PDCCH Commanded Random Access Channel Procedure for Low Capability User Equipment

Abstract

Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques for a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) commanded Random Access Channel (RACH) procedure. The RACH procedure may be associated with a cell-defined synchronization signal block (SSB) or a non-cell-defined SSB. A method for wireless communication by a user equipment (UE) includes transmitting an indication of one or more capabilities of the UE, receiving a PDCCH instructing the UE to perform a RACH procedure on an uplink carrier based on the one or more capabilities of the UE, determining a minimum gap between a last symbol of the PDCCH and a first symbol of a RACH message, the minimum gap including a half-duplex (HD) switching delay, and performing the RACH procedure on the uplink carrier if the gap between the last symbol of the PDCCH and the first symbol of the RACH message is equal to or greater than the minimum gap.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] Cross-reference to related art This application claims the benefit of and priority to U.S. Nonprovisional Patent Application No. 17 / 809,247, filed June 27, 2022, which claims the benefit of and priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 229,764, filed August 5, 2021, which are assigned to the assignee hereof and are expressly incorporated by reference in their entirety for all applicable purposes as if fully set forth below. [Background technology]

[0002] Aspects of the present disclosure relate to wireless communications, and more particularly, to techniques for instructing a low capability (RedCap) user equipment (UE) to perform a random access channel (RACH) procedure.

[0003] Wireless communication systems have been widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services, such as telephony, video, data, messaging, broadcast, or other similar types of services. These wireless communication systems may employ multiple access techniques that can support communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., bandwidth, transmit power, or other resources) with the multiple users. The multiple access techniques may rely on either code division, time division, frequency division orthogonal frequency division, single carrier frequency division, or time division synchronous code division, to name a few. These and other multiple access techniques have been adopted into various telecommunication standards to provide common protocols that enable various wireless devices to communicate at municipal, national, regional, and even global levels.

[0004] Although wireless communication systems have made great technological advances over the years, challenges still exist. For example, complex and dynamic environments can still attenuate or block signals between wireless transmitters and wireless receivers, compromising the various established wireless channel measurement and reporting mechanisms used to manage and optimize the use of finite wireless channel resources. Thus, there is a need for further improvements in wireless communication systems to overcome various challenges. Summary of the Invention

[0005] In one aspect, a method for wireless communication by a UE includes transmitting an indication of one or more capabilities of the UE; receiving a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) instructing the UE to perform a RACH procedure on an uplink carrier based on the one or more capabilities of the UE; determining a minimum gap between a last symbol of the PDCCH and a first symbol of a RACH message, the minimum gap including a half-duplex (HD) switching delay; and performing the RACH procedure on the uplink carrier if a gap between the last symbol of the PDCCH and a first symbol of the RACH message is greater than or equal to the minimum gap.

[0006] In one aspect, a method for wireless communication by a network entity includes outputting a PDCCH for transmission to at least one UE, the PDCCH instructing the at least one UE to perform a RACH procedure based on one or more capabilities of the at least one UE, and obtaining a RACH message from the at least one UE after a minimum gap between a last symbol of the PDCCH and a first symbol of the RACH message, the minimum gap including a half-duplex (HD) switching delay.

[0007] In one aspect, a method for wireless communication by a UE includes transmitting an indication of one or more capabilities of the UE to a network entity; transmitting a channel state information report to the network entity; receiving a PDCCH instructing the UE to perform a type of RACH procedure on an uplink carrier using at least one of an uplink power control scheme of a Coverage Extension (CE) or a RACH procedure type in a manner determined by the indicated UE capabilities; and performing a type of RACH procedure on the uplink carrier using an uplink power control scheme of the CE or RACH procedure type in accordance with the PDCCH.

[0008] In one aspect, a method for wireless communication by a network entity includes transmitting a PDCCH to at least one UE instructing the UE to perform a type of RACH procedure using at least one of a CE or a power control scheme in a manner determined by an indicated UE capability, and participating in a type of RACH procedure with the UE in accordance with the PDCCH and the indicated UE capability.

[0009] Further aspects provide an apparatus operable, configured, or otherwise adapted to perform the aforementioned method and methods described elsewhere herein, a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of the apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform the aforementioned method and methods described elsewhere herein, a computer program product embodied on a computer readable storage medium comprising code for performing the aforementioned method and methods described elsewhere herein, an apparatus comprising means for performing the aforementioned method and methods described elsewhere herein. By way of example, the apparatus may comprise a processing system, a device comprising a processing system, or processing systems cooperating over one or more networks.

