Zone-based access control in wireless communications

Abstract

The present disclosure is related to zone-based access control in wireless communications. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a method performed by a communication device adapted to operate in a wireless communication system comprises: receiving information for a zone within a cell which the communication device is camping on; receiving barring information comprising a first value to be applied outside the zone within the cell, and a second value to be applied inside the zone within the cell; identifying a current position of the communication device; and applying the barring information based on the current position of the communication device.

Description

ZONE-BASED ACCESS CONTROL IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS

[0001] The present disclosure is related to zone-based access control in wireless communications.

[0002] 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long-Term Evolution (LTE) is a technology for enabling high-speed packet communications. Many schemes have been proposed for the LTE objective including those that aim to reduce user and provider costs, improve service quality, and expand and improve coverage and system capacity. The 3GPP LTE requires reduced cost per bit, increased service availability, flexible use of a frequency band, a simple structure, an open interface, and adequate power consumption of a terminal as an upper-level requirement.

[0003] Work has started in International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and 3GPP to develop requirements and specifications for New Radio (NR) systems. 3GPP has to identify and develop the technology components needed for successfully standardizing the new RAT timely satisfying both the urgent market needs, and the more long-term requirements set forth by the ITU Radio communication sector (ITU-R) International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT)-2020 process. Further, the NR should be able to use any spectrum band ranging at least up to 100 GHz that may be made available for wireless communications even in a more distant future.

[0004] The NR targets a single technical framework addressing all usage scenarios, requirements and deployment scenarios including enhanced Mobile BroadBand (eMBB), massive Machine Type Communications (mMTC), Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency Communications (URLLC), etc. The NR shall be inherently forward compatible.

[0005] In wireless communications, access control needs to be performed so that access attempt to a cell is barred or allowed. The access control also need to be performed when there is a zone within a cell boundary of the cell.

[0006] An aspect of the present disclosure is to provide method and apparatus for zone-based access control in a wireless communication system.

[0007] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a method performed by a communication device adapted to operate in a wireless communication system comprises: receiving information for a zone within a cell which the communication device is camping on; receiving barring information comprising a first value to be applied outside the zone within the cell, and a second value to be applied inside the zone within the cell; identifying a current position of the communication device; and applying the barring information based on the current position of the communication device.

[0008] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a method performed by a network node configured to operate in a wireless communication system comprises: transmitting, to a communication device, information for a zone, and information for one or more frequencies related to the zone, wherein the communication device is configured to perform operations comprising: identifying a current position of the communication device; based on i) the current position of the communication device belonging to the zone, and ii) a serving frequency for the communication device being included in the one or more frequencies related to the zone, switching to a cell on a frequency other than the one or more frequencies related to the zone.

[0009] According to various embodiments, apparatuses to implement the above methods are provided.

[0010] The present disclosure may have various advantageous effects.

[0011] For example, access restriction policies in specific areas within a cell can be differentiated from access restriction policies in other areas.

[0012] Advantageous effects which can be obtained through specific embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to the advantageous effects listed above. For example, there may be a variety of technical effects that a person having ordinary skill in the related art can understand and / or derive from the present disclosure. Accordingly, the specific effects of the present disclosure are not limited to those explicitly described herein, but may include various effects that may be understood or derived from the technical features of the present disclosure.

[0013] FIG. 1 shows an example of a communication system to which implementations of the present disclosure is applied.

[0014] FIG. 2 shows an example of wireless devices to which implementations of the present disclosure is applied.

[0015] FIG. 3 shows an example of UE to which implementations of the present disclosure is applied.

[0016] FIGs. 4 and 5 show an example of protocol stacks in a 3GPP based wireless communication system to which implementations of the present disclosure is applied.

[0017] FIG. 6 shows a frame structure in a 3GPP based wireless communication system to which implementations of the present disclosure is applied.

[0018] FIG. 7 shows a data flow example in the 3GPP NR system to which implementations of the present disclosure is applied.

[0019] FIG. 8 shows an example of a barred status of a cell according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0020] FIG. 9 shows an example of a method performed by a communication device for zone-based cell barring according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0021] FIG. 10 shows an example of a signal flow between a communication device and a network node for zone-based cell barring according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0022] FIG. 11 shows an example of a method for zone-based cell barring according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0023] FIG. 12 shows an example of applying barring information based on the current position of the UE according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0024] FIG. 13 shows an example of frequencies on which UE camps in a cell according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0025] The following techniques, apparatuses, and systems may be applied to a variety of wireless multiple access systems. Examples of the multiple access systems include a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) system, a Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) system, a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) system, an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) system, a Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) system, and a Multi Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (MC-FDMA) system. CDMA may be embodied through radio technology such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA) or CDMA2000. TDMA may be embodied through radio technology such as Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), or Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE). OFDMA may be embodied through radio technology such as Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, or Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA). UTRA is a part of a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long-Term Evolution (LTE) is a part of Evolved UMTS (E-UMTS) using E-UTRA. 3GPP LTE employs OFDMA in downlink (DL) and SC-FDMA in uplink (UL). Evolution of 3GPP LTE includes LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), LTE-A Pro, and / or 5G New Radio (NR).

[0026] For convenience of description, implementations of the present disclosure are mainly described in regards to a 3GPP based wireless communication system. However, the technical features of the present disclosure are not limited thereto. For example, although the following detailed description is given based on a mobile communication system corresponding to a 3GPP based wireless communication system, aspects of the present disclosure that are not limited to 3GPP based wireless communication system are applicable to other mobile communication systems.

[0027] For terms and technologies which are not specifically described among the terms of and technologies employed in the present disclosure, the wireless communication standard documents published before the present disclosure may be referenced.

[0028] In the present disclosure, "A or B" may mean "only A", "only B", or "both A and B". In other words, "A or B" in the present disclosure may be interpreted as "A and / or B". For example, "A, B or C" in the present disclosure may mean "only A", "only B", "only C", or "any combination of A, B and C".

[0029] In the present disclosure, slash ( / ) or comma (,) may mean "and / or". For example, "A / B" may mean "A and / or B". Accordingly, "A / B" may mean "only A", "only B", or "both A and B". For example, "A, B, C" may mean "A, B or C".

[0030] In the present disclosure, "at least one of A and B" may mean "only A", "only B" or "both A and B". In addition, the expression "at least one of A or B" or "at least one of A and / or B" in the present disclosure may be interpreted as same as "at least one of A and B".

[0031] In addition, in the present disclosure, "at least one of A, B and C" may mean "only A", "only B", "only C", or "any combination of A, B and C". In addition, "at least one of A, B or C" or "at least one of A, B and / or C" may mean "at least one of A, B and C".

[0032] Also, parentheses used in the present disclosure may mean "for example". In detail, when it is shown as "control information (PDCCH)", "PDCCH" may be proposed as an example of "control information". In other words, "control information" in the present disclosure is not limited to "PDCCH", and "PDCCH" may be proposed as an example of "control information". In addition, even when shown as "control information (i.e., PDCCH)", "PDCCH" may be proposed as an example of "control information".

[0033] Technical features that are separately described in one drawing in the present disclosure may be implemented separately or simultaneously.

[0034] Although not limited thereto, various descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and / or operational flowcharts of the present disclosure disclosed herein can be applied to various fields requiring wireless communication and / or connection (e.g., 5G) between devices.

[0035] Hereinafter, the present disclosure will be described in more detail with reference to drawings. The same reference numerals in the following drawings and / or descriptions may refer to the same and / or corresponding hardware blocks, software blocks, and / or functional blocks unless otherwise indicated.

[0036] FIG. 1 shows an example of a communication system to which implementations of the present disclosure is applied.

[0037] The 5G usage scenarios shown in FIG. 1 are only exemplary, and the technical features of the present disclosure can be applied to other 5G usage scenarios which are not shown in FIG. 1.

[0038] Three main requirement categories for 5G include (1) a category of enhanced Mobile BroadBand (eMBB), (2) a category of massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC), and (3) a category of Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency Communications (URLLC).

[0039] Referring to FIG. 1, the communication system 1 includes wireless devices 100a to 100f, Base Stations (BSs) 200, and a network 300. Although FIG. 1 illustrates a 5G network as an example of the network of the communication system 1, the implementations of the present disclosure are not limited to the 5G system, and can be applied to the future communication system beyond the 5G system.

[0040] The BSs 200 and the network 300 may be implemented as wireless devices and a specific wireless device may operate as a BS / network node with respect to other wireless devices.

