A random access method and device
Patent Information
- Application Number
- CN202511129389.4
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Applications(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Priority Date
- 2025-06-04
- Filing Date
- 2025-08-12
- Publication Date
- 2026-09-22
Smart Images
Figure CN122803069A_ABST
Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] This disclosure relates to the field of wireless communications, and more specifically, to a random access method and apparatus. Background Technology
[0002] To meet the increased demand for wireless data communication services since the deployment of 4G communication systems, efforts have been made to develop improved 5G or near-5G communication systems. Therefore, 5G or near-5G communication systems are also referred to as "super 4G networks" or "post-LTE systems".
[0003] 5G communication systems are implemented in higher frequency (millimeter wave, mmWave) bands, such as the 60GHz band, to achieve higher data rates. To reduce radio wave propagation loss and increase transmission distance, beamforming, massive MIMO, full-dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antennas, analog beamforming, and massive MIMO technologies are discussed in 5G communication systems.
[0004] In addition, in 5G communication systems, development is underway to improve system networks based on advanced small cells, cloud radio access networks (RAN), ultra-dense networks, device-to-device (D2D) communication, wireless backhaul, mobile networks, cooperative communication, cooperative multipoint (CoMP), and receiver interference cancellation.
[0005] In 5G systems, hybrid FSK and QAM modulation (FQAM) and sliding window superposition coding (SWSC) have been developed as advanced coding and modulation (ACM), while filter bank multicarrier (FBMC), non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) and sparse code multiple access (SCMA) have been developed as advanced access technologies. Summary of the Invention
[0006] According to embodiments of this disclosure, a method executed by a user equipment (UE) in a communication system is provided, comprising:
[0007] Receive configuration information related to the first random access resource and the second random access resource;
[0008] Receive first downlink control information (DCI) including first indication information related to the availability of the first random access resource, mask index information, and random access preamble index information;
[0009] Random access resources are determined based on the first DCI;
[0010] Select a random access resource from the determined random access resources and send the Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH).
[0011] If the first random access resource is available based on the first indication information, then the mask index information indicates the random access resource in the first random access resource, or indicates the random access resource in the first random access resource and the second random access resource.
[0012] In one implementation, the first random access resource indicated by the mask index information is indexed in a first order, and the second random access resource indicated by the mask index information is indexed in a second order.
[0013] In one implementation, the mask index information indicates that the first random access resource and the second random access resource are indexed in a third order.
[0014] In one implementation, the indices of the first and second random access resources indicated by the mask index information are related to a first mapping ratio from the Synchronization Signal Physical Broadcast Channel Block (SSB) to the first random access resource and a second mapping ratio from the SSB to the second random access resource.
[0015] In one implementation, the index of the first random access resource and the second random access resource indicated by the mask index information is related to the maximum of a first value determined based on the first mapping ratio and a second value determined based on the second mapping ratio, or to the sum of the first value and the second value.
[0016] In one implementation, if the preamble index information is not a first value, then random access resources are determined based on the first DCI, including at least one of the following:
[0017] Random access resources are determined based on the mask index information;
[0018] Random access resources are determined based on at least one bit in the preamble index information.
[0019] In one implementation, the mask index information is a PRACH mask index, and the determination of random access resources based on the first DCI further includes at least one of the following:
[0020] Random access resources are determined based on the reserved index in the PRACH mask index;
[0021] Random access resources are determined based on at least one bit in the preamble index information and the reserved index in the PRACH mask index.
[0022] In one implementation, if the preamble index information is the first value, then determining random access resources based on the first DCI includes:
[0023] Based on the fact that the first random access resource is available according to the first indication information, the random access resource is determined to be the first random access resource and the second random access resource based on the configuration information.
[0024] In one implementation, the first indication information indicates whether the first random access resource is available, and / or
[0025] The first indication information indicates whether the availability status of the first random access resource has changed.
[0026] In one implementation, if the first random access resource is available based on the first indication information, then the first random access resource is an available first random access resource for a first duration.
[0027] The first duration is p fourth cycles, where p is a positive integer.
[0028] The fourth cycle is the cycle related to random access.
[0029] In one implementation, the start position of the first duration is the start or end position of the fourth cycle in which the second reference point related to the reception of the first DCI is located, or the start position of the next fourth cycle of the fourth cycle.
[0030] In one implementation, the fourth cycle is one of the following:
[0031] First PRACH association cycle;
[0032] First PRACH associated pattern cycle;
[0033] First PRACH configuration cycle;
[0034] The mapping cycle from SSB to the first random access resource.
[0035] In one implementation, the value of p is related to the random access preamble index information in the first DCI.
[0036] In one implementation, the available first random access resource can be selected by the UE after a second reference point related to the reception time of the first DCI, or
[0037] The first available random access resource can be selected by the UE at the start of the next fourth cycle.
[0038] In one implementation, the method further includes:
[0039] Before receiving the first DCI, a second DCI including second indication information relating to the availability of the first random access resource is received, wherein the validity period of the available first random access resource indicated by the second DCI begins from a first reference point;
[0040] The available first random access resource can be selected by the UE after the first reference point.
[0041] In one implementation, the first reference point is one of the following:
[0042] The system frame number SFN of the first paging frame PF in the next I-DRX cycle after the idle discontinuous reception I-DRX cycle of the second DCI is received;
[0043] Receive the SFN of the first PF of the I-DRX cycle of the second DCI;
[0044] The first radio frame or the first SFN of the first random access-related third period after the I-DRX period of the second DCI is received;
[0045] Receive the first frame or the first SFN of the system information modification period of the second DCI;
[0046] The system information modification period of the second DCI is received, and the first frame or the first SFN of the next modification period is received.
[0047] In one implementation, the first random access resource is available for a second duration following a second reference point related to the reception time of the first DCI.
[0048] The second duration is one of the following: q first random access resources, q first time instances, or q first time units.
[0049] Where q is a positive integer greater than or equal to 1.
[0050] The first instance is the time resource corresponding to the random access resource of frequency division multiplexing.
[0051] The first time unit is one of the following: radio frame, time slot, half frame, paging period, and modification period related to the second reference point.
[0052] In one implementation, the value of q is related to the random access preamble information in the first DCI.
[0053] In one implementation, the second reference point is the start or end position of the second time unit at which the first DCI is received, or
[0054] The second reference point is at least a first time interval from the start or end position of the time unit in which the first DCI is received.
[0055] In one implementation, the second time unit is one of the following: receiving the last symbol of the first DCI, receiving the first first random access resource after receiving the first DCI, receiving the first random access resource after receiving the first DCI, the first first random access resource, or the time slot or frame in which the first random access resource is located.
[0056] In one implementation, the first DCI is related to the PDCCH command.
[0057] According to embodiments of this disclosure, a method executed by a network-side device in a communication system is provided, comprising:
[0058] Send configuration information related to the first random access resource and the second random access resource to the user equipment (UE);
[0059] Send to the UE first downlink control information (DCI) including first indication information related to the availability of the first random access resource, mask index information, and random access preamble index information;
[0060] Receive Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) from the UE
[0061] The random access resources used to send the PRACH are selected from the random access resources determined based on the first DCI.
[0062] If the first random access resource is available based on the first indication information, then the mask index information indicates the random access resource in the first random access resource, or indicates the random access resource in the first random access resource and the second random access resource.
[0063] In one implementation, the first random access resource indicated by the mask index information is indexed in a first order, and the second random access resource indicated by the mask index information is indexed in a second order.
[0064] In one implementation, the mask index information indicates that the first random access resource and the second random access resource are indexed in a third order.
[0065] In one implementation, the indices of the first and second random access resources indicated by the mask index information are related to a first mapping ratio from the Synchronization Signal Physical Broadcast Channel Block (SSB) to the first random access resource and a second mapping ratio from the SSB to the second random access resource.
[0066] In one implementation, the index of the first random access resource and the second random access resource indicated by the mask index information is related to the maximum of a first value determined based on the first mapping ratio and a second value determined based on the second mapping ratio, or to the sum of the first value and the second value.
[0067] In one implementation, if the preamble index information is not a first value, then the random access resource determined based on the first DCI is at least one of the following:
[0068] Random access resources determined based on the mask index information;
[0069] Random access resources determined based on at least one bit in the preamble index information.
[0070] In one implementation, the mask index information is a PRACH mask index, and the random access resource determined based on the first DCI is at least one of the following:
[0071] Random access resources determined based on the reserved index in the PRACH mask index;
[0072] Random access resources determined based on at least one bit in the preamble index information and the reserved index in the PRACH mask index.
[0073] In one implementation, if the preamble index information is the first value, then the random access resource determined based on the first DCI is:
[0074] The first random access resource is available based on the first indication information, and the first random access resource and the second random access resource are based on the configuration information.
[0075] In one implementation, the first indication information indicates whether the first random access resource is available, and / or
[0076] The first indication information indicates whether the availability status of the first random access resource has changed.
[0077] In one implementation, if the first random access resource is available based on the first indication information, then the first random access resource is an available first random access resource for a first duration.
[0078] The first duration is p fourth cycles, where p is a positive integer.
[0079] The fourth cycle is the cycle related to random access.
[0080] In one implementation, the start position of the first duration is the start or end position of the fourth cycle in which the second reference point related to the reception of the first DCI is located, or the start position of the next fourth cycle of the fourth cycle.
[0081] In one implementation, the fourth cycle is one of the following:
[0082] First PRACH association cycle;
[0083] First PRACH associated pattern cycle;
[0084] First PRACH configuration cycle;
[0085] The mapping cycle from SSB to the first random access resource.
[0086] In one implementation, the value of p is related to the random access preamble index information in the first DCI.
[0087] In one implementation, the available first random access resource can be selected by the UE after a second reference point related to the reception time of the first DCI, or
[0088] The first available random access resource can be selected by the UE at the start of the next fourth cycle.
[0089] In one implementation, the method further includes:
[0090] Before receiving the first DCI, a second DCI including second indication information relating to the availability of the first random access resource is received, wherein the validity period of the available first random access resource indicated by the second DCI begins from a first reference point;
[0091] The available first random access resource can be selected by the UE after the first reference point.
[0092] In one implementation, the first reference point is one of the following:
[0093] The system frame number SFN of the first paging frame PF in the next I-DRX cycle after the idle discontinuous reception I-DRX cycle of the second DCI is received;
[0094] Receive the SFN of the first PF of the I-DRX cycle of the second DCI;
[0095] The first radio frame or the first SFN of the first random access-related third period after the I-DRX period of the second DCI is received;
[0096] Receive the first frame or the first SFN of the system information modification period of the second DCI;
[0097] The system information modification period of the second DCI is received, and the first frame or the first SFN of the next modification period is received.
[0098] In one implementation, the first random access resource is available for a second duration following a second reference point related to the reception time of the first DCI.
[0099] The second duration is one of the following: q first random access resources, q first time instances, or q first time units.
[0100] Where q is a positive integer greater than or equal to 1.
[0101] The first instance is the time resource corresponding to the random access resource of frequency division multiplexing.
[0102] The first time unit is one of the following: radio frame, time slot, half frame, paging period, and modification period related to the second reference point.
[0103] In one implementation, the value of q is related to the random access preamble information in the first DCI.
[0104] In one implementation, the second reference point is the start or end position of the second time unit at which the first DCI is received, or
[0105] The second reference point is at least a first time interval from the start or end position of the time unit in which the first DCI is received.
[0106] In one implementation, the second time unit is one of the following: receiving the last symbol of the first DCI, receiving the first first random access resource after receiving the first DCI, receiving the first random access resource after receiving the first DCI, the first first random access resource, or the time slot or frame in which the first random access resource is located.
[0107] In one implementation, the first DCI is related to the PDCCH command.
[0108] According to embodiments of this disclosure, a user equipment (UE) in a communication system is provided, comprising:
[0109] A transceiver is configured to transmit and / or receive signals;
[0110] A controller is configured to control the UE to perform the method described according to embodiments of this disclosure.
[0111] According to embodiments of this disclosure, a network-side device in a communication system is provided, comprising:
[0112] A transceiver is configured to transmit and / or receive signals;
[0113] The controller is configured to control the network-side device to perform the method described according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Attached Figure Description
[0114] Figure 1 Example wireless networks according to various embodiments of this disclosure are shown;
[0115] Figure 2a and Figure 2b An example wireless transmission and reception path according to this disclosure is shown;
[0116] Figure 3a An example UE according to this disclosure is shown;
[0117] Figure 3b An example gNB according to this disclosure is shown;
[0118] Figure 3c A schematic diagram of a four-step random access process according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;
[0119] Figure 3d A schematic diagram of the frequency domain resource group is shown;
[0120] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of a method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown;
[0121] Figures 5-8 A schematic diagram of the RO indicated by the PRACH mask index is shown;
[0122] Figures 9-11 The diagram illustrates the location of the available RO for a random access procedure triggered by a PDCCH command in a scenario following the receipt of the first DCI (i.e., the first reference point shown in the figure), which is the starting position of the first RO available validity period indicated by the second DCI.
[0123] Figures 12-15 The diagram illustrates the available validity period of the first RO configured for the random access procedure triggered by the PDCCH command for a UE that receives the PDCCH command (i.e., the first time window shown in the figure) and the position of the first RO for the duration of PRACH transmission after the UE receives the PDCCH command (i.e., the third duration shown in the figure).
[0124] Figure 16This diagram illustrates the available validity period of the first RO (i.e., the first time window shown in the figure) for a UE that receives a PDCCH command, starting after the PDCCH command is received.
[0125] Figure 17 A schematic diagram of the structure of a user equipment according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure is shown;
[0126] Figure 18 A schematic diagram of the structure of a network-side device according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. Detailed Implementation
[0127] The following description, with reference to the accompanying drawings, is provided to aid in a thorough understanding of the various embodiments of this disclosure as defined by the claims and their equivalents. This description includes various specific details to aid understanding but should be considered exemplary only. Therefore, those skilled in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications can be made to the various embodiments described herein without departing from the scope and spirit of this disclosure. Furthermore, for clarity and brevity, descriptions of well-known functions and structures may be omitted.
[0128] The terms and wording used in the following description and claims are not limited to their dictionary meanings, but are merely used by the inventors to enable a clear and consistent understanding of this disclosure. Therefore, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following description of various embodiments of this disclosure is for illustrative purposes only and not for limiting the purpose of this disclosure as defined in the appended claims and their equivalents.
[0129] It should be understood that the singular forms of “one,” “an,” and “the” include plural references unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Thus, for example, the reference to “component surface” includes one or more such surfaces.
[0130] The terms “comprising” or “may include” refer to the presence of a corresponding disclosed function, operation, or component that may be used in the various embodiments of this disclosure, rather than limiting the presence of one or more additional functions, operations, or features. Furthermore, the terms “comprising” or “having” may be interpreted as indicating certain characteristics, numbers, steps, operations, constituent elements, components, or combinations thereof, but should not be construed as excluding the possibility of the presence of one or more other characteristics, numbers, steps, operations, constituent elements, components, or combinations thereof.
[0131] The term "or" as used in the various embodiments of this disclosure includes any of the listed terms and all combinations thereof. For example, "A or B" may include A, may include B, or may include both A and B.
[0132] Unless otherwise defined, all terms used in this disclosure (including technical or scientific terms) have the same meaning as understood by one of those skilled in the art as described herein. Common terms as defined in dictionaries are to be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with the context in the relevant technical field and should not be interpreted ideally or overly formally unless expressly defined in this disclosure.
[0133] The technical solutions of this application can be applied to various communication systems, such as: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE Frequency Division Duplex (FDD), LTE Time Division Duplex (TDD), Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), 5th Generation (5G), or New Radio (NR), etc. Furthermore, the technical solutions of this application can be applied to future-oriented communication technologies.
[0134] Figure 1 An example wireless network 100 according to various embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. Figure 1 The embodiment of the wireless network 100 shown is for illustrative purposes only. Other embodiments of the wireless network 100 can be used without departing from the scope of this disclosure.
[0135] Wireless network 100 includes gNodeB (gNB) 101, gNB 102, and gNB 103. gNB 101 communicates with gNB 102 and gNB 103. gNB 101 also communicates with at least one Internet Protocol (IP) network 130 (such as the Internet, a proprietary IP network, or other data network).
[0136] Depending on the network type, other well-known terms such as "base station" or "access point" can be used instead of "gNodeB" or "gNB". For convenience, the terms "gNodeB" and "gNB" are used in this patent document to refer to network infrastructure components that provide wireless access for remote terminals. Furthermore, depending on the network type, other well-known terms such as "mobile station", "user station", "remote terminal", "wireless terminal", or "user device" can be used instead of "user equipment" or "UE". For convenience, the terms "user equipment" and "UE" are used in this patent document to refer to remote wireless devices that wirelessly access the gNB, whether the UE is a mobile device (such as a mobile phone or smartphone) or a fixed device as commonly understood (such as a desktop computer or vending machine).
[0137] gNB 102 provides wireless broadband access to network 130 to a first plurality of user equipments (UEs) within its coverage area 120. The first plurality of UEs includes: UE 111, which may be located in a small business (SB); UE 112, which may be located in an enterprise (E); UE 113, which may be located in a WiFi hotspot (HS); UE 114, which may be located in a first residence (R); UE 115, which may be located in a second residence (R); and UE 116, which may be a mobile device (M), such as a cellular phone, wireless laptop computer, wireless PDA, etc. gNB 103 provides wireless broadband access to network 130 to a second plurality of UEs within its coverage area 125. The second plurality of UEs includes UE 115 and UE 116. In some embodiments, one or more of gNBs 101-103 are capable of communicating with each other and with UEs 111-116 using 5G, LTE, LTE-A, WiMAX, or other advanced wireless communication technologies.
[0138] The dashed lines indicate the approximate extent of coverage areas 120 and 125, which are shown as approximately circular for illustrative and explanatory purposes only. It should be clearly understood that coverage areas associated with the gNB, such as coverage areas 120 and 125, can have other shapes, including irregular shapes, depending on the configuration of the gNB and variations in the radio environment associated with natural and man-made obstacles.
[0139] As described in more detail below, one or more of gNB 101, gNB 102, and gNB 103 include a 2D antenna array as described in embodiments of this disclosure. In some embodiments, one or more of gNB 101, gNB 102, and gNB 103 support codebook design and architecture for systems having 2D antenna arrays.
[0140] although Figure 1 An example of a wireless network 100 is shown, but it is possible to... Figure 1 Various modifications can be made. For example, wireless network 100 can include any number of gNBs and any number of UEs in any suitable arrangement. Furthermore, gNB 101 can communicate directly with any number of UEs and provide those UEs with wireless broadband access to network 130. Similarly, each gNB 102-103 can communicate directly with network 130 and provide UEs with direct wireless broadband access to network 130. In addition, gNBs 101, 102, and / or 103 can provide access to other or additional external networks (such as external telephone networks or other types of data networks).
[0141] Figure 2a and Figure 2b Example wireless transmit and receive paths according to this disclosure are shown. In the following description, transmit path 200 can be described as being implemented in a gNB (such as gNB 102), while receive path 250 can be described as being implemented in a UE (such as UE 116). However, it should be understood that receive path 250 can be implemented in a gNB, and transmit path 200 can be implemented in a UE. In some embodiments, receive path 250 is configured to support codebook design and structure for a system having a 2D antenna array as described in embodiments of this disclosure.