[0010] The following description and the annexed drawings set forth certain features for purposes of illustration. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0011] The accompanying drawings illustrate certain features of the various aspects described herein and should not be construed as limiting the scope of the disclosure. [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example of a wireless communication network. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating example aspects of a base station and user equipment. [Figure 3A] 1 illustrates various example aspects of data structures for a wireless communication network. [Figure 3B] 1 illustrates various example aspects of data structures for a wireless communication network. [Figure 3C] 1 illustrates various example aspects of data structures for a wireless communication network. [Figure 3D] 1 illustrates various example aspects of data structures for a wireless communication network. [Figure 4] 1 shows an example of a distributed base station (BS) architecture. [Diagram 5] 1 illustrates a call flow diagram of an example four-step RACH procedure that may be commanded by a PDCCH, according to an aspect of the disclosure. [Figure 6] 1 illustrates a call flow diagram of a two-step RACH procedure that may be commanded by a PDCCH, according to an aspect of the disclosure. [Figure 7] 1 illustrates a call flow diagram of an example PDCCH commanded RACH procedure, according to an aspect of the disclosure. [Figure 8] 1 illustrates an example of an operation by a UE for a RACH procedure commanded by a PDCCH, according to an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 9] 1 illustrates an example of an operation by a UE for a RACH procedure commanded by a PDCCH, according to an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 10] 1 illustrates example operations by a network entity for a RACH procedure commanded by a PDCCH, according to an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 11]1 illustrates example operations by a network entity for a RACH procedure commanded by a PDCCH, according to an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 12] 1 illustrates an example of a communication device according to an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 13] 1 illustrates an example of a communication device according to an aspect of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0012] Aspects of the present disclosure provide an apparatus, method, processing system, and computer-readable medium for instructing a RedCap UE to perform a RACH procedure.

[0013] The RACH may be a channel shared by multiple UEs and used by the UEs to access the network for communication. The RACH procedure may be triggered by several events. For example, the RACH procedure may be triggered by initial access from idle mode, connection re-establishment, downlink or uplink data arrival, Scheduling Request (SR) failure, and / or Beam Failure Recovery (BFR).

[0014] In some examples, the RACH procedure may be commanded (triggered / commanded) by the network via a PDCCH prompting a physical RACH (PRACH) transmission from the UE. For such PDCCH-commanded PRACH transmission, the UE may require a minimum gap between the last symbol of the PDCCH and the first symbol of the PRACH transmission to allow sufficient time for the PRACH transmission. Unfortunately, the minimum gap for a full-capability (usually "legacy") UE may not provide sufficient setup time for a low-capability UE performing a four-step RACH or two-step RACH. Furthermore, the minimum gap may not provide sufficient setup time to support a CE with a PDCCH-commanded four-step or two-step RACH procedure, even for a full-capability UE.

[0015] However, aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques for extending the PDCCH-commanded 4-step and 2-step RACH procedures to accommodate RACH with lower capability UEs and / or CEs. Such extensions may include minimum gap time extension, coverage extension, power control extension, DCI format extension, RACH-commanded PDCCH transmission extension from unicast to multicast, and 4-step RACH to 2-step RACH extension.

[0016] The proposed capability enhancements have various potential benefits. For example, extending the minimum gap may help accommodate reduced UE capabilities (e.g., allowing half-duplex communication, relaxing timelines, and increasing latency for Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) measurements), while power control and coverage extension may help improve link budgets and mitigate intra- / inter-cell interference. Furthermore, extending PDCCH transmission from unicast to multicast may help reduce signaling overhead.

[0017] Wireless Communication Network Overview FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a wireless communication system 100 in which aspects described herein may be implemented.

[0018] Generally, the wireless communication system 100 includes a BS 102, a UE 104, and one or more core networks, such as an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) 160, a 5G Core (5GC) network 190, which interoperate to provide wireless communication services.

[0019] The BS 102 may provide an access point (AP) to the EPC 160 and / or 5GC 190 of the UE 104 and may perform one or more of the following functions: forwarding user data, encryption and decryption of wireless channels, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection setup and release, load balancing, delivery of non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, Radio Access Network (RAN) sharing, Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Services (MBMS), subscriber and equipment tracing, RAN Information Management (RIM), paging, positioning, delivery of alert messages, etc. The BS 102 may include and / or be referred to as a next generation Node B (gNB), Node B, eNB, ng-eNB (e.g., an eNB enhanced to provide connectivity to both the EPC 160 and the 5GC 190), an access point, base station transceiver, radio base station, radio transceiver, or transmit / receive function, or a transmit / receive point in various contexts.