[0041] The wireless devices 100a to 100f represent devices performing communication using Radio Access Technology (RAT) (e.g., 5G NR or LTE) and may be referred to as communication / radio / 5G devices. The wireless devices 100a to 100f may include, without being limited to, a robot 100a, vehicles 100b-1 and 100b-2, an eXtended Reality (XR) device 100c, a hand-held device 100d, a home appliance 100e, an Internet-of-Things (IoT) device 100f, and an Artificial Intelligence (AI) device / server 400. For example, the vehicles may include a vehicle having a wireless communication function, an autonomous driving vehicle, and a vehicle capable of performing communication between vehicles. The vehicles may include an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) (e.g., a drone). The XR device may include an Augmented Reality (AR) / Virtual Reality (VR) / Mixed Reality (MR) device and may be implemented in the form of a Head-Mounted Device (HMD), a Head-Up Display (HUD) mounted in a vehicle, a television, a smartphone, a computer, a wearable device, a home appliance device, a digital signage, a vehicle, a robot, etc. The hand-held device may include a smartphone, a smartpad, a wearable device (e.g., a smartwatch or a smartglasses), and a computer (e.g., a notebook). The home appliance may include a TV, a refrigerator, and a washing machine. The IoT device may include a sensor and a smartmeter.

[0042] In the present disclosure, the wireless devices 100a to 100f may be called User Equipments (UEs). A UE may include, for example, a cellular phone, a smartphone, a laptop computer, a digital broadcast terminal, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a Portable Multimedia Player (PMP), a navigation system, a slate Personal Computer (PC), a tablet PC, an ultrabook, a vehicle, a vehicle having an autonomous traveling function, a connected car, an UAV, an AI module, a robot, an AR device, a VR device, an MR device, a hologram device, a public safety device, an MTC device, an IoT device, a medical device, a FinTech device (or a financial device), a security device, a weather / environment device, a device related to a 5G service, or a device related to a fourth industrial revolution field.

[0043] The wireless devices 100a to 100f may be connected to the network 300 via the BSs 200. An AI technology may be applied to the wireless devices 100a to 100f and the wireless devices 100a to 100f may be connected to the AI server 400 via the network 300. The network 300 may be configured using a 3G network, a 4G (e.g., LTE) network, a 5G (e.g., NR) network, and a beyond-5G network. Although the wireless devices 100a to 100f may communicate with each other through the BSs 200 / network 300, the wireless devices 100a to 100f may perform direct communication (e.g., sidelink communication) with each other without passing through the BSs 200 / network 300. For example, the vehicles 100b-1 and 100b-2 may perform direct communication (e.g., Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) / Vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication). The IoT device (e.g., a sensor) may perform direct communication with other IoT devices (e.g., sensors) or other wireless devices 100a to 100f.

[0044] Wireless communication / connections 150a, 150b and 150c may be established between the wireless devices 100a to 100f and / or between wireless device 100a to 100f and BS 200 and / or between BSs 200. Herein, the wireless communication / connections may be established through various RATs (e.g., 5G NR) such as uplink / downlink communication 150a, sidelink communication (or Device-to-Device (D2D) communication) 150b, inter-base station communication 150c (e.g., relay, Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB)), etc. The wireless devices 100a to 100f and the BSs 200 / the wireless devices 100a to 100f may transmit / receive radio signals to / from each other through the wireless communication / connections 150a, 150b and 150c. For example, the wireless communication / connections 150a, 150b and 150c may transmit / receive signals through various physical channels. To this end, at least a part of various configuration information configuring processes, various signal processing processes (e.g., channel encoding / decoding, modulation / demodulation, and resource mapping / de-mapping), and resource allocating processes, for transmitting / receiving radio signals, may be performed based on the various proposals of the present disclosure.

[0045] NR supports multiples numerologies (and / or multiple Sub-Carrier Spacings (SCS)) to support various 5G services. For example, if SCS is 15 kHz, wide area can be supported in traditional cellular bands, and if SCS is 30 kHz / 60 kHz, dense-urban, lower latency, and wider carrier bandwidth can be supported. If SCS is 60 kHz or higher, bandwidths greater than 24.25 GHz can be supported to overcome phase noise.

[0046] The NR frequency band may be defined as two types of frequency range, i.e., Frequency Range 1 (FR1) and Frequency Range 2 (FR2). The numerical value of the frequency range may be changed. For example, the frequency ranges of the two types (FR1 and FR2) may be as shown in Table 1 below. For ease of explanation, in the frequency ranges used in the NR system, FR1 may mean "sub 6 GHz range", FR2 may mean "above 6 GHz range," and may be referred to as millimeter Wave (mmW).

[0047] Frequency Range designationCorresponding frequency rangeSubcarrier SpacingFR1450MHz - 6000MHz15, 30, 60kHzFR224250MHz - 52600MHz60, 120, 240kHz

[0048] As mentioned above, the numerical value of the frequency range of the NR system may be changed. For example, FR1 may include a frequency band of 410MHz to 7125MHz as shown in Table 2 below. That is, FR1 may include a frequency band of 6GHz (or 5850, 5900, 5925 MHz, etc.) or more. For example, a frequency band of 6 GHz (or 5850, 5900, 5925 MHz, etc.) or more included in FR1 may include an unlicensed band. Unlicensed bands may be used for a variety of purposes, for example for communication for vehicles (e.g., autonomous driving).

[0049] Frequency Range designationCorresponding frequency rangeSubcarrier SpacingFR1410MHz - 7125MHz15, 30, 60kHzFR224250MHz - 52600MHz60, 120, 240kHz

[0050] Here, the radio communication technologies implemented in the wireless devices in the present disclosure may include NarrowBand IoT (NB-IoT) technology for low-power communication as well as LTE, NR and 6G. For example, NB-IoT technology may be an example of Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) technology, may be implemented in specifications such as LTE Cat NB1 and / or LTE Cat NB2, and may not be limited to the above-mentioned names. Additionally and / or alternatively, the radio communication technologies implemented in the wireless devices in the present disclosure may communicate based on LTE-M technology. For example, LTE-M technology may be an example of LPWAN technology and be called by various names such as enhanced MTC (eMTC). For example, LTE-M technology may be implemented in at least one of the various specifications, such as 1) LTE Cat 0, 2) LTE Cat M1, 3) LTE Cat M2, 4) LTE non-bandwidth limited (non-BL), 5) LTE-MTC, 6) LTE Machine Type Communication, and / or 7) LTE M, and may not be limited to the above-mentioned names. Additionally and / or alternatively, the radio communication technologies implemented in the wireless devices in the present disclosure may include at least one of ZigBee, Bluetooth, and / or LPWAN which take into account low-power communication, and may not be limited to the above-mentioned names. For example, ZigBee technology may generate Personal Area Networks (PANs) associated with small / low-power digital communication based on various specifications such as IEEE 802.15.4 and may be called various names.FIG. 2 shows an example of wireless devices to which implementations of the present disclosure is applied.

[0051] In FIG. 2, The first wireless device 100 and / or the second wireless device 200 may be implemented in various forms according to use cases / services. For example, {the first wireless device 100 and the second wireless device 200} may correspond to at least one of {the wireless device 100a to 100f and the BS 200}, {the wireless device 100a to 100f and the wireless device 100a to 100f} and / or {the BS 200 and the BS 200} of FIG. 1. The first wireless device 100 and / or the second wireless device 200 may be configured by various elements, devices / parts, and / or modules.

[0052] The first wireless device 100 may include at least one transceiver, such as a transceiver 106, at least one processing chip, such as a processing chip 101, and / or one or more antennas 108.

[0053] The processing chip 101 may include at least one processor, such a processor 102, and at least one memory, such as a memory 104. Additional and / or alternatively, the memory 104 may be placed outside of the processing chip 101.

[0054] The processor 102 may control the memory 104 and / or the transceiver 106 and may be adapted to implement the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and / or operational flowcharts described in the present disclosure. For example, the processor 102 may process information within the memory 104 to generate first information / signals and then transmit radio signals including the first information / signals through the transceiver 106. The processor 102 may receive radio signals including second information / signals through the transceiver 106 and then store information obtained by processing the second information / signals in the memory 104.

[0055] The memory 104 may be operably connectable to the processor 102. The memory 104 may store various types of information and / or instructions. The memory 104 may store a firmware and / or a software code 105 which implements codes, commands, and / or a set of commands that, when executed by the processor 102, perform the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and / or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure. For example, the firmware and / or the software code 105 may implement instructions that, when executed by the processor 102, perform the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and / or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure. For example, the firmware and / or the software code 105 may control the processor 102 to perform one or more protocols. For example, the firmware and / or the software code 105 may control the processor 102 to perform one or more layers of the radio interface protocol.

[0056] Herein, the processor 102 and the memory 104 may be a part of a communication modem / circuit / chip designed to implement RAT (e.g., LTE or NR). The transceiver 106 may be connected to the processor 102 and transmit and / or receive radio signals through one or more antennas 108. Each of the transceiver 106 may include a transmitter and / or a receiver. The transceiver 106 may be interchangeably used with Radio Frequency (RF) unit(s). In the present disclosure, the first wireless device 100 may represent a communication modem / circuit / chip.

[0057] The second wireless device 200 may include at least one transceiver, such as a transceiver 206, at least one processing chip, such as a processing chip 201, and / or one or more antennas 208.

[0058] The processing chip 201 may include at least one processor, such a processor 202, and at least one memory, such as a memory 204. Additional and / or alternatively, the memory 204 may be placed outside of the processing chip 201.

