Synchronization signal periodic indication

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to the field of telecommunications, and in particular to devices, methods, apparatus and computer readable storage media for indicating the periodicity of a synchronization signal and / or performing an action based on the periodicity. One aspect of aspects of the present disclosure proposes an apparatus for communication. The apparatus is caused to at least perform: receiving a broadcast channel comprising at least one of the timing-related payload bits, wherein the at least one of the timing-related payload bits indicates a periodicity of a synchronization signal; determining a periodicity based on at least one of the timing-related payload bits; and performing at least one action based on the determined periodicity.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] Embodiments of the disclosure relate to the field of telecommunications, and in particular to methods, apparatuses and computer readable storage media for indicating periodicity of a synchronization signal and / or performing actions based on the periodicity. BACKGROUND

[0002] In 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) cellular networks, a synchronization signal is a key element for keeping the timing and frequency alignment between base stations (eNodeBs) and user equipments (UEs). This signal enables the UEs to accurately receive and decode data transmitted by the eNodeBs.

[0003] Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTNs) are a relatively new concept within 3GPP, which aims to extend cellular connectivity beyond traditional terrestrial networks. This means providing cellular services to areas that are not covered by ground-based cell towers, such as: 1) remote areas (e.g. vast deserts, remote islands or mountainous regions, where it is neither practical nor cost-effective to build traditional cell towers), 2) mobile vehicles (e.g. ships, airplanes, and even vehicles in space, which enable continuous connectivity while moving) and 3) disaster relief (e.g. NTNs can provide critical communications during natural disasters or emergencies, where ground infrastructure can be damaged). SUMMARY

[0004] The scope of protection sought for various example embodiments is set forth by the claims that follow. According to some aspects, subject matter of independent claims is provided. Some other aspects are defined in dependent claims. Example embodiments described in this specification that do not fall within the scope of the claims, if any, should be interpreted as examples helpful for understanding various embodiments.

[0005] Other features and advantages of embodiments of the present disclosure will also become apparent from the following description of the embodiments with reference to the drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, principles of embodiments of the present disclosure. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0006] Embodiments of the disclosure are presented in the sense of examples, and their advantages are explained in more detail below with reference to the drawings.

[0007] Figure 1A An example of a wireless communication network is shown; Figure 1A An example of NTN communication is shown.

[0008] Figure 2 An example of subframe number and SSB deployment is shown.

[0009] Figure 3is a schematic flow chart illustrating some example embodiments according to a first aspect of the present disclosure.

[0010] Figure 4 is a schematic flow chart illustrating some example embodiments according to a second aspect of the present disclosure.

[0011] Figure 5 is a schematic flow chart illustrating some example embodiments according to a third aspect of the present disclosure.

[0012] Figure 6 Examples of apparatus are illustrated.

[0013] Figure 7 Examples of apparatus are illustrated.

[0014] In all the drawings, like or similar elements can be denoted by the same or similar reference signs. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0015] The following examples are illustrative. The principles of the present disclosure will be described with reference to some example embodiments. It should be understood that these embodiments are only described for illustrative purposes and to help the person skilled in the art to understand and implement the present disclosure, and do not imply any limitation on the scope of the present disclosure. The embodiments described herein can be implemented in various ways other than those described below.

[0016] In the following description and claims, unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein can have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

[0017] Reference in the disclosure to “one embodiment”, “an embodiment”, “example embodiment”, etc., indicates that a described embodiment can include a particular feature, structure, element, or characteristic, but every embodiment can not include the particular feature, structure, element, or characteristic. Moreover, these phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, when a particular feature, structure, element, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that whether or not explicitly described with reference to other embodiments, the person skilled in the art will recognize that such a feature, structure, or characteristic can be applied to other embodiments.

[0018] It should be understood that although the terms “first”, “second”, etc. can be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and, similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of example embodiments. As used herein, the term “and / or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed terms.

[0019] As used herein, "at least one of " and "one or more of " and similar phrases, where the list of two or more elements is joined by "and" or "or", means at least one of the elements, or at least one of any two or more of the elements, or at least all of the elements.

[0020] As used herein, unless expressly stated otherwise, performing a step "in response to A" does not indicate that the step is performed immediately after A occurs, and can include one or more intervening steps.

[0021] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms "a," "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises," "comprising," "includes," "including," "has," "have," "having," "contains" and / or "containing," when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements and / or components and do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and / or combinations thereof.

[0022] As used in this application, the term "circuitry" can refer to one or more or all of the following: (a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in pure analog and / or digital circuitry) and (b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as (as applicable): (i) a combination of analog and / or digital hardware circuit(s) with software / firmware and (ii) any portions of hardware processor(s) with software (including digital signal processors) that work together to (c) hardware circuit(s) that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but software is not considered as hardware in and of itself, such as a hardware central processing unit (CPU) that requires software to operate, such as a piece of hardware, but software, not being hardware, is not a part of it.

[0023] This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application. As a further example, as used in this application, the term "circuitry" also covers an implementation that is a part of hardware circuitry or a processor (or multiple processors), or that is part of hardware circuitry or server, and that stores in memory (or registers) software for use by the processor and / or that is software, such as a schedule, a table, a database, an algorithm, a protocol, an operating system, an application program, firmware, software modules, or the like. For example, in an implementation that is part of a mobile device, the term "circuitry" also covers the baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit that is part of the mobile device, or a similar integrated circuit in a cellular network device or other computing or network device.

[0024] As used herein, the term "communication network" refers to a network following any suitable communication standard, such as New Radio (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), Long Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE-A), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT), etc. Further, the communication between the terminal device and the network device in the communication network can be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocol, including but not limited to, first generation (1G), second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, fifth generation (5G), sixth generation (6G) communication protocols, and / or any other protocol that is currently known or developed. Embodiments of the present disclosure can be applied in various communication systems. In view of the rapid development in communications, it is contemplated that future types of communication technologies and systems can be implemented that can implement the present disclosure. The scope of the present disclosure should not be considered to be limited only to the above-described systems.

[0025] As used herein, the term "network entity" refers to a node in a communication network via which a user device accesses the network and receives services therefrom. The network entity can refer to a network device, a base station (BS), or an access point (AP), e.g., a Node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), an NR NB (also known as gNB), a radio access network (RAN) node, a new generation RAN (NG RAN), a remote radio unit (RRU), a radio head (RH), a remote radio head (RRH), a relay, an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node, a low power node (such as a femto, pico), a non-terrestrial network (NTN) device or non-ground network device (such as a satellite network device, low earth orbit (LEO) satellite, and geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) satellite), an aerial vehicle network device, etc., depending on the terminology applied and technology. In some example embodiments, a radio access network (RAN) split architecture includes a centralized unit (CU) and a distributed unit (DU) at an IAB donor node. The IAB node includes a mobile termination (IAB-MT) part that behaves like a UE towards a parent node and a DU part of the IAB node that behaves like a base station towards a next hop IAB node.