[0020] The BSs 102 wirelessly communicate with the UEs 104 via communication links 120. Each BS 102 may provide communication coverage for a respective geographic coverage area 110, which may overlap in some cases. For example, a small cell 102' (e.g., a low power base station) may have a coverage area 110' that overlaps with the coverage area 110 of one or more macro cells (e.g., high power base stations).

[0021] The communication link 120 between the BS 102 and the UE 104 may include uplink (UL) (also referred to as reverse link) transmissions from the UE 104 to the BS 102, and / or downlink (DL) (also referred to as forward link) transmissions from the BS 102 to the UE 104. The communication link 120, in various aspects, may use multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna techniques including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and / or transmit diversity.

[0022] Examples of UEs 104 include cellular phones, smartphones, session initiation protocol (SIP) phones, laptops, personal digital assistants (PDAs), satellite radios, global positioning systems, multimedia devices, video devices, digital audio players, cameras, game consoles, tablets, smart devices, wearable devices, vehicles, electric meters, gas pumps, large or small cooking appliances, healthcare devices, implants, sensors / actuators, displays, or other similar devices. Some of the UEs 104 may be Internet of Things (IoT) devices (e.g., parking meters, gas pumps, toasters, vehicles, heart monitors, or other IoT devices), always-on (AON) devices, or edge processing devices. UEs 104 may also be more generally referred to as base stations, mobile stations, subscriber stations, mobile units, subscriber units, wireless units, remote units, mobile devices, wireless devices, wireless communication devices, remote devices, mobile subscriber stations, access terminals, mobile terminals, wireless terminals, remote terminals, handsets, user agents, mobile clients, or clients.

[0023] Communications using higher frequency bands may experience higher path loss and shorter range compared to lower frequency communications. Accordingly, certain base stations (e.g., BS 180 of FIG. 1) may utilize beamforming 182 with UE 104 to improve path loss and range. For example, BS 180 and UE 104 may each include multiple antennas, such as antenna elements, antenna panels, and / or antenna arrays, to facilitate beamforming.

[0024] In some examples, the BS 180 may transmit a beamformed signal to the UE 104 in one or more transmit directions 182′. The UE 104 may receive a beamformed signal from the BS 180 in one or more receive directions 182″. The UE 104 may also transmit a beamformed signal to the BS 180 in one or more transmit directions 182″. The BS 180 may also receive a beamformed signal from the UE 104 in one or more receive directions 182′. The BS 180 and the UE 104 may then perform beam training to determine the best receive and transmit directions for the BS 180 and the UE 104, respectively. Notably, the transmit and receive directions of the BS 180 may or may not be the same. Similarly, the transmit and receive directions of the UE 104 may or may not be the same.

[0025] The wireless communication network 100 includes a PDCCH-commanded RACH component 199 that may be configured to transmit a PDCCH to command a RACH procedure. The wireless communication network 100 further includes a PDCCH-commanded RACH component 198 that may be configured to perform a PDCCH-commanded RACH procedure.

[0026] FIG. 2 illustrates an example embodiment of the BS 102 and the UE 104.

[0027] Generally, the BS 102 includes various processors (e.g., 220, 230, 238, and 240), antennas 234a-t (collectively 234), transceivers 232a-t (collectively 232) including modulators and demodulators, and other aspects that enable the wireless transmission of data (e.g., data source 212) and the wireless reception of data (e.g., data sink 239). For example, the BS 102 can transmit and receive data between the BS 102 and the UE 104.

[0028] The BS 102 includes a controller / processor 240 that may be configured to implement various functions relating to wireless communications. In the depicted example, the controller / processor 240 includes a PDCCH-commanded RACH component 241, which may represent the PDCCH-commanded RACH component 199 of FIG. 1. In particular, although shown as an aspect of the controller / processor 240, the PDCCH-commanded RACH component 241 may be implemented in addition to or instead of in various other aspects of the base station 102 in other implementations.

[0029] Generally, the user equipment 104 includes various processors (e.g., 258, 264, 266, and 280), antennas 252a-t (collectively 252), transceivers 254a-t (collectively 254) including modulators and demodulators, and other aspects that enable the wireless transmission of data (e.g., data source 262) and the wireless reception of data (e.g., data sink 260).