[0059] The processor 202 may control the memory 204 and / or the transceiver 206 and may be adapted to implement the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and / or operational flowcharts described in the present disclosure. For example, the processor 202 may process information within the memory 204 to generate third information / signals and then transmit radio signals including the third information / signals through the transceiver 206. The processor 202 may receive radio signals including fourth information / signals through the transceiver 106 and then store information obtained by processing the fourth information / signals in the memory 204.

[0060] The memory 204 may be operably connectable to the processor 202. The memory 204 may store various types of information and / or instructions. The memory 204 may store a firmware and / or a software code 205 which implements codes, commands, and / or a set of commands that, when executed by the processor 202, perform the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and / or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure. For example, the firmware and / or the software code 205 may implement instructions that, when executed by the processor 202, perform the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and / or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure. For example, the firmware and / or the software code 205 may control the processor 202 to perform one or more protocols. For example, the firmware and / or the software code 205 may control the processor 202 to perform one or more layers of the radio interface protocol.

[0061] Herein, the processor 202 and the memory 204 may be a part of a communication modem / circuit / chip designed to implement RAT (e.g., LTE or NR). The transceiver 206 may be connected to the processor 202 and transmit and / or receive radio signals through one or more antennas 208. Each of the transceiver 206 may include a transmitter and / or a receiver. The transceiver 206 may be interchangeably used with RF unit. In the present disclosure, the second wireless device 200 may represent a communication modem / circuit / chip.

[0062] Hereinafter, hardware elements of the wireless devices 100 and 200 will be described more specifically. One or more protocol layers may be implemented by, without being limited to, one or more processors 102 and 202. For example, the one or more processors 102 and 202 may implement one or more layers (e.g., functional layers such as Physical (PHY) layer, Media Access Control (MAC) layer, Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer, and Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) layer). The one or more processors 102 and 202 may generate one or more Protocol Data Units (PDUs), one or more Service Data Unit (SDUs), messages, control information, data, or information according to the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and / or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure. The one or more processors 102 and 202 may generate signals (e.g., baseband signals) including PDUs, SDUs, messages, control information, data, or information according to the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and / or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure and provide the generated signals to the one or more transceivers 106 and 206. The one or more processors 102 and 202 may receive the signals (e.g., baseband signals) from the one or more transceivers 106 and 206 and acquire the PDUs, SDUs, messages, control information, data, or information according to the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and / or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure.

[0063] The one or more processors 102 and 202 may be referred to as controllers, microcontrollers, microprocessors, or microcomputers. The one or more processors 102 and 202 may be implemented by hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof. As an example, one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), one or more Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), one or more Digital Signal Processing Devices (DSPDs), one or more Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs), or one or more Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) may be included in the one or more processors 102 and 202. For example, the one or more processors 102 and 202 may be configured by a set of a communication control processor, an Application Processor (AP), an Electronic Control Unit (ECU), a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Graphic Processing Unit (GPU), and a memory control processor.

[0064] The one or more memories 104 and 204 may be connected to the one or more processors 102 and 202 and store various types of data, signals, messages, information, programs, code, instructions, and / or commands. The one or more memories 104 and 204 may be configured by Random Access Memory (RAM), Dynamic RAM (DRAM), Read-Only Memory (ROM), electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM), flash memory, volatile memory, non-volatile memory, hard drive, register, cash memory, computer-readable storage medium, and / or combinations thereof. The one or more memories 104 and 204 may be located at the interior and / or exterior of the one or more processors 102 and 202. The one or more memories 104 and 204 may be connected to the one or more processors 102 and 202 through various technologies such as wired or wireless connection.

[0065] The one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may transmit user data, control information, and / or radio signals / channels, mentioned in the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and / or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure, to one or more other devices. The one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may receive user data, control information, and / or radio signals / channels, mentioned in the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and / or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure, from one or more other devices. For example, the one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may be connected to the one or more processors 102 and 202 and transmit and receive radio signals. For example, the one or more processors 102 and 202 may perform control so that the one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may transmit user data, control information, or radio signals to one or more other devices. The one or more processors 102 and 202 may perform control so that the one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may receive user data, control information, or radio signals from one or more other devices.

[0066] The one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may be connected to the one or more antennas 108 and 208. Additionally and / or alternatively, the one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may include one or more antennas 108 and 208. The one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may be adapted to transmit and receive user data, control information, and / or radio signals / channels, mentioned in the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and / or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure, through the one or more antennas 108 and 208. In the present disclosure, the one or more antennas 108 and 208 may be a plurality of physical antennas or a plurality of logical antennas (e.g., antenna ports).

[0067] The one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may convert received user data, control information, radio signals / channels, etc., from RF band signals into baseband signals in order to process received user data, control information, radio signals / channels, etc., using the one or more processors 102 and 202. The one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may convert the user data, control information, radio signals / channels, etc., processed using the one or more processors 102 and 202 from the base band signals into the RF band signals. To this end, the one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may include (analog) oscillators and / or filters. For example, the one or more transceivers 106 and 206 can up-convert OFDM baseband signals to OFDM signals by their (analog) oscillators and / or filters under the control of the one or more processors 102 and 202 and transmit the up-converted OFDM signals at the carrier frequency. The one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may receive OFDM signals at a carrier frequency and down-convert the OFDM signals into OFDM baseband signals by their (analog) oscillators and / or filters under the control of the one or more processors 102 and 202.

[0068] Although not shown in FIG. 2, the wireless devices 100 and 200 may further include additional components. The additional components 140 may be variously configured according to types of the wireless devices 100 and 200. For example, the additional components 140 may include at least one of a power unit / battery, an Input / Output (I / O) device (e.g., audio I / O port, video I / O port), a driving device, and a computing device. The additional components 140 may be coupled to the one or more processors 102 and 202 via various technologies, such as a wired or wireless connection.

[0069] In the implementations of the present disclosure, a UE may operate as a transmitting device in Uplink (UL) and as a receiving device in Downlink (DL). In the implementations of the present disclosure, a BS may operate as a receiving device in UL and as a transmitting device in DL. Hereinafter, for convenience of description, it is mainly assumed that the first wireless device 100 acts as the UE, and the second wireless device 200 acts as the BS. For example, the processor(s) 102 connected to, mounted on or launched in the first wireless device 100 may be adapted to perform the UE behavior according to an implementation of the present disclosure or control the transceiver(s) 106 to perform the UE behavior according to an implementation of the present disclosure. The processor(s) 202 connected to, mounted on or launched in the second wireless device 200 may be adapted to perform the BS behavior according to an implementation of the present disclosure or control the transceiver(s) 206 to perform the BS behavior according to an implementation of the present disclosure.

[0070] In the present disclosure, a BS is also referred to as a node B (NB), an eNode B (eNB), or a gNB.

[0071] FIG. 3 shows an example of UE to which implementations of the present disclosure is applied.

[0072] Referring to FIG. 3, a UE 100 may correspond to the first wireless device 100 of FIG. 2.

[0073] A UE 100 includes a processor 102, a memory 104, a transceiver 106, one or more antennas 108, a power management module 141, a battery 142, a display 143, a keypad 144, a Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) card 145, a speaker 146, and a microphone 147.

[0074] The processor 102 may be adapted to implement the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and / or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure. The processor 102 may be adapted to control one or more other components of the UE 100 to implement the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and / or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure. Layers of the radio interface protocol may be implemented in the processor 102. The processor 102 may include ASIC, other chipset, logic circuit and / or data processing device. The processor 102 may be an application processor. The processor 102 may include at least one of DSP, CPU, GPU, a modem (modulator and demodulator). An example of the processor 102 may be found in SNAPDRAGONTMseries of processors made by Qualcomm®, EXYNOSTMseries of processors made by Samsung®, A series of processors made by Apple®, HELIOTMseries of processors made by MediaTek®, ATOMTMseries of processors made by Intel®or a corresponding next generation processor.

[0075] The memory 104 is operatively coupled with the processor 102 and stores a variety of information to operate the processor 102. The memory 104 may include ROM, RAM, flash memory, memory card, storage medium and / or other storage device. When the embodiments are implemented in software, the techniques described herein can be implemented with modules (e.g., procedures, functions, etc.) that perform the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and / or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure. The modules can be stored in the memory 104 and executed by the processor 102. The memory 104 can be implemented within the processor 102 or external to the processor 102 in which case those can be communicatively coupled to the processor 102 via various means as is known in the art.

[0076] The transceiver 106 is operatively coupled with the processor 102, and transmits and / or receives a radio signal. The transceiver 106 includes a transmitter and a receiver. The transceiver 106 may include baseband circuitry to process radio frequency signals. The transceiver 106 controls the one or more antennas 108 to transmit and / or receive a radio signal.

[0077] The power management module 141 manages power for the processor 102 and / or the transceiver 106. The battery 142 supplies power to the power management module 141.