[0142] The transmit path 200 includes a channel coding and modulation block 205, a serial-to-parallel (S-to-P) block 210, an N-point inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) block 215, a parallel-to-serial (P-to-S) block 220, a cyclic prefix addition block 225, and an up-converter (UC) 230. The receive path 250 includes a down-converter (DC) 255, a cyclic prefix removal block 260, a serial-to-parallel (S-to-P) block 265, an N-point fast Fourier transform (FFT) block 270, a parallel-to-serial (P-to-S) block 275, and a channel decoding and demodulation block 280.
[0143] In transmit path 200, channel coding and modulation block 205 receives a set of information bits, applies coding (such as low-density parity-check (LDPC) coding), and modulates the input bits (such as using quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) or quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM)) to generate a sequence of frequency-domain modulated symbols. Serial-to-parallel (S-to-P) block 210 converts (e.g., demultiplexes) the serial modulated symbols into parallel data to generate N parallel symbol streams, where N is the number of IFFT / FFT points used in gNB 102 and UE 116. N-point IFFT block 215 performs IFFT operations on the N parallel symbol streams to generate a time-domain output signal. Parallel-to-serial block 220 converts (e.g., multiplexes) the parallel time-domain output symbols from N-point IFFT block 215 to generate a serial time-domain signal. Cyclic prefix addition block 225 inserts a cyclic prefix into the time-domain signal. Upconverter 230 modulates (e.g., upconverts) the output of the added cyclic prefix block 225 to an RF frequency for transmission via a wireless channel. The signal can also be filtered at the baseband before being converted to the RF frequency.
[0144] The RF signal transmitted from gNB 102 reaches UE 116 after passing through the wireless channel, and UE 116 performs the opposite operation to that at gNB 102. Downconverter 255 downconverts the received signal to the baseband frequency, and cyclic prefix removal block 260 removes the cyclic prefix to generate a serial time-domain baseband signal. Serial-to-parallel block 265 converts the time-domain baseband signal into a parallel time-domain signal. N-point FFT block 270 performs an FFT algorithm to generate N parallel frequency-domain signals. Parallel-to-serial block 275 converts the parallel frequency-domain signals into a sequence of modulated data symbols. Channel decoding and demodulation block 280 demodulates and decodes the modulated symbols to recover the original input data stream.
[0145] Each of gNBs 101-103 can implement a transmission path 200 similar to that used for transmission to UEs 111-116 in the downlink, and a reception path 250 similar to that used for reception from UEs 111-116 in the uplink. Similarly, each of UEs 111-116 can implement a transmission path 200 for transmission to gNBs 101-103 in the uplink, and a reception path 250 for reception from gNBs 101-103 in the downlink.
[0146] Figure 2a and Figure 2b Each of the components can be implemented using only hardware, or using a combination of hardware and software / firmware. As a specific example, Figure 2a and Figure 2bAt least some of the components can be implemented in software, while others can be implemented in configurable hardware or a combination of software and configurable hardware. For example, FFT block 270 and IFFT block 215 can be implemented as configurable software algorithms, wherein the value of the number of points N can be modified according to the implementation method.
[0147] Furthermore, although the description uses FFT and IFFT, this is merely illustrative and should not be construed as limiting the scope of this disclosure. Other types of transforms, such as the Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) and Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform (IDFT) functions, can be used. It should be understood that for DFT and IDFT functions, the value of variable N can be any integer (such as 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.), while for FFT and IFFT functions, the value of variable N can be any integer that is a power of 2 (such as 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, etc.).
[0148] although Figure 2a and Figure 2b An example of a wireless transmit and receive path is shown, but it is possible to modify it further. Figure 2a and Figure 2b Make various changes. For example, Figure 2a and Figure 2b The various components can be combined, further subdivided, or omitted, and additional components can be added as needed. Furthermore, Figure 2a and Figure 2b This is intended to illustrate examples of the types of send and receive paths that can be used in a wireless network. Any other suitable architecture can be used to support wireless communication in a wireless network.
[0149] Figure 3a Example UE 116 according to this disclosure is shown. Figure 3a The embodiment of UE 116 shown is for illustrative purposes only, and Figure 1 UEs 111-115 can have the same or similar configurations. However, UEs have a wide variety of configurations, and Figure 3a This disclosure is not intended to limit the scope of any particular implementation of the UE.
[0150] UE 116 includes an antenna 301, a radio frequency (RF) transceiver 302, a transmit (TX) processing circuitry 303, a microphone 304, and a receive (RX) processing circuitry 305. UE 116 also includes a speaker 306, a controller / processor 307, an input / output (I / O) interface 308, multiple input devices 309, a display 310, and a memory 311. The memory 311 includes an operating system (OS) 312 and one or more applications 313.
[0151] RF transceiver 302 receives incoming RF signals transmitted by a gNB of wireless network 100 from antenna 301. RF transceiver 302 down-converts the incoming RF signals to generate an intermediate frequency (IF) or baseband signal. The IF or baseband signal is sent to RX processing circuitry 305, which generates a processed baseband signal by filtering, decoding, and / or digitizing the baseband or IF signal. RX processing circuitry 305 sends the processed baseband signal to speaker 306 (e.g., for voice data) or to controller / processor 307 (e.g., for web browsing data) for further processing.
[0152] TX processing circuitry 303 receives analog or digital voice data from microphone 304, or other outgoing baseband data (such as network data, email, or interactive video game data) from controller / processor 307. TX processing circuitry 303 encodes, multiplexes, and / or digitizes the outgoing baseband data to generate processed baseband or IF signals. RF transceiver 302 receives the processed baseband or IF signals from TX processing circuitry 303 and up-converts the baseband or IF signals into RF signals transmitted via antenna 301.
[0153] The controller / processor 307 may include one or more processors or other processing devices and execute an OS 312 stored in memory 311 to control the overall operation of the UE 116. For example, the controller / processor 307 may control the reception of forward channel signals and the transmission of reverse channel signals through the RF transceiver 302, the RX processing circuit 305, and the TX processing circuit 303 according to known principles. In some embodiments, the controller / processor 307 includes at least one microprocessor or microcontroller.
[0154] The controller / processor 307 is also capable of executing other processes and procedures residing in the memory 311, such as operations for channel quality measurement and reporting for a system having a 2D antenna array as described in the embodiments of this disclosure. The controller / processor 307 is capable of moving data into or out of the memory 311 as needed for the execution of the process. In some embodiments, the controller / processor 307 is configured to execute an application 313 based on the OS 312 or in response to signals received from a gNB or operator. The controller / processor 307 is also coupled to an I / O interface IF 308, which provides the UE 116 with the ability to connect to other devices such as laptop computers and handheld computers. The I / O interface 308 is the communication path between these accessories and the controller / processor 307.
[0155] The controller / processor 307 is also coupled to input devices(s) 309 and a display 310. An operator of the UE 116 can use the input devices(s) 309 to input data into the UE 116. The display 310 may be a liquid crystal display or another display capable of displaying text and / or at least limited graphics (such as from a website). Memory 311 is coupled to the controller / processor 307. A portion of memory 311 may include random access memory (RAM), while another portion of memory 311 may include flash memory or other read-only memory (ROM).
[0156] although Figure 3a An example of UE 116 is shown, but it is possible to... Figure 3a Make various changes. For example, Figure 3a The various components can be combined, further subdivided, or omitted, and additional components can be added as needed. As a specific example, the controller / processor 307 can be divided into multiple processors, such as one or more central processing units (CPUs) and one or more graphics processing units (GPUs). Furthermore, although... Figure 3a The UE116 is shown configured as a mobile phone or smartphone, but the UE can be configured to operate as other types of mobile or fixed devices.
[0157] Figure 3b An example gNB 102 according to this disclosure is shown. Figure 3b The embodiment of gNB 102 shown is for illustrative purposes only, and Figure 1 Other gNBs can have the same or similar configurations. However, gNBs have a wide variety of configurations, and Figure 3b The scope of this disclosure is not limited to any particular implementation of the gNB. It should be noted that gNB 101 and gNB 103 can include the same or similar structures as gNB 102.
[0158] like Figure 3b As shown, gNB 102 includes multiple antennas 370a-370n, multiple RF transceivers 372a-372n, transmit (TX) processing circuitry 374, and receive (RX) processing circuitry 376. In some embodiments, one or more of the multiple antennas 370a-370n include a 2D antenna array. gNB 102 also includes a controller / processor 378, a memory 380, and a backhaul or network interface 382.
[0159] RF transceivers 372a-372n receive incoming RF signals, such as signals transmitted by the UE or other gNBs, from antennas 370a-370n. RF transceivers 372a-372n down-convert the incoming RF signals to generate IF or baseband signals. The IF or baseband signals are sent to RX processing circuitry 376, which generates processed baseband signals by filtering, decoding, and / or digitizing the baseband or IF signals. RX processing circuitry 376 sends the processed baseband signals to controller / processor 378 for further processing.
[0160] The TX processing circuit 374 receives analog or digital data (such as voice data, network data, email, or interactive video game data) from the controller / processor 378. The TX processing circuit 374 encodes, multiplexes, and / or digitizes the outgoing baseband data to generate a processed baseband or IF signal. RF transceivers 372a-372n receive the outgoing processed baseband or IF signal from the TX processing circuit 374 and up-convert the baseband or IF signal into an RF signal transmitted via antennas 370a-370n.
[0161] The controller / processor 378 may include one or more processors or other processing devices that control the overall operation of the gNB 102. For example, the controller / processor 378 may control the reception of forward channel signals and the transmission of backward channel signals via RF transceivers 372a-372n, RX processing circuitry 376, and TX processing circuitry 374, according to known principles. The controller / processor 378 may also support additional functions, such as more advanced wireless communication functions. For example, the controller / processor 378 may perform a BIS process, such as by a blind interference sensing (BIS) algorithm, and decode the received signal after subtracting interference. The controller / processor 378 may support any of a wide variety of other functions in the gNB 102. In some embodiments, the controller / processor 378 includes at least one microprocessor or microcontroller.
[0162] The controller / processor 378 is also capable of executing processes and other procedures residing in memory 380, such as a basic OS. The controller / processor 378 is also capable of supporting channel quality measurement and reporting for systems having 2D antenna arrays as described in embodiments of this disclosure. In some embodiments, the controller / processor 378 supports communication between entities such as web RTCs. The controller / processor 378 is capable of moving data into or out of memory 380 as needed for the execution of processes.
[0163] The controller / processor 378 is also coupled to a backhaul or network interface 382. The backhaul or network interface 382 allows the gNB 102 to communicate with other devices or systems via a backhaul connection or over a network. The backhaul or network interface 382 is capable of supporting communication via any suitable wired or wireless connection(s). For example, when the gNB 102 is implemented as part of a cellular communication system (such as a cellular communication system supporting 5G or new radio access technologies or NR, LTE, or LTE-A), the backhaul or network interface 382 allows the gNB 102 to communicate with other gNBs via a wired or wireless backhaul connection. When the gNB 102 is implemented as an access point, the backhaul or network interface 382 allows the gNB 102 to communicate with a larger network (such as the Internet) via a wired or wireless local area network or via a wired or wireless connection. The backhaul or network interface 382 includes any suitable architecture supporting communication via a wired or wireless connection, such as an Ethernet or RF transceiver.
[0164] Memory 380 is coupled to controller / processor 378. A portion of memory 380 may include RAM, while another portion may include flash memory or other ROM. In some embodiments, multiple instructions, such as a BIS algorithm, are stored in memory. The multiple instructions are configured to cause controller / processor 378 to perform the BIS process and decode the received signal after subtracting at least one interference signal determined by the BIS algorithm.
[0165] As described in more detail below, the transmit and receive paths of the gNB 102 (implemented using RF transceivers 372a-372n, TX processing circuitry 374, and / or RX processing circuitry 376) support aggregated communication with FDD and TDD cells.
[0166] although Figure 3b An example of gNB 102 is shown, but it is possible to compare it with other models. Figure 3b Various modifications can be made. For example, gNB102 can include any number of... Figure 3a Each component shown. As a specific example, an access point can include multiple backhaul or network interfaces 382, and a controller / processor 378 can support routing functions to route data between different network addresses. As another specific example, although shown as a single instance including TX processing circuitry 374 and a single instance including RX processing circuitry 376, the gNB 102 can include multiple instances of each (such as one for each RF transceiver).
[0167] The time unit (also called time unit) in the embodiments of this disclosure can be: an OFDM symbol, an OFDM symbol group (composed of multiple OFDM symbols), a time slot, a time slot group (composed of multiple time slots), a subframe, a subframe group (composed of multiple subframes), a system frame, or a system frame group (composed of multiple system frames); it can also be an absolute time unit, such as 1 millisecond, 1 second, etc.; the time unit can also be a combination of multiple granularities, such as N1 time slots plus N2 OFDM symbols.
[0168] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the time unit may also be one or more of the following: a radio frame; a time slot; a half-frame; a paging cycle; a modification cycle; a first PRACH association cycle; a first PRACH association pattern cycle; a first PRACH configuration cycle; an SSB-first RO mapping cycle; or a first RO.
[0169] The frequency domain unit (also called frequency unit) in the embodiments of this disclosure can be: a subcarrier, a subcarrier group (composed of multiple subcarriers), a resource block (RB), also called a physical resource block (PRB), a resource block group (composed of multiple RBs), a bandwidth part (BWP), a bandwidth part group (composed of multiple BWPs), a bandwidth / carrier, a bandwidth group / carrier group; it can also be an absolute frequency domain unit, such as 1 Hz, 1 kHz, etc.; the frequency domain unit can also be a combination of multiple granularities, such as M1 PRBs plus M2 subcarriers.
[0170] Exemplary embodiments of this disclosure are further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
[0171] The text and accompanying drawings are provided by way of example only to aid the reader in understanding this disclosure. They are not intended and should not be construed as limiting the scope of this disclosure in any way. Although certain embodiments and examples have been provided, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art, based on the content disclosed herein, that changes may be made to the illustrated embodiments and examples without departing from the scope of this disclosure.
[0172] Those skilled in the art will understand that, unless specifically stated otherwise, the singular forms “a,” “an,” “the,” and “the” used herein may also include the plural forms. It should be further understood that the term “comprising” as used in this application means the presence of the stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and / or components, but does not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and / or groups thereof. It should be understood that when we say an element is “connected” or “coupled” to another element, it can be directly connected or coupled to the other element, or there may be intermediate elements. Furthermore, “connected” or “coupled” as used herein can include wireless connections or wireless coupling. The term “and / or” as used herein includes all or any units and all combinations of one or more associated listed items.
[0173] It will be understood by those skilled in the art that, unless otherwise defined, all terms used herein (including technical and scientific terms) have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this application pertains. It should also be understood that terms such as those defined in general dictionaries should be understood to have the same meaning as in the context of the prior art, and should not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless specifically defined as herein.
[0174] Those skilled in the art will understand that the terms "terminal" and "terminal device" as used herein include both devices that receive wireless signals, devices that only possess wireless signal receiver capabilities without transmission capabilities, and devices with receiving and transmitting hardware, devices that have receiving and transmitting hardware capable of bidirectional communication over a bidirectional communication link. Such devices may include: cellular or other communication devices having a single-line display, a multi-line display, or a cellular or other communication device without a multi-line display; PCS (Personal Communications Service) that can combine voice, data processing, fax, and / or data communication capabilities; PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) that may include a radio frequency receiver, pager, Internet / intranet access, web browser, notepad, calendar, and / or GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver; and conventional laptop and / or handheld computers or other devices that have and / or include a radio frequency receiver. As used herein, "terminal" or "terminal device" can be portable, transportable, installed in a means of transportation (air, sea, and / or land), or suitable and / or configured to operate locally, and / or in a distributed manner, operating in any other location on Earth and / or in space. "Terminal" or "terminal device" as used herein can also be a communication terminal, an internet access terminal, or a music / video playback terminal, such as a PDA, a MID (Mobile Internet Device), and / or a mobile phone with music / video playback capabilities, or a smart TV, set-top box, etc.
[0175] Without departing from the scope of this invention, the term "send" in this invention may be used interchangeably with "transmit," "report," "notification," etc.
[0176] The text and accompanying drawings are provided by way of example only to aid the reader in understanding this disclosure. They are not intended and should not be construed as limiting the scope of this disclosure in any way. Although certain embodiments and examples have been provided, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art, based on the content disclosed herein, that changes may be made to the illustrated embodiments and examples without departing from the scope of this disclosure.
[0177] The transmission links of a wireless communication system mainly include: the downlink communication link from the 5G gNB to the user equipment (UE), and the uplink communication link from the UE to the network.
[0178] In wireless communication systems, such as current wireless communication systems, nodes used for positioning measurements include: a UE initiating a positioning request message; a Location Management Function (LMF) for UE positioning and distributing positioning assistance data; a gNB or Transmission-Reception Point (TRP) broadcasting positioning assistance data and performing uplink positioning measurements; and a UE for downlink positioning measurements. Furthermore, the method of this invention can be extended to other communication systems, such as vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, for example, sidelink communication, where the transmission-reception point or UE can be any type of V2X device.
[0179] Transmissions in a wireless communication system include: transmission from the base station (gNB) to the user equipment (UE) (referred to as downlink transmission), and the corresponding time slot is called downlink time slot; transmission from the UE to the base station (referred to as uplink transmission), and the corresponding time slot is called uplink time slot.
[0180] In wireless communication systems, such as LTE or NR, a 2-step or 4-step random access procedure is used to establish a link between the device and the base station. The base station periodically sends synchronization signals and broadcast channels to the user via a synchronization signal block (SSB, PBCH block, or first downlink reference signal). This period is called the synchronization signal block period (SSB periodicity) or synchronization signal block group period (SSB burstperiodicity). Simultaneously, the base station configures a physical random access channel configuration period (PRACH configuration period), within which a certain number of random access transmission opportunities (also called random access opportunities, PRACH transmission occasions, or PRACHoccasions, ROs) are configured.
[0181] In New Radio (NR) communication systems, the performance of random access directly impacts user experience before radio resource control is established, such as during the random access process. In traditional wireless communication systems, such as LTE and LTE-Advanced, or in 5G or NR systems, random access is applied to various scenarios, including initial link establishment, cell handover, uplink re-establishment, and RRC connection reconstruction. It is categorized into contention-based random access and contention-free random access based on whether users exclusively possess preamble resources. In contention-based random access, multiple users may choose the same preamble sequence from the same preamble resource during uplink link establishment, potentially leading to multiple users sending the same preamble sequence to the base station. Therefore, conflict resolution mechanisms are a crucial research area in random access. Reducing the probability of conflicts and quickly resolving existing conflicts are key indicators affecting random access performance.
