attribute. In yet another example, the DMRS is in the SSB. The SSB can be used to perform synchronization and can carry system information bits. The DMRS in the SSB can be used for channel estimation and can also be used to measure at least one channel attribute.

[0150] exist Figure 9 In some embodiments of the method, UE 110 can also be used to perform sensing. Sensing may include UE 110 performing sensing operations using a received sensing signal (which may alternatively be referred to as a sensing reference signal). The sensing signal may be a downlink signal transmitted by TRP 352 and used by UE 110 for sensing purposes. For example, UE 110 may measure the signal strength, direction, angle of arrival, etc., of the sensing signal. In some embodiments, the sensing signal may be a single-tone signal. In some embodiments, the sensing signal may be a radar signal. In some embodiments, “communication” as used herein may refer to the “normal” transmission and reception of control messages and / or data messages, while sensing may refer to channel probing or estimation for acquiring UE / object geographic information or channel conditions / quality. By measuring the sensing signal and reporting it to TRP 352, TRP 352 may, for example, infer the physical environment around UE 110. Multiple UEs participating in sensing may constitute a sensing group or group sensing, which may utilize a paging process for measurement and reporting, thus potentially saving sensing power consumption in power-saving modes (e.g., inactive state, idle state, etc.).

[0151] In an embodiment where the UE 110 receives a sensing signal while remaining awake to perform a paging operation, the sensing signal may be... Figure 9The downlink signal mentioned above can be used by UE 110 to measure at least one channel attribute in step 508. The measurement performed in step 508 can be a measurement performed as part of sensing or a measurement of a channel attribute that is not typically measured as part of sensing. In some embodiments, sensing and / or communication can be configured (e.g., instructed) when UE 110 is configured (e.g., instructed) to perform measurements and / or reporting. In some embodiments, the paging message can include bits for indicating an upcoming sensing or / or communication operation. In some embodiments, LP-WUS, DCI, or even SSB can be used to indicate sensing and / or communication operations. The downlink signal measured in step 508 can be a sensing reference signal or a communication reference signal (or, for example, both a sensing reference signal and a communication reference signal if the two reference signals have a QCL relationship). In some embodiments, the measurement and reporting can supplement sensing reporting, be performed as part of sensing reporting, or be performed additionally outside of sensing reporting, which can help sensing operations or enhance communication-sensing integration. In some embodiments, when a UE is in a power-saving mode (e.g., inactive or idle state) and has a paging group, the UEs included in the sensing UE group can be configured or notified to measure and report sensing or communication reference signals during or for one or more configured paging times. Therefore, one or more UEs configured or indicated in the paging group for channel measurement and reporting may play a significant role in assisting sensing operations or enhancing communication-aware integration.

[0152] exist Figure 9In some embodiments of the method, the information transmitted in step 510 based on at least one measured channel attribute can be an explicit or implicit indication of the value of at least one measured channel attribute. For example, if UE 110 measures the SNR of a downlink signal, the information transmitted in step 510 can directly indicate the measured SNR. In some embodiments, the information transmitted in step 510 can be a report derived from at least one measured channel attribute. Alternatively, the report can be called a measurement report or a CSI report, or even simply CSI. The report can explicitly or implicitly indicate the value of at least one measured channel attribute; for example, if SNR is measured, the report can indicate the value of SNR. The report can also indicate, or alternatively indicate, information based on at least one measured channel attribute. For example, the report can indicate a channel quality index (CQI) value obtained based on at least one measured channel attribute. As another example, the report can provide an indication of one or more aggregation levels (ALs). For example, the measured signal strength (e.g., SNR) of a channel can be mapped to a specific AL. For instance, if the channel has a high SNR, lower ALs (e.g., AL1 and AL2) can be reported to TRP 352. TRP 352 can then use these ALs for subsequent downlink control channel communication. AL indication can optionally use reference signals with multiple sequences, where each sequence is mapped to an aggregation level, such as AL1, AL2, AL4, AL8, AL16, etc. For example, UE 110 can send a first reference signal sequence to indicate AL1, UE 110 can send a different second reference signal sequence to indicate AL2, and so on.

[0153] exist Figure 9In this method, the information sent in step 510 can be sent at different times (e.g., during or after a paging operation or paging timing), depending on the implementation. In some embodiments, step 510 is performed during the same wake-up period as the paging operation in step 504 (in which channel attributes are measured), but step 510 does not necessarily have to be performed during the paging operation or paging timing. For example, step 510 can be performed after paging message 406 is received and decoded. If UE 110 is not paged, causing UE 110 to return to sleep, then UE 110 can perform step 510 before UE 110 returns to sleep. Even if UE 110 is paged, step 510 can still be performed during the wake-up period, for example, before transitioning to connected state. Therefore, in some embodiments, paging operation 504 is associated with a paging timing within the wake-up period, and the information sent in step 510 is sent during that wake-up period, possibly (but not necessarily) during that paging timing. In another example, for instance, if UE 110 is configured to be in sleep mode to perform unlicensed uplink transmissions, step 510 can be performed after UE 110 returns to sleep mode. In some embodiments, step 510 can be performed when UE 110 is in a power-saving mode, which may or may not be sleep mode.

[0154] In some embodiments, the information sent in step 510 may be sent during the random access procedure (sometimes referred to as the random access channel (RACH) procedure). Random access may be implemented in different ways (e.g., four-step RACH or two-step RACH), depending on the capabilities of UE 110. For example, four-step RACH may include: UE 110 sending a preamble (RACH preamble) (“msg1”); receiving a random access response (RAR) from TRP 352 (“msg2”); UE 110 sending information, such as an RRC connection request (“msg3”); and TRP 352 responding to msg3 (“msg4”), such as a connection confirmation message. The information sent in step 510 may be sent along with msg1 or msg3, or as part of msg1 or msg3. For example, a two-step RACH may include: UE 110 sending msg1 and msg3 (referred to as "msgA"), and receiving msg2 and msg4 (referred to as "msgB") from TRP 352. The information sent in step 510 may be sent along with msgA or as part of msgA. In some embodiments, for example, if UE 110 does not have a PUCCH for sending information, and / or if UE 110 is already performing a random access procedure (e.g., because UE 110 has been paged), the random access procedure may be used to send the information in step 510.

[0155] In some embodiments, the information sent in step 510 may be sent on an uplink control channel (e.g., PUCCH). In other embodiments, the information sent in step 510 may be sent on an uplink data channel (e.g., PUSCH). For example, the information sent in step 510 may be sent along with uplink data transmission on the uplink data channel (e.g., piggybacked on uplink data transmission). In one example, UE 110 is used to perform unlicensed uplink transmissions, for example, enabling UE 110 to perform some uplink transmissions even in sleep or low-power modes. UE 110 may send the information in step 510 along with uplink data in an unlicensed uplink transmission (e.g., piggybacked on data transmission), or the unlicensed uplink transmission may carry only the information from step 510. In another example, TRP 352 authorizes uplink resources in PUCCH or PUSCH to UE 110 to send the information in step 510. For example, this authorization may be included with a paging notification or included in a paging message.

[0156] In some embodiments, the information sent in step 510 can be sent without a state transition, for example, step 510 can be performed when UE 110 is in an RRC inactive state or an RRC idle state. That is, step 510 does not require a transition to an RRC active state. However, in other embodiments, step 510 may require a transition to an RRC connected state. More generally, paging that combines channel measurement and reporting (and possible sensing operations) can be applied simultaneously to power-saving modes (e.g., inactive state) and common power operating modes (e.g., connected state). It should be noted that in some implementations, the connected state may still have paging activity and sleep modes.

[0157] In some embodiments, the information sent in step 510 may be sent in a wake-up signal (WUS) or sent using the WUS. The WUS has been described above, and as mentioned above, the WUS may be an uplink low-power signal that can be received by the low-power transceiver of the TRP 352 or the master receiver of the TRP 352. In some embodiments, information may be sent in the WUS by sending a specific WUS transmission sequence from among a plurality of possible WUS transmission sequences. For example, each transmission sequence may be mapped to different indications of channel attributes and / or channel conditions and / or channel quality; for example, each WUS transmission sequence may be mapped to a different measured signal strength. The UE 110 selects the WUS transmission sequence that best reflects at least one measured channel attribute.

[0158] In some embodiments, the information transmitted in step 510 may be transmitted in an uplink reference signal (e.g., a sounding reference signal (SRS)) or transmitted using an uplink reference signal. In some embodiments, information may be transmitted in the uplink reference signal (e.g., the SRS) by transmitting a specific transmission sequence from a plurality of possible transmission sequences. For example, each transmission sequence may be mapped to a different indication of channel attributes and / or channel conditions and / or channel quality; for example, each SRS sequence may be mapped to a different measured signal strength. UE 110 selects the SRS sequence that best reflects at least one measured channel attribute.

[0159] In some embodiments, the information transmitted in step 510 may be transmitted in the uplink time-frequency resources indicated by TRP 352. The uplink time-frequency resources may be indicated, for example, in at least one of the following: radio resource control (RRC) signaling; MAC control element (MAC-CE); SSB (e.g., the same SSB used to carry SS402); system information (SI); DCI; low-power wake-up signal (LP-WUS), for example, Figure 8 The LP-WUS sent in step 454; paging notification (e.g., paging notification 404); or paging message (e.g., paging message 406). In some embodiments, when performing step 510, the uplink time-frequency resources can be indicated semi-statically, dynamically, or simultaneously, for example, by RRC signaling or MAC-CE for configuring the uplink time-frequency resources, and DCI for dynamically indicating / activating specific resources among these configured uplink time-frequency resources. In some embodiments, the configured uplink time-frequency resources can be located in a control channel (e.g., PUCCH). In other embodiments, the configured uplink time-frequency resources can be located in a data channel (e.g., PUSCH).

[0160] In some embodiments, regardless of how the information is sent in step 510 (e.g., in PUCCH or PUSCH), either a low-cost transceiver or a primary / normal transceiver can be used to send the information. In some embodiments, whether a low-cost or normal transceiver is used to send the information can depend on when the information is being sent. For example, if UE 110 is not paged and step 510 is performed before UE 110 returns to sleep, UE 110 can perform step 510 using a low-cost transceiver; if UE 110 has switched to the primary transceiver for other purposes, UE 110 can also perform step 510 using the primary transceiver. In some cases, for example, if UE 110 is not paged and returns to sleep, UE 110 can operate using the primary transceiver but can switch back to the low-cost transceiver to perform step 510. In other cases, UE 110 can operate using a low-cost transceiver and can switch to the primary transceiver to perform step 510.

[0161] In some embodiments, the TRP 352 can transmit multiple downlink beams. Figure 9 The methods may include beam-level measurements. Figure 11 The transmission of multiple downlink beams provided in some embodiments is illustrated. Figure 11In the example, TRP 352 is implementing a beam scanning mode that transmits multiple downlink beams, each downlink beam being transmitted in a different direction and at a different time (e.g., each downlink beam being transmitted in a different time slot) to cover the coverage area of ​​TRP 352. For example, as shown, at time 1, TRP 352 transmits the first beam (“beam 1”) in the first direction; at time 2, TRP 352 transmits the second beam (“beam 2”) in the second direction; at time 3, TRP 352 transmits the third beam (“beam 3”) in the third direction, and so on, until the coverage area of ​​TRP 352 is covered. Figure 11 When time 8 ends, the coverage area of ​​TRP 352 will be covered. In some embodiments, TRP 352 may transmit SSB in each beam, for example, enabling the UE to use the SSB in the strongest (or sufficiently strong) beam for that UE to synchronize and obtain system information. For example, for high-frequency bands such as millimeter-wave bands, paging operations may include TRP 352 transmitting SSB in different beams, where each beam may cover a specific area. During the paging timing, there may be a link between each SSB transmitted in each beam and a corresponding paging message transmitted later (e.g., in a later time slot corresponding to that beam in the beam scanning mode) in the same beam.