[0078] The display 143 outputs results processed by the processor 102. The keypad 144 receives inputs to be used by the processor 102. The keypad 144 may be shown on the display 143.

[0079] The SIM card 145 is an　integrated circuit　that is intended to　securely store the　International Mobile Subscriber Identity　(IMSI) number and its related　key, which are used to identify and authenticate subscribers on　mobile telephony　devices (such as　mobile phones　and　computers). It is also possible to store contact information on many SIM cards.

[0080] The speaker 146 outputs sound-related results processed by the processor 102. The microphone 147 receives sound-related inputs to be used by the processor 102.

[0081] FIGs. 4 and 5 show an example of protocol stacks in a 3GPP based wireless communication system to which implementations of the present disclosure is applied.

[0082] In particular, FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a radio interface user plane protocol stack between a UE and a BS and FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a radio interface control plane protocol stack between a UE and a BS. The control plane refers to a path through which control messages used to manage call by a UE and a network are transported. The user plane refers to a path through which data generated in an application layer, for example, voice data or Internet packet data are transported. Referring to FIG. 4, the user plane protocol stack may be divided into Layer 1 (L1, for example PHY layer) and Layer 2 (L2, for example MAC / RLC / PDCP layer). Referring to FIG. 5, the control plane protocol stack may be divided into Layer 1 (L1, for example PHY layer), Layer 2 (L2, for example MAC / RLC / PDCP layer), Layer 3 (L3, for example an RRC layer), and a non-access stratum (NAS) layer. Layer 1, Layer 2 and Layer 3 are referred to as an access stratum (AS).

[0083] In the 3GPP LTE system, the Layer 2 is split into the following sublayers: MAC, RLC, and PDCP. In the 3GPP NR system, the Layer 2 is split into the following sublayers: MAC, RLC, PDCP and SDAP. The PHY layer offers to the MAC sublayer transport channels, the MAC sublayer offers to the RLC sublayer logical channels, the RLC sublayer offers to the PDCP sublayer RLC channels, the PDCP sublayer offers to the SDAP sublayer radio bearers. The SDAP sublayer offers to 5G core network quality of service (QoS) flows.

[0084] In the 3GPP NR system, the main services and functions of the MAC sublayer include: mapping between logical channels and transport channels; multiplexing / de-multiplexing of MAC SDUs belonging to one or different logical channels into / from transport blocks (TB) delivered to / from the physical layer on transport channels; scheduling information reporting; error correction through hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) (one HARQ entity per cell in case of carrier aggregation (CA)); priority handling between UEs by means of dynamic scheduling; priority handling between logical channels of one UE by means of logical channel prioritization; padding. A single MAC entity may support multiple numerologies, transmission timings and cells. Mapping restrictions in logical channel prioritization control which numerology(ies), cell(s), and transmission timing(s) a logical channel can use.

[0085] Different kinds of data transfer services are offered by MAC. To accommodate different kinds of data transfer services, multiple types of logical channels are defined, i.e., each supporting transfer of a particular type of information. Each logical channel type is defined by what type of information is transferred. Logical channels are classified into two groups: control channels and traffic channels. Control channels are used for the transfer of control plane information only, and traffic channels are used for the transfer of user plane information only. Broadcast control channel (BCCH) is a downlink logical channel for broadcasting system control information, paging control channel (PCCH) is a downlink logical channel that transfers paging information, system information change notifications and indications of ongoing public warning service (PWS) broadcasts, common control channel (CCCH) is a logical channel for transmitting control information between UEs and network and used for UEs having no RRC connection with the network, and dedicated control channel (DCCH) is a point-to-point bi-directional logical channel that transmits dedicated control information between a UE and the network and used by UEs having an RRC connection. Dedicated traffic channel (DTCH) is a point-to-point logical channel, dedicated to one UE, for the transfer of user information. A DTCH can exist in both uplink and downlink. In downlink, the following connections between logical channels and transport channels exist: BCCH can be mapped to broadcast channel (BCH); BCCH can be mapped to downlink shared channel (DL-SCH); PCCH can be mapped to paging channel (PCH); CCCH can be mapped to DL-SCH; DCCH can be mapped to DL-SCH; and DTCH can be mapped to DL-SCH. In uplink, the following connections between logical channels and transport channels exist: CCCH can be mapped to uplink shared channel (UL-SCH); DCCH can be mapped to UL-SCH; and DTCH can be mapped to UL-SCH.

[0086] The RLC sublayer supports three transmission modes: transparent mode (TM), unacknowledged mode (UM), and acknowledged node (AM). The RLC configuration is per logical channel with no dependency on numerologies and / or transmission durations. In the 3GPP NR system, the main services and functions of the RLC sublayer depend on the transmission mode and include: transfer of upper layer PDUs; sequence numbering independent of the one in PDCP (UM and AM); error correction through ARQ (AM only); segmentation (AM and UM) and re-segmentation (AM only) of RLC SDUs; reassembly of SDU (AM and UM); duplicate detection (AM only); RLC SDU discard (AM and UM); RLC re-establishment; protocol error detection (AM only).

[0087] In the 3GPP NR system, the main services and functions of the PDCP sublayer for the user plane include: sequence numbering; header compression and decompression using robust header compression (ROHC); transfer of user data; reordering and duplicate detection; in-order delivery; PDCP PDU routing (in case of split bearers); retransmission of PDCP SDUs; ciphering, deciphering and integrity protection; PDCP SDU discard; PDCP re-establishment and data recovery for RLC AM; PDCP status reporting for RLC AM; duplication of PDCP PDUs and duplicate discard indication to lower layers. The main services and functions of the PDCP sublayer for the control plane include: sequence numbering; ciphering, deciphering and integrity protection; transfer of control plane data; reordering and duplicate detection; in-order delivery; duplication of PDCP PDUs and duplicate discard indication to lower layers.

[0088] In the 3GPP NR system, the main services and functions of SDAP include: mapping between a QoS flow and a data radio bearer; marking QoS flow ID (QFI) in both DL and UL packets. A single protocol entity of SDAP is configured for each individual PDU session.

[0089] In the 3GPP NR system, the main services and functions of the RRC sublayer include: broadcast of system information related to AS and NAS; paging initiated by 5GC or NG-RAN; establishment, maintenance and release of an RRC connection between the UE and NG-RAN; security functions including key management; establishment, configuration, maintenance and release of signaling radio bearers (SRBs) and data radio bearers (DRBs); mobility functions (including: handover and context transfer, UE cell selection and reselection and control of cell selection and reselection, inter-RAT mobility); QoS management functions; UE measurement reporting and control of the reporting; detection of and recovery from radio link failure; NAS message transfer to / from NAS from / to UE.

[0090] FIG. 6 shows a frame structure in a 3GPP based wireless communication system to which implementations of the present disclosure is applied.

[0091] The frame structure shown in FIG. 6 is purely exemplary and the number of subframes, the number of slots, and / or the number of symbols in a frame may be variously changed. In the 3GPP based wireless communication system, OFDM numerologies (e.g., subcarrier spacing (SCS), transmission time interval (TTI) duration) may be differently configured between a plurality of cells aggregated for one UE. For example, if a UE is configured with different SCSs for cells aggregated for the cell, an (absolute time) duration of a time resource (e.g., a subframe, a slot, or a TTI) including the same number of symbols may be different among the aggregated cells. Herein, symbols may include OFDM symbols (or CP-OFDM symbols), SC-FDMA symbols (or discrete Fourier transform-spread-OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) symbols).

[0092] Referring to FIG. 6, downlink and uplink transmissions are organized into frames. Each frame has Tf= 10ms duration. Each frame is divided into two half-frames, where each of the half-frames has 5ms duration. Each half-frame consists of 5 subframes, where the duration Tsfper subframe is 1ms. Each subframe is divided into slots and the number of slots in a subframe depends on a subcarrier spacing. Each slot includes 14 or 12 OFDM symbols based on a cyclic prefix (CP). In a normal CP, each slot includes 14 OFDM symbols and, in an extended CP, each slot includes 12 OFDM symbols. The numerology is based on exponentially scalable subcarrier spacing βf = 2u*15 kHz.

[0093] Table 3 shows the number of OFDM symbols per slot Nslotsymb, the number of slots per frameNframe,uslot, and the number of slots per subframe Nsubframe,uslotfor the normal CP, according to the subcarrier spacing βf = 2u*15 kHz.

[0094] uNslotsymbNframe,uslotNsubframe,uslot01410111420221440431480841416016

[0095] Table 4 shows the number of OFDM symbols per slot Nslotsymb, the number of slots per frameNframe,uslot, and the number of slots per subframe Nsubframe,uslotfor the extended CP, according to the subcarrier spacing βf = 2u*15 kHz.