[0026] The term “user equipment” refers to any end device with wireless communication capability. By way of example, and without limitation, a terminal device can refer to a communication device, user equipment (UE), a subscriber station (SS), a portable subscriber station, a mobile station (MS), a terminal device, or an access terminal (AT). A user equipment can include, but is not limited to, a mobile telephone, a cellular telephone, a smart phone, a voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone, a wireless local loop phone, a tablet, a wearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a portable computer, a desktop computer, an image capture terminal device, such as a digital camera, a game terminal device, a music storage and playback appliance, a vehicle-mounted wireless terminal device, a wireless endpoint, a mobile station, a laptop embedded equipment (LEE), a laptop mounted equipment (LME), a USB dongle, a smart device, a wireless customer-premises equipment (CPE), an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a watch or other wearable device, a head-mounted display (HMD), a vehicle, a drone, medical devices and applications (e.g., remote surgery), industrial devices and applications (e.g., robots and / or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and / or

[0027] As used herein, the terms “resource,” “transmission resource,” “resource block,” “physical resource block” (PRB), “uplink resource,” “downlink resource,” or “sidelink resource” can refer to any resource used to perform a communication, such as a resource in a time domain, a resource in a frequency domain, a resource in a spatial domain, a resource in a code domain, or any other resource that enables a communication, etc. Hereinafter, unless explicitly stated otherwise, resources in both the frequency and time domains will be used as an example of transmission resources to describe some example embodiments of the present disclosure. It is noted that example embodiments of the present disclosure are equally applicable to other resources in other domains.

[0028] Figure 1A An example of a simplified wireless communication network is depicted showing some physical and logical network entities. Figure 1A The connections shown in FIG. 1 can be physical or logical connections. As is apparent to those skilled in the art, the wireless communication network can also include other physical and logical entities in addition to those shown in FIG. 1. Figure 1A The connections shown in FIG. 1 can be physical or logical connections. As is apparent to those skilled in the art, the wireless communication network can also include other physical and logical entities in addition to those shown in FIG. 1.

[0029] However, the example embodiments described herein are not limited to the wireless communication network given as an example, but a person skilled in the art can apply the embodiments described herein to other wireless communication networks with the necessary properties.

[0030] Figure 1A The example wireless communication network shown in Fig. 1 comprises an access network, such as a Radio Access Network (RAN), and a core network 110.

[0031] Figure 1A User Equipment (UE) 100, 102 is shown, which is configured to be in a wireless connection with an Access Node (AN) 104 of the access network on one or more communication channels in a radio cell. The AN 104 can be an evolved NodeB (abbreviated as eNB or eNodeB), or a next generation evolved NodeB (abbreviated as ng-eNB), or a next generation NodeB (abbreviated as gNB or gNodeB), which provides the radio cell. The wireless connection (e.g. radio link) from the UE to the access node 104 can be referred to as uplink (UL) or reverse link, and the wireless connection (e.g. radio link) from the access node to the UE can be referred to as downlink (DL) or forward link. The UE 100 can also communicate directly with the UE 102 via a wireless connection, commonly referred to as a sidelink (SL), and vice versa. It should be appreciated that the access node 104 or functionality thereof can be implemented by using any entity, host, server or access point, etc. suitable for providing such functionality.

[0032] The access network can comprise more than one access node, in which case the access nodes can also be configured to communicate with another access node over a wired or wireless link. These links between access nodes can be used for transmitting and receiving control plane signaling, and can also be used for routing data from one access node to another access node.

[0033] The access node can comprise a computing device configured to control radio resources of the access node. The access node can also be referred to as a network entity, a base station, a base transceiver station (BTS), an access point, a cell site, a radio access node, or any other type of node capable of wireless connection with a UE (e.g. UE 100, 102). The access node can comprise or be coupled to a transceiver. From the transceiver of the access node, a connection can be provided to an antenna unit that establishes a bidirectional radio link to the UE 100, 102. The antenna unit can comprise an antenna or antenna element, or a plurality of antennas or antenna elements.

[0034] The access nodes 104 can also be connected to a core network (CN) 110. The core network 110 can comprise an evolved packet core (EPC) network and / or a fifth generation core network (5GC). The EPC can comprise network entities such as a serving gateway (S-GW for routing and forwarding data packets), a packet data network gateway (P-GW) for providing connectivity to external packet data networks, and a mobility management entity (MME). The 5GC can comprise network functions such as a user plane function (UPF), an access and mobility management function (AMF), and a location management function (LMF).

[0035] The core network 110 is also capable of communicating with, or utilizing the services of, one or more external networks 113, such as a public switched telephone network or the Internet. For example, in a 5G wireless communication network, the UPF of the core network 110 can be configured to communicate with external data networks via an N6 interface. In an LTE wireless communication network, the P-GW of the core network 110 can be configured to communicate with external data networks.

[0036] The UEs 100, 102 shown are one type of apparatus to which the disclosed technology can be applied. The UEs 100, 102 can also be referred to as wireless communication devices, subscriber units, mobile stations, remote terminals, access terminals, user terminals, terminal devices, or user equipment (to name just a few). A UE can be a computing device that operates with a subscriber identity module (SIM) or without a SIM, including but not limited to the following types of computing devices: a mobile phone, a smart phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a cellphone, a computing device including a wireless modem (e.g., an alarm or meter, etc.), a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a tablet computer, a game console, a notebook, a multimedia device, a RedCap device, a wearable device with radio components (e.g., a watch, a headset, or glasses), a sensor including a wireless modem, or any computing device including a wireless modem integrated in a vehicle.

[0037] It will be appreciated that a UE can also be an almost exclusively uplink device, an example of which can be a camera or video camera that loads images or video clips to a network. A UE can also be a device with the capability to operate in an Internet of Things (IoT) network, which is a scenario in which data can be transmitted through a network to objects that do not require the ability of human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction. A UE can also leverage the cloud. In some applications, computations can be performed in the cloud or in another UE.

[0038] The wireless communication network can also be capable of supporting the use of cloud services, for example, at least part of the core network operations can be implemented as a cloud service (this is referred to as a cloudified core network). The cloud can be used for other purposes as well, such as for providing a platform for the implementation of the network functions of the core network 110. Figure 1AThe wireless communication network can also comprise a central control entity or the like providing facilities for the wireless communication networks of different operators to cooperate, e.g. in spectrum sharing.

[0039] 5G enables the use of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antennas in the access nodes 104 and / or the UEs 100, 102, and base stations or access nodes are much more numerous than in LTE networks (the so-called small cell concept), including macro sites operating in co-operation with smaller stations and according to the services demanded, use cases and / or available frequency spectrum. The 5G wireless communication network can support a wide range of use cases and related applications, including video streaming, augmented reality, different ways of data sharing and various forms of machine type applications, such as (massive) machine type communications (mMTC), including vehicular safety, different sensors and real-time control.

[0040] In the 5G wireless communication network, the access nodes and / or UEs can have multiple radio interfaces, i.e. sub-6 GHz, cmWave and mmWave, and can also be integrated with existing legacy radio access technologies, such as LTE. The integration with LTE can be implemented, for example, as a system where macro coverage can be provided by LTE and 5G radio interface access can be implemented through small cells aggregated to LTE. In other words, the 5G wireless communication network can support both inter-RAT interoperability (such as LTE-5G) and inter-RI interoperability (inter-radio interface interoperability, such as sub-6 GHz-cmWave-mmWave). One of the concepts to be used in the 5G wireless communication network can be network slicing, where multiple independent and dedicated virtual sub-networks (network instances) can be created within the substantially same infrastructure to run services having different requirements on latency, reliability, throughput and mobility.

[0041] In some example embodiments, an access node (e.g. the access node 104) can comprise a radio unit (RU) comprising a radio transceiver (TRX), i.e. a transmitter (Tx) and a receiver (Rx), one or more distributed units (DU) 105, which can be used for so-called layer 1 (LI) processing and real-time layer 2 (L2) processing, and a central unit (CU) 108 (also called a centralized unit), which can be used for non-real-time L2 and layer 3 (L3) processing. The CU 108 can be connected to one or more DUs 105, e.g. via an Fl interface. Such an embodiment of an access node can enable centralization of the CU with respect to the cell site and the DUs, which can be more distributed and can even remain at the cell site. The CU and the DUs together can also be called a baseband or baseband unit (BBU). The CU and the DUs can also be comprised in a radio access point (RAP).