[0030] The user equipment 104 includes a controller / processor 280 that may be configured to implement various functions relating to wireless communications. In the depicted example, the controller / processor 280 includes a PDCCH-commanded RACH component 281, which may represent the PDCCH-commanded RACH component 198 of FIG. 1. In particular, although shown as an aspect of the controller / processor 280, the PDCCH-commanded RACH component 281 may be implemented in addition to or instead of in various other aspects of the user equipment 104 in other implementations.

[0031] Figures 3A-3D illustrate aspects of data structures for a wireless communications network, such as wireless communications network 100 of Figure 1. Specifically, Figure 3A is a diagram 300 illustrating an example of a first subframe in a 5G (e.g., 5G NR) frame structure, Figure 3B is a diagram 330 illustrating an example DL channel in the 5G subframe, Figure 3C is a diagram 350 illustrating an example second subframe in the 5G frame structure, and Figure 3D is a diagram 380 illustrating an example UL channel in the 5G subframe.

[0032] FIG. 4 shows an example of a distributed base station BS.

[0033] Further explanation regarding Figures 1, 2, 3A-3D, and 4 is provided later in this disclosure.

[0034] Overview of mmWave Wireless Communications In wireless communications, the electromagnetic spectrum is often subdivided into various classes, bands, channels, or other characteristics. The subdivision is often provided based on wavelength and frequency, where frequencies are sometimes referred to as carriers, subcarriers, frequency channels, tones, or subbands.

[0035] For 5G, two initial operating bands have been identified with the frequency range designations FR1 (410 MHz to 7.125 GHz) and FR2 (24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz). Frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are often referred to as mid-band frequencies. Although a portion of FR1 is higher than 6 GHz, FR1 is often referred to (interchangeably) as the "sub-6 GHz" band in various documents and papers. Similar nomenclature issues may arise with respect to FR2, which is often referred to (interchangeably) as the "mmWave" band in documents and papers, since the wavelengths of these frequencies are 1 millimeter to 10 millimeters, even though this is different from the extremely high frequency (EHF) band (30 GHz to 300 GHz) identified by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) as the "millimeter wave" ("mmW", or "mmWave") band. Radio waves within this band may be referred to as millimeter waves. Near-mmWave can extend down to frequencies of 3 GHz with wavelengths of 100 millimeters. The super high frequency (SHF) band extends between 3 GHz and 30 GHz and is also called centimeter wave.

[0036] With the above aspects in mind, it should be understood that unless otherwise specified, terms such as "sub-6 GHz," as used herein, may broadly refer to frequencies that may be below 6 GHz, may be within FR1, or may include mid-band frequencies. Additionally, it should be understood that unless otherwise specified, terms such as "millimeter wave," as used herein, may broadly refer to frequencies that may include mid-band frequencies, may be within FR2, or may be within the EHF band.

[0037] Communications using mmWave or near mmWave radio frequency bands (e.g., 3 GHz to 300 GHz) may have higher path loss and shorter reach compared to lower frequency communications. Thus, in FIG. 1, mmWave BS 180 may utilize beamforming 182 with UE 104 to improve path loss and range. To do so, BS 180 and UE 104 may each include multiple antennas, such as antenna elements, antenna panels, and / or antenna arrays, to facilitate beamforming.

[0038] In some examples, the BS 180 may transmit a beamformed signal to the UE 104 in one or more transmit directions 182′. The UE 104 may receive the beamformed signal from the BS 180 in one or more receive directions 182″. The UE 104 may also transmit a beamformed signal to the BS 180 in one or more transmit directions 182″. The BS 180 may receive the beamformed signal from the UE 104 in one or more receive directions 182′. The BS 180 and the UE 104 may then perform beam training to determine the best receive and transmit directions for the BS 180 and the UE 104, respectively. Notably, the transmit and receive directions of the BS 180 may or may not be the same. Similarly, the transmit and receive directions of the UE 104 may or may not be the same.

[0039] Overview of Low Capability (RedCap) Devices Current wireless communication standards may focus on various technologies. For example, 3GPP® technology standard releases Release 15 (Rel-15) and / or Rel-16 may focus on premium smartphones, such as enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC), and / or vehicle-to-everything (V2X) support. Some wireless communication standards (such as 3GPP® TS Rel-17 and later) focus on efficient and cost-effective scalability and deployment of new radio (NR). New UEs with low capabilities have been introduced. Such low capability UEs may be referred to as RedCap UEs. In particular, RedCap UEs may support relaxed peak throughput (e.g., around 20 MHz), latency, and / or reliability requirements. RedCap UEs may have a compact form factor. RedCap UEs may support all NR frequency division duplexing (FDD) and time division duplexing (TDD) bands.