[0096] uNslotsymbNframe,uslotNsubframe,uslot212404

[0097] A slot includes plural symbols (e.g., 14 or 12 symbols) in the time domain. For each numerology (e.g., subcarrier spacing) and carrier, a resource grid ofNsize,ugrid,x*NRBscsubcarriers andNsubframe,usymbOFDM symbols is defined, starting at common resource block (CRB)Nstart,ugridindicated by higher-layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling), whereNsize,ugrid,xis the number of resource blocks (RBs) in the resource grid and the subscript x is DL for downlink and UL for uplink.NRBscis the number of subcarriers per RB. In the 3GPP based wireless communication system,NRBscis 12 generally. There is one resource grid for a given antenna portp, subcarrier spacing configurationu, and transmission direction (DL or UL). The carrier bandwidthNsize,ugridfor subcarrier spacing configurationuis given by the higher-layer parameter (e.g., RRC parameter). Each element in the resource grid for the antenna portpand the subcarrier spacing configurationuis referred to as a resource element (RE) and one complex symbol may be mapped to each RE. Each RE in the resource grid is uniquely identified by an indexkin the frequency domain and an indexlrepresenting a symbol location relative to a reference point in the time domain. In the 3GPP based wireless communication system, an RB is defined by 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain. As shown in FIG. 6, as SCS doubles, the slot length and symbol length are halved. For example, when SCS is 15kHz, the slot length is 1ms, which is the same as the subframe length. When SCS is 30kHz, the slot length is 0.5ms (=500us), and the symbol length is half of that when the SCS is 15kHz. When SCS is 60kHz, the slot length is 0.25ms (=250us), and the symbol length is half of that when the SCS is 30kHz. When SCS is 120kHz, the slot length is 0.125ms (=125us), and the symbol length is half of that when the SCS is 60kHz. When SCS is 240kHz, the slot length is 0.0625ms (=62.5us), and the symbol length is half of that when the SCS is 120kHz.

[0098] In the 3GPP NR system, RBs are classified into CRBs and physical resource blocks (PRBs). CRBs are numbered from 0 and upwards in the frequency domain for subcarrier spacing configurationu. The center of subcarrier 0 of CRB 0 for subcarrier spacing configurationucoincides with 'point A' which serves as a common reference point for resource block grids. In the 3GPP NR system, PRBs are defined within a bandwidth part (BWP) and numbered from 0 toNsizeBWP,i-1, where i is the number of the bandwidth part. The relation between the physical resource block nPRBin the bandwidth part i and the common resource block nCRBis as follows: nPRB= nCRB+NsizeBWP,i, whereNsizeBWP,iis the common resource block where bandwidth part starts relative to CRB 0. The BWP includes a plurality of consecutive RBs. A carrier may include a maximum of N (e.g., 5) BWPs. A UE may be configured with one or more BWPs on a given component carrier. Only one BWP among BWPs configured to the UE can active at a time. The active BWP defines the UE's operating bandwidth within the cell's operating bandwidth.

[0099] In the present disclosure, the term "cell" may refer to a geographic area to which one or more nodes provide a communication system, or refer to radio resources. A "cell" as a geographic area may be understood as coverage within which a node can provide service using a carrier and a "cell" as radio resources (e.g., time-frequency resources) is associated with bandwidth which is a frequency range configured by the carrier. The "cell" associated with the radio resources is defined by a combination of downlink resources and uplink resources, for example, a combination of a DL component carrier (CC) and a UL CC. The cell may be configured by downlink resources only, or may be configured by downlink resources and uplink resources. Since DL coverage, which is a range within which the node is capable of transmitting a valid signal, and UL coverage, which is a range within which the node is capable of receiving the valid signal from the UE, depends upon a carrier carrying the signal, the coverage of the node may be associated with coverage of the "cell" of radio resources used by the node. Accordingly, the term "cell" may be used to represent service coverage of the node sometimes, radio resources at other times, or a range that signals using the radio resources can reach with valid strength at other times.

[0100] In CA, two or more CCs are aggregated. A UE may simultaneously receive or transmit on one or multiple CCs depending on its capabilities. CA is supported for both contiguous and non-contiguous CCs. When CA is configured, the UE only has one RRC connection with the network. At RRC connection establishment / re-establishment / handover, one serving cell provides the NAS mobility information, and at RRC connection re-establishment / handover, one serving cell provides the security input. This cell is referred to as the primary cell (PCell). The PCell is a cell, operating on the primary frequency, in which the UE either performs the initial connection establishment procedure or initiates the connection re-establishment procedure. Depending on UE capabilities, secondary cells (SCells) can be configured to form together with the PCell a set of serving cells. An SCell is a cell providing additional radio resources on top of special cell (SpCell). The configured set of serving cells for a UE therefore always consists of one PCell and one or more SCells. For dual connectivity (DC) operation, the term SpCell refers to the PCell of the master cell group (MCG) or the primary SCell (PSCell) of the secondary cell group (SCG). An SpCell supports PUCCH transmission and contention-based random access, and is always activated. The MCG is a group of serving cells associated with a master node, comprised of the SpCell (PCell) and optionally one or more SCells. The SCG is the subset of serving cells associated with a secondary node, comprised of the PSCell and zero or more SCells, for a UE configured with DC. For a UE in RRC_CONNECTED not configured with CA / DC, there is only one serving cell comprised of the PCell. For a UE in RRC_CONNECTED configured with CA / DC, the term "serving cells" is used to denote the set of cells comprised of the SpCell(s) and all SCells. In DC, two MAC entities are configured in a UE: one for the MCG and one for the SCG.

[0101] FIG. 7 shows a data flow example in the 3GPP NR system to which implementations of the present disclosure is applied.

[0102] Referring to FIG. 7, "RB" denotes a radio bearer, and "H" denotes a header. Radio bearers are categorized into two groups: DRBs for user plane data and SRBs for control plane data. The MAC PDU is transmitted / received using radio resources through the PHY layer to / from an external device. The MAC PDU arrives to the PHY layer in the form of a transport block.

[0103] In the PHY layer, the uplink transport channels UL-SCH and random access channel (RACH) are mapped to their physical channels physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) and physical random access channel (PRACH), respectively, and the downlink transport channels DL-SCH, BCH and PCH are mapped to physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), physical broadcast channel (PBCH) and PDSCH, respectively. In the PHY layer, uplink control information (UCI) is mapped to physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), and downlink control information (DCI) is mapped to physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). A MAC PDU related to UL-SCH is transmitted by a UE via a PUSCH based on an UL grant, and a MAC PDU related to DL-SCH is transmitted by a BS via a PDSCH based on a DL assignment.

[0104] Hereinafter, unified access control (UAC) is described.

[0105] The purpose of the UAC procedure is to perform access barring check for an access attempt associated with a given Access Category and one or more Access Identities upon request from RRC layer or upper layers.

[0106] After a PCell change in RRC_CONNECTED, the UE shall defer access barring checks until it has obtained SIB1 from the target cell.

[0107] The UE may receive SIB1 comprising barring information (i.e.,UAC-BarringInfo). The barring information may comprise information elements (IEs) as shown in table 5:

[0108] uac-BarringInfo SEQUENCE {uac-BarringForCommon UAC-BarringPerCatList OPTIONAL, -- NEED Suac-BarringPerPLMN-List UAC-BarringPerPLMN-List OPTIONAL, -- NEED Suac-BarringInfoSetList UAC-BarringInfoSetList,uac-AccessCategory1-SelectionAssistanceInfo CHOICE {plmnCommon UAC-AccessCategory1-SelectionAssistanceInfo,individualPLMNList SEQUENCE (SIZE (2..maxPLMN)) OF UAC-AccessCategory1-SelectionAssistanceInfo} OPTIONAL, -- NEED S} OPTIONAL, -- NEED R

[0109] In table 5:-uac-BarringForCommonis common access control parameters for each access category. Common values are used for all PLMNs / SNPNs, unless overwritten by the PLMN / SNPN specific configuration provided inuac-BarringPerPLMN-List. The parameters are specified by providing an index to the set of configurations (uac-BarringInfoSetList);

[0110] -uac-AccessCategory1-SelectionAssistanceInfois information used to determine whether Access Category 1 applies to the UE. IfplmnCommonis chosen,the UAC-AccessCategory1-SelectionAssistanceInfo is applicable to all the PLMNs and SNPNsin plmn-IdentityInfoListandnpn-IdentityInfoList. IfindividualPLMNListis chosen, the 1stentry in the list corresponds to the first network within all of the PLMNs and SNPNs across theplmn-IdentityListand thenpn-IdentityInfoList, the 2ndentry in the list corresponds to the second network within all of the PLMNs and SNPNs across theplmn-IdentityListand thenpn-IdentityInfoListand so on;

[0111] -UAC-BarringPerCatListprovides access control parameters for a list of access categories;

[0112] -UAC-BarringPerPLMN-Listprovides access category specific access control parameters, which are configured per PLMN / SNPN; and

[0113] -UAC-BarringInfoSetListprovides a list of access control parameter sets. An access category can be configured with access parameters according to one of the sets.