[0042] The CU 108 can be a logical node hosting the radio resource control (RRC), service data adaptation protocol (SDAP), and / or packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) of the NR protocol stack for the access node. The DU 105 can be a logical node hosting the radio link control (RLC), medium access control (MAC), and / or physical (PHY) layer of the NR protocol stack for the access node. Operation of the DU can be controlled at least in part by the CU. It should also be understood that the distribution of functions between the DU 105 and the CU 108 can vary depending on the implementation. The CU can include a control plane (CU-CP), which can be a logical node hosting the RRC and control plane portions of the PDCP protocol of the NR protocol stack for the access node. The CU can also include a user plane (CU-UP), which can be a logical node hosting the user plane portions of the PDCP and SDAP protocols of the CU for the access node.

[0043] The cloud computing system can also be used to provide the CU 108 and / or the DU 105. The CU provided by the cloud computing system can be referred to as a virtualized CU (vCU). In addition to the vCU, there can also be a virtualized DU (vDU) provided by the cloud computing system. Further, there can also be a combination in which the DU can be implemented on a so-called bare-metal solution, such as an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or customer-specific standard product (CSSP) system on a chip (SoC).

[0044] Edge clouds can be introduced into the access network (e.g., RAN) by utilizing network function virtualization (NFV) and software-defined networking (SDN). Using edge clouds can mean that access node operations are to be implemented at least partly in a computing system that is operationally coupled to a remote radio head (RRH) or radio unit (RU) of the access node. It can also be possible that access node operations can be implemented on a distributed computing system that is located at the access node or a cloud computing system. Application of cloud-RAN architectures enables real-time functions of the RAN to be implemented at the access network (e.g., in the DU 105), while non-real-time functions are implemented in a centralized manner (e.g., in the CU 108).

[0045] It should also be understood that in future wireless communication networks, the distribution of functions between core network operations and access node operations can differ from that of LTE or 5G, 6G, or even not exist. Some other technology advancements that can be used include big data and all-IP, which can change the way wireless communication networks are constructed and managed. A 5G (or New Radio) NR wireless communication network can support multiple tiers, where a multi-access edge computing (MEC) server can be placed between the core network 110 and the access node 104. It should be understood that MEC can also be applied to LTE wireless communication networks.

[0046] A 5G wireless communication network ("5G network") can also include non-terrestrial communication networks, such as satellite communication networks, to enhance or complement the coverage of the 5G radio access network. For example, satellite communication can support data transmission between a 5G radio access network and a core network, thereby enabling a wider network coverage. Possible use cases can be to provide service continuity for machine-to-machine (M2M) or Internet of Things (IoT) devices or for passengers on board of vehicles, or to ensure service availability for critical communications and future railway / maritime / aviation communications. Satellite communication can utilize geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) satellite systems, but also low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite systems, in particular mega-constellations (systems in which several hundred (nano)satellites are deployed). A certain satellite 106 in a mega-constellation can cover several network entities supporting the satellite, which create ground cells. Ground cells can be accessed through a ground relay access node or created by an access node 104 located on the ground or in a satellite.

[0047] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that, Figure 1A The access nodes 104 depicted are merely examples of a part of an access network (e.g., a radio access network), and in practice, an access network can comprise multiple access nodes, UEs 100, 102 can access multiple radio cells, and an access network can also comprise other apparatuses, such as physical layer relay access nodes or other entities. At least one of the access nodes can be a Home eNodeB or a Home gNodeB. A Home gNodeB or a Home eNodeB is a kind of access node that can be used to provide indoor coverage within a home, an office, or other indoor environment.

[0048] In addition, in a geographical area of an access network (e.g., a radio access network), multiple different kinds of radio cells can be provided as well as multiple radio cells. A radio cell can be a macro cell (or umbrella cell), which can be a sizeable cell with a diameter of up to tens of kilometers, or smaller cells, such as micro cells, femto cells, or pico cells. Figure 1A An access node of the kind depicted can provide any kind of these cells. A cellular radio network can be implemented as a multi-tiered access network comprising several kinds of radio cells. In a multi-tiered access network, one access node can provide one or more kinds of radio cells, and thus multiple access nodes can be needed to provide such a multi-tiered access network.

[0049] To meet the demand for increased access network performance, the concept of a "plug and play" access node can be introduced. In addition to a Home eNodeB or a Home gNodeB, an access network capable of using "plug and play" access nodes can also include a Home NodeB gateway or HNB-GW (not depicted). Figure 1AA HNB-GW, which can be installed within an operator's access network, can aggregate traffic from a large number of home eNodeBs or home gNodeBs back to the operator's core network.

[0050] 1. Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) Figure 1B is a schematic diagram showing a non-terrestrial network in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented.

[0051] With reference to Figure 1B , a non-terrestrial network (NTN), which can form part of a cellular communications network, can comprise one or more user equipment (UE) devices 100, 102 (one of which is shown in Figure 1A and Figure 1B one of which is shown in Figure 1A and Figure 1B ).

[0052] The satellite 106 can be implemented as a so-called regenerative satellite. The regenerative satellite can communicate with the UEs 100 via a service link and with a gateway on the ground (not shown) via a feeder link. The payload of the regenerative satellite can comprise a base station or at least a part of a base station to perform at least part of the functionality of the base station. For example, if the satellite 106 comprises a 5G NR base station named on-board gNB as shown in Figure 1B , the NR-Uu radio interface can be implemented on the service link and the N2 / N3 interfaces can be implemented on the feeder link. The regenerative satellite 106 can implement regeneration on signals received from the UEs 100 and the gateway on the ground. It is conceivable that the satellite 106 can also be implemented as at least part of a 4G LTE base station eNB, a 5G base station and / or a post-5G (e.g. 6G) base station.

[0053] The NTN is a wireless communication system operating above the Earth's surface involving satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO), medium Earth orbit (MEO) and geostationary orbit (GEO), high-altitude platforms (HAPS) and drones. Such components are necessary to enable seamless coverage, bringing coverage even to remote areas that are inaccessible to traditional terrestrial networks. When the satellite 106 is a LEO satellite, it can be replaced by, for example, an airplane, a balloon, a high-altitude platform station, a drone aircraft system, etc.

[0054] Devices can be divided into devices connected to 3GPP terrestrial networks and devices connected to satellites. In other words, a user equipment that needs satellite connectivity needs another device in addition to its existing smartphone. With NTN, all mobile devices will be connected to terrestrial and satellite networks as part of the 3GPP ecosystem. With the continuous development of technology, satellites will become base stations. NTN has two aspects such as NTN-IoT and NTN-RN.

[0055] The NTN market is starting to be built through NTN-IoT. NTN-IoT extends the range of IoT use cases, enabling truly global coverage on land, sea, and air. It can operate at GEO and LEO altitudes, but current services mainly operate at GEO.

[0056] With the development of NTN technology, NTN-NR will become more and more relevant. NTN-NR will directly link smartphones and other 5G devices, such as devices that will adopt RedCap for non-terrestrial services. It can operate at LEO altitudes and enable low-data services, voice, and messaging for various use cases.

[0057] Embodiments and / or examples of the present disclosure can operate in NTN.

[0058] 2. Broadcast channel The broadcast channel includes a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) payload defined by TS 38.212 v18.4.0. A synchronization signal block (SSB) can include one or more primary synchronization signals (PSS), one or more secondary synchronization signals (SSS), and one or more PBCHs.

[0059] According to clause 7.1.1 of TS 38.212, the first stage of PBCH payload processing at the physical layer of the network device is as follows:

[0060] In embodiments and / or examples of the present disclosure, PBCH can be used as one of the examples of broadcast channels.