[0040] Design goals for NR RedCap UEs may include scalable resource allocation, DL and / or UL coverage extension, power saving in all Radio Resource Control (RRC) states, and coexistence with other UEs. For example, RedCap UEs can coexist with non-RedCap UEs, such as NR Premium UEs. As used herein, Premium UEs may refer to non-RedCap UEs. NR Premium UEs may refer to legacy non-RedCaP NR UEs.

[0041] An NR-RedCap UE may be a smart wearable device, a sensor / camera (such as a smart city device), or any device configured for relaxed Internet of Things (IoT) communications.

[0042] Wearables may include devices such as smart watches, augmented reality (AR) glasses, virtual reality (VR) glasses, electronic health (eHealth) monitoring devices, medical monitoring devices, etc. Wearables may use data rates of approximately 5-50 Mbps on the downlink and 2-5 Mbps on the uplink. Wearables may have peak rates of approximately 150 Mbps on the downlink and 50 Mbps on the uplink. Wearables may have similar latency and reliability goals as eMBB devices. Wearables may have a battery life of up to 1-2 weeks.

[0043] IoT devices may include connected industrial devices such as pressure sensors, humidity sensors, motion sensors, heat sensors, accelerometers, and actuators. Connected industrial devices may use data rates of approximately 2 Mbps on the uplink. Latency targets for connected industrial devices are generally less than 100 ms, and approximately 5-10 ms for safety-related sensors. Connected industrial devices may have high reliability targets, such as approximately 99.99%. Connected industrial devices may have a battery life of at least several years.

[0044] Smart city devices may include devices such as video surveillance equipment. Smart city devices may use data rates of about 2-4 Mbps for economy devices and about 7.5-25 Mbps for high-end devices. In general, smart city devices may have a latency target of less than 500 milliseconds. Smart city devices may have a high reliability target, such as about 99%-99.99%.

[0045] The features and / or capabilities of RedCap UE may overlap with those of Long Term Evolution (LTE) and / or Fifth Generation (5G) devices (e.g., Premium 5G devices). For example, RedCap IoT devices and Premium 5G devices can both support URLLC. Additionally, RedCap smart wearables and LTE UEs can both support Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) Massive Machine Type Communications (mMTC). RedCap sensors / cameras and Premium 5G devices can both support eMBB.

[0046] Example of RACH procedure The RASH is a wireless channel (medium) that is shared by multiple UEs and can be used by the UEs to (randomly) access the network for communication. For example, the RACH can be used to access the network for call setup and for data transmission. In some examples, the RACH can be used by the UE for initial access to the network when the UE switches from an RRC connected idle mode to an active mode. In some examples, the RACH can be used by the UE for initial access to the network when the UE is handed over in an RRC connected mode. Furthermore, the RACH can be used for downlink and / or uplink data arrival when the UE is in an RRC idle mode or an RRC inactive mode and when re-establishing a connection with the network.

[0047] The RACH may be used during a RACH procedure, of which there are different types, including a two-step RACH procedure and a four-step RACH procedure, shown in Figures 5 and 6, respectively.

[0048] FIG. 5 is a call flow diagram illustrating an example of a four-step RACH procedure 500 according to certain aspects of the present disclosure. As shown, at 510, a first message (MSG1) may be transmitted from a UE (e.g., UE 104 in wireless communication network 100) to a BS (e.g., BS 102 in wireless communication network 100) on a PRACH. In the four-step RACH procedure 500, the first message (MSG1) may include only a RACH preamble. At 520, the BS 102 may respond with a Random Access Response (RAR) message (MSG2). The RAR message may include an identifier (ID) of the RACH preamble, a timing advance (TA), an uplink grant, a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI), and a backoff indicator. The RAR message may include a PDCCH communication including control information for subsequent communication on a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH). At 530, in response to the RAR message, the UE 104 transmits a third message (MSG3) to the BS 102 on the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). The third message (MSG3) may include one or more of an RRC connection request, a tracking area update (TAU) request, a system information request, a positioning determination or positioning signal request, or a scheduling request (SR). The BS 102 then responds with a fourth message (MSG4), which may include a contention resolution message.