[0114] TheUAC-BarringInfoSetListmay comprise information elements (IEs) as shown in table 6:

[0115] UAC-BarringInfoSetList ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE(1..maxBarringInfoSet)) OF UAC-BarringInfoSetUAC-BarringInfoSetList-v1700 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE(1..maxBarringInfoSet)) OF UAC-BarringInfoSet-v1700UAC-BarringInfoSet ::= SEQUENCE {uac-BarringFactor ENUMERATED {p00, p05, p10, p15, p20, p25, p30, p40,p50, p60, p70, p75, p80, p85, p90, p95},uac-BarringTime ENUMERATED {s4, s8, s16, s32, s64, s128, s256, s512},uac-BarringForAccessIdentity BIT STRING (SIZE(7))}UAC-BarringInfoSet-v1700 ::= SEQUENCE {uac-BarringFactorForAI3-r17 ENUMERATED {p00, p05, p10, p15, p20, p25, p30, p40, p50, p60, p70, p75, p80, p85, p90, p95}OPTIONAL -- Need S}

[0116] In table 6:-UAC-BarringInfoSetListis a list of access control parameter sets. Each access category can be configured with access parameters corresponding to a particular set byuac-barringInfoSetIndex. Association of an access category with an index that has no corresponding entry in theuac-BarringInfoSetListis valid configuration and indicates no barring;

[0117] -uac-BarringFactorrepresents the probability that access attempt would be allowed during access barring check;

[0118] -uac-BarringFactorForAI3is barring factor applicable for Access Identity 3. This IE represents the probability that access attempt would be allowed during access barring check. If absent, the UE considers the access attempt as allowed;

[0119] -uac-BarringTimeis the average time in seconds before a new access attempt is to be performed after an access attempt was barred at access barring check for the same access category; and

[0120] -uac-BarringForAccessIdentityindicates whether access attempt is allowed for each Access Identity. The leftmost bit, bit 0 in the bit string corresponds to Access Identity 1, bit 1 in the bit string corresponds to Access Identity 2, bit 2 in the bit string corresponds to Access Identity 11, bit 3 in the bit string corresponds to Access Identity 12, bit 4 in the bit string corresponds to Access Identity 13, bit 5 in the bit string corresponds to Access Identity 14, and bit 6 in the bit string corresponds to Access Identity 15. Value 0 means that access attempt is allowed for the corresponding access identity.

[0121] After receiving the barring information, the UE may initiate the UAC procedure and / or access barring check based on the barring information, as follows.

[0122] Upon initiation of the UAC procedure, the UE shall:

[0123] 1> if timer T390 is running for the Access Category:

[0124] 2> consider the access attempt as barred;

[0125] The UE may start timer T390 when access attempt is barred at access barring check for an Access Category. The UE maintains one instance of the T390 timer per Access Category.

[0126] 1> else if timer T302 is running and the Access Category is neither '2' nor '0':

[0127] 2> consider the access attempt as barred;

[0128] The UE may start timer T302 Upon reception ofRRCRejectmessage while performing RRC connection establishment or resume, or upon reception ofRRCReleasemessage withwaitTime.

[0129] 1> else:

[0130] 2> if the Access Category is '0':

[0131] 3> consider the access attempt as allowed;

[0132] 2> else:

[0133] 3> if SIB1 includesuac-BarringPerPLMN-Listthat contains aUAC-BarringPerPLMNfor the selected PLMN or SNPN:

[0134] 4> if information innpn-IdentityInfoListis used for a selected PLMN andUAC-BarringPerPLMNhas an entry with theplmn-IdentityIndexcorresponding to used information in this list:

[0135] 5> select theUAC-BarringPerPLMNentry with theplmn-IdentityIndexcorresponding to used information in thenpn-IdentityInfoList;

[0136] 4> else:

[0137] 5> select theUAC-BarringPerPLMNentry with theplmn-IdentityIndexcorresponding to the selected PLMN and thePLMN-IdentityInfo, if any, or the selected SNPN and thenpn-IdentityInfoList;

[0138] 3> if anyUAC-BarringPerPLMNentry is selected:

[0139] 4> in the remainder of the UAC procedure, use the selectedUAC-BarringPerPLMNentry (i.e., presence or absence of access barring parameters in this entry) irrespective of theuac-BarringForCommonincluded in SIB1;

[0140] 3> else if SIB1 includesuac-BarringForCommon:

[0141] 4> in the remainder of the UAC procedure, use theuac-BarringForCommon(i.e., presence or absence of these parameters) included in SIB1;

[0142] 3> else:

[0143] 4> consider the access attempt as allowed;

[0144] 3> ifuac-BarringForCommonis applicable or theuac-ACBarringListTypeindicates thatuac-ExplicitACBarringListis used:

[0145] 4> if the correspondingUAC-BarringPerCatListcontains aUAC-BarringPerCatentry corresponding to the Access Category:

[0146] 5> select theUAC-BarringPerCatentry;

[0147] 5> if theuac-BarringInfoSetListcontains aUAC-BarringInfoSetentry corresponding to the selecteduac-barringInfoSetIndexin theUAC-BarringPerCat:

[0148] 6> select theUAC-BarringInfoSetentry;

[0149] 6> perform access barring check for the Access Category, using the selectedUAC-BarringInfoSetas "UAC barring parameter";

[0150] 5> else:

[0151] 6> consider the access attempt as allowed;

[0152] 4> else:

[0153] 5> consider the access attempt as allowed;

[0154] 3> else if theuac-ACBarringListTypeindicates thatuac-ImplicitACBarringListis used:

[0155] 4> select theuac-BarringInfoSetIndexcorresponding to the Access Category in theuac-ImplicitACBarringList;

[0156] 4> if theuac-BarringInfoSetListcontains theUAC-BarringInfoSetentry corresponding to the selecteduac-BarringInfoSetIndex:

[0157] 5> select theUAC-BarringInfoSet entry;

[0158] 5> perform access barring check for the Access Category, using the selectedUAC-BarringInfoSetas "UAC barring parameter";

[0159] 4> else:

[0160] 5> consider the access attempt as allowed;

[0161] 3> else:

[0162] 4> consider the access attempt as allowed;

[0163] 1> if the access barring check was requested by upper layers:

[0164] 2> if the access attempt is considered as barred:

[0165] 3> if timer T302 is running:

[0166] 4> if timer T390 is running for Access Category '2':

[0167] 5> inform the upper layer that access barring is applicable for all access categories except categories '0', upon which the UAC procedure ends;

[0168] 4> else

[0169] 5> inform the upper layer that access barring is applicable for all access categories except categories '0' and '2', upon which the UAC procedure ends;

[0170] 3> else:

[0171] 4> inform upper layers that the access attempt for the Access Category is barred, upon which the UAC procedure ends;

[0172] 2> else:

[0173] 3> inform upper layers that the access attempt for the Access Category is allowed, upon which the UAC procedure ends;

[0174] 1> else:

[0175] 2> the UAC procedure ends.

[0176] The UE shall:

[0177] 1> if timer T302 expires or is stopped:

[0178] 2> for each Access Category for which T390 is not running:

[0179] 3> consider the barring for this Access Category to be alleviated;

[0180] 1> else if timer T390 corresponding to an Access Category other than '2' expires or is stopped, and if timer T302 is not running:

[0181] 2> consider the barring for this Access Category to be alleviated;

[0182] 1> else if timer T390 corresponding to the Access Category '2' expires or is stopped:

[0183] 2> consider the barring for this Access Category to be alleviated;

[0184] 1> when barring for an Access Category is considered being alleviated:

[0185] 2> if the Access Category was informed to upper layers as barred:

[0186] 3> inform upper layers about barring alleviation for the Access Category.

[0187] 2> if barring is alleviated for Access Category '8'; or

[0188] 2> if barring is alleviated for Access Category '2':

[0189] 3> perform RNA update.

[0190] UE may perform access barring check as follows:

[0191] 1> if one or more Access Identities equal to 1, 2, 11, 12, 13, 14, or 15 are indicated, and

[0192] 1> if for at least one of these Access Identities the corresponding bit in theuac-BarringForAccessIdentitycontained in "UAC barring parameter" is set to zero:

[0193] 2> consider the access attempt as allowed;

[0194] 1> else:

[0195] 2> if the establishment of the RRC connection is the result of release with redirect withmpsPriorityIndication(either in NR or E-UTRAN); and

[0196] 2> if the bit corresponding to Access Identity 1 in theuac-BarringForAccessIdentitycontained in the "UAC barring parameter" is set to zero:

[0197] 3> consider the access attempt as allowed;

[0198] 2> else if Access Identity 3 is indicated:

[0199] 3> draw a random number 'rand' uniformly distributed in the range of 0 rand < 1;

[0200] 3> if 'rand' is lower than the value indicated byuac-BarringFactorForAI3included in "UAC barring parameter":

[0201] 4> consider the access attempt as allowed;

[0202] 3> else:

[0203] 4> consider the access attempt as barred;

[0204] 2> else:

[0205] 3> draw a random number 'rand' uniformly distributed in the range of 0 rand < 1;

[0206] 3> if 'rand' is lower than the value indicated byuac-BarringFactorincluded in "UAC barring parameter":

[0207] 4> consider the access attempt as allowed;

[0208] 3> else:

[0209] 4> consider the access attempt as barred;

[0210] 1> if the access attempt is considered as barred:

[0211] 2> draw a random number 'rand' that is uniformly distributed in the range of 0 rand < 1;

[0212] 2> start timer T390 for the Access Category with the timer value calculated as follows, using theuac-BarringTimeincluded in "UAC barring parameter": T390 = (0.7+ 0.6 * rand) *uac-BarringTime.