[0061] 3. System Frame Number (SFN) The value range of SFN can be 0, …, 1023 to record transmission timing up to 10.24 seconds, after which the counter will restart. Therefore, a user equipment can understand that it needs to Bits for binary representation of the range of values of SFN. In 5G NR, these 10 bits are generated at different layers, i.e., jointly by the RRC and PHY layers as described below.

[0062] The MAC layer of the base station provides a BCH transport block to the PHY layer, which is a master information block (MIB) of size 24 bits. The MIB includes timing information of the SFN by carrying the 6 most significant bits (MSB) of the SFN. The 4 least significant bits (LSB) are not included in the MIB. This means that the SFN content of the MIB changes every 160 ms as the SFN increases every 10 ms (e.g., each radio frame has a duration of 10 ms, so the system frame number increases by 1 every 10 ms). Adding these 4 LSBs at the physical layer reduces the RRC update rate of the MIB, which is passed from the MAC layer to the PHY layer.

[0063] In the following, some examples will be explained how the LSBs and / or MSBs of the SFN change based on different values of the SFN.

[0064] Figure 2 Examples of subframe numbers and SSB deployments are shown.

[0065] Figure 2 It is shown how the LSBs of the SFN change by incrementing the SFN value and how SSBs are deployed on subframes. Referring to Figure 2 , 10 SFNs (SFN0, SFN1, SFN9) are disclosed. Each SFN can be indicated by 10 bits. In the 10-bit SFN, the first 6 bits from the left are the most significant bits (MSB) and the 4 bits from the right are the least significant bits (LSB).

[0066] Referring to Figure 2 (a), it can be observed that if the SS / PBCH block (i.e., SSB) is transmitted with a periodicity of 20 ms, the least significant bit in the LSB (i.e., the rightmost bit) remains constant and equal to ‘0’ because this bit flips every 10 ms or after every increment of the SFN number. For example, if the SS / PBCH is transmitted in the even frames in Figure 2 , the least significant bit in the LSB always remains “0”.

[0067] In addition, referring to Figure 2 (b), it can be observed that, as an example, if the SSB is transmitted with a periodicity of 40 ms, two bits in the LSB remain unchanged and equal to 0 during the 40 ms window. For example, if the SSB is transmitted in SFN=0 and SFN=4, the first two bits of the LSB (i.e., the rightmost two bits) remain “00” and unchanged. Similarly, when the SSB is transmitted in SFN=2 and SFN=6, the first two bits of the LSB remain unchanged to “10”.

[0068] Another aspect to consider is the current specification text in TS 38.331 v18.3.0 (RRC specification), which reads as follows:

[0069] According to TS 38.331, each SSB will be repeated every 80 ms, and since each repetition block needs to contain the same content, the “border region” of each 160 ms period, where the LSB of the high 6 bits MSB of SFN will change, i.e., the SFN bits included in the MIB will change, cannot be part of the same repetition set within the 80 ms block.

[0070] Therefore, the “repetition block” needs to start at SFN = 0, so that the following property is always fulfilled: when transmitting the SSB carrying the PBCH, the LSB of any PHY encoding used for the LSB of the SFN will be “0”.

[0071] 4. Cell search A user equipment can perform a cell search in an NTN based on the received SSB, according to TS 38.213 v18.4.0, parts 1-3 and clause 4.1, as follows:

[0072] From the above underlined text, it is observed that for operation in FR1, which is related to coverage enhancement for NTN Rel-19 or later, up to 8 SSBs can be transmitted within a half frame. Therefore, The value of N can be equal to or less than 8.

[0073] A UE can assume that the half frame with SS / PBCH block (i.e., SSB) occurs with a periodicity of 2 frames (according to clause 4.1 of TS 38.213 v18.4.0). This means that when a UE searches for a cell, the UE (including regular UEs and NTN UEs) expects the SSB to occur once every 20 ms. The NTN UE can be a UE that supports Rel-19 or NTN communication.

[0074] 5. Indication of extended periodicity From the perspective of a user equipment (e.g., UE), the extension of the SSB periodicity can create ambiguity in the initial cell search or other actions that require the periodicity information if the user equipment does not know the periodicity of the cell. The user equipment can face several challenging issues as follows: - The time location of CORESET 0 is unknown without the knowledge of the periodicity value, - The RACH occasion (RO) availability is unknown without the knowledge of the periodicity value.

[0075] These challenges can also be faced by regular UEs or UEs supporting NTN. Therefore, the present invention considers the problem of indicating periodicities to UEs, including Rel-19 NTN UEs supporting receiving an extended default SSB periodicity.

[0076] In the present disclosure, it is proposed to introduce a signaling mechanism that enables the notification of the synchronization signal periodicity (e.g., SSB periodicity) to the UE by various signaling means. This would allow the UE to acquire an understanding of the absolute timing of the synchronization signal transmission and potentially be configured to a periodicity that is longer than the periodicity that the UE can assume as default (e.g., normal operation) according to the current specification. For example, legacy UEs can be configured with a default SSB periodicity (e.g., 20 ms), and other non-default SSB periodicities can be configured to the legacy UEs by the network equipment. For Rel-19 UEs including NTN UEs, they can be configured with a new default SSB periodicity (e.g., longer than 20 ms), and the network equipment can configure other non-default SSB periodicities to the Rel-19 UEs.

[0077] The signaling / indicating means can be implemented by exploiting the limitation according to certain configuration options (e.g., the amount of SSBs per half frame (related to subcarrier spacing configuration)) or the reserved bits according to the special properties from the existing SSB indication patterns (e.g., LBS of SSB). Alternatively, the signaling / indicating means can be implemented by a combination of both.

[0078] In the following, aspects of the present disclosure are explained in more detail.

[0079] 5.1 First aspect of the present disclosure Figure 3 is a schematic flow chart illustrating some example embodiments according to the first aspect of the present disclosure.

[0080] Reference is made to Figure 3 , a user equipment 100 and a network equipment 106 are disclosed. The user equipment 100 can be a UE 100, 102 of Figure 1A or Figure 1B , and there can be more than one user equipment (not shown). The network equipment 106 can be an AN 104 of Figure 1A or Figure 1A or Figure 1B a gNB 106, and there can be more than one network equipment.

[0081] For explaining the first aspect of the present disclosure, the figures 1 and their description as well as the technical features disclosed in the above sections 1 to 4 can be applied.

[0082] With respect to the user equipment, a first apparatus for communication will be explained. The first apparatus of method A1 can be a user equipment 100 supporting satellite network communication. Alternatively or additionally, the first apparatus can be embedded or to be embedded in the user equipment 106.

[0083] The first apparatus can comprise at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus to perform at least one of the following methods A1 to A3, A5 to A7 or A8.

[0084] The first apparatus can comprise one or more means for performing at least one of the following methods A1 to A3, A5 to A7 or A8.

[0085] A1 comprises steps S320, S330 and S340.

[0086] At S320, the second apparatus receives a broadcast channel. The broadcast channel comprises periodic information. The broadcast channel is received for NTN communication.

[0087] At S330, the second apparatus determines a periodicity of a synchronization signal based on the periodic information.

[0088] At S340, the second apparatus performs at least one action based on the determined periodicity.

[0089] For method A2, the at least one action in A1 can comprise at least one of: - receiving a synchronization signal in a cell; - determining a random access channel occasion; or - determining (or searching) a time location of a coreset (e.g., coreset 0).

[0090] For method A3, the at least one action in A1 or A2 can comprise at least one of: - not receiving a synchronization signal; or - not determining (or searching) a time location of a coreset (e.g., coreset 0).