[0162] When Figure 11 The example illustrates a scenario with multiple downlink beams. For each of one or more of these beams, UE 110 can receive downlink signals on that beam and measure one or more channel attributes of that beam. For example, each beam may include an SSB, and UE 110 can measure the channel attributes of that beam for the downlink SS in each SSB of one or more beams. For different beams, UE 110 may experience different signal strengths and / or channel characteristics. For example, in... Figure 11 In step 508, for UE 110, "beam 2" is in line-of-sight mode, therefore UE 110 can experience a signal strength stronger than that on any other beam. In step 508, UE 110 can report the measured channel attributes of one or more of the strongest beams.

[0163] Therefore, in some embodiments... Figure 9 The method can be operated as follows. The downlink signal sent in step 506 and received by UE 110 can be in the first beam (e.g., Figure 11 The UE 110 can receive the corresponding downlink signal on "beam 2" (or "beam 2"). For each of one or more other beams, the TRP 352 can transmit the corresponding downlink signal on that beam, and the UE 110 can receive the corresponding downlink signal on that beam. For example, the UE 110 can also... Figure 11 The downlink signal is received on "beam 1" and "beam 3" because these beams are also in the general direction of UE 110. However, since "beam 2" is in line-of-sight mode, the received downlink signal may not be as strong as that received on "beam 2". UE 110 can then receive the downlink signal by using the first beam (e.g., Figure 11 The downlink signal received on “beam 2” measures at least one channel attribute, and also measures one or more other beams (e.g., by using the corresponding downlink signal received on each of these beams). Figure 11 At least one channel attribute of “beam 1” and “beam 3” is used to achieve Figure 9 Step 508. Therefore, the information transmitted in step 510 can be based on the first beam (e.g., Figure 11 The measurement of at least one channel property of “beam 2” and one or more other beams (e.g., Figure 11 At least one channel attribute is measured for each beam in “beam 1” and “beam 3”. Thus, Figure 9 This may include performing beam-level measurements during paging operations and related reporting. For example, the information transmitted in step 510 may include a CSI report for each beam carrying paging information measured by UE 110, or a CSI report covering a set of such beams. The downlink signal used for measurement may be any of the signals described above, such as beam-based SS (possibly in an SSB), or beam-based LP-SS, or beam-based reference signal, or beam-based DMRS or sensing signal, etc. The measured attributes may be any of the attributes described above (e.g., beam-based SNR, RSRP, etc.) or information derived from one of these measurements, such as beam-based CQI.

[0164] In some embodiments, the information transmitted in step 510 may be or include indications of one or more beams having measured channel attributes. For example, if the channel attributes are for UE 110... Figure 11 If beams 1, 2, and 3 are measured, then in step 510, UE 110 may indicate these beams. In some embodiments, UE 110 may measure or attempt to measure at least one channel attribute of each of the multiple beams, but UE 110 may (in step 510) only report the beam with the strongest measurement. For example, UE 110 may... Figure 11 The channel attributes of the beams are measured at times 4 and 8, but the channel quality is weak because these beams are not close enough to the direction of UE 110. However, the channel quality of beams 1, 2 and 3 is relatively good, so only beams 1, 2 and 3 are reported in step 510.

[0165] In some embodiments, in step 510, the value of at least one channel attribute of the measured values ​​for each indicated beam is reported. In some embodiments, the UE 110 indicates in step 510 which beam has the strongest measured channel attribute (e.g., best channel quality). In some embodiments, the UE 110 may be used to report all measurements of all beams in step 510 based on beam-level information, while in other embodiments, the UE 110 may be used to report a configurable number of strongest beams. In some embodiments, a “strong” or “strongest” beam may be a beam whose measured channel attribute is within a specific range (e.g., above or below a specific threshold). In some embodiments, the information transmitted in step 510 may be or include the beam direction and / or beam orientation and / or one or more angles of arrival of one or more measured beams (e.g., the strongest beam). For example, the UE 110 may measure and indicate the direction, orientation, and / or angle of arrival of one or more beams and report it as part of step 510; for example, the UE 110 may report this information related to the beam with the strongest channel quality measured by the UE 110. In some embodiments, the measured attributes and / or indications may also or alternatively be associated with the location of the UE 110.

[0166] Generally, by knowing which beam(s) are strongest for UE 110, TRP 352 can infer the location of UE 110, for example, by inferring that UE 110 is located in the direction of the beam(s) with the highest channel quality measured by UE 110. Therefore, the reported beam-level measurements from each UE in the paging group can provide the network with more comprehensive information on UE distribution and channel quality through the network or the scanning beams of TRP 352.

[0167] In some embodiments, if in step 510, UE 110 sends a WUS transmission sequence to indicate channel attributes (e.g., indicating channel quality), then a WUS may exist for each beam corresponding to the reported measurement. For example, if different channel qualities are measured on different beams, then each WUS has a different sequence. Beam direction information and / or beam identification may also be indicated as part of the WUS. In other embodiments, a WUS transmission sequence may indicate and report channel quality measurements for each of multiple beams. In some embodiments, if in step 510, UE 110 sends a WUS transmission sequence to indicate channel attributes of a beam (e.g., indicating channel quality), then a WUS transmission sequence may exist for each channel quality level corresponding to the reported beam measurement. For example, if different channel qualities are measured on that beam, then each WUS has a different sequence. Beam direction information and / or beam identification may also be indicated as part of the WUS.

[0168] In some embodiments, if the information transmitted in step 510 is a report (e.g., a CSI report) including indications of one or more ALs for subsequent downlink control channel transmissions, the AL indication can be based on beam-level measurements. As described above, the measured signal strength (e.g., SNR) of the channel can be mapped to a specific AL; for example, if the channel has a high SNR, lower ALs (e.g., AL1 and AL2) can be reported to TRP 352. Different beams can have different measured signal strengths (e.g., SNR), and different measured signal strengths can be mapped to different ALs. ALs can be indicated beam-by-beam. As described above, the AL indication can optionally use a set of reference signals with multiple sequences, where each sequence is mapped to an aggregation level, e.g., AL1, AL2, AL4, AL8, AL16, etc. For example, a first reference signal sequence can be transmitted to indicate AL1, a second reference signal sequence can be transmitted to indicate AL2, and so on.

[0169] exist Figure 9 In some embodiments of the method, step 506 may include: TRP 352 transmitting multiple downlink signals, which are received by UE 110. These multiple downlink signals may have a quasi-co-location (QCL) relationship with each other. QCL refers to the relationship between different downlink signals (e.g., different reference signals) that may be in the same cell. In some embodiments, the QCL relationship may be configured (if configured) by a higher-layer (e.g., RLC) parameter qcl-Type1 for a first downlink signal (e.g., a first downlink reference signal) and qcl-Type2 for a second downlink signal (e.g., a second downlink reference signal). In some embodiments, for the case of two downlink reference signals, the QCL types should not be the same, regardless of whether the references are the same or different downlink reference signals. Common QCL types include Type A (related to Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread), Type B (related to Doppler shift, Doppler spread, etc.), Type C (related to Doppler shift, average delay, etc.), and Type D (related to spatial reception parameters).

[0170] If multiple downlink signals are transmitted by TRP 352 and received by UE 110, and these multiple downlink signals have a QCL relationship with each other, then Figure 9 Step 508, namely measuring at least one channel attribute, can be performed by measuring at least one channel attribute using at least one of the plurality of downlink signals (e.g., using some or all of the plurality of downlink signals). The plurality of downlink signals can be received on different beams (e.g., one downlink signal is received on a different beam). Figure 11 Received on beam 1, another downlink signal is received on Figure 11(Received on beam 2). Alternatively, multiple downlink signals can be received on the same beam, such as a first downlink signal (e.g., SS or reference signal) for synchronization and a second downlink signal (e.g., DMRS received in a control or data channel) for channel estimation. In another example, the multiple downlink signals may include a sense-specific reference signal and a communication group / cell-based downlink signal (e.g., a reference signal), such as SS or LP-SS in an SSB, assuming the sense-specific reference signal can be configured to have a QCL relationship with the communication group / cell-based downlink signal.

[0171] By measuring multiple downlink signals with QCL relationships, at least one channel attribute can be measured more accurately, thus enabling better uplink reporting.

[0172] In some embodiments, paging operation 504 is one of several possible paging operations that can be configured for UE 110. Figure 12 It shows the Figure 9 The modification includes an additional initial step 501, in which TRP 352 sends a message configuring one or more paging operations and UE 110 receives the message. The message in step 501 can configure one or more paging operations by configuring at least one of the following: one or more wake-up periods; one or more sleep periods; a discontinuous reception (DRX) period; or one or more paging opportunities within a wake-up period. An example of a paging operation configuration that can be configured by this message is shown in dashed bubble 552. In this example, for example, an alternation period of sleep and wake-up periods is configured for UE 110 based on the DRX period. A paging opportunity is configured for UE 110 within each wake-up period. More generally, it is not necessary to configure a paging opportunity for UE 110 within each wake-up period (or a paging opportunity can be configured, but a dynamic indication can indicate to UE 110 when UE 110 can ignore the paging opportunity, for example, if UE 110 is not paging). Additionally, although only one paging opportunity is configured in each wake-up period in this example, more generally, multiple paging opportunities can be configured within the same wake-up period. In some embodiments, each configured paging opportunity is a duration within the wake-up period, wherein the UE 110 is used to receive paging notifications (and possibly paging messages). In some embodiments, each wake-up period may include one or more paging opportunities for the UE 110, but the UE 110 is used to monitor and detect paging notifications and receive paging messages in only one or some paging opportunities (not necessarily all paging opportunities) within that wake-up period. In some embodiments, a paging opportunity may be a time slot for sending paging notifications, for example, in the region of the first few symbols of the time slot.

[0173] In passing Figure 12 After configuring the paging operation in step 501, then execute the following for each paging operation in one or more paging operations: Figure 9 The steps.

[0174] It should be noted that UE 110 is not necessarily required to be used in every configured paging time and / or in every configured wake-up time. Figure 9 Steps 508 and / or 510. It is possible that measurements and / or reporting are performed only during certain paging times and / or wake-up periods. Generally, the time when a UE in a paging group needs to measure and / or report is configurable; for example, reporting may not be required at every paging time, thus saving power. In some embodiments, the reporting rate may be at most the same as the paging cycle or paging rate, or a multiple of the paging cycle. Alternatively, any specific paging time can be configured or indicated for non-periodic CSI reporting, for example, dynamically configured or indicated on demand. For example, the DCI may indicate CSI reporting on demand; for instance, the DCI may indicate on demand whether UE 110 should perform step 510. In some embodiments, the DCI may include new or modified fields to add one or more bits to the DCI format as notification of performing measurements and / or reporting. In some embodiments, the DCI may indicate a PDCCH AL, or may be part of a paging notification or in a paging message, to indicate one or more appropriate ALs or one or more default ALs that will be used for subsequent downlink PDCCH transmissions.