[0213] Meanwhile, in some area, UE may be prevented from transmitting a signal on a certain frequency resource according to national regulations and / or mobile operator's desire / requirement. For example, no-transmit-zone (NTZ) may be enforced for aerial UEs, where the UE is not allowed to transmit a signal on a frequency or a frequency range affected by the NTZ zone.

[0214] The NTZ may be a specific zone where UE should refrain from using a certain frequency resources, e.g., due to regulation requirements. For example, for a certain frequency region, a certain area may be defined as NTZ. UE may be required to stop transmitting a signal on the frequency region if the UE is in the NTZ area.

[0215] In case the coverage of a cell includes such a special zone (e.g., NTZ), if the cell may want to prevent UE inside the zone from camping on the cell, the cell may bar access to the cell by broadcasting barring information comprising information indicating a cell barring status as barred. This may result in access barring for all those UEs inside the cell coverage, regardless of whether each UE is inside the zone or not, as shown in FIG. 8.

[0216] FIG. 8 shows an example of a barred status of a cell according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0217] Referring to FIG. 8, "X" represents a status of a cell as "barred" in the cell coverage. As shown in FIG. 8, when the cell broadcasts barring information comprising information indicating the cell status as "barred", access to the cell may be barred for all UEs inside the cell coverage including not only UEs inside the zone (e.g., NTZ) but also UEs outside the zone. As a result, the cell coverage and its radio resources may remain unused.

[0218] To enable UE to apply different barring status for a cell depending on its 3D location, the cell may broadcast barring information comprising a zone-based cell barring parameters.

[0219] FIG. 9 shows an example of a method performed by a communication device for zone-based cell barring according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method may also be performed by UE and / or wireless device.

[0220] Referring to FIG. 9, in step S901, the communication device may receive information for a zone within a cell which the communication device is camping on.

[0221] In step S903, the communication device may receive barring information comprising a first value to be applied outside the zone within the cell, and a second value to be applied inside the zone within the cell.

[0222] In step S905, the communication device may identify a current position of the communication device.

[0223] In step S907, the communication device may apply the barring information based on the current position of the communication device.

[0224] According to various embodiments, the communication device may apply the first value in the barring information based on the current position of the communication device being outside the zone. The communication device may apply the second value in the barring information based on the current position of the communication device being inside the zone.

[0225] According to various embodiments, the first value may indicate that the cell is not barred. The second value may indicate that the cell is barred.

[0226] According to various embodiments, the first value and the second value may be related to one or more barring factors representing a probability of an access attempted being allowed during an access barring check. The first value may be larger than the second value.

[0227] According to various embodiments, the first value and the second value may be related to one or more barring times representing an average time before a new access attempt is to be performed after an access attempt was barred at an access barring check. The first value is smaller than the second value.

[0228] According to various embodiments, the first value and the second value may be related to one or more intra-frequency reselection indicators (IFRIs) controlling whether neighbour cells on a serving frequency are considered as cell reselection candidates. The first value may indicate that neighbour cells on a serving frequency are considered as cell reselection candidates. The second value may indicate that neighbour cells on a serving frequency are not considered as cell reselection candidates.

[0229] According to various embodiments, the communication device may camp on the cell on a first frequency which is a serving frequency based on the current position of the communication device being outside the zone. The communication device may camp on another cell on a second frequency based on the current position of the communication device being inside the zone.

[0230] According to various embodiments, the communication device may perform an access barring check based on the barring information. The access barring check may comprise determining whether an access attempt to the cell is barred. The access attempt to the cell may be allowed based on the current position of the communication device being outside the zone. The access attempt to the cell may be barred based on the current position of the communication device being inside the zone.

[0231] According to various embodiments, the zone may comprise a no-transmit zone (NTZ) where the communication device is not allowed to transmit a signal on the one or more frequencies related to the zone.

[0232] According to various embodiments, the communication device may receive information related to a zone. The communication device may receive, from a cell, system information including cell barring information (e.g., barring information). The barring information may include a first value and a second value related to a cell barring status of the cell. The communication device may identify the current position. Based on whether the current position is included in the zone, the communication device may determine whether to apply the first value or the second value for the cell. The communication device may apply the determined value as the barring status of the cell.

[0233] The communication device may, based on entering the zone, apply the second value for the barring status of the cell. Based on leaving the zone, the communication device may apply the first value for the barring status of the cell.

[0234] FIG. 10 shows an example of a signal flow between a communication device and a network node for zone-based cell barring according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The network node may comprise a base station (BS).

[0235] Referring to FIG. 10, in step S1001, the network node may transmit, to the communication device, information for a zone within a cell which the communication device is camping on.

[0236] In step S1003, the network node may transmit, to the communication device, barring information comprising a first value to be applied outside the zone within the cell, and a second value to be applied inside the zone within the cell.

[0237] In step S1005, the communication device may identify a current position of the communication device.

[0238] In step S1007, the communication device may apply the barring information based on the current position of the communication device.

[0239] Hereinafter, detailed implementations regarding zone-based cell barring are described.

[0240] FIG. 11 shows an example of a method for zone-based cell barring according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0241] Referring to FIG. 11, in step S1101, UE may receive zone information related to at least one zone.

[0242] The zone information may comprise information for one or more zones. Each zone may represent a 3-dimensional closure. Each zone may be represented by a collection of polygons, where each polygon represents a certain polygon in 3D coordinates. Each zone may be represented by 3D coordinates (e.g., {latitude, longitude, altitude}) and / or radius.

[0243] In step S1103, UE may receive, from a cell, system information including cell barring information (or, barring information) comprising zone-based first / second value. The first value and the second value may be related to a cell barring status of the cell, where the first value is applied when the current position of the UE is not included in the zone, and the second value is applied when the current position of the UE is included in the zone.

[0244] The barring information may comprise an indication of whether the cell is barred or not barred. For example, the first value may indicate the cell is not barred. The second value may indicate the cell is barred.

[0245] The barring information may be applied only for a specific type of UEs. For example, the specific type of UEs may comprise aerial UEs.

[0246] The barring information may comprise an indication of whether the cell is reserved or not reserved. For example, the first value may indicate the cell is not reserved. The second value may indicate the cell is reserved.

[0247] The barring information may comprise barring parameter(s) that are applied if the cell is considered to be barred. For example, the barring parameters may comprise a barring factor and / or barring time.

[0248] The Barring factor may represent the probability that access attempt would be allowed during access barring check. The barring factor may comprise at least one of the first value or the second value, where the first value is larger than the second value.

[0249] The barring time may represent the average time in seconds before a new access attempt is to be performed after an access attempt was barred at access barring check for the same access category. The barring time may comprise at least one of the first value or the second value, where the first value is smaller than the second value.

[0250] The barring information may comprise intra-frequency reselection indicator (IFRI) to control whether the neighbour cells on the same frequency as the current cell (i.e., serving frequency) are considered as cell reselection candidates or not. The IFRI may comprise at least one of the first value or the second value, where the first value may be positive (i.e., neighbour cells on the same frequency as the current cell are considered as cell reselection candidates), and the second value may be negative (i.e., neighbour cells on the same frequency as the current cell are not considered as cell reselection candidates).

[0251] In step S1105, UE may identify the current position of the UE.

[0252] In step S1107, UE may determine whether the current position of the UE is included in the zone.

[0253] When the current position of the UE is not included in the zone, in step S1109, UE may apply the first value in the barring information to the barring status of the cell.

[0254] When the current position of the UE is included in the zone, in step S1111, UE may apply the second value in the barring information to the barring status of the cell.

[0255] FIG. 12 shows an example of applying barring information based on the current position of the UE according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0256] Referring to FIG. 12, when the current position of the UE is not included in (or outside) a specific zone / 3D area (e.g., NTZ), the UE may apply the first value in the barring information. When the current position of the UE is included in (or inside) the specific zone / 3D area, the UE may apply the second value in the barring information.

[0257] When UE crosses the boundaries between the inner space and outer space of the zone, UE may apply the corresponding barring information immediately. That is, if UE enters the zone, the UE may apply the second value, not the first value, for the barring status of the cell. If UE leaves the zone, the UE may apply the first value, not the second value, for the barring status of the cell.

[0258] If UE applies the second value in the cell barring status set as barred, the UE may not consider the neighbour cell on the same frequency as cell reselection candidates. The UE may ignore the IFRI unless a second value in IFRI is not configured.