[0091] With respect to the network equipment 106, a second apparatus for communication will be explained. The second apparatus can be a network equipment 106 supporting satellite network communication. Alternatively or additionally, the second apparatus can be embedded or to be embedded in the network equipment 106. The second apparatus can broadcast a broadcast channel for NTN communication.

[0092] The second apparatus can comprise at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second apparatus to perform at least one of the following methods A4 to A8.

[0093] The second apparatus can comprise one or more means for performing at least one of the following methods A4 to A8.

[0094] A4 comprises steps S310 and S320.

[0095] At S310, the second apparatus (e.g., network equipment 106) generates a broadcast channel comprising periodicity information. The periodicity information is associated with a periodicity of a synchronization signal.

[0096] At S320, the second apparatus broadcasts (or transmits, transmits) the broadcast channel on the cell.

[0097] For method A5, the broadcast channel of any of methods Al to A4 can comprise a physical broadcast channel (PBCH).

[0098] For method A6, the synchronization signal of any of methods Al to A5 can comprise a synchronization signal block (SSB). The SSB can comprise a PSS, a SSS, and a PBCH.

[0099] For method A7, the periodicity information of any of methods Al to A6 can be indicated by a subset of bits carried by the broadcast channel.

[0100] For method A8, the broadcast channel of any of methods Al to A7 can comprise an indication indicating whether the periodicity is extended.

[0101] To implement methods Al to A8, a computer program comprising instructions which, when executed by the first apparatus or the second apparatus (e.g., user equipment 100 or network equipment 106), can cause the first apparatus or the second apparatus to perform the method of any of Al to A8. In this case, the computer program can be stored on a computer-readable storage medium. The computer-readable storage medium can be a non-transitory computer-readable medium.

[0102] Additionally or alternatively, the periodicity information can be indicated based on timing-dependent payload bits of the broadcast channel (e.g., additional timing-dependent PBCH payload bits). For example, the periodicity information can be indicated by at least one of the LSBs of the timing-dependent payload bits. Alternatively, the periodicity information can be indicated by at least one of the seventh or eighth bits of the timing-dependent payload bits. Alternatively, the periodicity information can be indicated by at least one reserved bit of the broadcast channel. Alternatively, the periodicity information can be indicated by a combination of at least one of the LSBs and at least one of the seventh or eighth bits of the timing-dependent payload bits.

[0103] 5.2 Second aspect of the disclosure It should be noted that the terms SS / PBCH block and SSB can be used interchangeably in the present disclosure.

[0104] As a second aspect of the present disclosure, it is proposed to utilize a subset of LSBs carrying the SFN for indicating the (extended) SSB periodicity, i.e. (see section 2). As shown in the example in section 2, at SFNs where the SS / PBCH block is transmitted with a certain periodicity, a part of the LSBs does not change with the SFN increment.

[0105] In one embodiment of the second aspect, the SSB periodicity is configured or indicated via a subset of least significant bits (LSBs) that are added to the PBCH payload by the PHY layer. For example, the PHY layer of the network device 104, 106 can configure at least one LSB of the additional timing related PBCH payload bits to indicate the periodicity.

[0106] In one embodiment, the subset of LSBs can be a pre-configured / fixed codepoint in a normative table for SSB periodicity indication. In this case, the normative table means one of the tables that are hard-coded in the 3GPP technical specification document.

[0107] Figure 4 is a schematic flow chart illustrating some example embodiments according to the second aspect of the present disclosure.

[0108] With reference to Figure 4 , a user device 100 and a network device 106 are disclosed. The user device 100 can be a UE 100, 102 of Figure 1A or Figure 1B and there can be more than one user device (not shown). The network device 106 can be an AN 104 of Figure 1A or a gNB 106 of Figure 1A or Figure 1B and there can be more than one network device.

[0109] For explaining the second aspect of the present disclosure, the technical features disclosed in the above sections 1 to 4 and Fig. 1 and its description can be applied.

[0110] With respect to the user device 100, a third apparatus for communication will be explained. The third apparatus can be a user device 106 supporting satellite network communication. Alternatively or additionally, the third apparatus can be embedded or to be embedded in the user device 100.

[0111] The third apparatus comprises at least one processor and at least one memory. The at least one memory stores instructions which, when executed from the at least one processor, cause the third apparatus to perform at least one of the following methods B1 to B3, B5 to B10 or B11.

[0112] The third apparatus can comprise one or more means for performing at least one of the following methods B1 to B3 and B5 to B10 or B11.

[0113] B1 can comprise steps S420, S430 and S440.

[0114] At step S420, the third apparatus receives a broadcast channel comprising system frame number (SFN) information. At least one of the least significant bits (LSB) of the SFN information is related to a periodicity of a synchronization signal.

[0115] At step S430, the third apparatus determines the periodicity based on the at least one of the LSBs.

[0116] At step S440, the third apparatus performs at least one action based on the determined periodicity.

[0117] For method B2, the at least one action in method B1 comprises at least one of the following actions: - receiving a synchronization signal; - determining a random access channel occasion; - determining (or searching) a time location of a coreset (e.g. coreset 0).

[0118] For method B3, the at least one action of method B2 or B3 comprises at least one of the following actions: - not receiving a synchronization signal; or - not determining (or searching) a time location of a coreset (e.g. coreset 0).

[0119] With respect to the network device 106, a fourth apparatus for communication will be explained. The fourth apparatus of method B4 can be the network device 106 supporting satellite network communication. Alternatively or additionally, the fourth apparatus can be embedded or to be embedded in the network device 106.

[0120] The fourth apparatus comprises at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the fourth apparatus to perform at least one of the following methods B4 to B10 or B11.

[0121] The fourth apparatus can comprise one or more means for performing at least one of the following methods B4 to B10 or B11.

[0122] B4 can comprise steps S410 and S420.

[0123] At step S410, the fourth apparatus generates a broadcast channel comprising system frame number (SFN) information. At least one of the least significant bits (LSB) of the SFN information is related to a periodicity of a synchronization signal.

[0124] At step S420, the fourth apparatus broadcasts the broadcast channel in the cell.

[0125] For method B5, the broadcast channel of any of methods B1-B4 comprises a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) payload.

[0126] For method B6, the synchronization signal of any of methods B1-B5 comprises a synchronization signal block (SSB).

[0127] For method B7, the broadcast channel of any of methods B1-B6 can comprise an indication indicating whether the periodicity is extended or not.

[0128] For method B8, the first bit in the LSB of method B7 is used for indication.

[0129] For method B9, the size of at least one bit in the LSB of any of methods B1-B8 can be 4 bits. The size of the LSB can vary if the total number of additional timing dependent PBCH payload sizes changes.

[0130] For method B10, at least one of the LSBs of any of methods B1-B9 is a codepoint of a preconfigured table for determining the periodicity.

[0131] For method B11, when at least one bit in the LSB is set to ‘1’, the periodicity of any of methods B1-B9 can be extended to the next level, or when the bit is set to ‘0’, the periodicity can not be extended to the next level.

[0132] To implement methods B1-B11, a computer program comprising instructions which, when executed by the third apparatus or the fourth apparatus (e.g., the user equipment 100 or the network equipment 106), can cause the third apparatus or the fourth apparatus to perform the method of any of B1-B11. In this case, the computer program can be stored on a computer-readable storage medium. The computer-readable storage medium can be a non-transitory computer-readable medium.

[0133] In the following, additionally or alternatively, some examples of a second aspect of the present disclosure will be explained. The following examples can be implemented in Figure 4 at step S430 of the method of

[0134] As a possible prerequisite, the UE (e.g., the user equipment 100) knows that the network is reserving a frequency band for “special operation” - i.e., operation in a frequency band that supports Rel-19 coverage enhancement.