[0182] Figure 3c A schematic diagram of a four-step random access procedure according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. For example, a contention-based random access procedure is divided into four steps, such as... Figure 3c As shown. In the first step, the UE randomly selects a preamble sequence from the preamble sequence (which can also be interchangeably referred to as "preamble code" in this document) resource pool and sends it to the base station. The base station performs correlation detection on the received signal to identify the preamble sequence sent by the UE. In the second step, the base station sends a Random Access Response (RAR) to the UE. The RAR may contain a random access preamble sequence identifier, a timing advance instruction determined based on the delay estimation between the UE and the base station, a Cell-Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI), and / or time-frequency resources allocated for the UE's next uplink transmission (time-frequency resources can refer to time-domain resources and / or frequency-domain resources). The UE searches for the PDCCH carrying this feedback based on the RAR-RNTI associated with the timing of sending the random access preamble sequence. The RA-RNTI associated with the PRACH timing (e.g., RO) for transmitting the random access preamble sequence can be based on the index of the first OFDM symbol of the PRACH timing, the index of the first time slot of the PRACH timing in the system frame, the index of the PRACH timing in the frequency domain, and the UL carrier used for random access preamble transmission. For example, the RA-RNTI can be calculated using the following formula:
[0183] RA-RNTI=1+s_id+14×t_id+14×80×f_id+14×80×8×ul_carrier_id,
[0184] Wherein, s_id is the index of the first OFDM symbol of the PRACH timing (0≤s_id<14), t_id is the index of the first slot of the PRACH timing in the system frame (0≤t_id<80), where, for μ={0,1,2,3}, the subcarrier spacing used to determine t_id is based on the value of μ, for μ={5,6}, t_id is the index of the 120kHz slot containing the PRACH timing in the system frame (0≤t_id<80), f_id is the index of the PRACH timing in the frequency domain (0≤f_id<8), and ul_carrier_id is the UL carrier used for random access preamble transmission (0 for NUL carriers, 1 for SUL carriers).
[0185] In the third step, the user sends a third message (Message 3, Msg3) to the base station based on the information in the RAR. Msg3 contains the user terminal identifier and RRC link request information, among other things. This user terminal identifier is unique to the user and is used to resolve conflicts. In the fourth step, the base station sends a conflict resolution identifier to the user, which includes the identifier of the user terminal that won the conflict resolution. After detecting its own identifier, the user upgrades its temporary C-RNTI to a C-RNTI and sends an ACK signal to the base station, completing the random access procedure and waiting for the base station's scheduling. Otherwise, the user will begin a new random access procedure after a delay.
[0186] The UE's physical random access procedure is triggered under the following circumstances:
[0187] 1. PRACH transmission requested by higher layers.
[0188] 2. Triggered by PDCCH command
[0189] 3. Triggered by LTM cell handover command MAC CE
[0190] The higher-level configuration for PRACH transport includes the following:
[0191] 1. PRACH transmission configuration on this cell;
[0192] 2. The relevant preamble index, preamble subcarrier spacing, target PRACH transmit power, applicable RA-RNTI, and PRACH resources of the cell.
[0193] 3. If the UE needs to perform repeated PRACH transmissions, configure the number of preamble repetitions for the PRACH transmission.
[0194] For a contention-free random access procedure, since the base station knows the user's identifier, it can allocate a preamble sequence for the user. Therefore, when sending a preamble sequence, the user does not need to randomly select a sequence but will use the allocated preamble sequence. After detecting the allocated preamble sequence, the base station sends a corresponding random access response, including timing advance and uplink resource allocation information. After receiving the random access response, the user considers uplink synchronization complete and waits for further scheduling by the base station. Therefore, a contention-free random access procedure consists of only two steps: step one is sending the preamble sequence; step two is sending the random access response.
[0195] For example, the random access procedure is applicable to the following scenarios:
[0196] 1. Initial access under RRC_IDLE;
[0197] 2. Re-establish the RRC connection;
[0198] 3. Cell handover;
[0199] 4. The process of downlink data arriving and requesting random access in RRC connected state (when uplink is asynchronous);
[0200] 5. Uplink data arrival and random access request process in RRC connected state (when the uplink is asynchronous or no resources are allocated to the scheduling request in the PUCCH resource);
[0201] 6. Positioning.
[0202] In the configured Resource Allocations (ROs), based on the method used to determine RO validity, valid ROs can be identified, ensuring that all Service Servants (SSBs) can be mapped to their corresponding valid ROs within an association period (a certain time period or length). A single SSB-to-RO mapping cycle maps all SSBs within that SSB cycle to the required random access resources. An association period can contain one or more mapping cycles. An SSB-to-RO association pattern period contains one or more association periods, and the SSB-to-RO association pattern is identical in each association pattern period.
[0203] A base station can configure a random access configuration period (e.g., a PRACH configuration period) within which a certain number of Resource Objects (ROs) are configured. By using a specific validity determination method or rule, valid ROs are determined from these configured ROs, ensuring that all Service Blocks (SSBs) are mapped to their corresponding valid ROs within an association period (a certain time length). In an SSB-to-RO mapping cycle, all SSBs within an SSB period are mapped to the required random access resources. An association period can contain one or more mapping cycles. An SSB-to-RO association pattern period contains one or more association periods, and the SSB-to-RO mapping pattern is identical in each association pattern period.
[0204] In describing wireless communication systems and in this disclosure described below, higher-layer signaling or higher-layer signaling can be a signaling method for transmitting information from a base station to a terminal via a downlink data channel of the physical layer or from a terminal to a base station via an uplink data channel of the physical layer, and examples of signaling methods can include signaling methods for transmitting information via radio resource control (RRC) signaling, packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) signaling, or medium access control (MAC) control element (CE).
[0205] In the following description of this disclosure, higher-layer signaling may be signaling corresponding to at least one or a combination of one or more of the following signaling.
[0206] -MIB (Master Information Block)
[0207] -SIB (System Information Block) or SIB X (X = 1, 2, ...)
[0208] -RRC signaling
[0209] -MAC CE
[0210] Physical layer (Layer 1 (L1)) signaling can be signaling corresponding to at least one or a combination of one or more of the following signaling.
[0211] -PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel)
[0212] -DCI (Downlink Control Information)
[0213] -UE-specific DCI
[0214] -Group Public DCI
[0215] -Public DCI
[0216] - Scheduling DCI (e.g., DCI used to schedule downlink or uplink data)
[0217] - Non-scheduled DCI (e.g., DCI other than the DCI used to schedule downlink or uplink data)
[0218] -PUCCH (Physical Uplink Control Channel)
[0219] -UCI (Uplink Control Information)
[0220] In embodiments of this disclosure, uplink control signaling may include physical layer signaling and / or higher layer signaling. As described above, physical layer signaling may include UCI and / or PUCCH, and higher layer signaling may include RRC signaling and / or MAC CE.
[0221] In embodiments of this disclosure, downlink control signaling may include physical layer signaling and / or higher layer signaling. As described above, physical layer signaling may include one or more of PDCCH, DCI, UE-specific DCI, group common DCI, common DCI, scheduling DCI (e.g., DCI for scheduling downlink or uplink data), and unscheduled DCI. Higher layer signaling may include one or more of MIB, SIB, or SIB X (X = 1, 2, ...), RRC signaling, or MAC CE. Therefore, "configure or indicate X via downlink control signaling" will be understood as configuring or indicating X via physical layer signaling, or configuring or indicating X via higher layer signaling, or configuring or indicating X via a combination of higher layer signaling and physical layer signaling.
[0222] As an important research area in communication systems, improving the performance of random access for users is a problem that urgently needs to be solved.
[0223] The method provided in the embodiments of this disclosure can enhance the random access performance of a UE, or enhance the random access performance of a UE while saving power consumption on the network side or the UE.
[0224] It should be noted that the problems that this disclosure can solve are not limited to those mentioned in the above and below descriptions, but can also solve all problems that can be practically solved based on the technical essence of this disclosure. Furthermore, the embodiments of this disclosure do not necessarily solve all or every one of the problems described above. The actual technical problem solved by this disclosure is determined according to the essence of the technical solution of this disclosure.
[0225] The following description of several exemplary embodiments illustrates the technical solutions of this disclosure and the technical effects produced by these solutions. It should be noted that the following embodiments can be referenced, learned from, or combined with each other. Identical terms, similar features, and similar implementation steps in different embodiments will not be repeated.
[0226] Networks can configure corresponding random access resources for specific characteristics (e.g., network energy saving, NES), such as dedicated random access resources or additional random access resources. Methods for performing random access need to be considered when random access resources are configured for other characteristics (e.g., NES). According to example embodiments of this disclosure, methods for random access in systems with random access resources configured for other characteristics (e.g., NES) are proposed, including at least some aspects such as random access resource configuration, SSB-RO (SSB-RO) mapping, random access resource availability indication based on downlink control information (DCI), random access resource determination, random access resource availability reference point, and random access resource availability validity period.
[0227] It should be noted that the problems that this disclosure can solve are not limited to those mentioned in the above and below descriptions, but can also solve all problems that can be practically solved according to the technical substance of this disclosure, nor is it necessary to solve all or every one of the described problems. The scope of this disclosure is presented by the technical substance disclosed herein.
[0228] For ease of description, random access associated with a specific feature (e.g., NES) (e.g., random access resources configured for that specific feature can be used for both random access and that specific feature) can be referred to as "Type 1 random access" (or simply "Type 1 random access"), and the resources configured for Type 1 random access can be referred to as "additional random access resources" (e.g., including additional ROs) or "Type 1 random access resources" (e.g., may include Type 1 random access timings (ROs) or Type 1 ROs or first ROs), and so on. Conventional random access or random access not associated with a specific feature (e.g., NES) can be referred to as "normal random access" or "Type 2 random access", and the resources corresponding to Type 2 random access can be referred to as "normal random access resources" (e.g., including normal ROs), or "non-additional random access resources" (e.g., including non-additional ROs) or "Type 2 random access resources" (e.g., may include second PRACH timings or Type 2 ROs or second ROs).
[0229] It should be noted that PRACH is used in this disclosure as an uplink channel associated with random access, but this is only an example. PRACH can also be replaced by other uplink channels, such as the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), the Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), etc.
[0230] In the embodiments of this disclosure, unless otherwise specified, the configuration information includes at least one of the following: base station configuration information, information indicated in received signaling, higher-layer configuration information, pre-configured information, or predefined information. Further, the configuration information may be a set of configuration information; it may also be multiple sets of configuration information, from which the UE or node can select a set of configuration information to use according to predefined conditions; or it may be a set of configuration information containing multiple subsets, from which the UE or node can select a subset to use according to predefined conditions.
[0231] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of a method 400 performed by a UE in a communication system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. Figure 4 As shown, the method includes steps S410, S420, etc. It should be noted that at least one of the above operations may be omitted, or additional operations may be included, such as one or more operations of the methods described in the embodiments of this disclosure.
[0232] like Figure 4 As shown, method 400 may include:
[0233] Step S410: Receive the first DCI associated with the PDCCH command.
[0234] For example, the first DCI includes a random access preamble index, a first RO availability indication, and a PRACH mask index. For example, step S410 can be considered as the UE triggering the random access procedure by a PDCCH order;
[0235] Step S420: Send PRACH using the random access resources determined based on the first DCI.
[0236] For example, the UE selects a random access resource based on information in the first DCI, such as the random access preamble index indicated by the PDCCH command, the first RO available indication information, and the PRACH mask index, and sends a PRACH on the selected random access resource.
[0237] It should be understood that, in the embodiments of this disclosure, the meaning of UE listening to DCI is equivalent to UE listening to the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring timing to receive or detect DCI.
[0238] In addition, in this embodiment of the disclosure, the meaning of UE receiving or detecting DCI is equivalent to UE receiving or detecting DCI format. For example, the meaning of UE receiving or detecting first DCI is equivalent to UE receiving or detecting first DCI format, and the meaning of UE receiving or detecting second DCI is equivalent to UE receiving or detecting second DCI format.
[0239] Furthermore, in the embodiments of this disclosure, the meaning of UE receiving a PDCCH command is equivalent to detecting a first DCI format or receiving a first DCI. For example, the first DCI format or the first DCI can be a DCI format or DCI related to a PDCCH command. In a non-limiting example, the first DCI can be a DCI format 1_0 scrambled with C-RNTI, which includes a PDCCH command. In this disclosure, for the sake of convention, the first DCI is sometimes also referred to as the first DCI format, which indicates the same meaning. For example, receiving a first DCI or receiving a first DCI format can indicate receiving a DCI format 1_0 scrambled with C-RNTI, or receiving another DCI format scrambled with C-RNTI, or receiving a DCI format related to a PDCCH command that includes availability indication information of a first random access resource (e.g., including a first RO), or receiving a DCI format in connected state that includes availability indication information of a first random access resource (e.g., including a first RO), or receiving a DCI format for triggering a non-contention-based random access (CFRA) procedure or a DCI format for a contention-based random access (CBRA) procedure that includes availability indication information of a first random access resource (e.g., including a first RO).
[0240] Similarly, for example, receiving a second DCI or receiving a second DCI format can indicate receiving a DCI format 1_0 scrambled with P-RNTI, or receiving another DCI format scrambled with P-RNTI, or indicating that a non-connected UE has received a DCI format including availability indication information of a first random access resource (e.g., including a first RO), or indicating that a DCI format for initiating a contention-based random access (CBRA) procedure has been received including availability indication information of a first random access resource (e.g., including a first RO).
[0241] Furthermore, in the embodiments disclosed herein, the meaning of the fields included in the DCI format is equivalent to the meaning of the fields included in the DCI. For example, the indication / field / information included in the first DCI format is equivalent to the indication / field / information included in the first DCI.
[0242] Additionally, in the disclosed embodiments, "greater than or equal to" means "no later than" or "no less than".
[0243] Furthermore, in the description of this disclosure, for ease of description, the Physical Random Access Channel Timing (PRACHoccasion (RO), or random access timing) is used as an example of random access resources. It should be understood that this is merely exemplary, and the random access resources described in this disclosure can include various types of resources related to random access, such as RO, preambles, etc. In view of this, the schemes described in conjunction with RO in this disclosure may also include schemes that replace RO with preambles or other types of random access resources, provided there is no obvious conflict or contradiction.
[0244] Furthermore, in this embodiment of the disclosure, the meaning of the UE using random access resources (e.g., the first RO and / or the second RO) to initiate / execute random access is equivalent to the UE initiating random access based on the random access resources, that is, the UE selects random access resources and sends PRACH or sends PRACH preamble on the random access resources.
[0245] In some embodiments, the timing for the UE to listen to the first DCI and / or the second DCI can be determined based on configuration information received from the base station, or the configuration information can be protocol-pre-determined.
[0246] In some embodiments, if the first DCI and / or the second DCI indicate that the first RO is available, the UE may choose to send PRACH to the first RO during the validity period of the first RO's availability.
[0247] In some embodiments, the start position of the available validity period of the first RO indicated by the first DCI and / or the second DCI may be determined or pre-determined to be related to the relevant period to which the time of detection of the first DCI and / or the second DCI belongs. For example, it may be determined or pre-determined to be related to the period associated with the first random access resource to which the time of detection of the first DCI and / or the second DCI belongs, or it may be determined or pre-determined to be related to other periods of the system configuration to which the time of detection of the first DCI and / or the second DCI belongs. Alternatively, the relevant period may also be a period associated with paging, a period associated with DRX (discontinuous reception) or I-DRX (idle-DRX), a period dedicated to monitoring the first DCI and / or the second DCI, etc.
[0248] For example, the start position of the validity period can be set to the end of the first cycle (e.g., a paging-related cycle, a DRX-related cycle, a cycle dedicated to monitoring the first DCI and / or the second DCI, etc.) when the first DCI and / or the second DCI are detected, the end of the last listening radio frame in that first cycle used to monitor the first DCI and / or the second DCI, the end of the last timing associated with that last listening radio frame, the start of the next first cycle, etc. Note that the "end" mentioned above can also be replaced with "start," meaning the start position of the validity period can be determined based on the start positions of the first cycle, the last listening radio frame, and the last timing.
[0249] For example, the start position of the validity period can be set to the start position of the cycle associated with the first random access resource. For instance, if the position where the first DCI and / or the second DCI is received corresponds to the third cycle of the first random access resource, then the start position of the validity period can be set to the start position of the next third cycle, or the first RO, or the first valid RO, etc. For example, the third cycle can be one of the following: the PRACH configuration cycle, the first RO configuration cycle, the association cycle from SSB to the first RO (SSB-first RO), the mapping cycle from SSB to the first RO, or the association pattern cycle from SSB to the first RO. In this way, it is easier for the UE to select a random access resource (e.g., RO).
[0250] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the meaning of SSB to first PRACH (SSB-first PRACH) is equivalent to that of SSB to first RO (SSB-first RO).
[0251] In some embodiments, the start position of the validity period can be determined based on a configured second period. For example, the start position of the validity period can be set to the start position of the next second period following the second period to which the time when the first DCI and / or the second DCI is detected belongs.
[0252] The second cycle can be provided by higher-layer RRC signaling configuration. This second cycle can be one or more default paging cycles, such as multiples of the paging cycle. Optionally, the second cycle is aligned with the start or end position of the validity duration. Optionally, the second cycle can be the same as the modification period related to system message changes. The boundary of the second cycle can be determined by the SFN value, where SFNmod m = 0, and m is the number of radio frames included in a second cycle.
[0253] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the configurations related to the first cycle, the second cycle, and the third cycle can be provided by higher-layer RRC signaling configuration, for example, through system information (e.g., SIB1).
[0254] It should be understood that although the technical solutions in this disclosure are described in conjunction with "start position," "end position," SFN, etc., the technical solutions in this disclosure may also cover corresponding technologies including cases where a certain offset is added to the "start position," "end position," or SFN. All of these are not described in detail for the sake of convenience, but are included within the scope of this disclosure.
[0255] The start position of the validity period can be determined based on the configured second cycle. For example, the start position of the validity period can be set to the start position of the next second cycle.
[0256] In this embodiment of the disclosure, without changing the second random access resource, additional random access resources can be configured for other features (e.g., network energy saving (NES) features), such as the first random access resource, and random access can be performed when random access resources are configured for other features (e.g., NES) to improve the performance of random access.
[0257] In this embodiment of the disclosure, a UE receives downlink control information (DCI) sent by a base station to determine which PRACH resources are available or active in a pre-configured PRACH resource, wherein the pre-configured PRACH resource may be a first RO resource, the physical meaning of which is the same as that of the first RO described in this disclosure.
[0258] To efficiently utilize PRACH resources, PRACH resources pre-configured by the base station (e.g., the network side) (e.g., pre-configured via higher-layer RRC signaling) can only be used after being activated by signaling or notified of their availability. This includes, but is not limited to, cell-public PRACH resources configured via system information, and / or dedicated PRACH resources configured via UE-specific signaling (e.g., via RRC reconfiguration messages). That is, after the UE receives the configuration related to the PRACH resource, it cannot directly select that PRACH resource to perform a random access procedure (e.g., send a PRACH or PRACH preamble). The UE needs to further indicate the availability of the configured PRACH resource via DCI before it can select that resource to perform a random access procedure. If the UE does not receive DCI indication that the configured PRACH resource is available, then the UE will not be able to use the aforementioned pre-configured PRACH resource.
[0259] This ensures that DCI dynamically activates or notifies UE of available PRACH resources, guaranteeing that the resource quantity matches the real-time network load, thereby avoiding PRACH resource waste. It also shortens the time for base stations to detect PRACH resources, achieving network energy saving and avoiding network access congestion, thus achieving efficient utilization of PRACH resources.
[0260] Note that the PRACH resources mentioned in this disclosure can also be replaced with PRACH resource sets. A PRACH resource set refers to a collection of PRACH resources, also known as a PRACH resource collection. Optionally, a PRACH resource set can correspond to a PRACH-related configuration, including, for example, PRACH time-domain resource configurations, PRACH frequency-domain resource configurations, and PRACH preamble-related configurations. The configurations related to different PRACH resource sets can be different or partially the same. For example, the PRACH frequency-domain resource configurations and the preamble-related configurations may be the same; the PRACH time-domain resource configurations may be different, for example, using different random access configuration indices (e.g., the higher-layer parameter prach-ConfigurationIndex).