[0049] In some examples, a two-step RACH procedure may be supported to speed up access. The two-step RACH procedure 600 may effectively "fold" the four messages of the four-step RACH procedure 500 into two messages.

[0050] FIG. 6 is a call flow diagram illustrating an example of a two-step RACH procedure 600 according to certain aspects of the present disclosure. As shown, at 610, a first extended message (MSG A) may be transmitted from the UE 104 to the BS 102. In certain aspects, MSG A includes some or all of the information from MSG1 and MSG3 from the four-step RACH procedure 500, effectively combining MSG1 and MSG3 into a single message. For example, MSG A may include MSG1 and MSG3 multiplexed together, for example, using time division multiplexing (TDM) or frequency division multiplexing (FDM). In certain aspects, MSG A includes a RACH preamble (e.g., MSG1) for random access and a payload (e.g., MSG3). The MSG A payload may include, for example, a UE-ID, a buffer status report (BSR), or an SR. At 620, the BS 102 may respond with an extended RAR message (MSG B), which may effectively combine MSG2 and MSG4 of the above-described four-step RACH procedure 500. For example, MSG B may include an ID of the RACH preamble, a TA, a backoff indicator, a contention resolution message, an uplink grant, a downlink grant, and a transmit power control (TPC) command.

[0051] Aspects Related to PDCCH Commanded RACH Procedure for RedCap UE Aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques for enhancing a PDCCH-commanded RACH procedure. In some aspects, the enhanced PDCCH-commanded RACH procedure is based on the capabilities of the UE. For example, the enhanced PDCCH-commanded RACH procedure may be for low capability UEs. In certain aspects, the PDCCH-commanded RACH procedure extends a minimum gap time. In certain aspects, the PDCCH-commanded RACH procedure includes a power control extension. In certain aspects, the PDCCH-commanded RACH procedure includes a coverage extension. In certain aspects, the PDCCH-commanded RACH procedure includes a DCI format extension. In certain aspects, the PDCCH commanding RACH is multicast. In certain aspects, the enhanced PDCCH-commanded RACH procedure is a two-step RACH procedure.

[0052] The PRACH transmission from the UE can be triggered by higher layers or by a PDCCH order as described above. The PDCCH commanding the PRACH transmission can convey DCI in multiple fields. In some aspects, the DCI in the PDCCH commanding the RACH includes a field indicating the type of RACH procedure, a field with an uplink carrier indicator, a field with PRACH resource mapping information, a field with power control parameters, a field with a coverage extension scheme, and / or a field with other scheduling information. The DCI can be for one or more UEs.

[0053] In some aspects, a contention-based random access (CBRA) procedure or a contention-free random access (CFRA) procedure may be commanded by a DCI format 1_0 scrambled by a C-RNTI. The DCI may include a Frequency Domain Resource Allocation (FDRA) field, an Uplink / Secondary Uplink (UL / SUL) Indicator field, a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) Index field, a PRACH Mask Index field, and one or more Reserved Bits fields. The FDRA field may include bits set to a special value (e.g., all "1") to indicate that the DCI commands a RACH procedure.

[0054] As mentioned above, for PDCCH-commanded PRACH transmission, the UE may require a minimum gap between the last symbol of PDCCH-commanded reception and the first symbol of the PRACH transmission of a 4-step RACH to provide sufficient processing time. The minimum gap may be defined as follows: G 最小 =N T,2 +△ BWPスイッチング +△ 遅延 +T スイッチ

[0055] In the formula, N T,2 is the duration of N2 symbols corresponding to the PUSCH preparation time of the UE processing capability (assuming that the subcarrier spacing (SCS) μ corresponds to the smaller SCS configuration of the SCS configuration commanded by the PDCCH and the SCS configuration of the corresponding PRACH transmission), and △ if the active UL bandwidth portion (BWP) does not change (e.g., between the PDCCH commanding the RACH and the PRACH) and can be defined in the standard, △ BWPスイッチング can be set to 0, and △ 遅延 The value of can depend on the operating frequency range (e.g., △ for FR1). 遅延 =0.5ms, △ for FR2 遅延 = 0.25 ms), T スイッチ is the switching gap period defined in the standard.

[0056] As discussed above, a RedCap UE may have reduced capabilities compared to a "normal" capability UE (e.g., a non-RedCap UE). For example, a RedCap UE may have a reduced maximum UE bandwidth, a reduced number of transmit / receive (TX / RX) antennas, reduced antenna efficiency (e.g., for size-limited devices such as wearable devices), HD operation on FDD bands, and / or relaxed processing timelines at various layers (L1 / L2 / L3).