[0135] Since the UE 100 knows that the network device 106 is operating in a special mode, it is allowed to read and interpret the LSB(s) of the SFN carried as part of the physical layer encoding of the SS / PBCH block.

[0136] In one embodiment of the second aspect, the encoding of the first LSB will be such that the value “0” indicates that “normal operation” is configured, i.e. SSB periodicity of 20 ms. In normal operation, the network device 106 can be an AN 104, or the network device 106 can be a satellite but support a legacy communication system (e.g. 4G or 5G up to Rel-18).

[0137] If the first LSB has the value “1”, this will indicate that the network device 106 is operating in an “extended SSB periodicity mode”. In the extended SSB periodicity mode, the network device can be an AN 104, or the network device 106 can be a satellite but support a new communication system (e.g. 5G beyond Rel-18 or 6G). In this case, the implication is that the UE 100 will determine the actual value of the SFN by considering it to have the value 0, while it will still use the acquired knowledge to assume a longer SSB periodicity. A longer SSB periodicity means an SSB periodicity that is extended from (or compared to) the normal SSB periodicity, for supporting NTN communication.

[0138] The interpretation of “longer SSB periodicity” can be implemented in multiple ways. It can mean that another (larger) SSB periodicity (e.g. 80 ms) is configured to the NTN UE (or Rel-19 UE), or the UE can be triggered to have a range of interpretations, which can specifically be as follows.

[0139] If the SSB periodicity is “longer than 20 ms”, this means that the extended periodicity is 40 ms, 80 ms or 160 ms (or even more). If the SSB periodicity is extended to 40 ms, this means that the second bit of the LSB will always be “0” (for normal counting), and the same principle can be used to indicate whether 40 ms or “longer than 40 ms” is used. The same is possible for 80 ms periodicity, and all the way up to all possible SSB periodicities, such as 160 ms, 320 ms, 640 ms, 1280 ms, etc.

[0140] As a supplement or alternative to the second aspect, the extended SSB periodicity can be indicated by using at least one of the LSBs of the additional timing related PBCH payload bits. For example, see Table 1 below, when assuming that an SSB is transmitted every 20 ms, the LSBs that are not encoding periodicity information should be [x, x, x, 0]. Further, when assuming that an SSB is transmitted every 40 ms, the LSBs that are not encoding periodicity information should be [x, x, 0, 0]. In other words, for 40 ms, the first two LSBs remain unchanged and equal to zero. If the network device wants to additionally encode the periodicity information in the LSBs (i.e., carry extra information for indicating the extended SSB periodicity to the NTN UE), the network device can change (i.e., we encode) those bits that the UE expects to be unchanged and equal to zero. In this way, the network device can convey additional information, which in this case is an indication of the extended SSB periodicity.

[0141] [Table 1]

[0142] The SSB periodicities indicated in Table 1 are merely examples, the values of the periodicities can change according to the standard specification or the capacity of the communication network.

[0143] In addition to or as an alternative to the second aspect, if the UE observes a transmission with the 4 LSBs of the SFN as [1 01 1], it will observe that L1 is “1”, which means that the SSB periodicity extension has been activated, and the SSB periodicity is greater than 20 ms. Upon observing that L2 is also “1”, the UE will again observe that the periodicity of the SSB is greater than 40 ms. And upon observing that L3 is “0”, the UE can detect that the SSB periodicity is not greater than 80 ms, and thus the UE knows which SSB periodicity the gNB has configured for the system. This procedure can be performed at step S430.

[0144] Accordingly, since the SSB repetition needs to follow the procedure text according to TS 38.331, the UE can only reset the values of L1 and L2 of the LSBs to “0” when evaluating the actual SFN for other procedures.

[0145] By observing that the LSBs of the indicated SFN are “non-zero” on the L1 bit, the UE can implicitly know that the applied SSB periodicity is also “non-20 ms”. Accordingly, by observing that the LSBs are “zero”, the UE will consider the SSB periodicity to be the default 20 ms according to clause 4.1 of TS 38.213.

[0146] As an alternative or in addition to the second aspect of the present disclosure, another point to note in connection with the above description is that it is a prerequisite that the UE implicitly understands that the SSB periodicity does not have a value lower than 20 ms. That is, the gNB will not transmit SSBs with a periodicity lower than 20 ms (e.g., not using a 5 or 10 ms periodicity), and the UE will use this understanding when evaluating the value of the set of LSBs of the SFN and interpreting.

[0147] 5.3 Third aspect of the present disclosure As a third aspect for indicating the SSB periodicity, it is proposed to use at least one of the additional timing related PBCH payload bits or the reserved bits in addition to the LSBs added by the PHY layer to the PBCH payload. Specifically, here the fact is used that for FR1 NTN, the maximum number of SS / PBCH blocks that can be transmitted can not be larger than 8. Thus, and at least one of the or bits in the additional timing related PBCH payload bits can be reserved.

[0148] In one embodiment of the third aspect, at least one of the timing related bits of the broadcast channel can be used for configuration or indication of the SSB periodicity of the Rel-19 NTN UE. In this case, the timing related bits include the additional timing related PBCH payload bits.

[0149] In one embodiment of the third aspect, the reserved bits for the SS / PBCH block index indication can be used for configuration / indication of the SSB periodicity of the Rel-19 NTN UE.

[0150] In one embodiment of the third aspect, a subset of the reserved bits can be a preconfigured / fixed codepoint in the specification table for SSB periodicity indication.

[0151] The third aspect of the present disclosure can not only be implemented separately from the first or second aspect of the present disclosure, but also in combination with the first or second aspect of the present disclosure. For example, at least one of the LSBs in the additional timing related PBCH payload bits and at least one of the reserved bits of the additional timing related PBCH payload bits are combined to indicate the periodicity of the synchronization signal (e.g., SSB).

[0152] Figure 5 is a schematic flowchart illustrating some example embodiments according to the third aspect of the present disclosure.

[0153] With reference to Figure 5 , a user equipment 100 and a network equipment 106 are disclosed. The user equipment 100 can be Figure 1A or Figure 1BUE 100, 102, and there can be more than one user equipment (not shown). The network device 106 can be Figure 1A AN 104 or Figure 1A or Figure 1B gNB 106, and there can be more than one network device.

[0154] For explaining the third aspect of the present disclosure, the technical features disclosed in the above sections 1 to 4 and Fig. 1 and its description can be applied.

[0155] With respect to the user equipment 100, a fifth apparatus for communication will be explained. The fifth apparatus of method C1 can be a user equipment 100 supporting satellite network communication. Alternatively or additionally, the fifth apparatus can be embedded or to be embedded in the user equipment 100.

[0156] The fifth apparatus comprises at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the fifth apparatus to perform at least one of the following methods: The fifth apparatus can comprise one or more means for performing one of the following methods C1 to C3, C5 to C9 or C10.

[0157] Method C1 can comprise steps S520, S530 and S540.

[0158] In step S520, the fifth apparatus receives a broadcast channel comprising at least one of timing related payload bits. The at least one of timing related payload bits indicates a periodicity of a synchronization signal.

[0159] In step S530, the fifth apparatus determines the periodicity based on the at least one of timing related payload bits.

[0160] In step S540, the fifth apparatus performs at least one action based on the determined periodicity.

[0161] For method C2, the at least one action of C1 comprises at least one of the following actions: - receiving a synchronization signal; - determining a random access channel occasion; - determining (or searching) a time location of a coreset.

[0162] For method C3, the at least one action of C1 or C2 comprises at least one of the following actions: - not receiving a synchronization signal; or - not determining (searching) a time location of a coreset.