[0261] In this embodiment of the disclosure, a "frequency domain resource group" refers to a continuous segment of spectrum resources. The UE can transmit or receive physical channels and / or physical signals on a frequency domain resource group. It can be understood that a frequency domain resource group is a continuous segment of spectrum resources that the UE can use to transmit or receive signals. Figure 3dAs shown, the first downlink frequency domain resource group has a bandwidth of X MHz and includes X0 subcarriers, and the second downlink frequency domain resource group has a bandwidth of Y MHz and includes Y0 subcarriers. In some embodiments, there is a certain interval, for example, Z MHz, between the highest index subcarrier of the first downlink frequency domain resource group and the lowest index subcarrier of the second downlink frequency domain resource group. In some embodiments, the highest index subcarrier of the first downlink frequency domain resource group and the lowest index subcarrier of the second downlink frequency domain resource group may be continuous.
[0262] In the embodiments of this disclosure, the frequency domain resource group can also be equivalently replaced by one of the following: carrier, bandwidth part (BWP), carrier segment or carrier segment, etc.
[0263] In the following text, for ease of description, the first downlink frequency domain resource group may be simply referred to as the first frequency domain resource group, and the second downlink frequency domain resource group may be simply referred to as the second frequency domain resource group. Alternatively, the first frequency domain resource group may include the first uplink frequency domain resource group and the first downlink frequency domain resource group, and the second frequency domain resource group may include the second uplink frequency domain resource group and the second downlink frequency domain resource group.
[0264] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the first RO and the second RO can be configured on the same or different frequency domain resource groups (e.g., carriers or uplink BWP resources). For example, in a scenario where multiple carriers (frequency domain resource groups) are deployed within a serving cell, the functions of the multiple carriers can differ. For instance, one of the multiple carriers may be called the anchor carrier, the second RO can be configured on the anchor carrier, and the first RO can be configured on a non-anchor carrier. The anchor carrier has at least one of the following functions:
[0265] (1) Provide initial synchronization and basic system information transmission for UEs within the cell. For example, at least a synchronization signal (SS), a physical broadcast channel, and a first system information block should be periodically transmitted on the downlink anchor carrier. Among them, the synchronization signal includes a primary synchronization signal (PSS) and a secondary synchronization signal (SSS). For example, the anchor carrier should at least transmit the SSB and SIB1 for defining the cell (CD).
[0266] (2) Provide initial random access functionality for UEs within the cell. For example, the cell-common physical random access channel resources should be configured on the uplink anchor carrier.
[0267] (3) Provide mobility management functions for UEs within the cell. For example, the UE performs measurements for radio resource management (RRM) purposes based only on reference signals (such as SSB and / or CSI-RS) on the downlink anchor carrier, without having to perform RRM measurements on other carriers.
[0268] To achieve the above functions, anchor carriers generally operate at lower frequencies than other carriers, resulting in a wider coverage area. Furthermore, anchor carriers can provide basic data transmission capabilities for UEs within the cell; however, due to their typically smaller bandwidth, the peak data transmission rate is lower.
[0269] A carrier other than the anchor carrier can serve as a supplement to the anchor carrier, and is therefore called a supplementary carrier. For a supplementary downlink (SDL), the SDL is mainly used to supplement data transmission services, for example, to provide data transmission services with a higher peak rate than the anchor carrier. For a supplementary uplink (SUL), the SUL is used to supplement data transmission services and / or to supplement coverage, for example, to provide data transmission services with a higher peak rate than the anchor carrier and / or to provide wider coverage than the anchor carrier.
[0270] For example, carrier f1 is the anchor carrier, which can provide basic coverage and data transmission services for the cell, while carriers f2 and f3 are supplementary carriers, which can supplement data services for hotspot areas within the cell.
[0271] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the anchor carrier may also be referred to as the primary carrier, or other technical terms such as ordinary carrier, and may correspond to the first frequency domain resource group mentioned above. The supplementary carrier may also be referred to as the non-anchor carrier, or other technical terms such as secondary carrier, data carrier, etc., and may correspond to the second frequency domain resource group mentioned above.
[0272] In the embodiments disclosed herein, the technical solution is illustrated by the first RO and the second RO being configured on the same frequency domain resource group (e.g., the same carrier or uplink BWP resource). However, it should be noted that the scope of application of the technical solution provided in the embodiments of this disclosure is not limited to this, and can also be applied to the case where the first RO and the second RO are configured on different frequency domain resource groups.
[0273] In the embodiments described in this disclosure, the technical solutions are applicable to scenarios including UE initiating four-step random access or two-step random access, and are also applicable to contention-based random access and non-contention-based random access (e.g., UE initiating a non-contention-based random access procedure according to a PDCCH command).
[0274] The embodiments of this disclosure will now be described in more detail with reference to some examples.
[0275] For example, in one possible implementation, Figure 4 The method 400 shown can also be:
[0276] In step S410, the UE detects DCI format 1_0 (written as first DCI format or first DCI) for a random access procedure initiated or triggered by a PDCCH command.
[0277] For example, the first DCI format includes the following fields: random access preamble index, first RO availability indicator, and PRACH mask index. Furthermore, in one implementation, the first DCI may also include an SSB index;
[0278] In step S420, the UE selects an RO based on the first RO availability indication and the PRACH mask index field.
[0279] For example, in one implementation, the selected RO is associated with the SSB indicated by the SSB index;
[0280] In step S430, the UE sends a PRACH on the selected RO.
[0281] In one implementation, the PDCCH command is used to trigger a contention-free random access (CFRA) procedure if the random access preamble index is not a predetermined value (e.g., 0b000000) or is a specific value. The UE determines whether a configured or predetermined first RO is available or activated based on the first RO availability indication in the PDCCH command.
[0282] For example, based on the first RO availability indication, the UE determines whether the CFRA triggered by the PDCCH command can be performed using the first RO. If the first RO is determined to be available or activated based on the first RO availability indication, the UE can select an RO for random access from the ROs determined based on the PRACH mask index. The ROs determined based on the PRACH mask index may include the first RO, or the ROs determined based on the PRACH mask index may include both the first RO and the second RO. In other words, when the first RO availability indication is associated with the availability or activation of the first RO (e.g., the first RO availability indication is used to indicate that the first RO is available or activated), the PRACH mask index in the PDCCH command may apply to the first RO, or it may apply to both the first RO and the second RO. Therefore, the UE determines the RO indicated by the mask index according to its applicability and selects the RO for transmitting the PRACH from the determined ROs.
[0283] For example, if the PRACH mask index applies to the first RO, then the RO determined by the UE based on the mask index is the first RO. If the PRACH mask index applies to both the first RO and the second RO, then the RO determined by the UE based on the mask index can be either the first RO or the second RO, meaning the mask index can indicate either the first RO or the second RO.
[0284] In one implementation, when the first RO availability indication in the first DCI is associated with the first RO being available or activated, the scope of the PRACH mask index is predetermined or pre-configured, for example, preset by the protocol or determined based on received configuration information. For example, the protocol may preset that when the first RO availability indication in the first DCI is associated with the first RO being available or activated, the scope of the PRACH mask index is the first RO; that is, the protocol presets that the PRACH mask index in this case indicates the RO among the first ROs. Alternatively, the protocol may preset that when the first RO availability indication in the first DCI is associated with the first RO being available or activated, the scope of the PRACH mask index is both the first RO and the second RO; that is, the protocol presets that the PRACH mask index in this case indicates the RO among the first RO and the second RO. Alternatively, the scope of the PRACH mask index can also be configured through configuration information when the first RO availability indication in the first DCI is associated with the first RO being available or activated.
[0285] In some implementations, the PDCCH command is used to trigger a contention-based random access (CBRA) procedure when the random access preamble index is a predetermined value (e.g., 0b000000) or not a specific value. The UE determines whether a configured or predetermined first RO is available or activated based on the first RO availability indication in the PDCCH command. If the first RO is available or activated based on the first RO availability indication, the UE randomly selects an RO from the available first ROs, or randomly selects an RO from the available first ROs and second ROs (e.g., it can select the first RO, or the second RO, or both) to perform random access. For example, the UE can select an RO associated with an SSB index whose measured value is above a threshold, or select an RO associated with an SSB index whose measured value is above a threshold, and perform contention-based random access with the selected RO.
[0286] In one implementation, if the availability or activation of a first RO is determined based on the first RO availability indication in the PDCCH command, the first RO is available during its availability validity period and is unavailable or deactivated outside of that period. For example, the first RO within its availability validity period is referred to as the available first RO. The duration of this availability validity period can be, for example, a period of time related to the cycle to which the time point of receiving the PDCCH command belongs (e.g., referred to as the fourth cycle) (e.g., referred to as the first duration). For example, the availability validity period can be a pre-configured number of fourth cycles or a predetermined number of fourth cycles, which can be configured or preset by the protocol.
[0287] In one implementation, for example, the duration of the available validity period includes q consecutive fourth periods (q is a predetermined positive integer, such as a predefined or pre-configured number, e.g., 1, 2, 3, etc.). For example, "consecutive" means logically consecutive; for instance, if the duration of the available validity period includes 2 consecutive fourth periods, it means there are no other fourth periods not included in the available validity period between the 2 fourth periods included in the available validity period, but the two fourth periods included in the available validity period are not necessarily consecutive in time. Alternatively, for example, "consecutive" means physically or temporally consecutive; for instance, if the duration of the available validity period includes 2 consecutive fourth periods, it means the two fourth periods included in the available validity period are consecutive in time. In one implementation, for example, the q fourth periods included in the duration of the available validity period may not be consecutive; for example, there may be other fourth periods not included in the available validity period between the four periods included in the available validity period. In one implementation, for example, the duration of the available validity period includes q fourth periods, the time lengths or durations corresponding to the q fourth periods can be all the same, all different, partially the same, or partially different. For example, the time lengths corresponding to the q fourth periods are all the same, such as including 2 fourth periods, the durations of these two fourth periods are 10ms, 20ms, 40ms, 80ms, or 160ms; or, the time lengths corresponding to the q fourth periods are all different, such as including 2 fourth periods, the durations of these two fourth periods are 10ms and 20ms respectively; or, the time lengths corresponding to the q fourth periods are only partially the same, such as including 3 fourth periods, where the duration of the first two fourth periods is 10ms and the duration of the third fourth period is 20ms.
[0288] In one implementation, the starting position of the available validity period can be related to the time position of receiving the PDCCH command (e.g., OFDM symbol, time slot, frame, etc.) or to the fourth period corresponding to that time position (e.g., the fourth period in which the time position is located or belongs). For example, it could be the starting position of the first first RO after that time position, the ending or starting position of that time position, the starting or ending position of that fourth period, the starting position of the next fourth period, etc., or a position after all of the above positions with a certain time offset. The starting position of the available validity period can be the ending position of the received PDCCH command, or a time position after receiving the PDCCH command, wherein the interval between the time position and the ending position of the PDCCH command is greater than or equal to a first time interval.
[0289] In one implementation, the start position of the available validity period can be the start or end position of the fourth cycle to which the second reference point belongs or is located; alternatively, the start position of the available validity period can be the start position of the next fourth cycle to which the second reference point belongs or is located, wherein the second reference point can be related to the time when the first DCI (or PDCCH command) including the first RO availability indication information is received. The second reference point is, for example, the time position at which the UE receives the PDCCH command, or at least a first time interval from that time position. For example, the first time interval can be related to the time the UE prepares to transmit uplink signals. For example, the first time interval can be related to UE capabilities, or it can be predetermined, such as predefined or preconfigured.
[0290] For example, the available validity period may correspond to q consecutive fourth cycles starting from the fourth cycle after the PDCCH command is received; or, for another example, the available validity period may correspond to q consecutive fourth cycles starting from the next fourth cycle after the fourth cycle after the PDCCH command is received; or, for yet another example, the available validity period may correspond to q consecutive fourth cycles starting from the fourth cycle in which the second time is located, wherein the position of the second time is at least a first time interval from the time position of the PDCCH command being received; or the available validity period may correspond to q consecutive fourth cycles starting from the next fourth cycle in which the second time is located.
[0291] In one implementation, if the availability or activation of the first RO is determined based on the first RO availability indication in the PDCCH command, the availability validity period of the first RO can also be a period of time (e.g., referred to as the second duration) after the UE receives the PDCCH command (or the first DCI). For example, the availability validity period can begin after receiving the PDCCH command (or the first DCI). For example, the availability validity period can be the first first RO after the UE receives the PDCCH command (or the first DCI), or multiple consecutive first ROs, or one or more consecutive first time instances, or one or more first time units. Here, the first time instance is the time resource corresponding to a frequency division multiplexed random access resource (e.g., RO, which can be the first RO and / or the second RO), and the first time unit can be, for example, a radio frame, a time slot, a half-frame, a paging period, a modification period, etc.
[0292] In one implementation, the UE can select an available first RO after a second reference point associated with the received first DCI. For example, after the second reference point and within the validity period of the first RO, the first RO can be selected by the UE for random access. The second reference point is, for example, the time position at which the UE receives the PDCCH command, or at least a first time interval from that time position. For example, the first time interval may be related to the time the UE prepares to transmit uplink signals. For example, the first time interval may be related to UE capabilities, or it may be predetermined, such as predefined or preconfigured.
[0293] In one implementation, the UE can select an available first RO after the first reference point for random access triggered by the PDCCH command. The first reference point is associated with a second DCI that includes availability indication information of the first RO (e.g., referred to as second indication information). For example, the first RO indicated by the second DCI is considered to be an available and valid first RO after the first reference point, that is, the starting position of the availability validity period of the first RO is the first reference point.
[0294] In one implementation, when the UE receives a first DCI including a first RO availability indication, the first RO following the second reference point associated with the first DCI (e.g., the first RO between the first reference point following the first DCI and the second reference point) can be selected by the UE for transmitting PRACH; or, only the first RO following the first reference point following the first DCI can be selected by the UE for transmitting PRACH.
[0295] In this embodiment of the disclosure, before step S410, the method further includes: receiving configuration information related to the first PRACH resource (first RO resource) and the second PRACH resource (second RO resource), wherein the second RO resource can be selected by the UE to send PRACH without activation or indication of availability, and the first RO resource can be selected by the UE to send PRACH only after activation or indication of availability.
[0296] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the configured random access resources (RO resources) are divided into two categories based on whether it is necessary to indicate the availability of PRACH resources:
[0297] (1) The first RO resource (which can be one or more, or the first RO resource set) needs to be indicated as available before it can be selected by the UE to send PRACH. That is, the configuration of the first RO resource does not mean that it is available. It needs to be activated by signaling or indicated as available before it can be selected by the UE to send PRACH.
[0298] (2) The second RO resource (which can be one or more, and when there are multiple, it can be called the second RO resource set) can be selected by the UE to send PRACH without activation or indication of availability. That is, the second RO resource is available as soon as it is configured and can be used by the UE to initiate random access.
[0299] Optionally, the second RO resource can be referred to as the default RO resource, the RO resource that does not require activation, the basic RO resource, the non-additional RO resource, or the ordinary RO resource. The first RO resource can be referred to as the non-default RO resource, the RO resource that requires activation, the RO resource related to NES features, or the additional RO resource. In practical applications, the RO resources configured in the base station can include both types of RO resources to achieve a better trade-off between reducing access latency and network energy saving.
[0300] In the embodiments of this disclosure, unless the context specifies one or more ROs, such as when the UE randomly selects one RO or a group of ROs to initiate a random access procedure, i.e., the UE randomly selects one RO from one or more RO resources, then the RO resource or RO mentioned in this disclosure refers to one or more PRACH occasions (ROs), without distinguishing between singular and plural. The RO can be a first RO and / or a second RO.
[0301] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the PRACH configuration period corresponding to the first random access, or the PRACH configuration period corresponding to the first RO, may be referred to as the first configuration period, the first PRACH configuration period, the SSB-first PRACH configuration period, or the SSB-first RO configuration period.
[0302] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the association period corresponding to the first random access, or the association period corresponding to the first RO, may be referred to as the first association period, the first PRACH association period, the SSB-first PRACH association period, or the SSB-first RO association period.
[0303] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the association period corresponding to the first random access, or the association period corresponding to the first RO, may be referred to as the first association period, the first PRACH association period, the SSB-first PRACH association period, or the SSB-first RO association period.
[0304] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the associated pattern period corresponding to the first random access, or the associated pattern period corresponding to the first RO, may be referred to as the first associated pattern period, the first PRACH associated pattern period, the SSB-first PRACH associated pattern period, or the SSB-first RO associated pattern period.
[0305] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the PRACH configuration period corresponding to the second random access, or the PRACH configuration period corresponding to the second RO, can be referred to as the second configuration period, the second PRACH configuration period, the SSB-second PRACH configuration period, or the SSB-second RO configuration period.
[0306] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the association period corresponding to the second random access, or the association period corresponding to the second RO, may be referred to as the second association period, the second PRACH association period, the SSB-second PRACH association period, or the SSB-second RO association period.
[0307] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the associated pattern period corresponding to the second random access, or the associated pattern period corresponding to the second RO, can be referred to as the second associated pattern period, the second PRACH associated pattern period, the SSB-second PRACH associated pattern period, or the SSB-second RO associated pattern period.
[0308] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the PRACH time slot where the first RO is located is called the first PRACH time slot, and the PRACH time slot where the second RO is located is called the second PRACH time slot. It should be noted that the first RO and the second RO can belong to the same PRACH time slot at the same time (for example, the first RO and the second RO do not overlap in the time domain, such as on different symbols; or, the first RO and the second RO overlap in the time domain but do not overlap in the frequency domain). In this case, the PRACH can be called the first PRACH, the second PRACH time slot, a shared PRACH time slot, or a special PRACH time slot, etc.
[0309] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the PUSCH time slot determined according to the first random access configuration is written as the first PUSCH time slot, and the PUSCH time slot determined according to the second random access configuration is written as the second PUSCH time slot.
[0310] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the UE can obtain configuration information related to random access resources through system information, such as through IE RACH-ConfigCommon in the system information, or through IE RACH-ConfigCommonAdditional in the system information. When the first RO resource is pre-configured or the configuration information of the first RO resource is included in the system information IE RACH-ConfigCommon, the UE considers the first RO resource determined based on the configuration information of the first RO to be an inactive first RO resource before receiving the first DCI. The inactive first RO resource can be understood as an unusable first RO resource, that is, the UE cannot send a PRACH preamble on an inactive first RO to initiate a random access procedure.
[0311] In this embodiment of the disclosure, when the first RO resource is pre-configured, or when the UE provides configuration information of the first RO resource through system information IE addl-RACH-Config-Dyn, the UE receives a first DCI and / or a second DCI. The first DCI and / or the second DCI are used to indicate that the pre-configured first RO resource is activated or available. For example, the first DCI and / or the second DCI include a first RO availability indication field, which is used to indicate that one or more first ROs (i.e., a subset of first ROs) in the pre-configured first RO resources are available or activated. The configuration information related to the first DCI and the second DCI can be obtained through system messages (e.g., through higher-layer RRC signaling). After receiving the first DCI and / or the second DCI sent by the base station, the UE selects the available first RO and / or the second RO to initiate a random access procedure (i.e., send PRACH).