[0175] In some embodiments, Figure 12 The message configuring paging operations in step 501 can be sent by TRP 352 in at least one of the following, and received by UE 110 in at least one of the following: RRC signaling; MAC-CE; DCI; SSB; SI; or LP-WUS. In some embodiments, the message can be sent semi-statically or dynamically, or in a combination of semi-static and dynamic methods (in which case the message can be distributed across multiple messages), for example, by RRC signaling or MAC-CE for configuring time-frequency resources for possible paging opportunities, and by DCI for dynamically indicating which instances of these resources are actually paging opportunities. In some embodiments, the message can be received when UE 110 is in an inactive or idle state (e.g., where UE 110 may remain silent or in sleep mode) or in an active or connected state (e.g., where UE 110 may actively engage in service transmission with the network). Figure 12 In step 501, configure the paging operation message.

[0176] In some embodiments, Figure 12The message configuring paging operations in step 501 (e.g., a message configuring wake-up periods, sleep periods, and / or paging timing) can also configure information related to channel attribute measurements and reporting. For example, the message configuring paging operations can also configure at least one of the following: one or more wake-up periods during which UE 110 will perform... Figure 9 Steps 508 and / or 510 (e.g., UE 110 may be used to perform measurements and / or reporting only during certain wake-up periods); one or more paging times for which UE 110 will perform steps 508 and / or 510 (e.g., UE 110 may be used to perform measurements and / or reporting only for certain paging times); at least one channel attribute to be measured; one or more channel attributes to be reported as part of information in step 510; the manner in which information is transmitted in step 510 (e.g., whether the information in step 510 will be transmitted in the uplink control channel or in the uplink data channel when step 510 is performed, etc.); or uplink time-frequency resources used to transmit the information in step 510. Figure 12 When the message in step 501 simultaneously configures paging (e.g., wake-up period, sleep period, and / or paging timing) and information related to channel attribute measurement and reporting, the message may not be a single, literal message but may be distributed across multiple decoded bits. In some embodiments, the message configuring paging operations and / or measurement and reporting can be a combination of semi-static and dynamic (in which case the message may be distributed across multiple messages), for example, RRC signaling or MAC-CE for indicating possible configurations, and DCI for dynamically selecting one of the possible configurations. In some embodiments, the message configuring paging operations and / or measurement and reporting can be received when UE 110 is in an inactive or idle state (e.g., where UE 110 may remain silent or in sleep mode) or in an active or connected state (e.g., where UE 110 may actively transmit services with the network).

[0177] In some embodiments, UE 110 can be used to perform operations only for certain paging operations (e.g., only during certain wake-up periods and / or only for certain paging times). Figure 9 Step 510. For example, UE 110 may perform multiple paging operations during a paging DRX cycle, wherein each paging operation may be performed within a corresponding different wake-up period, and step 510 is performed only for some paging operations. Message (e.g., Figure 12 The message in step 501 can configure UE 110 to perform the paging operation targeted in step 510.

[0178] For cases where UE 110 chooses not to report (i.e., not to execute step 510), UE 110 may also choose not to execute step 508. For example, if the measurement is not reported, UE 110 will not measure at least one channel attribute. This can further save power consumption. In other cases, UE 110 may always measure at least one channel attribute, but only report it when it is used to execute step 510. This is especially likely if step 508 is executed before UE 110 knows whether to execute step 510. For example, UE 110 may use a synchronization signal to measure a channel attribute, but a subsequently received paging message may instruct UE 110 not to perform reporting for that paging timing or wake-up period.

[0179] In some embodiments, UE 110 may receive a message configuring UE 110 to perform steps 508 and / or 510 for a specific wake-up period, paging timing, or paging operation. For example, UE 110 may receive a message configuring UE 110 to perform reporting (e.g., perform step 510) during a specific wake-up period. This message may be a combination of the above. Figure 12 This is part of the configuration message 501. Alternatively, the message may be a message that could be received at different times as part of a paging notification or paging message. For example, for a given paging operation, UE 110 may not know whether to perform the operation. Figure 9 Steps 508 and / or 510 are performed until UE 110 is notified during the paging operation or wake-up period. For example, UE 110 may use SS to measure at least one channel attribute during synchronization before receiving a paging notification (perform step 508). The subsequently received paging notification or paging message may then indicate whether UE 110 intends to actually report the measurement (perform step 510). Generally, the message configuring UE 110 to perform steps 508 and / or 510 for a specific wake-up period, paging timing, or paging operation may be received in at least one of the following: RRC signaling; MAC-CE; DCI; SSB; SI; LP-WUS; paging notification; or paging message. In some embodiments, the message may be semi-static or dynamic, or a combination of semi-static and dynamic (in which case the message may be distributed across multiple messages), for example, RRC signaling or MAC-CE for configuring UE 110 to send a CSI report, and DCI for dynamically indicating the instance to be sent a CSI report.

[0180] In some embodiments, the message configuring UE 110 to perform steps 508 and / or 510 may also indicate other information, such as whether UE 110 wants to perform sensing and / or whether UE 110 is (or may be) being paged. For example, when UE 110 is... Figure 9Upon waking up in step 502, UE 110 may subsequently receive from TRP 352 a message indicating whether UE 110 is (or may be) being paged and / or whether UE 110 wants to perform measurements and reporting. If UE 110 is not paged and UE 110 does not need to perform measurements and reporting, UE 110 may return to sleep instead of performing paging operation 504 and steps 508 and 510. If UE 110 is not paged but wants to perform measurements and reporting, UE 110 may perform steps 508 and 510, but unless required to perform step 508 or step 510, no decoding of the paging notification or paging message is required.

[0181] Figure 13 The diagram shows information regarding two UEs (i.e., UE 110x and UE 110y). Figure 12 An example. UE 110x and UE 110y can be in the same paging group. In step 602, TRP 352 sends the above information to UE 110x. Figure 12 The configuration message described in step 501. The configuration message configures paging; for example, the configuration message may define wake-up periods, sleep periods, and / or paging timings. In this example, the configuration message also configures measurement and reporting; for example, the configuration message may define the wake-up periods and / or paging timings for UE 110x to perform measurements and reporting, and / or may define one or more channel attributes to be measured and reported, and / or may define how to report measurement-based information, and / or may define resources for reporting, etc. In step 604, a similar message is sent to UE 110y. In some embodiments, steps 602 and 604 may be a single step of broadcasting or multicasting messages to UE 110x and UE 110y.

[0182] In step 606, UE 110x and UE 110y enter sleep mode. Then, Figure 9 The method initiates a specific paging operation for each UE110x and UE110y. First, in step 608, UE110x and UE110y are woken up respectively (this is...). Figure 9 (An example of step 502). Then, in step 610, TRP 352 sends SS, which is Figure 9 An example of a downlink signal. For example, SS could be an SS in an SSB or a paging reference signal. In step 612, both UE 110x and UE 110y use SS to perform synchronization and measure at least one channel attribute. This is Figure 9An example of step 508. Subsequently, TRP352 sends a paging notification and a paging message, which UE 110x and UE 110y receive, as shown in steps 614 and 616. In step 618, UE 110x sends a CSI report based on at least one channel attribute it has measured; similarly, in step 620, UE 110y sends a CSI report based on at least one channel attribute it has measured. The paging notification and / or paging message may be associated with paging timing 622. Measurement and reporting may be associated with measurement and reporting timing 624. In some embodiments, UE 110x and UE 110y may use different downlink signals, such as DMRS, instead of UE 110x and UE 110y using SS to measure at least one channel attribute.

[0183] See you again Figure 9 As described above, in some embodiments, Figure 9 The downlink signal sent to UE 110 in step 506 and used by UE 110 in step 508 to measure at least one channel attribute can be a synchronization signal (SS). In one example, the SS (e.g., LP-SS) or the SSB to which the SS is located can also be used to indicate other information. Examples of other information may include at least one of the following: whether UE 110 is to perform steps 508 and / or 510; whether paging will be performed during the wake-up period; or one or more ALs of the downlink control channel used to receive paging notifications. For example, for the CORESET area of ​​PDCCH, there may be 18 PDCCH candidates that define different ALs (AL1, AL2, AL4, AL8, AL16), and the SSB or LP-SS (using one of the multiple SS sequences) can indicate a smaller group of PDCCH candidates (e.g., only AL1 and AL2) so that the UE reduces blind detection of notification messages in the DCI.

[0184] In some embodiments, Figure 9 The method may include: receiving a paging notification, such as paging notification 404, as part of paging operation 504. Figure 10An example is shown. In some embodiments, the paging notification indicates at least one of the following: time-frequency resource allocation for transmitting the information in step 510; one or more channel attributes to be reported as part of the information in step 510; or one or more ALs to be used for subsequent downlink control channel transmission. In one example, the paging notification may indicate measurement and reporting information, such as how and to where the CSI report is sent in step 510, and / or whether the paging message includes the resource allocation for CSI reporting in step 510, and / or which measurement attributes (e.g., RSRP, RSRQ, beam direction or beam orientation information, etc.) will be included in the CSI report, and / or how these measurements are processed (e.g., in terms of information measurement period, averaging scheme, etc.).

[0185] In some embodiments, Figure 9 The method may include: receiving a paging message, such as paging message 406, as part of paging operation 504. Figure 10 An example is shown. In some embodiments, the paging message includes UE-specific information indicating whether UE 110 has been paged. In some embodiments, the paging message also includes other information that is common to multiple UEs (e.g., common to a paging group including UE 110x, UE 110y, and UE 110z). For example, in some embodiments, the paging message also includes at least one of the following that is common to multiple UEs: time-frequency resource allocation for transmitting the information in step 510; an indication of one or more channel attributes to be reported as part of the information in step 510; an indication of one or more ALs to be used for subsequent downlink control channel transmission; sensing information related to sensing operations (e.g., sensing operations to be performed by a group of UEs), such as sensing time-frequency resources and / or sensing targets, and / or sensing measurement metrics, and / or sensing reporting channels, etc.; quasico-location (QCL) reference signal information; or an indication of timing adjustment (TA) for uplink transmission (e.g., uplink transmission of a group of UEs). In one example, a paging message may include conventional paging information for a single paged UE and may also indicate parameters, including time-frequency resources (e.g., PUCCH allocation) for sending a CSI report, and / or measurement attributes to be included in the CSI report, and / or sensing-related parameters or sensing timelines, and / or QCL reference signal information, and / or TA or timing reference for uplink transmission, and / or one or more appropriate ALs or one or more default (i.e., initially used) ALs to be used for subsequent downlink PDCCH transmissions, etc. In some embodiments, the paging message may indicate to one or more UEs (or a group of UEs) whether one or more UEs want to perform reporting ( Figure 9 Step 510).

[0186] exist Figure 9 In some embodiments, if sensing is also performed by UE 110 (e.g., UE 110 is triggered to perform sensing), the sensing measurement / measurement report may also be sent to TRP 352, for example, as part of step 510 or separately. The sensing measurement report may be sent in the same manner as any of the methods described herein that can send the information in step 510 (e.g., via PUCCH, PUSCH, WUS, RACH, SRS, etc.).