[0163] With respect to the network device 106, a sixth apparatus for communication will be explained. The sixth apparatus of method C4 can be the network device 106 supporting satellite network communication. Alternatively or additionally, the sixth apparatus can be embedded or to be embedded into the network device 106.

[0164] The sixth apparatus comprises at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the sixth apparatus to perform at least one of the following methods C4 to C9 or C10.

[0165] The sixth apparatus can comprise one or more means for performing at least one of the following methods C4 to C9 or C10.

[0166] C4 can comprise steps S510 and S520.

[0167] At step S510, the sixth apparatus generates a broadcast channel comprising at least one of timing related payload bits. The at least one of timing related payload bits indicates a periodicity of a synchronization signal. The timing related payload bits can be additional timing related PBCH payload bits.

[0168] At step S520, the sixth apparatus transmits the broadcast channel. Additionally or alternatively, the sixth apparatus can broadcast the broadcast channel on one or more cells.

[0169] For method C5, the broadcast channel of any one of C1 to C4 can comprise a physical broadcast channel (PBCH).

[0170] For method C6, the synchronization signal of any one of C1 to C5 can comprise a synchronization signal block (SSB).

[0171] For method C7, at least one of the seventh or eighth bits of the timing related payload (or additional timing related PBCH payload) of any one of C1 to C6 can indicate the periodicity. Additionally or alternatively, the at least one of timing related payload bits can comprise at least one reserved bit. In this case, at least one of the reserved bits can indicate the periodicity.

[0172] For method C8, the maximum number of candidate synchronization signals of any one of C1 to C7 can be equal to or less than 8.

[0173] For method C9, the broadcast channel of any one of C1 to C8 comprises an indication indicating whether the periodicity is extended.

[0174] For method C10, the at least one of timing related payload bits of any one of C1 to C9 can be a codepoint of a preconfigured table for determining the periodicity.

[0175] To implement the methods C1-C10, a computer program including instructions can cause the fifth device or the sixth device (e.g., the user equipment 100 or the network device 106) to perform the method according to any one of C1-C10 when the computer program is executed by the fifth device or the sixth device. In this case, the computer program can be stored on a computer-readable storage medium. The computer-readable storage medium can be a non-transitory computer-readable medium.

[0176] In the following, additionally or alternatively, based on Figure 5 Some examples of explaining the third aspect of the present disclosure.

[0177] The Rel-19 NTN UE 100 can perform frequency band scanning (e.g., SSB detection) (S410) in a plurality of frequency bands (e.g., n1, n2, n3, etc.) to determine a SSB periodicity. Figure 5 For example, when the NTN UE 100 turns on the mobile phone, it does not know in which frequency band (n1, n2, n3, etc.) the SSB is transmitted. Therefore, the NTN UE 100 should check some predetermined locations, called synchronization raster points, which can belong to different frequency bands, to see if the SSB is transmitted. In this case, the Rel-19 NTN UE 100 can have a hard-coded table according to the specification, where different rows specify potentially different values for the SSB periodicity. Table 2 is an example of the hard-coded table.

[0178] [Table 2]

[0179] The gNB 106 can indicate the SSB periodicity to the NTN UE 100. In this case, it is assumed that the FR1 NTN and 8 potential SS / PBCH blocks have indices . For example, the gNB can generate and broadcast (S510, 520) a broadcast channel including timing-related payload bits (or reserved bits) indicating the SSB periodicity of at least one SS / PBCH block (e.g., SSB). The and bits are used to indicate the periodicity.

[0180] In addition, for all SS / PBCH blocks (i.e., 8 potential SSBs), their corresponding timing-related payload bits (or reserved bits) are changed to indicate the periodicity of the SS / PBCH transmission. For example, when the bits are set to , , the NTN UE 100 can determine (S530) the SSB periodicity to be 80 ms according to Table 2.

[0181] The NTN UE 100 can perform at least one action (S540) based on the determined SSB periodicity.

[0182] Additionally or alternatively, at least one of the LBS of the additional timing related PBCH payload bits can be used to indicate the SSB periodicity instead of the seventh and eighth bits of the additional timing related PBCH payload bits. Table 3 is an example of the third and fourth LSBs of the SFN being used to indicate the SSB periodicity.

[0183] [Table 3]

[0184] Referring to Table 3, if the third and fourth LSBs of the SFN are set to '00', the SSB periodicity is 40 ms, and if they are set to '10', the SSB periodicity is 160 ms.

[0185] Additionally or alternatively, a combination of at least one of the reserved bits (or ) and at least one of the LSBs of the additional timing related PBCH payload bits can indicate the SSB periodicity.

[0186] Figure 6 An example of an apparatus 600 including means for performing one or more of the above-described example embodiments is shown. For example, the apparatus 600 can be, or can include, or can be included in, the user equipment 100. The apparatus 600 can perform the operations disclosed in Figures 1 to Figure 5 .

[0187] The apparatus 600 can include circuitry or a chipset adapted to implement one or more of the above-described example embodiments. For example, the apparatus 600 can include at least one processor 610. The at least one processor 610 interprets and executes instructions (e.g., computer program instructions). The at least one processor 610 can include one or more programmable processors. The at least one processor 610 can include programmable hardware with embedded firmware, and alternatively or additionally can include one or more application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs).

[0188] The at least one processor 610 is coupled to the at least one memory 620. The at least one processor is configured to read data from and write data to the at least one memory 620. The at least one memory 620 can include one or more memory units. The memory units can be volatile or non-volatile. It should be noted that there can be one or more units of non-volatile memory and one or more units of volatile memory, or alternatively, one or more units of non-volatile memory, or alternatively, one or more units of volatile memory. The volatile memory can be, for example, a random access memory (RAM), a dynamic random access memory (DRAM), or a synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM). The non-volatile memory can be, for example, a read only memory (ROM), a programmable read only memory (PROM), an electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), a flash memory, an optical storage, or a magnetic storage. Generally, the memory can be referred to as a non-transitory computer readable medium. The term “non-transitory,” as used herein with respect to a medium, is to limit the medium to tangible physical installations, i.e., tangible, and not a signal. The at least one memory 620 stores computer readable instructions that are executed by the at least one processor 610 to implement one or more of the example embodiments described above. For example, the non-volatile memory stores the computer readable instructions and the at least one processor 610 executes the instructions using the volatile memory for temporary storage of data and / or instructions. The computer readable instructions can refer to computer program code.

[0189] The computer readable instructions can be pre-stored to the at least one memory 620, or alternatively or additionally, they can be received by the apparatus via an electromagnetic carrier wave signal and / or can be copied from a physical entity such as a computer program product. Execution of the computer readable instructions by the at least one processor 610 causes the apparatus 600 to perform one or more of the above-described aspects of the present disclosure. That is, the at least one processor and the at least one memory storing instructions can provide means for providing or causing performance of any of the above-described methods and / or blocks.

[0190] The apparatus 600 can also include or be connected to an input unit 630. The input unit 630 can include one or more interfaces for receiving input. The one or more interfaces can include, for example, one or more temperature, motion, and / or orientation sensors, one or more cameras, one or more accelerometers, one or more microphones, one or more buttons, and / or one or more touch detection units. In addition, the input unit 630 can include an interface to which an external device can be connected.

[0191] The apparatus 600 can further include an output unit 640. The output unit can include or be connected to one or more displays capable of presenting visual content, such as light emitting diode (LED) displays, liquid crystal displays (LCDs), and / or liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) displays. The output unit 640 can also include one or more audio outputs. The one or more audio outputs can be, for example, speakers.