[0259] FIG. 13 shows an example of frequencies on which UE camps in a cell according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0260] Referring to FIG. 13, when UEs are outside the special zone (e.g., NTZ) of a cell, UEs may apply the first value in barring information and camp on the frequency 1 (i.e., frequency of the cell). When UEs are inside the special zone of the cell, UEs may apply the second value in the barring information and camp on another cell on frequency 2.

[0261] Furthermore, the method in perspective of the communication device described in the present disclosure (e.g., in FIG. 9) may be performed by the first wireless device 100 shown in FIG. 2 and / or the UE 100 shown in FIG. 3.

[0262] More specifically, the communication device comprises at least one transceiver comprising a first receiver and a second receiver, at least processor, and at least one computer memory operably connectable to the at least one processor and storing instructions that, based on being executed by the at least one processor, perform operations.

[0263] The operations comprise: receiving information for a zone within a cell which the communication device is camping on; receiving barring information comprising a first value to be applied outside the zone within the cell, and a second value to be applied inside the zone within the cell; identifying a current position of the communication device; and applying the barring information based on the current position of the communication device.

[0264] Furthermore, the method in perspective of the communication device described in the present disclosure (e.g., in FIG. 9) may be performed by a software code 105 stored in the memory 104 included in the first wireless device 100 shown in FIG. 2.

[0265] More specifically, at least one computer readable medium (CRM) stores instructions that, based on being executed by at least one processor, perform operations comprising: receiving information for a zone within a cell which the communication device is camping on; receiving barring information comprising a first value to be applied outside the zone within the cell, and a second value to be applied inside the zone within the cell; identifying a current position of the communication device; and applying the barring information based on the current position of the communication device.

[0266] Furthermore, the method in perspective of the communication device described in the present disclosure (e.g., in FIG. 9) may be performed by control of the processor 102 included in the first wireless device 100 shown in FIG. 2 and / or by control of the processor 102 included in the UE 100 shown in FIG. 3.

[0267] More specifically, an apparatus configured to / adapted to operate in a wireless communication system (e.g., communication device / UE) comprises at least processor, and at least one computer memory operably connectable to the at least one processor. The at least one processor is configured to / adapted to perform operations comprising: receiving information for a zone within a cell which the communication device is camping on; receiving barring information comprising a first value to be applied outside the zone within the cell, and a second value to be applied inside the zone within the cell; identifying a current position of the communication device; and applying the barring information based on the current position of the communication device.

[0268] Furthermore, the method in perspective of a network node described in the present disclosure (e.g., in FIG. 10) may be performed by the second wireless device 200 shown in FIG. 2. The network node may be related to a serving cell.

[0269] More specifically, the network node comprises at least one transceiver, at least processor, and at least one computer memory operably connectable to the at least one processor and storing instructions that, based on being executed by the at least one processor, perform operations.

[0270] The operations comprise: transmitting, to a communication device, information for a zone, and information for one or more frequencies related to the zone, wherein the communication device is configured to perform operations comprising: identifying a current position of the communication device; based on i) the current position of the communication device belonging to the zone, and ii) a serving frequency for the communication device being included in the one or more frequencies related to the zone, switching to a cell on a frequency other than the one or more frequencies related to the zone.

[0271] The present disclosure may have various advantageous effects.

[0272] For example, access restriction policies in specific areas within a cell can be differentiated from access restriction policies in other areas.

[0273] Advantageous effects which can be obtained through specific embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to the advantageous effects listed above. For example, there may be a variety of technical effects that a person having ordinary skill in the related art can understand and / or derive from the present disclosure. Accordingly, the specific effects of the present disclosure are not limited to those explicitly described herein, but may include various effects that may be understood or derived from the technical features of the present disclosure.

[0274] Claims in the present disclosure can be combined in a various way. For instance, technical features in method claims of the present disclosure can be combined to be implemented or performed in an apparatus, and technical features in apparatus claims can be combined to be implemented or performed in a method. Further, technical features in method claim(s) and apparatus claim(s) can be combined to be implemented or performed in an apparatus. Further, technical features in method claim(s) and apparatus claim(s) can be combined to be implemented or performed in a method. Other implementations are within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

1.A method performed by a communication device adapted to operate in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:receiving information for a zone within a cell which the communication device is camping on;receiving barring information comprising a first value to be applied outside the zone within the cell, and a second value to be applied inside the zone within the cell;identifying a current position of the communication device; andapplying the barring information based on the current position of the communication device.2.The method of claim 1, wherein the applying of the barring information comprises:applying the first value in the barring information based on the current position of the communication device being outside the zone; andapplying the second value in the barring information based on the current position of the communication device being inside the zone.3.The method of claim 1, wherein the first value indicates that the cell is not barred, andwherein the second value indicates that the cell is barred.4.The method of claim 1, wherein the first value and the second value are related to one or more barring factors representing a probability of an access attempted being allowed during an access barring check, andwherein the first value is larger than the second value.5.The method of claim 1, wherein the first value and the second value are related to one or more barring times representing an average time before a new access attempt is to be performed after an access attempt was barred at an access barring check, andwherein the first value is smaller than the second value.6.The method of claim 1, the first value and the second value are related to one or more intra-frequency reselection indicators (IFRIs) controlling whether neighbour cells on a serving frequency are considered as cell reselection candidates,wherein the first value indicates that neighbour cells on a serving frequency are considered as cell reselection candidates, andwherein the second value indicates that neighbour cells on a serving frequency are not considered as cell reselection candidates.7.The method of claim 1, wherein the communication device camps on the cell on a first frequency which is a serving frequency based on the current position of the communication device being outside the zone, andwherein the communication device camps on another cell on a second frequency based on the current position of the communication device being inside the zone.8.The method of claim 1, wherein the applying of the barring information comprises performing an access barring check based on the barring information,wherein the access barring check comprises determining whether an access attempt to the cell is barred,wherein the access attempt to the cell is allowed based on the current position of the communication device being outside the zone, andwherein the access attempt to the cell is barred based on the current position of the communication device being inside the zone.9.The method of claim 1, wherein the zone comprises a no-transmit zone (NTZ) where the communication device is not allowed to transmit a signal on the one or more frequencies related to the zone.10.The method of claims 1, wherein the communication device is in communication with at least one of a user equipment (UE), a mobile device, a network, or autonomous vehicles.11.A communication device configured to operate in a wireless communication system, the UE comprising:at least one transceiver comprising a first receiver and a second receiver;at least one processor; andat least one memory operatively coupled to the at least one processor and storing instructions that, based on being executed by the at least one processor, perform operations comprising:receiving information for a zone within a cell which the communication device is camping on;receiving barring information comprising a first value to be applied outside the zone within the cell, and a second value to be applied inside the zone within the cell;identifying a current position of the communication device; andapplying the barring information based on the current position of the communication device.12.The communication device of claim 11, wherein the communication device is adapted to implement a method of one of claims 2 to 10.13.A network node configured to operate in a wireless communication system, the network node comprising:at least one transceiver;at least one processor; andat least one memory operatively coupled to the at least one processor and storing instructions that, based on being executed by the at least one processor, perform operations comprising:transmitting, to a communication device, information for a zone within a cell which the communication device is camping on, andtransmitting, to the communication device, barring information comprising a first value to be applied outside the zone within the cell, and a second value to be applied inside the zone within the cell,wherein the communication device is configured to perform operations comprising:identifying a current position of the communication device; andapplying the barring information based on the current position of the communication device.14.The network node of claim 13, wherein the communication device is adapted to implement a method of one of claims 2 to 10.15.A method performed by a network node configured to operate in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:transmitting, to a communication device, information for a zone, and information for one or more frequencies related to the zone,wherein the communication device is configured to perform operations comprising:identifying a current position of the communication device;based on i) the current position of the communication device belonging to the zone, and ii) a serving frequency for the communication device being included in the one or more frequencies related to the zone, switching to a cell on a frequency other than the one or more frequencies related to the zone.16.The method of claim 15, wherein the communication device is adapted to implement a method of one of claims 2 to 10.17.An apparatus adapted to operate in a wireless communication system, the apparatus comprising:at least processor; andat least one memory operatively coupled to the at least one processor and storing instructions that, based on being executed by the at least one processor, perform operations comprising:receiving information for a zone within a cell which the apparatus is camping on;receiving barring information comprising a first value to be applied outside the zone within the cell, and a second value to be applied inside the zone within the cell;identifying a current position of the apparatus; andapplying the barring information based on the current position of the apparatus.18.A non-transitory computer readable medium (CRM) having stored thereon a program code implementing instructions that, based on being executed by at least one processor of a communication device, perform operations comprising:receiving information for a zone within a cell which the communication device is camping on;receiving barring information comprising a first value to be applied outside the zone within the cell, and a second value to be applied inside the zone within the cell;identifying a current position of the communication device; andapplying the barring information based on the current position of the communication device.

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