[0187] In some embodiments, Figure 9 The method may include: UE 110 receiving LP-WUS transmitted by TRP 352, for example, in combination with Figure 8 The LP-WUS described in step 454. For example, the LP-WUS can be received before the paging notification and can trigger the UE 110 to switch from the wake-up receiver to the master receiver. In some embodiments, Figure 9 The method may include: UE 110 receiving a reference signal transmitted by TRP 352. For example, the reference signal may be a combination of Figure 9 The downlink signals described in steps 506 and 508. In some embodiments, the LP-WUS (if present) or reference signal (if present) may perform at least one of the following: triggering UE 110 to switch to a different transceiver (e.g., Figure 8 The situation described in step 454); indicating the location of time-frequency resources in the downlink control channel used to receive paging notifications (e.g., LP-WUS and / or reference signals may indicate the location of PDCCH resources or PDCCH candidates with one or more defined ALs, so that UE 110 can monitor and decode PDCCH with reduced blind detection of PDCCH); triggering UE 110 to perform measurements and / or reporting (e.g., one or more bits may be added to the LP-WUS control message to indicate to UE 110 that UE 110 needs to perform steps 508 and / or 510); or indicating one or more ALs of the downlink control channel used to receive paging notifications. In one example, there may be multiple LP-WUS sequences (e.g., using short sequences and multiple sequences), any one of which can be used for LP-WUS signaling. UE 110 may be configured with one or more LP-WUS signaling options among multiple LP-WUS signaling options, such as indexed tags: each signaling option may represent or correspond to, for example, PDCCH ALs and / or PDCCH candidate locations. UE 110 can monitor and detect LP-WUS during LP-WUS events and decode the sequence or signaling options in these configured sequence options.

[0188] Figure 9 This involves a single UE 110. Generally, paging, as well as measurement and reporting, can be performed on a group of UEs; for example, each UE in a group can be performed with TRP 352. Figure 9 The method. In some embodiments, a group of UEs including UE 110 may be part of a paging group, and may be as follows: only some UEs in the paging group are configured or instructed to perform measurements and reporting (i.e., perform...). Figure 9 Steps 508 and 510). For example, there may be semi-static configuration, such as via RRC, MAC-CE, etc., or dynamic indication, such as via DCI, indicating which UEs in the paging group will perform measurement and reporting for one or more paging events and / or wake-up periods. Alternatively, a paging notification or paging message may instruct or notify one or more interested UEs in the paging group to perform measurement and reporting. For example, if TRP 352 only wants a subset of UEs to perform the reporting in step 510, the paging message may indicate which of these UEs will perform the reporting in step 510.

[0189] Here are a few more specific examples.

[0190] Figure 14 It shows Figure 10 As an example, and assuming TRP 352 performs beam-based transmission. In step 652, TRP 352 transmits a beam-based SSB (with SS) or LP-SS. TRP 352 and / or UE 110 may be in a power-saving mode. Step 652 is Figure 10 An example of step 506. UE 110 is used to perform measurements and reporting, for example, for paging timing associated with synchronization. Therefore, in step 654, UE 110 measures at least one channel attribute using SSB or LP-SS. For example, UE 110 may measure beam-based RSRP, CQI, etc. Step 654 is Figure 10An example of step 508. In some embodiments, multiple different beams may be transmitted by TRP 352 and received by UE 110, and UE 110 may perform channel measurements on each of these beams. In some embodiments, SSB or LP-SS may indicate the presence of a paging opportunity. In some embodiments, SSB or LP-SS may also, or alternatively, indicate to UE 110 one or more ALs that will be used for a subsequent PDCCH (e.g., a PDCCH carrying a subsequent paging notification). This can reduce the amount of blind detection required by UE 110, as UE 110 can monitor and detect the paging PDCCH using one or more ALs indicated by SSB or LP-SS. In step 656, TRP 352 transmits LP-WUS, for example, which causes UE 110 to switch from the wake-up receiver to the master receiver. In some embodiments, LP-WUS may indicate the time-frequency location of the PDCCH and / or LP-WUS may indicate the presence of a PDCCH (carrying a paging notification). In some embodiments, for example, if UE 110 does not need to switch from the wake-up receiver to the master receiver, LP-WUS is omitted. In step 658, TRP 352 sends a paging PDCCH at the time-frequency location. The paging PDCCH carries a paging notification. UE 110 uses one or more indicated ALs to monitor and detect the paging PDCCH, which reduces PDCCH blind detection. The paging notification indicates the resource allocation of the PDSCH. In step 660, TRP 352 sends a PDSCH carrying a paging message. Steps 658 and 660 are... Figure 10 An example of step 507. In step 662, UE 110 sends a CSI report based on the measurement from step 654. Step 662 is... Figure 10 An example of step 510. The reporting in step 662 can proceed even if UE 110 is not paged in the paging message. In some embodiments, in step 662, UE 110 sends a CSI report by sending a specific wake-up signal (WUS) sequence, or by sending a specific sounding reference signal (SRS), or during the RACH process. Figure 14 The method can be considered as an enhanced paging process that can be performed in power-saving modes (e.g., inactive or idle modes, or inactive or idle states).

[0191] Figure 15 It shows Figure 10 Another example, and assuming UE 110 is also used to perform sensing. In step 682, TRP 352 sends LP-WUS and / or LP-SS and / or SSB (e.g., with SS) and / or a sensing reference signal. Step 682 is Figure 10 An example of step 506. If TRP 352 sends at least LP-WUS, UE 110 monitors the LP-WUS timing and detects LP-WUS. LP-WUS may optionally trigger UE 110 to switch to the primary receiver. LP-WUS may optionally indicate the presence of a paging PDCCH (carrying paging notification). If TRP 352 sends a sensing reference signal, TRP 352 may be used to have a QCL relationship with group / cell-based signals (e.g., SSB or LP-SS).

[0192] In step 684, UE 110 may use one or more downlink signals from the downlink signals transmitted by TRP 352 in step 682 to perform a measurement of at least one channel attribute. Step 684 is Figure 10 An example of step 508. In step 686, TRP 352 sends a paging PDCCH carrying a paging notification. The paging PDCCH may also optionally instruct UE 110 to perform sensing; for example, downlink notification in the PDCCH may notify paging and trigger sensing. The PDCCH may be a group-based DCI control message. UE 110 may search for and monitor control messages at a specific time-frequency location. This time-frequency location may be indicated by LP-WUS signaling or by a previously received reference signal. In step 688, TRP 352 sends a PDSCH carrying a paging message. Optionally, the paging message may carry detailed sensing configuration information, such as indicating what type of sensing should be performed, and / or the timing of the sensing, and / or the resources used to send the sensing results to TRP 352, etc. Steps 686 and 688 are... Figure 10 An example of step 507. In step 690, UE 110 sends a sensing report (assuming sensing has been performed by UE 110) and a CSI report. For example, the sensing report and / or CSI report may be sent in WUS, SRS, or as part of the RACH procedure. Step 690 is Figure 10 An example of step 510. Figure 15 This is an example where group sensing can leverage an existing paging process to save power, for example, by performing sensing in a power-saving mode (e.g., in an inactive or idle state).

[0193] The reduction of control signaling and blind detection is described in more detail below, including how some of the embodiments described herein can help reduce blind detection.

[0194] One type of control signaling message in a wireless network is the scheduling message. A scheduling message may include a DCI (Distributed Control Information) for dynamically scheduling or authorizing downlink and / or uplink transmission time-frequency resources, as well as other transmission-related parameters in the downlink control channel, such as the PDCCH (Programmable Data Center). The PDCCH can be transmitted in a time-frequency resource area to carry the scheduling message. The time-frequency resource area used for the PDCCH can be predefined (e.g., using fixed rules or list-based rules), determined based on system information (SI), or configured, for example, via RRC (Redirect Reduction Code). An example of a PDCCH is the PDCCH carrying paging notifications described herein.

[0195] A PDCCH can be one of the PDCCH candidates in a set of PDCCH candidates defined on a time-frequency resource region. This set of PDCCH candidates is called the control resource set (CORESET). For a single UE or a group of UEs, there is typically more than one PDCCH candidate in the CORESET. Due to UE mobility and the constantly changing radio channel environment, a UE or a group of UEs may be located in different geographical locations within the cell. Therefore, each PDCCH candidate can be used to provide different coded or redundant transmission versions to support the UE or the group of UEs. Consequently, a UE or a group of UEs may need to monitor scheduling messages received from the network and perform blind detection on incoming PDCCHs, i.e., try different PDCCH candidates until a successful detection is achieved. A UE-specific Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI) or a group RNTI (e.g., semi-statically configured before communication) can be used to scramble the Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) of the incoming PDCCH payload (e.g., DCI).

[0196] In new radio (NR) networks, including 5G networks, a CORESET can consist of one, two, or three symbols and one or more resource blocks (RBs) in the frequency domain. For example, there can be 24, 48, or 96 RBs for the initial access procedure and up to 275 RBs for UE-specific transmissions.

[0197] Depending on the application scenario and function, PDCCH is divided into three categories: public PDCCH, group public PDCCH, and UE-specific PDCCH. Public PDCCH is used to transmit common messages (e.g., System Information RMSI / OSI) and scheduling data (e.g., 4-step Random Access Channel (RACH) msg2 / msg4) before establishing an RRC connection with the UE. Group public PDCCH is used to schedule a group of UEs, for example, scheduling the slot format (SFI) of the UE group. UE-specific PDCCH is used to schedule UE-specific data and power control information.

[0198] Since the PDCCH can carry scheduling and control messages, which are critical communication messages in downlink and / or uplink transmissions, the PDCCH must be sufficiently reliable to guarantee reception at the receiving end (e.g., the UE). In NR networks, coded or redundant transmission versions can include aggregation levels (ALs), as described above. For example, the AL of a PDCCH candidate can be any of aggregation level 1 (AL1), AL2, AL4, AL8, and AL16. A PDCCH candidate with AL1 can use a control channel element (CCE) consisting of six physical resource blocks (PRBs), and a PDCCH candidate with ALx>1 can use the time-frequency resources of x CCEs to encode the DCI. A common PDCCH or group common PDCCH can be predefined or configured to have, for example, AL4, AL8, or AL16, while a UE-specific PDCCH can be configured to have, for example, AL1, AL2, AL4, AL8, or AL16. A PDCCH with a higher aggregation level can use more resources and therefore can be more reliable. For example, AL16 can use 16 times more resources than AL1, so a PDCCH with AL16 can have more robust channel coding, thus enabling more reliable transmission than a PDCCH with AL1.

[0199] One or more PDCCH candidates can be configured for each AL. For example, if up to eight PDCCH candidates are configured for each AL, one or more UEs may need to monitor and blindly detect up to 48 PDCCH candidates for each incoming PDCCH during DCI transmission. Blindly detecting incoming PDCCHs for each scheduling opportunity can consume significant time and resources. Furthermore, if the network does not know the channel conditions or the exact location of the UE, it may transmit unnecessary redundant signals in a conservative manner to ensure reliable transmission of critical control messages, which requires more power.

[0200] Therefore, it is necessary to find ways to reduce the need for blind detection of PDCCH and save resources and power consumption.