[0057] According to a particular aspect, the minimum gap between the PDCCH commanding the RACH and the RACH message (e.g., MSG 1 transmission in a four-step RACH procedure or MSG A transmission in a two-step RACH procedure). In the case of a PDCCH commanded RACH procedure for a RedCap UE, the minimum gap between the last symbol of the PDCCH commanding the RACH and the first symbol of the RACH message transmission may be extended. According to a particular aspect, the extended minimum gap (G 最小,延長 ) can be defined as follows: G 最小,延長 =α N T,延長 +△ BWPスイッチング,延長 +△ HD-スイッチング +△ 遅延,延長 +T スイッチ,延長

[0058] The parameter α is a scaling factor greater than 1 (α≧1) that depends on the type of RACH procedure and the CE level (k) of the RACH message transmission. For example, if the PDCCH commands a type 1 (4-step) RACH procedure and the CE level of MSG1 commanded by the PDCCH is k, then α may be set to k (α=k). On the other hand, if the PDCCH commands a type 2 (2-step) RACH procedure and the CE level of MSG A commanded by the PDCCH is k, then α may be set to 2k (α=2k). The parameter N T,延長is the duration of the following symbols corresponding to the PRACH / PUSCH preparation time, which may depend on the UE capabilities, as well as the SCS configuration of the PDCCH and the minimum value of the reference SCS of the PRACH. If the UE does not change the active UL BWP when transmitting a RACH message (e.g., MSG 1 or MSG A) commanded by the PDCCH, the parameter Δ BWPスイッチング,延長 may be set to zero, otherwise, ΔWP switching,extension may depend on the UE capabilities. HD-スイッチング is the DL-to-UL (i.e., DL reception to UL transmission) switching time for HD-FDD operation and depends on the UE capabilities. 遅延,延長 is the delay period that depends on the UE capabilities, the operating frequency range (FR), and the SSB period. スイッチ,延長 is the UL switching gap, which may also depend on the UE capabilities and UL TX switching options.

[0059] FIG. 7 illustrates a call flow diagram of an example PDCCH commanded RACH procedure 700 in accordance with an aspect of the disclosure.

[0060] As shown, at 710, a network entity 702 (e.g., a BS 102 in the wireless communication network 100) may transmit a request (inquiry) for UE capabilities to a UE 704 (e.g., a UE 104 in the wireless communication network 100). At 720, in response to the inquiry, the UE 704 reports its capabilities to the network entity 702. The contents of the UE capability report related to the PDCCH-commanded RACH include an indication of whether the UE supports or does not support type 2 (two-step) RACH of MSG 1 or MSG A, HD-FDD, SUL, and / or CE, UE processing capabilities of PDCCH, PDSCH, and / or PUSCH, and UE radio frequency (RF) retuning capabilities (e.g., BWP switching, carrier switching, etc.).

[0061] Optionally, at 730, the network entity 702 transmits one or more downlink reference signals (DL RS) to the UE 704. The downlink reference signals may include SSBs, channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS), tracking reference signals (TRS), and / or positioning reference signals (PRS). The UE 704 may measure the downlink reference signals to generate CSI feedback. Optionally, at 740, the UE 704 may transmit a CSI report along with the CSI feedback to the network entity 702. The content of the CSI report associated with the RACH commanded by the PDCCH may include information such as a reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement and / or a preferred beam index associated with the downlink reference signal.

[0062] At 750, the network entity 702 transmits the RACH-commanded PDCCH to the UE 704. In some aspects, the network entity 702 determines the DCI payload and minimum gap G of the RACH-commanded PDCCH based at least in part on the reported UE capabilities and CSI. 最小,延長 The network entity 702 determines whether the commanded RACH transmission timing is G 最小,延長 In some aspects, the network entity 702 determines a RACH message resource for the UE 704 that satisfies a minimum gap between the PDCCH and the RACH message as commanded by the RACH. In some aspects, the network entity 702 determines a downlink reference signal resource configuration, a downlink reference signal periodic configuration, an association between a downlink reference signal and a RACH message resource, a CBRA or CFRA mode, and / or a type (type 1 or type 2) of the RACH procedure(s).