[0312] The configuration information related to the first random access resource includes one or more of the following:
[0313] (1) Time-domain related configuration information of the first random access resource (e.g., provided by the higher-layer parameter addl-RACH-Config-Dyn), which includes one or more of the following:
[0314] 1) The random access configuration index for the first random access (e.g., provided by the higher-layer parameter PRACH-ConfigIndex) (written as the first random access configuration index) is used for the PRACH configuration of time-domain adaptive additional RACH resources (e.g., the first RO). Based on this configuration index, the format of the first random access preamble, the random access configuration period (also referred to as the first random access period), the number and position of random access frames in the first random access configuration period, the index of a subframe or time slot in a random access frame, the starting symbol position of the random access preamble in a subframe or time slot, the number of random access time slots in a random access subframe, the number of ROs in a random access time slot, the number of OFDM symbols occupied in a RO, etc.
[0315] 2) A single PRACH mask (e.g., provided by the higher-layer parameter prach-Mask-SubsetIdentification-Dyn) used to identify or indicate an additional subset of PRACH resources (e.g., a first RO subset). This PRACH mask may be applicable to the first random access resource time-domain adaptation based on DCI format 1_0, where the Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) of DCI format 1_0 is scrambled by P-RNTI (written as the second DCI format); or the CRC of DCI format 1_0 is scrambled by C-RNTI (written as the first DCI format).
[0316] Without changing the physical meaning, this PRACH mask can be replaced by a PRACH mask related to NES features, an NES PRACH mask, a first RO mask, or a first mask, etc.
[0317] The first RO mask is used to determine a first subset of PRACH resources (written as the first RO subset) in the first PRACH resources configured according to the aforementioned higher-layer parameters. For example, based on the first RO mask, the UE can determine its configured first RO (or first RO subset) from the pre-configured first ROs.
[0318] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the first RO mask can be implemented by a first RO mask index (written as first mask index), for example by a look-up table. The n-bit first RO mask index can indicate one of the 2^n indications included in the table. This indication can determine a subset of first ROs in the first RO configuration of the higher-layer parameters. This subset of first ROs can be used for PRACH transmission. The first ROs included in the subset of first ROs determined by the first RO mask index are valid first ROs.
[0319] Furthermore, in one implementation, the first RO subset determined according to the first RO mask is a potentially available RO. Whether it can be used by the UE for PRACH transmission needs to be determined according to other steps. For example, if the first DCI indicates that the first RO subset is available or activated, then the first RO in the first RO subset can actually be used by the UE for PRACH transmission. The first RO subset determined according to the first mask index described below can represent a potentially available first RO subset (i.e., the UE can only select the first RO in the first RO subset to send PRACH after the first DCI indicates that the first RO subset is available). Alternatively, in other implementations, the first RO subset determined according to the first mask index described below can represent an actually available first RO subset (i.e., the UE does not need the first DCI to indicate that the first RO subset is available, and the UE can directly select the first RO in the first RO subset to send PRACH).
[0320] In this embodiment of the disclosure, unless otherwise specified, it can be assumed that all ROs in the first RO subset determined by the first RO mask index are valid ROs.
[0321] (2) Frequency domain-related configuration information of the first random access resource, including one or more of the following combinations:
[0322] 1) The number of first ROs in a single time instance (e.g., provided by the higher-level parameter msg1-FDM);
[0323] 2) The frequency starting position of the first RO, i.e., the frequency offset of the lowest first RO in the frequency domain relative to Physical Resource Block 0 (PRB 0) (e.g., provided by the higher-level parameter msg1-FrequencyStart);
[0324] The first RO at other frequency domain locations is calculated based on the location of the lowest first RO in the frequency domain, the size of the frequency domain resources occupied by a first RO, and / or the frequency domain interval between the first ROs.
[0325] (3) SSB to first RO (SSB-first RO) mapping ratio (e.g., indicating the number of SSBs mapped on a first RO (e.g., provided by the higher-level parameter ssb-perRACH-Occasion));
[0326] In this embodiment of the disclosure, all first ROs can be replaced with valid first ROs. For example, among all first ROs, the ROs that are determined to be valid after validity judgment are valid first ROs.
[0327] In this embodiment of the disclosure, when a first RO overlaps with a valid second RO in both the time and frequency domains, the first RO is considered an invalid RO before the SSB-first RO mapping.
[0328] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the first mask is applied after determining the validity of the first RO and mapping the SSB to the first RO. The first RO determined according to the first mask is a valid RO that does not overlap with the second RO, that is, the RO that overlaps with the second RO is considered an invalid RO and will not be indicated by the first mask or included in the first RO determined according to the first mask.
[0329] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the configuration information related to the second random access resource includes
[0330] 1) Configuration information related to the second random access resource in the time domain, such as the random access configuration index (written as the second random access configuration index); the mapping cycle of SSB-second RO (SSB and second random access resource mapping); the association period of SSB-second RO; the association pattern period of SSB-second RO, etc.
[0331] 2) Configuration information related to the frequency domain of the second random access resource, including the number of second ROs in a single time instance; the starting position of the frequency of the first RO, i.e., the (frequency) offset of the lowest second RO in the frequency domain relative to Physical Resource Block 0 (PRB 0).
[0332] 3) SSB to second RO (SSB-second RO) mapping ratio (e.g., indicating the number of SSBs mapped on a second RO).
[0333] The configuration information related to the second random access resource can be partially the same as the configuration information related to the first random access resource. For example, the number of second ROs in frequency division multiplexing is equal to the number of first ROs in frequency division multiplexing. When the number of first ROs in frequency division multiplexing is not configured, it can be assumed to be equal to the number of second ROs in frequency division multiplexing. For example, the first random access configuration index is not equal to the random access configuration index in the time-domain related configuration information of the first random access resource. For example, the SSB-second RO mapping ratio is different from the SSB-first RO mapping ratio. When the SSB-first RO mapping ratio is not configured, it can be assumed to be equal to the SSB-second RO mapping ratio.
[0334] [Description of the PDCCH command]
[0335] In this embodiment of the disclosure, in step S410, if the UE detects DCI format 1_0, where the Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) of DCI format 1_0 is scrambled by the Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI), and the "Frequency Domain Resource Assignment" field is all 1s, then DCI format 1_0 (for simplicity, referred to as the first DCI or first DCI format) is used in a random access procedure initiated by a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) order. According to embodiments of this disclosure, the first DCI includes a first RO availability indication and a PRACH mask index field. Furthermore, for example, the first DCI may also include an SSB index.
[0336] In this embodiment of the disclosure, in step S420, the UE selects an RO for transmitting PRACH based on the first RO availability indication and the PRACH mask index field. In one implementation, for example, the selected RO is associated with the SSB indicated by the SSB index.
[0337] [Description related to the first DCI format]
[0338] In one implementation, the first DCI format includes a combination of at least one or more of the following fields:
[0339] 1) Random Access Preamble Index (e.g., 6 bits);
[0340] 2) SS / PBCH Index (or SSB Index) - (e.g., 6 bits). If the "RandomAccess Preamble index" is not 0b000000, this field indicates the SS / PBCH used to determine the RACH Occasion sent by PRACH; if the "Random Access Preamble index" is 0b000000, this field is reserved.
[0341] 3) PRACH Maskindex - (e.g., 4 bits). If "Random Access Preambleindex" is not 0b000000, this field indicates the RO associated with the SSB index indicated by the SSB index field for PRACH transmission; if "Random Access Preambleindex" is 0b000000, this field is reserved.
[0342] 4) First RO (additional RO) availability indication (for simplicity, written as first indication) - (e.g., 1 bit). If the "Random Access Preamble index" is not 0b000000, this field indicates the availability information for the first RO or a subset of the first RO.
[0343] In one implementation, the first RO availability indication may also be included in the second DCI format, that is, the UE can obtain the first RO or first RO subset availability indication information according to the detected second DCI format, the second DCI format including P-RNTI scrambled CRC.
[0344] In one implementation, when the value of the first indication field is '1', it indicates that the first RO subset is available or activated; when the value of the first indication field is '0', it indicates that the first RO subset is unavailable, deactivated, not activated, or remains in the same available state as before. For example, if the first RO subset is in an available state before the UE detects the first DCI format, and the UE detects the first DCI format, if the first indication field included in the first DCI format is '1', the UE considers the state of the first RO subset to be available; if the first indication field included in the first DCI format is '0', the UE considers the state of the first RO subset to remain available.
[0345] In one implementation, if the first RO subset is not configured (e.g., higher-layer signaling does not provide configuration related to the first RO and / or the first RO subset), and the UE detects that the random access preamble field included in the first DCI format corresponding to the PDCCH command is not zero, and the first indication field included in the first DCI format indicates that the first RO or the first RO subset is available (e.g., the value of the first indication field is '1'), then the UE ignores the first indication field. Optionally, the UE can select a second RO indicated by the PRACH mask index value included in the first DCI format for transmitting PRACH, wherein the second RO is associated with the SSB index indicated by the SSB index field of the PDCCH command.
[0346] [RO used in the PRACH mask index in the first DCI format]
[0347] In one implementation, if the UE (or its MAC entity) is explicitly provided with a random access preamble index (ra-PreambleIndex) according to the PDCCH command, and if the random access preamble index is not zero, i.e., if the random access preamble field included in the first DCI format used by the PDCCH command is not zero (e.g., ra-PreambleIndex is not equal to 0b000000), then the UE initiates contention-free random access (CFRA); otherwise (i.e., if the random access preamble field included in the first DCI format used by the PDCCH command is zero), the UE initiates contention-based random access (CBRA).
[0348] Additionally, if applicable, the cell indication field in the PDCCH command, or the target configuration ID field in the LTM cell handover command MAC CE, indicates the cell where the PRACH transmission takes place.
[0349] In one implementation, if the UE initiates CFRA via a PDCCH command, the UE sets the random access preamble index (PREAMBLE_INDEX) used to initiate random access to the ra-PreambleIndex indicated by the PDCCH command, and selects the SSB (or candidate SSB) indicated by the PDCCH command.
[0350] In one implementation, for a random access procedure triggered by a PDCCH command, the UE selects the RO for PRACH transmission indicated by the PRACH mask index included in the first DCI format, based on the random access preamble field and the first indication field included in the detected first DCI format.
[0351] Specifically, when the UE selects an RO for PRACH transmission, it selects the RO indicated by the PRACH mask index value included in the first DCI format within the first available mapping cycle, based on the SSB index indicated by the SSB index field included in the detected first DCI format.
[0352] It is understood that in the embodiments of this disclosure, the transmission / transmission of random access preamble can be equivalently replaced by the transmission / transmission of PRACH.
[0353] In this disclosure, the meaning of available RO is equivalent to RO that can be used to send a random access preamble, or RO that can be used to send a PRACH.
[0354] In one implementation, for a CFRA triggered by a PDCCH command, the first RO and / or the second RO selected by the UE are associated with the SSB index indicated by the PDCCH command.
[0355] [When the random access preamble field is not 0 (CFRA)]
[0356] In one implementation, for a random access procedure triggered by a PDCCH command, if the random access preamble field in the first DCI format corresponding to the PDCCH command detected by the UE is not zero, the UE initiates CFRA. Specifically, the UE selects an RO to send PRACH based on the PRACH mask index value indicated by the PDCCH command and the first RO availability information (first indication).
[0357] The RO selected by the UE for transmitting the random access preamble includes a first RO and / or a second RO. For example, the RO selected by the UE is associated with the SSB index indicated by the SSB index field included in the first DCI format, and the random access preamble is the random access preamble indicated by the random access preamble field included in the first DCI format.
[0358] When the value of the first indicator field is '1'
[0359] In one implementation, for a random access procedure triggered by a PDCCH command, if the random access preamble field in the first DCI format corresponding to the PDCCH command detected by the UE is not zero, and the first indication field in the first DCI format indicates that a first RO or a subset of first ROs is available (e.g., the value of the first indication field is '1'), the UE selects an RO to send the PRACH based on the PRACH mask index value indicated by the PDCCH command and the first RO availability information (first indication). [The PRACH mask index uses a separate indexing method (indicating only the first RO)]
[0360] In one possible implementation, if the random access preamble field of the first DCI format corresponding to the PDCCH command detected by the UE is not zero, and the first indication field of the first DCI format indicates that the first RO or a subset of the first ROs is available (e.g., the value of the first indication field is '1'), then the PRACH mask index field indicates the RO (first RO) used for PRACH transmission in the available first RO or a subset of the first ROs. In this way, the probability of random access collisions can be reduced. For example, for a UE that supports the use of an available first RO (i.e., this type of UE can perform random access using both the first and second ROs), when indicated that the first RO is available, prioritizing or only using the first RO (i.e., not prioritizing or not using the second RO) can reduce random access collisions with UEs that cannot use the first RO (i.e., this type of UE can only perform random access using the second RO), such as random access collisions that occur when both UEs simultaneously select the second RO. This reduces the random access latency caused by random access collisions and improves the performance of random access in the network.
[0361] Optionally, the UE may select the first available first RO after receiving the PDCCH command, which is the RO indicated by the PRACH mask index field.
[0362] In one possible implementation, when the UE selects an RO for PRACH transmission, it selects the first RO indicated by the PRACH mask index value included in the first DCI format within the mapping cycle of the first available SSB-first RO, the first RO being associated with the SSB index indicated by the SSB index field included in the first DCI format.
[0363] The first RO is mapped sequentially according to the corresponding SSB index. The index of the first RO, indicated by the PRACH mask index value, can be reset within the mapping cycle of consecutive first ROs corresponding to each SSB index (SSB-first RO mapping cycle).
[0364] As an example, Figure 5 The diagram shows the first RO associated with an SSB index (e.g., an SSB index indicated by a PDCCH command), where the mapping ratio between the SSB index and the first RO is one SSB to eight first ROs. Figure 5 The index order of the first RO is from 1 to 8 in the first order. Assuming the PRACH mask index value is 4, meaning the indicated RO index is 4, then the UE selects... Figure 5 The first RO index in the middle is 4, corresponding to the first RO ( Figure 5 The RO circle in the middle (with a dashed line) is used to send PRACH.
[0365] [PRACH mask index indicates the first RO and the second RO]
[0366] In one implementation, if the random access preamble field of the first DCI format corresponding to the PDCCH command detected by the UE is not zero, and the first indication field of the first DCI format indicates that the first RO or a subset of the first RO is available (e.g., the value of the first indication field is '1'), then the scope of the PRACH mask index in the PDCCH command is the first RO and the second RO. For example, the PRACH mask index indicates the RO among the available first RO and second RO.
[0367] Specifically, in one implementation, the UE performs the following operations within a certain period of time after receiving the PDCCH command:
[0368] Select the first available RO (first RO or second RO) indicated by the PRACH mask index value included in the first DCI format corresponding to the PDCCH command to transmit the PRACH; or,
[0369] Select any one of the one or more ROs (e.g., indicating a first RO and a second RO) included in the first DCI format to transmit PRACH;
[0370] For example, the first available RO selected by the UE can be either a first RO or a second RO. For example, the first RO or the second RO can be associated with the SSB index indicated by the SSB index field included in the first DCI format.
[0371] The beneficial effect of the above implementation method using PRACH mask index to indicate the available first RO and second RO is that, while taking into account that the PRACH mask index indicates one or more ROs of the first RO and second RO within a certain period of time, it is beneficial for the network to use the existing PRACH mask index to indicate the resources for UE to initiate random access (e.g., the existing PRACH mask index indicates the RO index range of 1 to 8), and the implementation complexity is low.
[0372] [PRACH masked indexes are applicable to independent indexes (indicating the first RO and the second RO respectively)]
[0373] In one possible implementation, the PRACH mask index indicated by the PDCCH command is applied to both the first RO and the second RO, meaning the UE determines the first RO and the second RO based on the PRACH mask index. The advantage of this implementation is that the network can send PRACHs from a wider range of random access resources, indicating ROs available to the UE, such as indicating the next available RO. This RO can be the next available RO among the first and second ROs indicated by the PRACH mask index. Furthermore, this method supports indicating any one or more ROs among the first and / or second ROs, allowing the network to flexibly instruct the UE on resources for initiating random access, reducing UE random access latency, and improving random access performance. Additionally, this method allows the network to utilize existing PRACH mask indexes to instruct the UE on resources for initiating random access (e.g., the existing PRACH mask indexes indicate RO indices ranging from 1 to 8), resulting in low implementation complexity.
[0374] The PRACH mask index applies to both the first RO and the second RO, meaning the PRACH mask index indicates one or more of the following combinations:
[0375] 1) Within the first time range after the UE receives the PDCCH command, one or more first ROs are included in the first ROs corresponding to the SSB index indicated by the SSB index field of the first DCI format;
[0376] 2) Within a second time frame after the UE receives the PDCCH command, one or more second ROs are included in the second ROs corresponding to the SSB index indicated by the SSB index field of the first DCI format;
[0377] The first RO is either the available first RO or the first RO in a subset of the available first ROs.
[0378] The first time range can be at least one of the following:
[0379] 1) The first available SSB-first RO mapping cycle; or,
[0380] 2) The first available SSB-second RO mapping loop; or,
[0381] 3) In the first available SSB-first RO mapping cycle and the first available SSB-second RO mapping cycle, the longer of the mapping cycles is used; or,
[0382] 4) The first available SSB-first RO PRACH configuration cycle.
[0383] The second time frame can be at least one of the following:
[0384] 1) The first available SSB-first RO mapping cycle; or,
[0385] 2) The first available SSB-second RO mapping loop; or,
[0386] 3) In the first available SSB-first RO mapping cycle and the first available SSB-second RO mapping cycle, the longer of the mapping cycles is used; or,
[0387] 4) The first available SSB-second RO PRACH configuration cycle.
[0388] The first time range and the second time range can be the same, for example, both equal to the mapping cycle of the first available SSB-second RO; or they can be different, for example, the first time range is the mapping cycle of the first available SSB-first RO, and the second time range is the mapping cycle of the first available SSB-second RO.
[0389] Specifically, the first or second RO indicated by the PRACH mask index value indicated by the PDCCH command is mapped sequentially within a certain mapping cycle according to the corresponding SSB index in a certain mapping method. This mapping method can be:
[0390] 1) For the first RO, the first RO is mapped sequentially according to the corresponding SSB index. The index of the first RO indicated by the PRACH mask index value will be reset in the first mapping cycle of the consecutive first ROs corresponding to each SSB index. For example, for each SSB index, the range of the index value of the associated first RO is determined according to the mapping ratio between the SSB and the first RO. For example, if an SSB is mapped to 8 consecutive first ROs, then the range of the index value of the first RO is 1 to 8.
[0391] 2) For the second RO, the second RO is mapped sequentially according to the corresponding SSB index. The index of the second RO indicated by the PRACH mask index value is reset in the second mapping cycle of the consecutive second ROs corresponding to each SSB index. For example, for each SSB index, the range of the index value of its associated second RO is determined according to the mapping ratio of the SSB and the second RO. For example, if an SSB is mapped to 8 consecutive second ROs, then the range of the index value of the second RO is 1 to 8.
[0392] The first mapping loop can be a combination of one or more of the following:
[0393] 1) SSB-first RO mapping loop; or,
[0394] 2) SSB-second RO mapping loop; or,
[0395] 3) In the mapping cycle of SSB-first RO and the mapping cycle of SSB-second RO, the longer cycle of the mapping cycle; or,
[0396] 4) SSB - First RO PRACH configuration cycle.