[0201] In the article Figure 9 In some embodiments, blind detection of the PDCCH can be reduced. For example, as described above, in some embodiments, UE 110 can determine a reduced AL set based on at least one measured channel attribute (e.g., SNR) and indicate the reduced AL set to TRP 352. Then, for example, when sending a paging notification, TRP 352 can use the reduced AL set for subsequent PDCCH transmissions. Due to the reduction in the AL set, blind detection performed by UE 110 can be reduced. In another example, during downlink transmission, TRP 352 indicates to UE 110 the reduced AL set to be used for future PDCCH transmissions. UE 110 can then use the reduced AL set to perform blind detection on the PDCCH, thereby reducing the amount of blind detection that UE 110 needs to perform.

[0202] Figure 9 The methods, examples, and variations thereof are described in conjunction with UE 110 and TRP 352. However, these embodiments are not limited to UE and TRP. For example, instead of a UE, an NT-TRP can be paged and can perform measurements and reporting. As another example, instead of a TRP, a “primary UE” representing network operation can page other UEs and send downlink signals. Therefore, in all the embodiments described above, UE 110 can be replaced with “device” and TRP 352 can be replaced with “device”, where “device” and “device” are simply different labels to more easily distinguish the two entities. A device can be a UE, but is not necessarily a UE (e.g., it can be an NT-TRP). A device can be a TRP, but is not necessarily a TRP (e.g., it can be another network device or a primary UE representing network operation).

[0203] Some specific examples

[0204] The following are some specific examples consistent with the embodiments discussed herein. The following content is not intended to be limiting.

[0205] One type of control signaling message in a wireless network is the scheduling message. The scheduling message may include DL control information (DCI) for (dynamically) scheduling or granting time-frequency resources for downlink (DL) and / or uplink (UL) transmissions, as well as other transmission-related parameters in the DL control channel, such as the physical DL control channel (PDCCH). The PDCCH can be transmitted in a time-frequency resource area to carry the scheduling message. The time-frequency resource area used for the PDCCH can be predefined (e.g., using fixed rules or list-based rules), determined based on system information (SI), or configured, for example, through radio resource control (RRC). The PDCCH can be one of a set of PDCCH candidates defined on the time-frequency resource area. The set of PDCCH candidates is called the control resource set (CORESET). For a single UE or a group of UEs, there is typically more than one PDCCH candidate in the CORESET. Due to UE mobility and the constantly changing radio channel environment, a UE or a group of UEs may be located in different geographical locations within the cell. Therefore, each PDCCH candidate can be used with different coded or redundant transmission versions to support the UE or a group of UEs. Consequently, the UE or a group of UEs may need to monitor scheduling messages received from the network and perform blind detection on incoming PDCCHs, i.e., try different PDCCH candidates until a successful detection is achieved. A UE-specific Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI) or a group RNTI (e.g., semi-statically configured before communication) can be used to scramble the Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) of the incoming PDCCH payload (e.g., DCI).

[0206] In new radio (NR) networks, including 5G networks, a CORESET can consist of one, two, or three symbols and one or more resource blocks (RBs) in the frequency domain. For example, there can be 24, 48, or 96 RBs for the initial access procedure and up to 275 RBs for UE-specific transmissions.

[0207] Depending on the application scenario and function, PDCCH is divided into three categories: public PDCCH, group public PDCCH, and UE-specific PDCCH. Public PDCCH is used to transmit common messages (e.g., System Information RMSI / OSI) and scheduling data (e.g., 4-step Random Access Channel (RACH) msg2 / msg4) before establishing an RRC connection with the UE. Group public PDCCH is used to schedule a group of UEs, for example, scheduling the slot format (SFI) of the UE group. UE-specific PDCCH is used to schedule UE-specific data and power control information.

[0208] For paging operations, a UE's paging group can be in sleep mode for a period of time, periodically waking up at paging times to detect paging notifications (or DCIs) carried on the public PDCCH, and may receive paging messages on the physical DL shared / data channel (PDSCH) whose time-frequency resources are scheduled by the paging notification. Since multiple PDCCH candidates with one or more ALs are defined / configured in the CORESET, UEs in the paging group may need to perform blind checks on the PDCCHs among the multiple PDCCH candidates at each paging time. The sleep mode here is defined as follows: for example, the UE may have no transmitting or receiving activity and may attempt to minimize the power consumption of the transceiver background operation, or even shut down the transceiver.

[0209] Since the PDCCH can carry scheduling and control messages, which are critical communication messages in DL and / or UL transmissions, the PDCCH must be sufficiently reliable to guarantee reception at the receiving end (e.g., the UE side). In NR networks, coded or redundant transmission versions can include schemes called aggregation levels (AL). For example, the aggregation level of a PDCCH candidate can be any of aggregation level 1 (AL1), AL2, AL4, AL8, and AL16. A PDCCH candidate with AL1 can use a control channel element (CCE) consisting of six physical resource blocks (PRBs), and a PDCCH candidate with ALx > 1 can use the time-frequency resources of x CCEs to encode the DCI. A common PDCCH or group common PDCCH can be predefined or configured to have, for example, AL4, AL8, or AL16, while a UE-specific PDCCH can be configured to have, for example, AL1, AL2, AL4, AL8, or AL16. A PDCCH with a higher aggregation level can use more resources and therefore can be more reliable. For example, AL16 can use 16 times more resources than AL1, so a PDCCH with AL16 can have more robust channel coding, thus enabling more reliable transmission than a PDCCH with AL1.

[0210] One or more PDCCH candidates can be configured for each AL. For example, if up to eight PDCCH candidates are configured for each AL, one or more UEs may need to monitor and blindly detect up to 48 PDCCH candidates for each incoming PDCCH during DCI transmission. Blindly detecting incoming PDCCHs for each scheduling opportunity can consume significant time and resources. Furthermore, if the network does not know the channel conditions or the exact location of the UE, it may transmit unnecessary redundant signals in a conservative manner to ensure reliable transmission of critical control messages, which requires more power.

[0211] Therefore, it is necessary to find ways to reduce the need for blind detection of PDCCH and save resources and power consumption.

[0212] Furthermore, before receiving each paging notification, each UE in the same paging group may need to perform DL synchronization, such as synchronizing with one or more DL reference signals, thereby performing some level of channel measurement. These channel measurements could potentially be valuable in helping the network to perform more efficient control and operation; however, in the current network, these potentially useful measurements from the paging group of the UE at each paging time are not utilized, resulting in a waste of this information (which could have been reported and contributed to network control optimization).

[0213] The paging process for a group of UEs in a traditional network is as follows: Each UE in the paging group may first prepare for DL ​​synchronization by, for example, synchronizing a DL reference signal before the paging time. Then, at the paging time, it receives paging notification signaling (or DCI) to obtain scheduling information, and subsequently receives the paging message in the time-frequency resources provided by the scheduling information. Based on the received paging message, if paging is successful, the UE can perform further operations, such as transceiver type switching and / or RRC state transitions for DL ​​service reception or initiating UL transmission.

[0214] Figure 8 Here is an example of a group paging process: UEs in a paging group can cooperate with a low-cost transceiver (i.e., a wake-up receiver (WUR)), and the UE can wake up before the paging timing to communicate with the DL reference signal (e.g., ...). Figure 8 The Sync RS (labeled SS) is synchronized and ready to receive paging notifications and paging messages from the base station via a low-power wake-up signal (LP-WUS). For a UE paged in a paging message, the UE can switch to a normal transceiver (i.e., the main receiver (MR)) and perform UL random access to the base station.

[0215] It should be noted that UEs in a paging group must perform synchronization with the DL reference signal, and each UE can have its own channel measurement information (during synchronization, for example, using NR PSS and SSS). However, if a UE is not paged, such measurement information during synchronization will be discarded directly, which may result in the loss of useful information for network control optimization.

[0216] If a UE in a paging group / subgroup is not paged, the paging process in the current network may directly discard the measurement information generated during synchronization. This may result in the loss of potentially useful information that could have been used to achieve more effective network control and operation, such as optimized scheduling and interference suppression.

[0217] In some embodiments of this paper, schemes to avoid information waste and efficient ways to use this information for sensing or communication are proposed.

[0218] In future wireless networks, power saving is one of the performance metrics that needs to be considered. For example, the UE and / or base station can operate based on discontinuous reception (DRX) and / or discontinuous transmission (DTX), in which the UE or base station can be in sleep mode most of the time and wake up periodically to receive or send information on demand.

[0219] Paging is a common function associated with DRX or DTX. For example, a group of UEs or devices in sleep mode can be woken up to receive paging messages during a paging event (configured periodically). To receive paging messages for a group of UEs, each UE in the paging group must perform DL synchronization via, for example, a system synchronization signal or reference signal (e.g., NR SSB), allowing the UE to measure or deduce channel conditions or quality. UEs in the paging group can perform these channel measurements while performing DL synchronization (before receiving a paging notification or DCI) and / or while receiving the relevant paging message. In the latter case, to facilitate the UEs in the paging group receiving the paging message, channel estimation can be performed using DMRS transmitted with the paging message, allowing the UE to accurately estimate its own channel conditions or quality.

[0220] Such channel conditions or quality for multiple UEs can be valuable for the network to perform effective or optimized operations (e.g., effective transmission scheduling, interference avoidance or suppression in communication and / or sensing). Here, "communication" refers to the "normal" transmission and reception of control messages and / or data messages, while sensing refers to channel probing or estimation used to obtain UE / object geographic information or channel conditions / quality.

[0221] Therefore, a configuration and signaling procedure is proposed to use such measurement information from UEs in a paging group, wherein the measurement information is obtained by measuring broadcast or cell common reference signals at the paging time prior to receiving a paging notification and / or by measuring DRMS ​​transmitted with the paging message.

[0222] In some embodiments, the timing at which the network instructs UEs in a paging group to report their measurements is configurable; for example, reporting may not be required at every paging event to save power. Detailed schemes and designs are shown in the table below:

[0223]

[0224] When a UE wakes up and synchronizes with the network via one or more DL reference signals (e.g., one or more SSBs, one or more paging reference signals, sensing (reference) signals, etc.), the UE can be configured according to certain measurement metrics available to the network. A measurement metric may include reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), and signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR), which are typical and important parameters used to measure the quality of cellular network signals and channels. Specifically, RSRP measures the average power received from the reference signal. For example, a typical range for RSRP is approximately -44 dBm (good) to -140 dBm (poor); RSRQ measures the quality of the received signal, with a range, for example, -19.5 dB (poor) to -3 dB (good); SINR is the signal-to-noise ratio of a given signal and is also a measure of signal quality. Furthermore, the channel quality indicator (CQI) can be another metric for measuring channel quality and can be used to optimize, for example, the use of modulation and coding schemes. These metrics present the overall situation of one or more UEs in terms of geographic information and / or channel conditions / quality.

[0225] Furthermore, by configuration, channel characteristics such as Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, and delay spread can be measured for UEs in power-saving mode. In some cases, more reference signals can be measured for reporting during power-saving mode or during sleep cycles and / or wake-up periods at paging times. QCL stands for Quasi-co-location, which refers to the relationship between different reference signals (RS) in cell 1. The quasi-co-location relationship is configured (if configured) by the higher-layer (e.g., RLC) parameter qcl-Type1 for the first DL RS and qcl-Type2 for the second DL RS. For cases with two DL RSs, the QCL type should not be the same, regardless of whether the references are the same or different DL RSs. Common QCL types include Type A, Type B, Type C, and Type D, as described in the table above.