[0192] The apparatus 600 further includes a connection unit 650. The connection unit 650 enables wireless connectivity to one or more external devices. The connection unit 650 includes at least one transmitter and at least one receiver that can be integrated to the apparatus 600 or to which the apparatus 600 can be connected. The at least one transmitter includes at least one transmit antenna, and the at least one receiver includes at least one receive antenna. The connection unit 650 can include an integrated circuit or a set of integrated circuits that provide the apparatus 600 with wireless communication capabilities. Alternatively, the wireless connectivity can be a hard-wired application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). The connection unit 650 can also provide means for performing at least some of the blocks or functions of one or more of the example embodiments described above. The connection unit 650 can include one or more components controlled by a corresponding control unit, such as: power amplifiers, digital front-ends (DFEs), analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), digital-to-analog converters (DACs), frequency converters, (de-) modulators, and / or encoder / decoder circuits.

[0193] It should be noted that the apparatus 600 can further include various components not shown in FIG. 6. The various components can be hardware components and / or software components. Figure 6

[0194] The apparatus 600 can perform or be applied to the embodiments described above. More specifically, the apparatus 600 can be the user equipment 100, and the user equipment 100 can be configured to perform one of the methods explained using FIGs. 1 to 5. Figure 5

[0195] Figure 7 An example of an apparatus 700 including means for performing one or more of the example embodiments described above is shown. For example, the apparatus 700 can be an apparatus such as or including or comprised in the network entity or network equipment 104, 106, and support the embodiments and examples described above.

[0196] ​​The network device 106 can also be referred to as, for example, a network element, a Next Generation Radio Access Network (NG-RAN) node, a NodeB, an eNB, a gNB, a base transceiver station (BTS), a base station, an NR base station, a 5G base station, an access node, an access point (AP), a cell site, a relay node, a repeater, an Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) node, an IAB donor node, a Distributed Unit (DU), a Central Unit (CU), a Base Band Unit (BBU), a Radio Unit (RU), a radio head, a remote radio head, or a Transmission and Reception Point (TRP).

[0197] The apparatus 700 can comprise circuitry or a chipset adapted for implementing one or more of the above-described example embodiments, for example. The apparatus 700 can be an electronic device comprising one or more electronic circuits. The apparatus 700 can comprise a communication control circuitry 710, such as at least one processor, and at least one memory 720 storing instructions 722 which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus 700 to perform one or more of the above-described example embodiments. Such instructions 722 can comprise computer program code (software), for example. The at least one processor and the at least one memory storing instructions can provide means for providing or causing execution of any of the methods and / or blocks described above.

[0198] The processor is coupled to the memory 720. The processor is configured to read data from and write data to the memory 720. The memory 720 can comprise one or more memory units. The memory units can be volatile or non-volatile. It should be noted that there can be one or more units of non-volatile memory and one or more units of volatile memory, or alternatively, one or more units of non-volatile memory, or alternatively, one or more units of volatile memory. The volatile memory can be, for example, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), or a Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM). The non-volatile memory can be, for example, a Read Only Memory (ROM), a Programmable Read Only Memory (PROM), an Electrically Programmable Read Only Memory (EPROM), an Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM), a flash memory, an optical storage, or a magnetic storage. Generally, the memory can be referred to as a non-transitory computer readable medium. The term “non-transitory,” as used herein with respect to a medium, is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e., tangible, as opposed to a signal), and not a limitation of data storage durability (e.g., RAM versus ROM). The memory 720 stores computer-readable instructions for execution by the processor. For example, the non-volatile memory stores the computer-readable instructions, and the processor executes the instructions using the volatile memory for temporary storage of data and / or instructions.

[0199] The computer-readable instructions can be pre-stored to the memory 720, or alternatively or additionally, they can be received by the apparatus via an electromagnetic carrier signal and / or can be copied from a physical entity such as a computer program product. Execution of the computer-readable instructions causes the apparatus 700 to perform one or more of the above-described functions.

[0200] The memory 720 can be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as semiconductor-based memory devices, flash memory, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory and / or removable memory.

[0201] The apparatus 700 can also comprise or be connected to a communication interface 730, such as a radio unit, comprising hardware and / or software for realizing communication connectivity according to one or more communication protocols with one or more wireless communication devices. The communication interface 730 comprises at least one transmitter (Tx) and at least one receiver (Rx) that can be integrated to the apparatus 700 or to which the apparatus 700 can be connected. The communication interface 730 can provide means for performing some of the blocks of one or more of the example embodiments described above. The communication interface 730 can comprise one or more components controlled by a corresponding control unit, such as: power amplifiers, digital front-ends (DFEs), analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), digital-to-analog converters (DACs), frequency converters, (de-)modulators, and / or encoder / decoder circuits.

[0202] The communication interface 730 provides radio communication capabilities to the apparatus for communication in a wireless communication network. The communication interface can for example provide a radio interface to one or more wireless communication devices. The apparatus 700 can also comprise or be connected to another interface towards a core network, such as a network coordinator apparatus or an AMF, and / or to an access node of a wireless communication network.

[0203] The apparatus 700 can also comprise a scheduler 740 configured to allocate radio resources. The scheduler 740 can be configured together with the communication control circuitry 710, or it can be configured separately.

[0204] It should be noted that the apparatus 700 can also comprise various components not shown in the above description. The various components can be hardware components and / or software components. Figure 7

[0205] The apparatus 700 can perform or be applied to one of the above-described embodiments. More specifically, the apparatus 700 can be a network device 104, which can be used to perform one of the methods explained in relation to Figures 1 to Figure 5

[0206] ​​The techniques and methods described herein can be implemented by various means. For example, these techniques can be implemented in hardware (one or more devices), firmware (one or more devices), software (one or more modules), or combinations thereof. For a hardware implementation, the apparatus of an example embodiment can be implemented within one or more application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), digital signal processing devices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), graphics processing units (GPUs), processors, controllers, micro-controllers, microprocessors, other electronic units designed to perform the functions described herein, or a combination thereof. For firmware or software, the implementation can be carried out through modules of at least one chip set (e.g., procedures, functions, and so on) that perform the functions described herein. The software codes can be stored in memory units and executed by processors. The memory unit can be implemented within the processor or external to the processor, in which case it can be communicatively coupled to the processor via various means known in the art. Additionally, the components of the systems described herein can be rearranged and / or complemented by additional components in order to facilitate the achievements of the aspects, etc., described with regard thereto, and they are not limited to the precise configurations set forth in the given figures, as will be appreciated by one skilled in the art.

[0207] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that, with the progress of technology, the inventive concept can be implemented in various ways. The embodiments are not limited to the above-described example embodiments, but can be varied within the scope of the claims. Therefore, all words and expressions should be interpreted broadly and they are intended to illustrate, not to limit, the embodiments.

Claims

1. An apparatus for communication, comprising at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following: Receive a broadcast channel including at least one bit of a timing-dependent payload bit, wherein the at least one bit of the timing-dependent payload bit indicates the periodicity of a synchronization signal; The periodicity is determined based on at least one bit of the timing-related payload bits; and At least one action is performed based on the determined periodicity.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus is a user equipment supporting satellite network communication.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the at least one action comprises at least one of the following: Receive the synchronization signal; Determine the timing of random access channel; or Determine coreset The time and location.

4. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the at least one action comprises at least one of the following: Do not receive the synchronization signal; or The timing of coreset is uncertain.

5. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the broadcast channel includes the Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH).

6. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the synchronization signal comprises a synchronization signal block (SSB).

7. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein at least one of the seventh or eighth bits of the timing-related payload bits indicates the periodicity.

8. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the maximum number of candidate synchronization signals is equal to or less than 8.

9. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the broadcast channel includes an indication of whether the periodicity is extended.

10. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein at least one of the timing-related payload bits is a code point for determining the pre-configuration table of the periodicity.

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