[0397] The second mapping loop can be a combination of one or more of the following:
[0398] 1) SSB-first RO mapping loop; or,
[0399] 2) SSB-second RO mapping loop; or,
[0400] 3) In the mapping cycle of SSB-first RO and the mapping cycle of SSB-second RO, the longer cycle of the mapping cycle; or,
[0401] 4) SSB-Second RO PRACH configuration cycle.
[0402] The first mapping cycle and the second mapping cycle can be the same, for example, both can be equal to the mapping cycle of SSB-second RO; or they can be different, for example, the first mapping cycle is the mapping cycle of SSB-first RO and the second mapping cycle is the mapping cycle of SSB-second RO.
[0403] As an example, Figure 6 The diagram shows the first RO and the second RO associated with an SSB index (e.g., an SSB index included in a PDCCH command), where the mapping ratio between the SSB index and the first RO is one SSB to eight first ROs, and the mapping ratio between the SSB index and the second RO is one SSB to eight second ROs. Figure 6 The first and second remote origins (ROs) are indexed separately; that is, the first RO is indexed from 1 to 8 in a first order, and the second RO is indexed from 1 to 8 in a first order. Assuming the PRACH mask index value indicates an RO index of 4, the UE selects... Figure 6 The first RO with index 4 corresponds to the first RO, and the second RO with index 4 corresponds to the second RO. Figure 6 The RO (outlined by a dashed circle) is used to transmit PRACH. The UE can select the next available RO from the ROs indicated by the PRACH mask index, for example... Figure 6 The first available RO out of the two ROs circled in the middle, for example, the second RO; or, the UE can select either RO from the ROs indicated by the PRACH mask index (the first RO with index 4 and the second RO with index 4), for example, selecting ( Figure 6 The first RO with index 4 (circled in the middle) or the second RO with index 4.
[0404] [PRACH masked index is applicable to composite indexes (composite indexes indicate the first RO and the second RO)]
[0405] In another possible implementation, the PRACH mask index indicated by the PDCCH command can be applied together (or in combination) to ROs including the first RO and the second RO, that is, the UE determines one or more ROs among the ROs including the first RO and the second RO according to the PRACH mask index.
[0406] The PRACH mask index applies to all ROs including the first RO and the second RO. Specifically, the PRACH mask index indicates one or more ROs (including the first and second ROs) included in all ROs within a third time frame after the UE receives the PDCCH command. These one or more ROs can be:
[0407] 1) All are first RO; or,
[0408] 2) All are second ROs; or,
[0409] 3) Includes the first RO and the second RO.
[0410] The third time range can be at least one of the following:
[0411] 1) The first available SSB-first RO mapping cycle; or,
[0412] 2) The first available SSB-second RO mapping loop; or,
[0413] 3) In the first available SSB-first RO mapping cycle and the first available SSB-second RO mapping cycle, the longer of the mapping cycles is used; or,
[0414] 4) The first available SSB-second RO PRACH configuration cycle.
[0415] Specifically, the ROs (including the first RO and the second RO) indicated by the PRACH mask index value specified by the PDCCH command are mapped sequentially within a certain mapping cycle according to their corresponding SSB indices in a certain mapping manner. This mapping manner can be:
[0416] In one possible implementation, the mapping method can be: ROs (including the first RO and the second RO) are mapped sequentially according to their corresponding SSB indices. The indices of the ROs (including the first RO and the second RO) indicated by the PRACH mask index value are reset within a third mapping cycle of consecutive ROs (including the first RO and the second RO) corresponding to each SSB index, and the following condition is met within this third mapping cycle:
[0417] 1) When the maximum index value of RO exceeds 8, it will be reset (e.g., starting again from index 1); or
[0418] 2) The index value of an RO must not exceed 8. This can be restricted using the following formula. For ROs with an index value exceeding 8 (written as the old RO index), the new RO index value needs to be obtained using the following formula: new RO index value = mod(old RO index value - 1, 8) + 1 or new RO index value = mod(old RO index value, 8). For example, for the RO index value {1,2,3,…,15,16}, according to the above formula, we can obtain the RO index value = mod({1,2,3,…,15,16}-1,8)+1 = {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8}.
[0419] The advantage of this mapping method is that the index value of RO can be limited to 1 to 8 within a third mapping cycle. Then, the existing PRACH mask index can be used to instruct the UE to initiate random access from one or more of the available ROs in the third mapping cycle. This method is beneficial for the network to utilize the existing PRACH mask index to instruct the UE to initiate random access, and the implementation complexity is low.
[0420] It should be understood that the description of the exemplary embodiments of this disclosure, in which the maximum value of the RO index is 8 or 16, is merely an example using an SSB to RO mapping ratio of 8. The corresponding description and technical solutions can be equally applied to other values of the SSB to RO mapping ratio, in which case the maximum value of the RO index can be other values.
[0421] In the disclosed embodiments, the third mapping loop can be one or more combinations of the following:
[0422] 1) SSB-first RO mapping loop; or,
[0423] 2) SSB-second RO mapping loop; or,
[0424] 3) In the mapping cycle of SSB-first RO and the mapping cycle of SSB-second RO, the longer cycle of the mapping cycle; or,
[0425] 4) SSB-Second RO PRACH configuration cycle.
[0426] As an example, Figure 7The diagram shows the ROs (including first ROs and second ROs) associated with an SSB index (e.g., an SSB index indicated by a PDCCH command), where the mapping ratio between the SSB index and the first RO is one SSB to eight first ROs, and the mapping ratio between the SSB index and the second RO is one SSB to eight second ROs. Figure 7 The first and second ROs are indexed together, meaning they start indexing in the first order, and the index value is guaranteed not to exceed 8. Specifically, the index values of ROs with an index value greater than 8 are limited to the range of 1 to 8 using the method described above. When the index of the RO indicated by the PRACH mask index is 4, the UE selects... Figure 7 The first available RO index is 4, corresponding to the RO (i.e., Figure 7 The circled second RO is used to send PRACH.
[0427] In another possible implementation, the mapping method can be: ROs (including the first RO and the second RO) are mapped sequentially according to their corresponding SSB indices. The index of the RO (including the first RO and the second RO) indicated by the PRACH mask index value is reset within the third mapping cycle of consecutive ROs (including the first RO and the second RO) corresponding to each SSB index. For example, for each SSB index, the maximum index value of its associated RO (including the first RO and the second RO) is determined according to the mapping ratio between the SSB index and the first RO, and the mapping ratio between the SSB index and the second RO. For example, if the mapping ratio between an SSB and the first RO is 8, and the mapping ratio between the second RO and the second RO is 8, then within the third mapping cycle, an SSB is mapped to 16 consecutive ROs (including 8 first ROs and 8 second ROs), and the index range of the ROs is 1 to 16.
[0428] The beneficial effects of this mapping method are that it can limit the index value of the RO to within 1 to 16 within a third mapping cycle. Even if the mapping ratio between the SSB index and the first and second ROs is 8 (meaning each SSB index maps to 8 first ROs and 8 second ROs simultaneously), it can still ensure that no duplicate RO indexes appear within the third mapping cycle. The network can use the PRACH mask index to instruct the UE to initiate random access from one or more ROs among all available ROs within the third mapping cycle, for example, indicating the next available RO. This RO can be the next available RO among the first and second ROs indicated by the PRACH mask index. Furthermore, this method supports indicating any one or more ROs among the first and / or second ROs, which allows the network to flexibly instruct the UE to use resources for initiating random access, reducing UE random access latency and improving random access performance. In addition, this method allows the network to utilize existing PRACH mask indexes to instruct the UE to use resources for initiating random access, resulting in low implementation complexity.
[0429] In one implementation, when the index value of RO exceeds 8, for example, when the index value of RO is 9 to 16, the UE can determine the RO with an index value exceeding 8 based on the reserved index value (e.g., 11 to 15) in the PRACH mask index value.
[0430] In one possible implementation, the reserved index value in the PRACH mask index (e.g., PRACH maskindex = 11 to 15) can indicate the allowed RO (Allowed PRACH occasion(s) of SSB) for at least one of the following SSBs:
[0431] 1) RO index k, where k can be an integer 9, 10, ..., 16;
[0432] 2) RO index 2*k, where k can be an integer 5, 6, 7, or 8;
[0433] 3) The RO index is 2*k-1, where k can be an integer 5, 6, 7, or 8;
[0434] The beneficial effect of this implementation is that by utilizing the reserved index value in the PRACH mask index, the network can use the existing PRACH mask index to instruct the UE to initiate random access resources. This method does not require increasing the number of bits required for the PRACH mask index (e.g., using more bits to indicate RO with an index value greater than 8), and it uses the existing PRACH mask index to instruct the UE to initiate random access resources without additional signaling overhead, resulting in low implementation complexity.
[0435] In one possible implementation, when the PRACH mask index value is a reserved value, the UE can determine the RO index value based on the high bits (or low bits) of the random access preamble index value included in the first DCI format.
[0436] For example, the first n high bits (or the last n low bits) of the preamble index value can indicate 2^n cases, where the 2^n cases include at least one of the following RO indices k, where k can be equal to an integer 9, 10, ..., 16;
[0437] The advantages of this implementation are that the network can utilize the existing PRACH mask index and the index value of the random access preamble indicated by the PDCCH command to jointly instruct the UE to initiate random access from one or more ROs among all available ROs within the third mapping cycle. This allows the network to flexibly instruct the UE to use resources for initiating random access, reducing UE random access latency and improving random access performance. Furthermore, this method does not require increasing the number of bits needed for the PRACH mask index (e.g., using more bits to indicate ROs with index values exceeding 8), flexibly instructs the UE to use resources for initiating random access using the existing PRACH mask index and the preamble index value indicated in the PDCCH command, requires no additional signaling overhead, and has low implementation complexity.
[0438] As an example, Table 1 provides examples of eight RO index values (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16) corresponding to the first three high bits of the random access preamble index value included in the first DCI format. The first three high bits of each different preamble index value uniquely determine a corresponding RO index value.
[0439] Table 1
[0440] The first 3 high bits of the preamble index value RO index value 000 9 001 10 010 11 011 12 100 13 101 14 110 15 111 16
[0441] In one possible implementation, when the PRACH mask index value is a reserved value, the UE can determine the RO index value by combining the high bits (or low bits) of the random access preamble index value included in the first DCI format with the PRACH mask index value.
[0442] For example, the RO index value is determined by jointly encoding the first m high bits (or the last m low bits) of the random access preamble index value included in the first DCI format and the PRACH mask index value.
[0443] The advantages of this implementation are that the network can use the index value of the random access preamble indicated by the PDCCH command and the PRACH mask index to instruct the UE to initiate random access from one or more ROs among all available ROs within the third mapping cycle. This allows the network to flexibly instruct the UE to use resources for initiating random access, reducing UE random access latency and improving random access performance. Furthermore, this method does not require redesigning the PRACH mask index to indicate ROs with index values exceeding 8; it can flexibly instruct the UE to initiate random access from ROs with index values exceeding 8 using only the preamble index value indicated in the existing PDCCH command, without requiring additional signaling overhead and thus having low implementation complexity.
[0444] As an example, Table 2 provides an example of an index value (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16) that jointly indicates the RO based on the first high bit (highest bit) of the random access preamble index value included in the first DCI format and the reserved values of the four PRACH mask indices (e.g., 11, 12, 13, 14).
[0445] Table 2
[0446]
[0447] As an example, Figure 8 The diagram shows the ROs (including first ROs and second ROs) associated with an SSB index (e.g., an SSB index indicated by a PDCCH command), where the mapping ratio between the SSB index and the first RO is one SSB to eight first ROs, and the mapping ratio between the SSB index and the second RO is one SSB to eight second ROs. Figure 8 The first and second ROs are indexed together, meaning they are indexed in a first order. As shown in this example, ROs (including the first and second ROs) are indexed from 1 to 16 in this first order. When the index of the RO indicated by the above method is 4, the UE selects... Figure 8 The RO index in the middle is 4, which corresponds to the RO (i.e. Figure 8 The circled second RO is used to send PRACH.
[0448] In one implementation, for the preamble index indicated by the PDCCH command, the first order of the RO (including the first RO and the second RO, or the first RO, or the second RO) indexes is:
[0449] First, sort the frequency resources by frequency-reused RO in ascending order.
[0450] - Secondly, within the same PRACH time slot, the time resource indexes of the time-division multiplexed ROs are sorted in ascending order;
[0451] - Third, sorted in ascending order by the index of the PRACH slot.
[0452] In one implementation, in addition to the above-described method where the UE determines the available first RO based on the first indication field when the random access preamble field included in the first DCI format corresponding to the PDCCH command received by the UE is not zero, the UE can also determine the available first RO based on the dedicated preamble and / or RO indicated by the received PDCCH command for triggering the UE to perform CFRA, as well as the first indication field.
[0453] When the value of the first indicator field is '0'
[0454] [Only the second RO is indicated]
[0455] In one implementation, for a random access procedure triggered by a PDCCH command, if the random access preamble field of the first DCI format corresponding to the PDCCH command detected by the UE is not zero, and the first indication field of the first DCI format indicates that the first RO or a subset of the first RO is not available (e.g., the value of the first indication field is '0'), the UE selects an available second RO for transmitting PRACH according to the PRACH mask index value indicated by the PDCCH command.
[0456] Optionally, the UE may select the first available second RO after receiving the PDCCH command, the RO being the RO indicated by the PRACH mask index field, and the RO being associated with the SSB index indicated by the PDCCH command.
[0457] In one possible implementation, when the UE selects an RO for PRACH transmission, within a mapping cycle of the first available SSB-second RO, it selects a second RO indicated by the PRACH mask index value included in the first DCI format, which is associated with the SSB index indicated by the SSB index field included in the first DCI format.
[0458] The second RO is mapped sequentially according to the corresponding SSB index. The index of the second RO indicated by the PRACH mask index value is reset within the mapping cycle of the consecutive second ROs corresponding to each SSB index (SSB-second RO mapping cycle).
[0459] [When the random access preamble field is 0 (CBRA)]
[0460] In one implementation, for a random access procedure triggered by a PDCCH command, if the random access preamble field in the first DCI format corresponding to the PDCCH command detected by the UE is zero, the UE initiates a CBRA. Specifically, based on the first RO availability information (first indication), the UE determines the next available RO and sends a PRACH after receiving the PDCCH command. This RO can be the first RO and / or the second RO, and this RO is associated with the SSB index selected by the UE.
[0461] Specifically, the SS-RSRP of the SSB corresponding to the SSB index selected by the UE is higher than that of the rsrp-ThresholdSSB (provided by higher-level parameters, such as IE RACH-ConfigCommon); or, the SSB corresponding to the SSB index selected by the UE is any one of the SSBs configured by higher-level parameters (such as ssb-PositionsInBurst included in IE ServingCellConfigCommonSIB).
[0462] Specifically, if the random access preamble field of the first DCI format corresponding to the PDCCH command detected by the UE is zero, and the first indication field of the first DCI format indicates that the first RO or a subset of the first RO is available (e.g., the value of the first indication field is '1'), then when the UE (or the UE's MAC entity) selects the RO:
[0463] 1) From the consecutive first ROs corresponding to (or associated with) the SSB index selected by the UE, randomly select one first RO with equal probability; or,
[0464] 3) Among the consecutive ROs (including the first RO and the second RO) corresponding to (or associated with) the SSB index selected by the UE, one RO is randomly selected with equal probability. This RO can be the first RO and / or the second RO.
[0465] If the random access preamble field of the first DCI format corresponding to the PDCCH command detected by the UE is zero, and the first indication field of the first DCI format indicates that the first RO or a subset of the first RO is available (e.g., the value of the first indication field is '0'), then when the UE (or the UE's MAC entity) selects an RO, it randomly selects a second RO with equal probability from the consecutive second ROs corresponding to (or associated with) the SSB index selected by the UE.
[0466] In one implementation, the valid PRACH timing associated with addl-RACH-Config-Adaptation (e.g., included in RACH-ConfigCommon) (e.g., the valid first RO in this invention) can, additionally, be a valid PRACH timing within the associated period indicated by prach-SubsetMask-Index-Adaptation (if provided). This valid PRACH timing is indicated as available or usable for PRACH transmission according to DCI format 1_0 of P-RNTI or C-RNTI scrambled CRC. For the indication of DCI format 1_0 scrambled by P-RNTI CRC, or for the indication of DCI format 1_0 scrambled by C-RNTI CRC with a random access preamble index field value of 0, the PRACH timing is available for a duration provided by validity-durationForAddlRACHAdaptation, which begins in the first frame of the system information modification period containing the PDCCH monitoring timing of DCI format 1_0 scrambled by P-RNTI CRC received by the UE or the UE most recently received; or, the duration begins in the first frame containing the system information modification period, wherein the first frame contains the PDCCH monitoring timing of DCI format 1_0 scrambled by P-RNTI CRC received by the UE or the UE most recently received. For DCI format 1_0 indications with C-RNTI scrambled CRC and a non-zero random access preamble index field value, the PRACH timing is available within the duration provided by validity-durationForAddlRACHAdaptation, which begins in the first frame of the system information modification period containing the timing of the UE receiving a DCI format 1_0 PDCCH monitoring event with C-RNTI scrambled CRC; or, the duration begins in the first frame containing the system information modification period, wherein the first frame contains the UE receiving, or most recently receiving, a DCI format 1_0 PDCCH monitoring event with C-RNTI scrambled CRC.
[0467] Optionally, in one implementation, for a DCI format 1_0 indication with a C-RNTI-scrambled CRC and a random access preamble index field value of 0, the PRACH timing is available within a duration provided by validity-durationForAddlRACHAdaptation, which begins in the first frame of the system information modification period containing the PDCCH monitoring timing of the DCI format 1_0 with a C-RNTI-scrambled CRC received by the UE, or the UE's most recently received P-RNTI-scrambled CRC; or, the duration begins in the first frame containing the system information modification period, wherein the first frame contains the PDCCH monitoring timing of the DCI format 1_0 with a C-RNTI-scrambled CRC received by the UE, or the UE's most recently received P-RNTI-scrambled CRC.
[0468] Optionally, in one implementation, for a DCI format 1_0 indication with a C-RNTI-scrambled CRC and a non-zero random access preamble index field value, the PRACH timing is available within a duration provided by validity-durationForAddlRACHAdaptation, which begins in the first frame of the system information modification period containing the PDCCH monitoring timing of the C-RNTI-scrambled CRC DCI format 1_0 received by the UE or the UE's most recently received PDCCH monitoring timing; or, the duration begins in the first frame containing the system information modification period, wherein the first frame contains the C-RNTI-scrambled CRC DCI format 1_0 PDCCH monitoring timing received by the UE or the UE's most recently received PDCCH monitoring timing.
[0469] Among them, addl-RACH-Config-Adaptation is a high-level parameter used to provide configuration information related to the first RO (or additional RO); prach-SubsetMask-Index-Adaptation is a high-level parameter used to indicate the first RO within the associated period (e.g., the valid first RO); validity-DurationForAddlRACHAdaptation is a high-level parameter used to provide the available duration of the PRACH timing.
[0470] Specifically, a DCI format indication scrambled by C-RNTI with a CRC value of 0 and a random access preamble index field value of 0 can be understood as a DCI format 1_0 indication scrambled by C-RNTI with a CRC value of 0, meaning that DCI format 1_0 is used for contention-based random access procedures triggered by PDCCH commands. Conversely, a DCI format indication scrambled by C-RNTI with a CRC value of non-zero can be understood as a DCI format 1_0 indication scrambled by C-RNTI with a CRC value of non-zero, meaning that DCI format 1_0 is used for non-contention-based random access procedures triggered by PDCCH commands.