[0226] One or more paging opportunities can be configured or indicated for the UE to report these measurements or CSI reports to the base station or network. Paging, measurement, and reporting (time) opportunities can be configured semi-statically via RRC, MAC-CE, dynamically via DCI, or a combination thereof. Options for notifying UEs in a paging group (or subgroup) to send CSI reports during one or more paging opportunities include: (1) RRC configuration or MAC-CE notification (e.g., in DL data transmission); (2) DCI notification (or indication); (3) using both RRC and DCI to notify UEs in the paging group.

[0227] UEs in a paging group that will send CSI reports during paging times can measure configured DL reference signals, including reference signals with QCL relationships. When CSI reporting is not required (or not indicated), the UE does not need to perform this operation during other paging times, thus saving power.

[0228] In future wireless networks, there can be at least two types of transceivers: (1) transceivers with low cost (or low power consumption); and (2) transceivers with normal cost (or relatively high power consumption) (traditional or conventional). For example, a base station can have a low-power wake-up signal transceiver (LP-WUS) and a conventional transceiver; a UE can have a low-cost transceiver such as a wake-up signal / wake-up reception (WUS / WUR) and a conventional transceiver such as a main transceiver (MR).

[0229] Once a UE in a paging group is notified to send a CSI report during the paging time, several schemes can be used to send the CSI report, such as:

[0230] ●PUCCH

[0231] ●UL data included

[0232] ●RACH

[0233] ● Low-cost transceivers or ordinary transceivers.

[0234] The notification for the UE to report a CSI report during paging can be configured or indicated in a semi-static or dynamic manner. In this case, relevant time and frequency resources for PUCCH can be allocated to send the CSI report, for example, by allocating time and frequency resources through RRC, DCI, etc., or by carrying time and frequency resources in the paging message.

[0235] In other examples, the CSI report during paging can be piggybacked on the UL data transmission of the UE in the paging group. The UL data transmission may or may require the UE in the paging group to perform an operational state transition. For example, if the UE in the paging group is in an inactive state, its UL data transmission can be performed in the inactive state without transitioning to an active (or connected) state.

[0236] If the PUCCH is not configured at the time when the CSI report is to be sent, the UE in the paging group can perform a random access procedure via either a 4-step RACH or a 2-step RACH, and the CSI report can be sent in the PUSCH channel during the random access procedure. Specifically, the CSI report regarding the measurement metric can be carried in message 3 during the 4-step RACH procedure and in msgA during the 2-step RACH procedure.

[0237] Furthermore, UEs in the paging group can operate using a conventional transceiver (e.g., a traditional transceiver), where CSI reports can be transmitted via the conventional transceiver. Alternatively, the UE can switch to a low-cost transceiver (e.g., WUS or WUR) for CSI report transmission. In some examples, the base station can use a conventional transceiver (e.g., a traditional transceiver) for paging operations and use one or more DL reference signals (e.g., SSB, CSI-RS, etc.) for DL ​​synchronization, where the UE can measure channel characteristics at least based on one or more DL reference signals. In other embodiments, UEs in the paging group can operate using a low-cost transceiver such as WUS or WUS, where CSI reports can be transmitted via the low-cost transceiver; alternatively, the UE can switch to a conventional transceiver for CSI report transmission. In some examples, the base station can use a low-cost transceiver such as LP-WUS for paging operations and transmit a low-power synchronization signal (LP-SS) for DL ​​synchronization, where the UE can measure channel characteristics at least based on the LP-SS.

[0238] There are several possible embodiments / implementations to achieve the proposed goal or solution, which are briefly described herein and will be described in detail in the following embodiments sections.

[0239] UE measurement and reporting process during paging:

[0240] The UE measurement and reporting process during paging is as follows: Figure 13 As shown. First, the base station (in Figure 13The TRP (Tencent Protocol Reference Point) can perform paging configuration as well as measurement and reporting configuration, where measurement metrics are defined and some related values, such as metric thresholds, are provided. Paging, measurement, and reporting (timing) timing can be configured semi-statically via RRC, MAC-CE, dynamically via DCI, or a combination thereof. This configuration can be performed in an inactive or idle state (where the UE can remain silent or in sleep mode) or an active or connected state (where the UE can actively transmit services with the network).

[0241] exist Figure 13 In this process, DRX / DTX configuration is performed on the UEs in the paging group. UEs in the paging group can enter sleep mode and wake up periodically for paging occasions. Before receiving the paging notification and paging message in the paging occasion, the UE can wake up to perform DL synchronization with, for example, the SSB or paging RS, and then receive the paging notification or paging group-based DCI for the time-frequency resources of the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) that schedules the paging message. The paging notification or paging group-based DCI can indicate measurement and reporting information: for example, how and to where to report CSI about these measurements, whether the paging message includes any resource allocation for CSI reporting, which measurement metrics (e.g., RSRP, RSRQ, beam direction or beam orientation information, etc.) are included in the CSI report, and how these measurements are processed (e.g., in terms of information measurement period, averaging scheme, etc.).

[0242] Paging messages may include conventional paging information for a single (paging) UE, but also include parameters, including time-frequency resources for reporting CSI information (e.g., PUCCH allocation), included measurement metrics, sensing-related parameters or sensing timelines, QCL reference signal information, time adjustment (TA) or timing reference for UL transmission, one or more appropriate ALs or one or more default (i.e., initially used) ALs that will be used for subsequent DL PDCCH transmissions, etc.

[0243] exist Figure 13 The BS indicates the timing of this paging to report the measurement as a CSI report. After a single UE processes these measurements according to the BS's configuration or instructions, the UE can send the CSI report piggybacked on the UL data transmission via, for example, PUCCH or RACH channels; the UE can use a low-cost transceiver, a standard transceiver, or a combination of both to send the CSI report.

[0244] In the above process, the CSI reporting rate can be at most the same as the paging period or paging rate, or a multiple of the paging period; alternatively, any specific paging timing can be configured or indicated for non-periodic CSI reporting, for example, DCI can indicate CSI reporting on demand. In some embodiments, the options for notifying UEs in a paging group (or subgroup) to send CSI reports at one or more paging timings include: (1) RRC configuration or MAC-CE notification (e.g., in DL data transmission); (2) DCI notification (or indication); (3) including the indication in the paging message; (4) using a combination of the above schemes to notify UEs in the paging group.

[0245] In other examples, group measurements and CSI reporting can be indicated by notification messages, such as in the DCI or LP-WUS. The DCI may include new or modified fields to add one or more bits to the DCI format as notification. When indicated in LP-WUS, one or more new bits may be added to the LP-WUS control message for notification. Additionally or alternatively, the PDCCH aggregation level (AL) may also be indicated in the aforementioned notification or paging messages to indicate one or more appropriate ALs or one or more default ALs to be used for DL ​​PDCCH transmission.

[0246] In another example, the UE in the paging group provides a simplified CSI report at the paging time. For instance, a WUS with one of multiple transmission sequences is used to indicate different signal strengths; a WUS with beam-level measurements is sent, which also provides beam-level direction information; the UE indicates different channel conditions or quality by sending UL SRS signals with different SRS sequences. It is possible to send CSI reports while maintaining the same state and without state transitions (e.g., from inactive to connected).

[0247] In another embodiment, some UEs in the paging group are configured or instructed to provide channel measurements and CSI reports. For example, for some UEs in the paging group, there may be a semi-static configuration, such as via RRC, MAC-CE, etc., or a dynamic instruction, such as via DCI, to perform measurements and CSI reporting at one or more paging times. Alternatively, the paging message may instruct or notify one or more interested UEs in the paging group to perform measurements and CSI reporting.

[0248] For sensing and / or communication, sensing and / or communication can also be indicated via CSI reporting notifications or indications. For example, paging messages may include bits indicating upcoming sensing or / or communication operations; additionally, LP-WUS, DCI, and even SSB can be used to indicate sensing or / or communication operations. One or more sensing RSs and one or more communication RSs can be used to perform measurements and report during paging. For example, a sensing-specific RS can be configured to have a QCL relationship with RSs based on communication group / cell (e.g., SSB or LP-SS). UEs in a paging group can report measurement metrics as CSI reports, regardless of whether the UE is paged. Some UEs in a paging group configured or indicated for channel measurements and CSI reporting may play an important role in assisting sensing operations or enhancing communication-aware integration.

[0249] Paging process for signal measurement in power-saving mode and with reduced PDCCH detection:

[0250] like Figure 14 As shown, the UE in the paging group can measure, for example, reference signals generated by SSB or paging DL synchronization and report the measurement metrics, while PDCCH candidates can be indicated by aggregation level information to reduce blind detection of PDCCH candidates during PDCCH monitoring.

[0251] CSI (Channel Signal Integration) reports are for each paging beam or a group of beams used in the paging operation. For higher frequency bands such as millimeter wave bands, paging operations may attempt to transmit SSBs in different beams, each covering a specific area. In this case, UEs in the paging group can detect and measure one or more DL RSs in different beams, and each UE can measure one or more RSs with different signal strengths and channel characteristics. Therefore, the reported beam-level measurements from each UE in the paging group can provide comprehensive information on UE distribution and channel quality through network or base station beam scanning.

[0252] In some examples, UEs in a paging group can be used to report all measurements for all beams based on beam-level information; or, UEs in a paging group can be used to report the configurable number of strongest beams. Reports can be sent from UEs in power-saving modes (e.g., inactive or idle states), regardless of whether they have switched to other power modes (e.g., connected states).

[0253] One or more UEs measure beam-based SSB or LP-SS (e.g., beam-based RSRP, CQI, etc.) and perform CSI reporting during a configured paging timing. Furthermore, the SSB / LP-SS can indicate the presence of a paging timing and / or indicate one or more PDCCH ALs to the UE. It should be noted that CSI reporting can include one or more appropriate ALs for subsequent PDCCH transmissions, with each beam measurement reference corresponding to one AL. AL indication can optionally use reference signals with multiple sequences, each sequence mapped to an aggregation level such as AL1, AL2, AL4, AL8, AL16, etc.

[0254] After synchronizing with one or more DL RSs (e.g., SSB, LP-SS, etc.), the UE can use one or more ALs indicated by the SSB or LP-SS to monitor and detect paging-based PDCCHs, thereby reducing PDCCH blind detection. By detecting the PDCCH, the UE can obtain the resource allocation of the PDSCH carrying the paging message.

[0255] UE measurements or CSI reporting can be accomplished via WUS, PUCCH, RACH, and / or SRS, as described above. It should be noted that UE CSI reports may occur even if no paging message is present at the paging time; in this case, these measurements can be based on one or more DL RSs, such as SSB, LP-SS, etc.

[0256] Including paging operations with valid (group) sensing:

[0257] For sensing and communication, sensing and / or communication can also be indicated via CSI reporting notifications or indications. For example, paging messages may include bits indicating upcoming sensing or / or communication operations; furthermore, LP-WUS, DCI, and even SSB can be used to indicate sensing or / or communication operations. One or more sensing RSs and one or more communication RSs can be used to perform measurements and reporting during paging events. For example, a sensing-specific RS can be configured to have a QCL relationship with a communication group / cell-based RS (e.g., SSB or LP-SS). UEs in a paging group can be notified to report measurement metrics as CSI reports regardless of whether the UE is paged; for example, UEs in a paging group can be semi-statically configured to report measurement metrics, or UEs in a paging group can be notified to perform CSI reporting in a paging message; thus, when a UE is in a power-saving mode (e.g., inactive or idle state) and has a paging group, UEs included in the sensing UE group can be configured or notified to measure sensing or communication reference signals and report measurement metrics during one or more configured paging events. Therefore, some UEs configured or indicated in the paging group for channel measurement and CSI reporting may play an important role in helping sensing operations or enhancing communication-aware integration.

[0258] Figure 15 The paging operation procedure for sensing, including CSI reporting, is illustrated, wherein a UE with DRX configuration in the paging group can wake up and detect one or more DL reference signals, such as LP-WUS (e.g., with sequence transmission), LP-SS, SSB, paging reference signal, or sensing signal (or sensing reference signal). The UE can measure reference signals on multiple beams and report one or more spatial / beam directions in multiple beams. For sensing signals or sensing specific RSs, the sensing operation can be configured to have a QCL relationship with RSs based on communication group / cell (e.g., SSB or LP-SS). Additionally or alternatively, LP-WUS and / or one or more reference signals can trigger a UE operating with a low-cost transceiver to switch to a common transceiver such as MR for greater communication capabilities; furthermore, LP-WUS and / or one or more reference signals can indicate the location of PDCCH resources or PDCCH candidates with one or more defined ALs, enabling the UE to monitor and decode PDCCHs with reduced blind detection of PDCCH candidates. For sensing operations, detailed or additional sensing configurations can be carried by paging messages, such as sensing time and frequency resources, sensing targets, sensing measurements, sensing reporting channels, etc.

[0259] In some embodiments, multiple LP-WUS sequences (e.g., using short sequences and multiple sequences) can be used for LP-WUS signaling. The UE is configured with one or more LP-WUS signaling options from a plurality of LP-WUS signaling options, such as indexed tags: each signaling option may represent or correspond to, for example, PDCCH AL and / or PDCCH candidate positions. The device / UE can monitor and detect LP-WUS during LP-WUS timing and decode sequences or signaling options from these configured sequence options.

[0260] This paging operation, which combines CSI reporting for sensing operations, can be applied to both power-saving modes (e.g., inactive state) and regular power operating modes (e.g., connected state).

[0261] When a UE measures one or more sensing signals or one or more sensing reference signals during paging, the resulting measurement is called a sensing measurement, and the measurement report can be sent, for example, via WUS, PUCCH, RACH, or / and SRS, as described above. Multiple nodes or UEs participating in sensing can constitute a sensing group or group sensing, which can be measured and reported using the paging process, thus saving sensing power consumption in power-saving modes (e.g., inactive state, idle state, etc.).

[0262] Please note that the expression "at least one of A or B" used in this document is interchangeable with the expression "A and / or B". This expression refers to a list in which you can choose either A or B, or A and B. Similarly, the expression "at least one of A, B, or C" used in this document is interchangeable with "A and / or B and / or C" or "A, B, and / or C". This refers to a list in which you can choose: A or B or C, or A and B, or A and C, or B and C, or all of A, B, and C. The same principle applies to longer lists with the same format.

[0263] Consistent with the above, the expression "at least one" refers to one or more. The expression "multiple" refers to two or more. The expression "and / or" describes the relationship between related objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, A and / or B can mean "A exists alone," "A and B exist simultaneously," or "B exists alone," where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally indicates that the related objects are in an "or" relationship. "At least one of the following items" or similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including single items or any combination of multiple items. For example, "at least one of a, b, or c" can mean "a," "b," "c," "a and b," "a and c," "b and c," or "a, b, and c," where a, b, and c can be singular or plural.

[0264] While the invention has been described with reference to specific features and embodiments thereof, various modifications and combinations may be made without departing from the scope of the invention. The specification and drawings are therefore to be regarded only as illustrative of some embodiments of the invention as defined in the appended claims, and any and all modifications, variations, combinations, or equivalents covering the scope of the invention are to be considered. Although the invention and its advantages have been described in detail, various changes, substitutions, and alterations may be made without departing from the invention as defined in the appended claims. Furthermore, the scope of this application is not limited to the specific embodiments of the processes, machines, articles of manufacture, components, methods, and steps described in the specification. Those skilled in the art will readily understand from the disclosure of the invention that existing or soon-to-be-developed processes, machines, articles of manufacture, components, methods, or steps that have substantially the same functionality as the corresponding embodiments described herein, or that can achieve substantially the same results as the embodiments described, can be used according to the invention. Therefore, the appended claims are intended to include such processes, machines, articles of manufacture, components, methods, or steps within their scope.

[0265] Furthermore, any module, component, or device executing instructions illustrated herein may include or otherwise access one or more non-transitory computer / processor-readable storage media to store information, such as computer / processor-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, and / or other data. A non-exhaustive list of examples of non-transitory computer / processor-readable storage media includes magnetic tape cassettes, magnetic tape, disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), digital video disc or digital versatile disc (DVD), Blu-ray Disc™ and other optical storage devices, volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology, random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other storage technologies. Any of these non-transitory computer / processor-readable storage media may be part of a device or accessible or connected to a device. Any application or module described herein may be implemented using computer / processor-readable / executable instructions that may be stored by such non-transitory computer / processor-readable storage media or otherwise preserved.

[0266] This invention includes various examples, not only method examples, but also apparatus examples and other examples related to non-transitory computer-readable storage media. Examples may individually or in combination contain features disclosed herein. Although reference has been made to illustrative examples, it is not to be construed as limiting. Various modifications and combinations of the illustrative examples, as well as other examples of the invention, will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon reference to this specification.

[0267] Alternatively or additionally, the features disclosed herein in the context of any particular example may be implemented in other examples. For example, alternatively or additionally, the method examples may be implemented in apparatus, systems, and / or computer program products. Furthermore, although the examples are described primarily in the context of methods and apparatuses, other implementations are contemplated, for example, as instructions stored in one or more non-transitory computer-readable media. These media may store programs or instructions to perform any of the various methods consistent with the present invention.

[0268] In this invention, when used in conjunction with the term "comprising" in the claims and / or specification, the word "a" may mean "one," but it also has the same meaning as "one or more," "at least one," and "one or more," unless otherwise expressly stated. Similarly, the word "another" may mean at least a second or more, unless otherwise expressly stated.

[0269] In this invention, when used before the same term (e.g., ED or operational step), the words "first," "second," etc., do not imply an order or sequence of the terms. For example, without specific indication, "first ED" and "second ED" refer to two different EDs; similarly, without specific indication, "first step" and "second step" refer to two different operational steps, but this does not mean that the first step must occur before the second step. The actual order depends on the logic of the two steps.

[0270] The terms “coupling,” “coupled,” or “connected” as used herein can have several different meanings depending on the context in which they are used. For example, as used herein, the terms “coupling,” “coupled,” or “connected” can mean that two elements or devices are directly connected to each other or connected to each other via mechanical elements through one or more intermediate elements or devices, depending on the specific context.

[0271] The terms “receive,” “detect,” and “decode” used in this document can have several different meanings depending on the context in which they are used. For example, without specific context, the term “receive” can mean that information (e.g., DCI or MAC-CE, RRC signaling, or TB) has been successfully received by the receiving node, indicating that the receiving side correctly detected and decoded the information. In this scenario, “receive” can include both “detect” and “decode,” or the same thing; for example, “receive paging” means correctly decoding and successfully acquiring a paging message, and correspondingly, “received paging” means the receiving side did not detect and / or decode a paging message. For example, “not received paging” means the receiving side attempted to detect and / or decode a paging message but failed to acquire it. The term “receive” can sometimes mean that a signal has arrived at the receiving side, but this does not necessarily mean that the information in the signal has been correctly detected and decoded. In this case, the receiving side needs to detect and decode the signal to obtain the information carried in it. In this scenario, “receive,” “detect,” and “decode” can represent different processes by which the receiving side acquires information. In some scenarios, if the apparatus implementing the methods described herein is an integrated circuit, the term "receive" may refer to "input" or "acquisition", and the term "transmit" may refer to "output".

[0272] It should be understood that one or more steps in the methods of the embodiments provided herein can be performed by corresponding units or modules. For example, a signal can be transmitted by a transmitting unit or transmitting module. A signal can be received by a receiving unit or receiving module. A signal can be processed by a processing unit or processing module. The corresponding units / modules can be hardware, software, or a combination thereof. For example, one or more of these units / modules can be integrated circuits, such as field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs). It should be understood that if these modules are software, they can be retrieved by a processor, in whole or in part, individually or collectively, for processing, or in single or multiple instances as needed, and these modules themselves can include instructions for further deployment and instantiation.

[0273] While combinations of features are shown in the illustrated embodiments, it is not necessary to combine all features to achieve the advantages of the various embodiments of the invention. In other words, a system or method designed according to one embodiment of the invention does not necessarily include any of the features shown in the drawings or in all portions schematically illustrated in the drawings. Furthermore, selected features of one exemplary embodiment may be combined with selected features of other exemplary embodiments.

[0274] Although the invention has been described with reference to illustrative embodiments, this specification is not intended to be limiting. Various modifications and combinations of the illustrative embodiments, as well as other embodiments of the invention, will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon reference to this specification. Therefore, the appended claims are intended to cover any such modifications or embodiments.

Claims

1. A method performed by an apparatus, the method comprising: The method comprises: waking up from a sleep mode to perform a paging operation; during the paging operation, measuring at least one channel property using a downlink signal; sending information to a device based on the measured at least one channel property.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, Measuring the at least one channel property using the downlink signal comprises measuring at least one of: a reference signal received power (RSRP); a reference signal received quality (RSRQ); a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR); a signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR); a channel quality; a Doppler shift; a Doppler spread; an average delay; or a delay spread using the downlink signal.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The information sent based on the measured at least one channel property comprises at least one of: an indication of the measured at least one channel property; or a report derived from the measured at least one channel property.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that, Before measuring the at least one channel property, the method comprises: receiving a message configuring at least one channel property to be measured, wherein the message is received in at least one of: radio resource control (RRC) signaling; a medium access control (MAC) control element (MAC-CE); a synchronization signal block (SSB); system information (SI); downlink control information (DCI); a low-power wake-up signal (LP-WUS); or a paging announcement.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that, The downlink signal is received on a first beam, the method comprising performing, during the paging operation, beam-level measurements by: measuring the at least one channel property of the first beam using the downlink signal received on the first beam; for each of one or more other beams: receiving a corresponding downlink signal on the beam, and measuring the at least one channel property of the beam using the corresponding downlink signal received on the beam; the information sent is based on the measured at least one channel property of the first beam and the measured at least one channel property of each of the one or more other beams.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein, The information sent comprises an indication of one or more beams having measured channel properties.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that, A plurality of downlink signals, including the downlink signal, are received during the paging operation, wherein the plurality of downlink signals have a quasi co-location (QCL) relationship with each other, and measuring the at least one channel property comprises measuring the at least one channel property using at least one of the plurality of downlink signals.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that, The paging operation is associated with a paging occasion within a wake-up period, and wherein transmitting the information comprises transmitting the information within the wake-up period.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein, Further comprising: receiving a message configuring one or more paging operations, wherein the message further configures at least one of: one or more wake-up periods in which the apparatus is to transmit the information based on the measured at least one channel property; one or more paging occasions in which the apparatus is to transmit the information; the at least one channel property to be measured; one or more channel properties to be reported as part of the information; a manner in which the information is to be transmitted; or an uplink time-frequency resource for transmitting the information.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein, The message configures the one or more paging operations by configuring at least one of: one or more wake-up periods; one or more sleep periods; a paging discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle; or one or more paging occasions in a wake-up period.