[0471] The DCI format 1_0 with C-RNTI scrambling CRC can be used for random access procedures triggered by PDCCH commands. Optionally, the DCI format 1_0 with C-RNTI scrambling CRC can be understood as the first DCI described in this invention.
[0472] Optionally, for cases where the indication of DCI format 1_0 of the P-RNTI scrambled CRC is 0 or not 1 (e.g., indicating PRACH timing, such as the first RO being unavailable), or for cases where no indication of DCI format 1_0 of the P-RNTI scrambled CRC is provided (e.g., indicating the first RO is available), or for cases where the UE does not obtain or receive the indication of DCI format 1_0 of the P-RNTI scrambled CRC (e.g., indicating the first RO is available), or for cases where the PRACH timing is indicated by DCI format 1_0 of the P-RNTI scrambled CRC. If (e.g., the first RO) is unavailable, the UE does not expect to receive an indication of DCI format 1_0 with a C-RNTI-scrambled CRC and a random access preamble index field value of 0 (e.g., indicating that the first RO is available), or the UE does not expect to receive an indication of PRACH timing (e.g., the first RO) being available in DCI format 1_0 with a C-RNTI-scrambled CRC and a random access preamble index field value of 0, or the UE does not expect to receive a PRACH resource indicator field of 1 in DCI format 1_0 with a C-RNTI-scrambled CRC and a random access preamble index field value of 0.
[0473] [The usable shelf life of the first RO activated by the second DCI]
[0474] In one implementation, the UE detects a second DCI format, which includes indication information for the availability of a first RO or a subset of first ROs. The validity duration of the first RO or subset of first ROs indicated by this indication information begins from a first reference point and remains valid for a certain period, which can be one or more time units. The first reference point can be a combination of at least one or more of the following:
[0475] 1) The system frame number (SFN) of the first paging frame (PF) at the start of the next I-DRX cycle after the UE receives the second DCI, which includes the first RO or a subset of the first RO available indication information;
[0476] 2) The UE receives the SFN of the first PF at the start of the current I-DRX cycle of the second DCI, which includes the first RO or a subset of the first RO available indication information;
[0477] 3) The UE receives the first radio frame (or written frame) or SFN of the first PRACH association period or association pattern pattern period after the second DCI, which includes the first RO or the first RO subset availability indication information;
[0478] 4) The UE receives the first frame or SFN of the current system information (SI) modification period of the second DCI, which includes the indication information of the availability of the first RO or a subset of the first RO;
[0479] 5) The UE receives the first frame or SFN of the next SI modification period after receiving the second DCI, which includes the first RO or a subset of the first RO available indication information.
[0480] The usable shelf life of the first RO is determined based on the first reference point.
[0481] In one implementation, when the random access preamble field of the first DCI format corresponding to the PDCCH command received by the UE is not zero, and the first indication field of the first DCI format indicates that the first RO or a subset of the first ROs is available (e.g., the value of the first indication field is '1'), the UE can determine the starting position of the validity period of the first RO availability based on the first indication field and the first reference point included in the first DCI format. Specific methods include:
[0482] 1) If the first RO or subset of the first RO is already available or within its validity period for availability before the UE receives the PDCCH command (e.g., the first RO or subset of the first RO has been indicated as available by the first DCI or the second DCI), then after receiving the PDCCH command, the UE selects the first RO and / or the second RO indicated by the PRACH mask index of the first DCI to send the PRACH; or
[0483] 2) If the first RO or subset of the first RO is unavailable or not within its available validity period before the UE receives the PDCCH command (e.g., the first RO or subset of the first RO is not indicated as available by the first DCI or the second DCI; or it is indicated as available but is not within its available validity period), then after receiving the PDCCH command, the UE selects the second RO indicated by the PRACH mask index of the first DCI to send the PRACH. For example, the UE can only select the second RO to send the PRACH before the next first reference point.
[0484] And / or, after receiving the PDCCH command, the UE selects the first RO and / or the second RO indicated by the PRACH mask index of the first DCI to send the PRACH.
[0485] In one implementation, the start position of the RO selected by the UE and the end position of the PDCCH command received are greater than or equal to a first time interval.
[0486] As an example, Figure 9 The diagram illustrates that the UE detects a second DCI and a first DCI (PDCCH command) within a second cycle. The second DCI indicates that the start point of the available validity period for the first RO is after the first reference point. Assuming that the first RO was an unavailable RO in the second cycle before the UE detected the first DCI, the UE can select an available second RO after receiving the PDCCH command corresponding to the first DCI to send a PRACH within the current second cycle after detecting the first DCI; or, the UE can select an available first RO and / or second RO after the first reference point to send a PRACH.
[0487] In one implementation, for a random access procedure triggered by a PDCCH command, after receiving the PDCCH command, the UE selects RO to send PRACH, where the distance from the end position of the PDCCH command reception (e.g., the last symbol, or the end position of the time slot containing the last symbol) to the start position of PRACH transmission (e.g., the first symbol) is greater than or equal to a first time interval. For example, the first time interval is related to the UE's capabilities.
[0488] The first time interval includes the sum of at least one or more of the following (in milliseconds):
[0489] -N_(T,2) is the duration of the symbol count N_2, which is equivalent to the PUSCH preparation time of UE processing capability 1. It is assumed that μ corresponds to the minimum SCS configuration between the SCS configuration of the PDCCH command and the SCS configuration of the corresponding PRACH transmission.
[0490] -T_BWPswitchDelay = 0, if the active UL BWP has not changed, or if the cell indicator field in the first DCI format indicates a non-service cell; otherwise, T_BWPswitchDelay can be equal to a non-zero value.
[0491] -Δ_Delay = 0.5 milliseconds (FR1) and Δ_Delay = 0.25 milliseconds (FR2), where Δ_Delay is the MAC entity data processing time.
[0492] -T_switch is the duration of the switching interval, for example, the switching time for uplink switching;
[0493] -T_SSB = 0, if the cell indicator field in the first DCI format indicates the service cell or the cell indicator field does not exist, otherwise T_SSB can be equal to a non-zero value;
[0494] -Δ_(RF / BB preparation) = 0, if the cell indicator field in the first DCI format indicates a service cell or the cell indicator field does not exist; otherwise, Δ_(RF / BB preparation) can be equal to a non-zero value.
[0495] In one implementation, for configuration information associated with the first RO, such as the effective PRACH timing (i.e., effective first RO) associated with the higher-layer parameter addl-RACH-Config-Adaptation, the first RO is additionally indicated to be available for PRACH transmission within the associated period indicated by the higher-layer parameter prach-SubsetMask-Index-Adaptation (if provided), based on an indication (first indication) of DCI format 1_0 scrambled by P-RNTI or C-RNTI with CRC. For ease of description, in some technical solutions, this DCI format 1_0 is referred to as the first DCI. It can be understood that the first DCI is equivalent to DCI format 1_0, which includes an indication field for activating the first RO or indicating that the first RO is available (for ease of description, this indication field is referred to as the first indication).
[0496] In one implementation, the UE receives a PDCCH during a monitoring occasion (MO) that provides a DCI format 1_0 and whose CRC is scrambled by a P-RNTI or a C-RNTI. The PDCCH monitoring occasion that provides the DCI format 1_0 can be based on a configuration made by the base station through higher-layer signaling.
[0497] In one implementation, for cases indicated by DCI format 1_0 scrambled with CRC by P-RNTI or C-RNTI, the first RO is available for a duration provided by a higher-layer parameter (e.g., validity-DurationForAddlRACHAdaptation) provided by system information (e.g., SIB1), which begins from the first frame (or the start position of the first frame) of the system information modification period, which includes one or more PDCCH monitoring opportunities, during which the UE receives a PDCCH providing DCI format 1_0 scrambled with CRC by P-RNTI or C-RNTI.
[0498] In this embodiment of the disclosure, for ease of description, the system information modification period is referred to as the modification period.
[0499] In one implementation, for the case indicated by DCI format 1_0 of C-RNTI scrambled CRC, or for a random access procedure triggered by a PDCCH command, or for the case where the first RO is available as indicated by a PDCCH command, or for the case where the first RO is available as indicated by DCI format 1_0 of C-RNTI scrambled CRC, the availability duration of the first RO is provided by a higher-layer parameter (e.g., validity-DurationForAddlRACHAdaptation), the starting point of which is the information received by the UE from the C-RNTI scrambled CRC scrambled CRC scrambled CRC. The first frame of the system information modification period containing or corresponding to the scrambled DCI format 1_0 PDCCH (or, the PDCCH command received by the UE, or, the PDCCH provided by the UE, or, the PDCCH indicated by the UE indicating the availability of the first RO, or, the PDCCH provided by the UE indicating the availability of the first RO, or, the PDCCH provided by the UE indicating the availability of the first RO, or, the PDCCH provided by the UE indicating the availability of the first RO, or, the PDCCH provided by the UE indicating the availability of the first RO, or, the PDCCH provided by the UE in C-RNTI scrambled DCI format 1_0) begins;
[0500] Alternatively, the starting point of the available duration of the first RO may be determined according to at least one of the following conditions:
[0501] 1) The DCI format 1_0 of the P-RNTI scrambled CRC most recently detected by the UE, or the DCI format 1_0 of the P-RNTI scrambled CRC most recently detected by the UE indicating that the first RO is available;
[0502] 2) The most recently received PDCCH by the UE provides a P-RNTI scrambled CRC DCI format 1_0, or the most recently received PDCCH by the UE provides a P-RNTI scrambled CRC DCI format 1_0 indicating that the first RO is available;
[0503] 3) The latest system information modification period received by the UE that includes the PDCCH monitoring timing, and during this monitoring timing, the UE received a PDCCH in DCI format 1_0 that provides a CRC scrambled by P-RNTI (or, the UE received a PDCCH in DCI format 1_0 that provides an indication of the availability of the first RO).
[0504] 4) The latest system information modification period received by the UE that includes the PDCCH monitoring timing, and during this monitoring timing, the UE detects DCI format 1_0 with P-RNTI scrambled CRC (or, the UE detects DCI format 1_0 with P-RNTI scrambled CRC indicating that the first RO is available).
[0505] In one implementation, for the case indicated by DCI format 1_0 of C-RNTI scrambled CRC, or for a random access procedure triggered by a PDCCH command, or for the case indicated by a PDCCH command that the first RO is available, or for the case indicated by DCI format 1_0 of C-RNTI scrambled CRC that the first RO is available, the first RO is valid for a period of time starting from a time reference point;
[0506] The duration can be provided by a higher-level parameter, such as (validity-DurationForAddlRACHAdaptation); or, the higher-level parameter is a higher-level parameter related to the available duration of the first RO indicated by the PDCCH command; or, for example, the duration is the same as or equivalent to the first time window described in this disclosure. In this case, the specific implementation of the duration can be found in the implementation related to the first time window described in this disclosure, and will not be repeated here.
[0507] Additionally, the time reference point in this embodiment can be, for example, the PDCCH of DCI format 1_0 that the UE recently received providing P-RNTI scrambling CRC (or, the P-RNTI scrambling CRC of DCI format 1_0 that the UE recently detected; or, the PDCCH command that the UE recently received; or, the PDCCH that the UE recently received providing a PDCCH command; or, the PDCCH that the UE recently received providing a PDCCH command indicating that the first RO is available; or, the PDCCH command that the UE recently received indicating that the first RO is available; or, the PDCCH command that the UE recently detected indicating that the first RO is available). The available P-RNTI scrambling CRC DCI format 1_0; or, the first frame of a period corresponding to or in which the UE most recently received PDCCH (which provides an indication of the available P-RNTI scrambling CRC DCI format 1_0), or the start position of the first frame, or the first time slot, or the start position of the first time slot, or the first symbol, or the start position of the first symbol, wherein the period may be the system information modification period, or the third period or the fourth period described in this disclosure, the specific implementation of which can be referred to the implementation of the third period or the fourth period described in this disclosure, which will not be repeated here.
[0508] The advantage of determining the start position of the first available duration of the first RO indicated by the PDCCH command based on the start position of the first available duration of the CRC scrambled by P-RNTI in DCI format 1_0 (e.g., paging short message) is that it can ensure that the first available duration of the first RO indicated by the PDCCH command and the first available duration of the first RO indicated by the P-RNTI scrambled DCI format 1_0 share the same time start point and / or the same first available duration. This reduces the complexity of the network and the UE in maintaining the first available duration of the first RO, avoids resource conflicts or scheduling failures caused by misalignment of time reference points, and improves the overall system reliability and efficiency.
[0509] In this embodiment of the disclosure, "UE recently received" can be equivalently replaced with "UE latest received", "UE last received", "UE previously received", or "UE last received"; "UE recently detected" can be equivalently replaced with "UE latest detected", "UE last detected", "UE previously detected", or "UE last detected".
[0510] The start time of the first RO's usable validity period is determined based on the PDCCH command reception time.
[0511] In one implementation, when the random access preamble field of the first DCI format corresponding to the PDCCH command received by the UE is not zero, and the first indication field of the first DCI format indicates that the first RO or a subset of the first ROs is available (e.g., the value of the first indication field is '1'), the UE can determine the validity period of the first RO based on a second reference point related to the time point of receiving the PDCCH command and the first indication field of the first DCI format corresponding to the PDCCH command. The second reference point is, for example, the time position at which the UE received the PDCCH command, or a time position at least a first time interval away from that time position.
[0512] In one possible implementation, after receiving a PDCCH command, the UE considers that the first RO or a subset of the first RO indicated by the PDCCH command is available or within its available validity period.
[0513] Optionally, the interval between the start position of the validity period (e.g., the first first RO or the first symbol of the first first RO within the validity period; or, the first symbol of the time slot or frame where the first first RO is located) and the end position of the PDCCH command reception (e.g., the last symbol, or the end position of the time slot where the last symbol is located) is greater than or equal to the first time interval.
[0514] It is understood that the starting position of the validity period related to the first RO described in this disclosure may refer to one of the following, for example: the first first RO within the validity period, the first symbol of the first first RO within the validity period, or the first symbol of the time slot or frame in which the first first RO within the validity period is located.
[0515] As an example, Figure 10 The diagram illustrates that the UE detects a second DCI and a first DCI (including a PDCCH command) within a second cycle. The starting point of the available validity period corresponding to the first RO indicated by the second DCI is after a first reference point. Assuming that the first RO was an unavailable RO within the second cycle before the UE detected the first DCI, the UE can consider the first RO after the PDCCH command reception time point corresponding to the first DCI as an available first RO within the current second cycle after the detection of the first DCI. For example, as... Figure 10 As shown, within this second cycle, the available validity period of the first RO includes the first RO after the PDCCH command is received, for example, it may include the first RO before the first reference point.
[0516] In this way, the first RO becomes available to the UE earlier, allowing the UE to select it for random access sooner and reducing access latency. Furthermore, it reduces the impact on the random access process of other UEs that have not received the second DCI. Moreover, the validity period of the first RO indicated by the first DCI does not need to be determined based on the start point of the validity period related to the second DCI. This means the UE can use the available first RO earlier after receiving the first DCI indication (e.g., before the next first reference point), giving the UE more random access resources to choose from, thus reducing random access latency and improving performance.
[0517] In one possible implementation, after receiving a PDCCH command, the UE considers that the first RO or subset of the first RO indicated by the PDCCH command is available or within its available validity period within a first time window related to the time position of receiving the PDCCH command. For example, the first time window may also be referred to as the available validity period of the first RO, the available duration of the first RO, the validity period of the first RO, the effective duration of the first RO, the configuration validity period of the first RO, the predetermined validity period of the first RO, etc.
[0518] The beneficial effect of setting a corresponding validity period (e.g., the first time window in this disclosure) for the first RO indicated by the first DCI is that the UE only sends PRACH within the validity period, and the network can only perform PRACH detection within the validity period. The network can have more time not to perform PRACH detection outside the validity period, for example, the network can hibernate during this period, which is beneficial to the energy saving of the network.
[0519] In one possible implementation, the configuration associated with the first time window may be provided by higher-layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling) or pre-determined in the protocol as a first RO validity period (e.g., the validity period is the validity period of an available first RO dedicated to CBRA), and the duration of this validity period may include one or more time units. Specifically, the first time window may include a combination of at least one or more of the following:
[0520] 1) A single first RO, the interval between the start position of the first RO (e.g., the first symbol of the RO) and the end position of the PDCCH command received (e.g., the last symbol, or the end position of the time slot where the last symbol is located) is greater than or equal to a first time interval;
[0521] 2) Multiple consecutive first ROs,
[0522] Wherein, the start position of the first first RO in the plurality of consecutive first ROs (e.g., the first symbol of the RO) is after the end position of the PDCCH command received (e.g., the last symbol, or the end position of the time slot containing the last symbol); and / or,
[0523] The interval between the start position of the first first RO in the plurality of consecutive first ROs (e.g., the first symbol of the RO) and the end position of the PDCCH command received (e.g., the last symbol, or the end position of the time slot in which the last symbol is located) is greater than or equal to the first time interval.
[0524] In one possible implementation, the plurality of consecutive first ROs can be the first integer q consecutive first ROs after the PDCCH command is received, and the first time window can correspond to the time length of the time unit occupied by the q consecutive first ROs or the time interval from the start position of the first RO to the end position of the last RO among the q first ROs.
[0525] Optionally, the interval between the start position of the first first RO among the q first ROs and the end position of the PDCCH command received (e.g., the last symbol, or the end position of the time slot where the last symbol is located) is greater than or equal to the first time interval.
[0526] Optionally, the plurality of consecutive first ROs are first ROs indicated by the PRACH mask index provided by the PDCCH command;
[0527] Optionally, the SSB indexes indicated by the multiple consecutive first RO and PDCCH commands are associated.
[0528] Optionally, the integer q = 1. The advantage is that the BS can detect random access initiated by the UE only within a shorter first time window, which is beneficial for network energy saving.
[0529] In one implementation, the indexing method for the first RO can be as follows: starting from the first RO received after the PDCCH command (e.g., the corresponding RO index is 1), the first ROs are indexed sequentially in the following order:
[0530] First, sort the frequency resources of the first RO in ascending order by frequency reuse index.
[0531] - Secondly, within the same PRACH time slot, the time resource indexes of the first RO are sorted in ascending order according to time division multiplexing;
[0532] - Third, sorted in ascending order by the index of the PRACH slot of the first RO.
[0533] 3) A single time instance, wherein the interval between the start position of the time instance (e.g., the first symbol of the time instance) and the end position of the PDCCH command reception (e.g., the last symbol, or the end position of the time slot where the last symbol is located) is greater than or equal to a first time interval; for example, the time instance corresponds to the time resource corresponding to the RO of frequency division multiplexing;
[0534] 4) Multiple consecutive time instances, wherein the start position of the first time instance (e.g., the first symbol of the time instance) is after the end position of the PDCCH command received (e.g., the last symbol, or the end position of the time slot containing the last symbol); and / or,
[0535] The interval between the start position of the first time instance in the plurality of consecutive time instances (e.g., the first symbol of the time instance) and the end position of the PDCCH command received (e.g., the last symbol, or the end position of the time slot in which the last symbol is located) is greater than or equal to the first time interval.
[0536] Each time instance includes one or more ROs, which can be a first RO and / or a second RO; when each time instance includes multiple ROs, the multiple ROs are frequency division multiplexed (FDMed) ROs, which can be a first frequency division multiplexed RO, or a second frequency division multiplexed RO, or a first frequency division multiplexed RO and a second frequency division multiplexed RO.
[0537] As an example, Figure 11 The diagram shows that the UE detects a second DCI and a first DCI (PDCCH command) within a second period. The starting point of the available validity period corresponding to the first RO indicated by the second DCI is after the first reference point. Assuming that the first RO in the second period was an unavailable RO before the UE detected the first DCI, the UE can consider the duration corresponding to the first first RO or the first time instance after the PDCCH command corresponding to the first DCI is received as the validity period of the first RO in the second period. That is, the available validity period of the first RO in the second period includes one first RO or one time instance.
[0538] 5) One or more time units,
[0539] This time unit can be one of the following:
[0540] A wireless frame; or a time slot; or a half-frame; or a paging cycle; or a modification cycle.
[0541] Wherein, the start position of the one or more time units (e.g., the first symbol of the first time unit in the one or more time units) is after the end position of the PDCCH command received (e.g., the last symbol, or the end position of the time slot containing the last symbol); and / or,
[0542] The interval between the start position of the one or more time units (e.g., the first symbol of the first time unit in the one or more time units) and the end position of the PDCCH command received (e.g., the last symbol, or the end position of the time slot where the last symbol is located) is greater than or equal to the first time interval.
[0543] 6) One or more consecutive fourth periods, such as an integer p consecutive fourth periods. For example, the fourth period can be a period related to random access. For example, the fourth period can be a combination of one or more of the following:
[0544] a) First PRACH association period;
[0545] b) First PRACH associated pattern cycle;
[0546] c) First PRACH configuration cycle;
[0547] d) SSB - First RO mapping cycle;
[0548] In one implementation, the fourth period in which the PDCCH command or the end position of the received PDCCH command is located is the first fourth period of an integer of p consecutive fourth periods included in the first time window, and the fourth period can be a complete fourth period. For example, the starting position of the first time window is the starting position of the fourth period in which a second reference point related to the receiving position of the PDCCH command is located, and the second reference point is, for example, the time position at which the UE receives the PDCCH command, or at least a first time interval from that time position;
[0549] Alternatively, in one possible implementation, the UE considers a second reference point related to the location where the PDCCH command is received as the starting point of the first time window. This second reference point is, for example, the time position at which the UE receives the PDCCH command, or a time position at least a first time interval away from that position. For example, the time position after the PDCCH command is received (e.g., the end position of the PDCCH command reception (e.g., the last symbol)) is considered the starting point of the first time window. For example, the first fourth period of the integer p consecutive fourth periods included in the first time window can be an incomplete fourth period. For instance, an incomplete fourth period included in the first time window is also considered a fourth period among the p consecutive fourth periods. For example, the starting point of the first time window is the second reference point related to the location where the PDCCH command is received, and this second reference point is, for example, the time position at which the UE receives the PDCCH command, or a time position at least a first time interval away from that position.
[0550] Alternatively, in one possible implementation, the UE considers that all the fourth periods in the integer p consecutive fourth periods included in the first time window are complete fourth periods, that is, the first time window includes an integer p complete consecutive fourth periods. For example, the starting position of the first time window is the starting position or the ending position of the fourth period in which the second reference point (e.g., the ending position of the PDCCH command or the PDCCH command received, or the position at least a first time interval from the ending position) is located, or the starting position of the first time window is the starting position of the next fourth period of the fourth period.
[0551] As an example, Figure 12 This illustrates an example where the first time window available for the first RO (or referred to as the availability validity period of the first RO, the availability duration of the first RO, the validity period of the first RO, the effective duration of the first RO, the configuration validity period of the first RO, the predetermined validity period of the first RO, etc.) begins at the start of the fourth cycle of PDCCH command reception, and the UE can select the time period or duration for the first RO to send PRACH (e.g., referred to as the third duration) to begin after the PDCCH command is received. Figure 12As shown, the first time window includes three consecutive fourth cycles, namely fourth cycle 2, fourth cycle 3, and fourth cycle 4. The third duration includes an incomplete fourth cycle 2, a complete fourth cycle 3, and a fourth cycle 4. The starting position of the first time window is the beginning position of fourth cycle 2, and the first RO within the first time window is the available first RO. The starting position of the third duration is the time position after the PDCCH command is received (e.g., the time point when the last symbol of the PDCCH command is received or its timing), and the first RO within this duration can be selected by the UE for random access. The UE selects an available RO (including the first RO and / or the second RO) to send PRACH within this third duration.
[0552] In another possible implementation, the UE considers the interval between the end position of the received PDCCH command and the start position of the third duration to be greater than or equal to the first time interval. The fourth period in which the PDCCH command or the end position of the PDCCH command (e.g., the last symbol) is located is the first fourth period of the integer p consecutive fourth periods included in the first time window. This fourth period can be a complete fourth period (e.g., ...). Figure 13 (as shown); or an incomplete fourth cycle, that is, an incomplete fourth cycle included in the first time window is also considered as one of the p consecutive fourth cycles. Or, the UE considers that all the fourth cycles in the integer p consecutive fourth cycles included in the first time window are complete fourth cycles, that is, the first time window includes an integer p complete consecutive fourth cycles.
[0553] As an example, Figure 13 An example is shown where the first time window available for the first RO (or referred to as the availability validity period of the first RO, the availability duration of the first RO, the validity period of the first RO, the effective duration of the first RO, the configuration validity period of the first RO, the predetermined validity period of the first RO, etc.) begins at the start position of the fourth cycle of the PDCCH command reception, and the interval between the start position of the third duration and the time position (e.g., the end position, or other position) of the PDCCH command reception is greater than or equal to the first time interval, wherein the interval between the start position of the third duration and the end position of the PDCCH command reception is greater than or equal to the first time interval. Figure 13In the example shown, the first time window includes three consecutive fourth cycles, namely fourth cycle 2, fourth cycle 3, and fourth cycle 4. The third duration includes an incomplete fourth cycle 2, and complete fourth cycles 3 and 4. The starting position of the first time window is the beginning position of fourth cycle 2, and the first RO within the first time window is the available first RO. The interval between the starting position of the third duration and the time position of receiving the PDCCH command (e.g., the ending position, or the last symbol of the PDCCH command received or its time position, or other positions) is greater than or equal to the first time interval. The first RO within this duration can be selected by the UE for random access. The UE selects an available RO (including the first RO and / or the second RO) to send PRACH within this third duration.
[0554] In one implementation, the first time window can begin at the start of the fourth cycle after receiving the PDCCH command, and the third duration can begin at the start of the first complete fourth cycle after the second reference point. For example, the first time window can begin at the start of the fourth cycle after receiving the PDCCH command, and the third duration can begin at the start of the first complete fourth cycle after receiving the PDCCH command, such as... Figure 14 As shown in (a) above. For example, the first time window can begin from the start position of the fourth cycle after the PDCCH command is received, and the third duration can begin from the start position of the first complete fourth cycle after a time interval at least the first time interval from the time position after the PDCCH command is received (e.g., the end position of PDCCH command reception), as shown in (a). Figure 14 As shown in (b) or (c) in the text.
[0555] As an example description Figure 14 (b) shows an example where the first time window in which the first RO is available (or referred to as the availability validity period of the first RO, the availability duration of the first RO, the validity period of the first RO, the effective duration of the first RO, the configuration validity period of the first RO, the predetermined validity period of the first RO, etc.) begins at the start position of the fourth cycle of the PDCCH command reception and the third duration begins at the start position of the next fourth cycle of that fourth cycle, wherein the interval between the start position of the third duration and the end position of the PDCCH command reception is greater than or equal to the first time interval. Figure 14In the example shown in (b), the first time window comprises three consecutive fourth cycles, namely fourth cycle 2, fourth cycle 3, and fourth cycle 4. The third duration comprises two consecutive complete fourth cycles, namely fourth cycle 3 and fourth cycle 4. The starting position of the first time window is the beginning position of fourth cycle 2, and the first RO within the first time window is the available first RO. The starting position of the third duration is the beginning position of the next fourth cycle, and the first RO within this duration can be selected by the UE for random access. The UE selects an available RO (including the first RO and / or the second RO) to send PRACH within this third duration.
[0556] Figure 14 Figure (c) shows that the first time window available for the first RO begins at the start position of the fourth cycle in which the PDCCH command is received, the third duration begins at the start position of the complete fourth cycle after the fourth cycle, and the interval between the start position of the third duration and the end position of the PDCCH command reception is greater than or equal to the first time interval. As shown in the figure, if the UE receives the PDCCH command in the fourth cycle 2, and the time position at which the PDCCH command is received is at least the first time interval away from the time position is in the fourth cycle 3, then the third duration begins at the start position of the next complete fourth cycle after the fourth cycle 3, that is, the third duration begins at the start position of the fourth cycle 4.
[0557] As an example, Figure 15 An example is shown where the first time window available for the first RO (or referred to as the availability validity period of the first RO, the availability duration of the first RO, the validity period of the first RO, the effective duration of the first RO, the configuration validity period of the first RO, the predetermined validity period of the first RO, etc.) begins at the end of the fourth cycle (fourth cycle 2 shown in the figure) of the PDCCH command reception or at the beginning of the next fourth cycle (fourth cycle 3 shown in the figure), and the third duration begins at the beginning of the next fourth cycle, wherein the interval between the beginning of the third duration and the end of the PDCCH command reception is greater than or equal to the first time interval. Figure 15In the example shown, the first time window comprises three consecutive fourth cycles, namely fourth cycle 3, fourth cycle 4, and fourth cycle 5. The third duration comprises three consecutive complete fourth cycles, namely fourth cycle 3, fourth cycle 4, and fourth cycle 5. The starting position of the first time window is the beginning position of fourth cycle 3, and the first RO within the first time window is the available first RO. The starting position of the third duration is the beginning position of fourth cycle 3, and the first RO within this duration can be selected by the UE for random access. During this third duration, the UE selects an available RO (including the first RO and / or the second RO) to send a PRACH.
[0558] As an example, Figure 16 The diagram illustrates the available validity period of the first RO (i.e., the first time window shown in the figure) for a UE that receives a PDCCH command, starting after the PDCCH command is received. Figure 16 (a) shows that the first time window begins at the time position when the PDCCH command is received (e.g., the end position of the PDCCH command reception), and the first RO within this first time window is the first available RO. Figure 16 (b) shows that the start position of the first time window is after the time position of receiving the PDCCH command, and is at least a first time interval from that time position (e.g., the interval between the start position of the first time window and the end position of receiving the PDCCH command is greater than or equal to the first time interval), and the first RO within the first time window is the first available RO.
[0559] In another possible implementation, the duration of the first time window can also be related to the random access preamble index indicated by the PDCCH command. For example, different random access preamble indices correspond to different durations of the first time window, wherein the correspondence between the random access preamble index and the duration of the first time window can be predetermined in the protocol or provided by higher-layer signaling (e.g., via RRC signaling).
[0560] For example, the duration of 2^n different first time windows can be indicated by the first n high bits (or the last n low bits) of the preamble index value, where the duration is one or more time units.
[0561] The beneficial effects of this approach are that the network can flexibly utilize the preamble index value indicated by the first DCI to indicate the validity period range corresponding to the UE's first RO. It has low signaling overhead, is simple to implement, and is conducive to the network flexibly indicating the validity period range according to the load, thus contributing to network energy saving.
[0562] As an example, Table 3 provides examples of the durations of four different first time windows, i.e., {1, 2, 3, 4} time units, based on the first two high bits of the random access preamble index. In each case, the first two high bits of each different preamble index uniquely determine the duration of a corresponding first time window.
[0563] Table 3
[0564]
[0565] In one implementation, the UE can obtain the above-mentioned configuration related to the first time window through at least one of the following methods:
[0566] 1) Cell-specific higher-layer signaling, such as system message blocks SIBx (e.g., SIB1);
[0567] 2) Obtaining UE-specific higher-layer signaling, such as RRC Reconfiguration messages.
[0568] In one implementation, the first time window can be applied to the first RO and / or the second RO. That is, the UE considers the first RO and / or the second RO within the first time window to be available ROs, and thus the UE can select any available first RO and / or second RO within the first time window to send PRACH. When the UE triggers a random access procedure according to the PDCCH command, it can only select the first RO and / or the second RO to send PRACH within the first time window.
[0569] In the description of the embodiments of this disclosure, the end position may refer to the last symbol, or the end position of the time slot where the last symbol is located. For example, the end position of receiving a PDCCH command may refer to the last symbol of receiving a PDCCH command, or the end position of the time slot where the last symbol is located. The start position, starting point, or initial position of the validity period or time period may refer to the first time resource within the validity period or time period (e.g., the first RO, the first first RO, the first symbol, or the first symbol of the time slot or frame where the first first RO is located).
[0570] In the description of the embodiments of this disclosure, the operation performed based on the start position, starting point position, or end position of a certain period, time period, or time unit can also be described as the operation performed based on a certain period, time period, or time unit, or as the operation performed based on other positions (e.g., the middle position, the center position, etc.) of a certain period, time period, or time unit.
[0571] Furthermore, while RO has been described as an example of random access resources in this disclosure, it should be understood that, without causing contradiction or confusion, the description using RO as an example can also be equally applied to or replaced by other types of random access resources (e.g., preamble resources, etc.).
[0572] In the embodiments disclosed herein, unless otherwise specified, all ROs involved are valid ROs.
[0573] Figure 17 A schematic diagram of the structure of a user equipment 1700 according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. (Reference) Figure 17 The user equipment 1700 includes a transceiver 1701 and a controller 1702. The transceiver 1701 is configured to transmit data or signals and receive data or signals. The controller 1702 is coupled to the transceiver 1701 and configured to perform control to cause the user equipment 1700 to perform methods according to embodiments of the present disclosure. In one implementation, the user equipment 1700 may further include a memory (not shown) storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the controller 1702, allow the user equipment 1700 to perform at least one method corresponding to the above embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0574] Figure 18 A schematic diagram of the structure of a network-side device 1800 according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. (Refer to...) Figure 18 The network-side device 1800 includes a transceiver 1801 and a controller 1802. The transceiver 1801 is configured to transmit data or signals and receive data or signals. The controller 1802 is coupled to the transceiver 1801 and configured to perform control to cause the network-side device 1800 to perform methods according to embodiments of the present disclosure. In one implementation, the network-side device 1800 may further include a memory (not shown) storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the controller 1802, allow the network-side device 1800 to perform at least one method corresponding to the above embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0575] Those skilled in the art will understand that the illustrative embodiments described above are not intended to be limiting. It should be understood that any two or more of the embodiments disclosed herein can be combined in any combination. Furthermore, other embodiments may be utilized and other changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the subject matter presented herein. It will be readily understood that aspects of this disclosure, as generally described herein and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, can be arranged, substituted, combined, separated, and designed in a variety of different configurations, all of which are contemplated herein.
[0576] Those skilled in the art will understand that the various illustrative logic blocks, modules, circuits, and steps described herein can be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability between hardware and software, the various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps are described above in the form of sets of functions. Whether such sets of functions are implemented in hardware or software depends on the specific application and the design constraints imposed on the overall system. Those skilled in the art may implement the described sets of functions in different ways for each specific application, but such design decisions should not be construed as departing from the scope of this application.
[0577] The various illustrative logic blocks, modules, and circuits described in this application may be implemented or performed using a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in alternatives, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. The processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, such as a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors cooperating with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.
[0578] The steps of the methods or algorithms described in this application may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of both. The software module may reside in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, removable disk, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor so that the processor can read and write information to / from the storage medium. In an alternative, the storage medium may be integrated into the processor. The processor and storage medium may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal. In an alternative, the processor and storage medium may reside as discrete components in the user terminal.
[0579] In one or more exemplary designs, the functionality may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functionality may be stored or transmitted as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media include both computer storage media and communication media, the latter including any medium that facilitates the transfer of a computer program from one location to another. Storage media may be any available medium that can be accessed by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer.
[0580] The above description is merely an exemplary embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the scope of protection of the present invention, which is determined by the appended claims.
Claims
1. A method executed by a user equipment (UE) in a communication system, comprising: Receive configuration information related to the first random access resource and the second random access resource; Receive first downlink control information (DCI) including first indication information related to the availability of the first random access resource, mask index information, and random access preamble index information; Random access resources are determined based on the first DCI; Select a random access resource from the determined random access resources and send the Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH). If the first random access resource is available based on the first indication information, then the mask index information indicates the random access resource in the first random access resource, or indicates the random access resource in the first random access resource and the second random access resource.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The first random access resource indicated by the mask index information is indexed in a first order, and the second random access resource indicated by the mask index information is indexed in a second order.
3. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The mask index information indicates that the first random access resource and the second random access resource are indexed in a third order.
4. The method according to claim 3, wherein, The indices of the first and second random access resources indicated by the mask index information are related to the first mapping ratio from the Synchronization Signal Physical Broadcast Channel Block (SSB) to the first random access resource and the second mapping ratio from the SSB to the second random access resource.
5. The method according to claim 4, wherein, The indexes of the first and second random access resources indicated by the mask index information are related to the maximum of a first value determined based on the first mapping ratio and a second value determined based on the second mapping ratio, or to the sum of the first and second values.
6. The method according to any one of claims 1-5, wherein, If the preamble index information is not a first value, then random access resources are determined based on the first DCI, including at least one of the following: Random access resources are determined based on the mask index information; Random access resources are determined based on at least one bit in the preamble index information.
7. The method according to claim 6, wherein, The mask index information is a PRACH mask index, and the determination of random access resources based on the first DCI also includes at least one of the following: Random access resources are determined based on the reserved index in the PRACH mask index; Random access resources are determined based on at least one bit in the preamble index information and the reserved index in the PRACH mask index.
8. The method according to any one of claims 1-7, wherein, If the preamble index information is the first value, then random access resources are determined based on the first DCI, including: Based on the fact that the first random access resource is available according to the first indication information, the random access resource is determined to be the first random access resource and the second random access resource based on the configuration information.
9. The method according to any one of claims 1-8, wherein, The first indication information indicates whether the first random access resource is available, and / or The first indication information indicates whether the availability status of the first random access resource has changed.
10. The method according to any one of claims 1-9, wherein, If the first random access resource is available based on the first indication information, then the first random access resource is an available first random access resource for the first duration. The first duration is p fourth cycles, where p is a positive integer. The fourth cycle is the cycle related to random access.
11. The method according to claim 10, wherein, The start position of the first duration is the start or end position of the fourth cycle in which the second reference point related to the reception of the first DCI is located, or the start position of the next fourth cycle of the fourth cycle.
12. The method according to claim 10 or 11, wherein, The fourth cycle is one of the following: First PRACH association cycle; First PRACH associated pattern cycle; First PRACH configuration cycle; The mapping cycle from SSB to the first random access resource.
13. The method according to any one of claims 10-12, wherein, The value of p is related to the random access preamble index information in the first DCI.
14. A user equipment (UE) in a communication system, comprising: A transceiver is configured to transmit and / or receive signals; The controller is configured to control the UE to perform the method according to any one of claims 1-17.
15. A network-side device in a communication system, comprising: A transceiver is configured to transmit and / or receive signals; The controller is configured to control the network-side device to perform the method according to claim 18.