11. The method according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that, The message is received in at least one of: RRC signaling; a MAC-CE; DCI; an SSB; SI; or an LP-WUS.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein, Further comprising: receiving a message configuring the apparatus to transmit the information within the wake-up period, wherein the message is received in at least one of: RRC signaling; a MAC-CE; DCI; an SSB; SI; an LP-WUS; a paging notification; or a paging message.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein, The message further indicates at least one of: whether the apparatus is to perform sensing; or whether the apparatus is being paged.

14. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 13, characterized in that, Transmitting the information comprises at least one of: transmitting the information in an uplink control channel; transmitting the information in an uplink data channel; transmitting the information in a random access procedure; transmitting the information in a wake-up signal (WUS); or transmitting the information in an uplink reference signal.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein, Transmitting the information in a WUS of a plurality of WUS transmission sequences by transmitting one of the WUS transmission sequences.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein, Transmitting the information in an uplink reference signal of a plurality of sounding reference signal (SRS) sequences by transmitting one of the SRS sequences.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein, Transmitting the information with an uplink data transmission in the uplink data channel.

18. The method of any one of claims 1 to 17, wherein, An uplink time-frequency resource for transmitting the information is indicated in at least one of: RRC signaling; a MAC-CE; an SSB; SI; DCI; an LP-WUS; a paging notification; or a paging message.

19. The method of any one of claims 1 to 18, wherein, The downlink signal comprises a synchronization signal (SS), and the method further comprises synchronizing to the SS prior to receiving the paging notification.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein, The SS includes at least one of: an SS in a synchronization signal block (SSB); an SS not in an SSB; a low-power synchronization signal (LP-SS); or a reference signal.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein, The SSB or the LP-SS indicates at least one of: whether paging will be performed in a wake-up period; or one or more aggregation levels (ALs) of a downlink control channel for receiving a paging notification.

22. The method of any one of claims 1 to 18, wherein, The downlink signal includes a demodulation reference signal (DMRS), wherein the DMRS is received in at least one of: an SSB used for synchronization and carrying system information bits; a control channel carrying a paging notification; or a data channel carrying a paging message.

23. The method of any one of claims 1 to 18, wherein, The downlink signal includes a sensing signal for sensing operation by the apparatus.

24. The method of any one of claims 1 to 23, wherein, Also included are: receiving a paging notification during the paging operation, wherein the paging notification indicates at least one of: a time-frequency resource allocation for transmitting the information; one or more channel properties to be reported as part of the information; or one or more ALs to be used for subsequent downlink control channel transmissions.

25. The method of any one of claims 1 to 23, wherein, Also included are: receiving a paging message during the paging operation, wherein the paging message includes apparatus-specific information indicating whether the apparatus has been paged, and the paging message further includes at least one of the following that is common to multiple apparatuses: a time-frequency resource allocation for transmitting the information; an indication of one or more channel properties to be reported as part of the information; an indication of one or more ALs to be used for subsequent downlink control channel transmissions; sensing information related to sensing operation; quasi co-location (QCL) reference signal information; or an indication of a timing adjustment (TA) for uplink transmission.

26. The method of any one of claims 1 to 25, wherein, Also included are: receiving a LP-WUS or a reference signal, the LP-WUS or the reference signal performing at least one of: triggering the apparatus to switch to a different transceiver; indicating a location of a time-frequency resource in a downlink control channel for receiving a paging notification; or indicating one or more ALs of the downlink control channel for receiving the paging notification.

27. The method of any one of claims 1 to 26, wherein, The transmitting is performed in the case that the apparatus is not paged.

28. The method of any one of claims 1 to 27, wherein, The apparatus is a user equipment (UE), and the device is a transmit-and-receive point (TRP) in a wireless communication system.

29. An apparatus comprising: Included are: at least one processor; a memory storing processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to implement a method recited in any of claims 1-28.

30. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions, the instructions comprising: The instructions cause a processor in an apparatus to implement a method recited in any of claims 1-28.

31. A method performed by a device, the method comprising: The method includes: transmitting a downlink signal during a paging operation; receiving information from the apparatus, wherein the information is based on at least one channel property measured by the apparatus using the downlink signal.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein, The at least one measured channel property comprises at least one of: a reference signal received power (RSRP); a reference signal received quality (RSRQ); a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR); a signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR); a channel quality; a Doppler shift; a Doppler spread; an average delay; or a delay spread.

33. The method of claim 31 or 32, wherein, The information based on the at least one measured channel property comprises at least one of: an indication of the at least one measured channel property; or a report derived from the at least one measured channel property.

34. The method of any one of claims 31-33, wherein, Further comprising: transmitting a message configuring the at least one channel property to be measured, wherein the message is transmitted in at least one of: radio resource control (RRC) signaling; a medium access control (MAC) control element (MAC-CE); a synchronization signal block (SSB); system information (SI); downlink control information (DCI); a low-power wake-up signal (LP-WUS); or a paging announcement.

35. The method of any one of claims 31-35, wherein, The downlink signal is transmitted on a first beam, a corresponding downlink signal is transmitted on each of one or more other beams, the information received from the apparatus is based on the at least one channel property measured by the apparatus for the first beam and the at least one channel property measured by the apparatus for each of the one or more other beams.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein, The received information comprises an indication of one or more beams having measured channel properties.

37. The method of any one of claims 31-36, wherein, A plurality of downlink signals comprising the downlink signal are transmitted during the paging operation, wherein the plurality of downlink signals have a quasi co-location (QCL) relationship with each other, the at least one channel property measured by the apparatus is measured using at least one of the plurality of downlink signals.

38. The method of any one of claims 31-37, wherein, The paging operation is associated with a paging occasion within a wake-up period of the apparatus, the information has been transmitted within the wake-up period.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein, Further comprising: transmitting a message configuring one or more paging operations, wherein the message further configures at least one of: one or more wake-up periods in which the apparatus is to transmit the information according to measured at least one channel property; one or more paging occasions in which the apparatus is to transmit the information; the at least one channel property to be measured; one or more channel properties to be reported as part of the information; a manner in which the information is to be transmitted; or uplink time-frequency resources for transmitting the information.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein, the message configures the one or more paging operations by configuring at least one of: one or more wake-up periods; one or more sleep periods; a paging discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle; or one or more paging occasions in a wake-up period.

41. The method of claim 39 or 40, wherein, the message is transmitted in at least one of: RRC signaling; a MAC-CE; DCI; an SSB; SI; or an LP-WUS.

42. The method of claim 38, wherein, Further comprising: transmitting a message configuring the apparatus to transmit the information in the wake-up period, wherein the message is transmitted in at least one of: RRC signaling; a MAC-CE; DCI; an SSB; SI; an LP-WUS; a paging notification; or a paging message.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein, the message further indicates at least one of: whether the apparatus is to perform sensing; or whether the apparatus is being paged.

44. The method of any one of claims 31-43, wherein, the information is at least one of: received in an uplink control channel; received in an uplink data channel; received in a random access procedure; received in a wake-up signal (WUS); or received in an uplink reference signal.

45. The method of claim 44, wherein, the information is received in the WUS by receiving one of a plurality of WUS transmission sequences.

46. The method of claim 44, wherein, the information is received in the uplink reference signal by receiving one of a plurality of sounding reference signal (SRS) sequences.

47. The method of claim 46, wherein, the information is received in the uplink data channel along with an uplink data transmission.

48. The method of any one of claims 31-47, wherein, uplink time-frequency resources for receiving the information are indicated by the device to the apparatus in at least one of: RRC signaling; a MAC-CE; an SSB; SI; DCI; an LP-WUS; a paging notification; or a paging message.

49. The method of any one of claims 31-48, wherein, the downlink signal comprises a synchronization signal (SS) to be used by the apparatus for synchronization.

50. The method of claim 49, wherein, the SS comprises at least one of: an SS in an SSB; an SS not in an SSB; a low-power synchronization signal (LP-SS); or a reference signal.

51. The method of claim 50, wherein, the SSB or the LP-SS indicates at least one of: whether paging is to be performed in a wake-up period; or one or more aggregation levels (ALs) of a downlink control channel for transmitting a paging notification.

52. The method of any one of claims 31-48, wherein, The downlink signal comprises a demodulation reference signal (DMRS), wherein the DMRS is transmitted in one of: a SSB used for synchronization and carrying system information bits; or a control channel carrying a paging notification; or a data channel carrying a paging message.

53. The method of any one of claims 31-48, wherein, The downlink signal comprises a sensing signal for the device to sense an operation.

54. The method of any one of claims 31-53, wherein, Further comprising: transmitting a paging notification during the paging operation, wherein the paging notification indicates at least one of: a time-frequency resource allocation for the device to transmit the information; one or more channel properties to be reported as part of the information; or one or more ALs to be used for a subsequent downlink control channel transmission.

55. The method of any one of claims 31-53, wherein, Further comprising: transmitting a paging message during the paging operation, wherein the paging message comprises device-specific information indicating whether the device has been paged, and the paging message further comprises at least one of the following that is common to multiple devices: a time-frequency resource allocation to be used for transmitting the information; an indication of one or more channel properties to be reported as part of the information; an indication of one or more ALs to be used for a subsequent downlink control channel transmission; sensing information related to a sensing operation; quasi co-location (QCL) reference signal information; or an indication of a timing adjustment (TA) for an uplink transmission.

56. The method of any one of claims 31-55, wherein, Further comprising: transmitting an LP-WUS or a reference signal, the LP-WUS or the reference signal performing at least one of: triggering the device to switch to a different transceiver; indicating a location of a time-frequency resource in a downlink control channel for the device to transmit a paging notification; or indicating one or more ALs of the downlink control channel for the device to transmit the paging notification.

57. The method of any one of claims 31-56, wherein, The information is received from the device in a case that the device is not paged.

58. The method of any one of claims 31-57, wherein, The device is a user equipment (UE) and the apparatus is a transmit-and-receive point (TRP) in a wireless communication system.

59. An apparatus, comprising: Comprising: at least one processor; a memory storing processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to implement a method recited in any of claims 31-57. 60.A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions, wherein, The instructions cause a processor in an apparatus to implement a method recited in any of claims 31-57.

61. An apparatus, comprising: For performing a method recited in any of claims 1-27 or a method recited in any of claims 31-57.

62. A processor, comprising: For executing instructions to cause an apparatus to perform a method recited in any of claims 1-27 or a method recited in any of claims 31-57.

63. An integrated circuit, comprising: For performing a method recited in any of claims 1-27 or a method recited in any of claims 31-57. For performing a method recited in any of claims 1-27 or a method recited in any of claims 31-57.

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