[0063] The UE 704 may decode the PDCCH commanded by the RACH and prepare a RACH message (e.g., MSG 1 or MSG A) transmission. The UL carrier and / or BWP may be explicitly or implicitly indicated by the DCI payload of the PDCCH commanding the RACH. At 760, the UE 704 transmits the RACH message to the network entity 702. At 770, the network entity 702 transmits a RAR message (e.g., MSG 2 or MSG B) to the UE 704.

[0064] The duration ΔT between the last symbol of the PDCCH commanding the RACH (750) and the first symbol of the RACH message (760) is greater than the minimum gap (ΔT≧G 最小,延長 ).

[0065] According to certain aspects, PDCCH signaling may be extended to support a PDCCH-commanded RACH procedure for RedCap UEs, a PDCCH-commanded RACH procedure with uplink power control, and a PDCCH-commanded RACH procedure with CE.

[0066] In some aspects, both the PDCCH commanded by a type 1 RACH and the PDCCH commanding a type 2 RACH may include a UL BWP ID (eg, in a NUL / SUL field).

[0067] Additional signaling information may be mapped to the PDCCH commanding the RACH. For example, for both the PDCCH commanding a type 1 RACH and the PDCCH commanding a type 2 RACH, the additional signaling information may include a PRACH preamble index, a PRACH preamble group index, a UL / SUL indicator, a downlink reference index, and / or a PRACH mask index in addition to the FDRA field. In some examples, the indication of the RACH type may be mapped to the FDRA field (e.g., all "1"s or all "0"s indicate a type 1 RACH and the opposite value indicates a type 2 RACH), or the PRACH preamble index, the PRACH group index, or the PRACH mask index.

[0068] Furthermore, for both the PDCCH ordering a type 1 RACH and the PDCCH ordering a type 2 RACH, the additional signaling information may include a RACH type indicator, one or more power control parameters, and / or one or more CE parameters. The RACH type indicator may indicate a type 1 RACH or a type 2 RACH. The PDCCH ordering a RACH may further indicate whether the RACH procedure is a CBRA or CFRA procedure. The one or more CE parameters may include a RACH message repetition parameter, a frequency hopping parameter, etc. The CE parameter of the PDCCH ordering a type 1 RACH may indicate a CE of MSG 1, and the CE parameter of the PDCCH ordering a type 2 RACH may indicate a CE of MSG PRACH.

[0069] The power control parameters may depend on at least the type of RACH procedure (Type 1 or Type 2), the power control scheme (closed loop or open loop), and the contention resolution scheme (CFRA or CBRA). In some examples, the PDCCH power control parameters commanding the RACH include an indicator of ul-full power transmission of the PRACH preamble and / or PUSCH, a TPC command for the PRACH preamble and / or PUSCH, a transmit (TX) power ramp-up for the PRACH preamble and / or PUSCH, and / or a TX power offset between the PRACH preamble and PUSCH.

[0070] In some aspects, the PDCCH commanding the Type 2 RACH further includes additional parameters for the MSG A PUSCH, which may include one or more power control parameters, Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) parameters, Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) parameters, CE parameters (transport block (TB) scaling parameters, repetition parameters, slot aggregation parameters, and / or frequency hopping parameters), and / or demodulation reference signal (DMRS) bundling parameters for the MSG A PUSCH.

[0071] According to certain aspects, the PDCCH commanding the RACH can be unicast and / or multicast to support UE multiplexing. For example, in the case of a single UE, the DCI of the PDCCH commanding the RACH can be scrambled by a UE-specific RNTI and unicast. In the case of multiple UEs, the DCI of the PDCCH commanding the RACH can be scrambled by a group RNTI and multicast to a group of one or more UEs, which can reduce the signaling overhead when triggering a RACH procedure for a group of UEs.

[0072] Example method 8 illustrates an example of a method 800 for performing a PDCCH-instructed RACH procedure in accordance with an aspect of the disclosure. In some aspects, a UE, such as the UE 104 of FIGs. 1 and 2, or the processing system 1205 of FIG. 12, may perform the method 800.

[0073] At operation 805, the system transmits an indication of one or more capabilities of the UE to a network entity. In some examples, the operations of this step may refer to or be performed by UE capability circuitry, as described with reference to FIG. 12.

[0074] In operation 810, the system transmits a channel state information report to a network entity. In some examples, the operation of this step may be performed by or with reference to the CSI reporting circuitry 1222, as described with reference to FIG.

[0075] In operation 815, the system receives a PDCCH instructing the UE to perform a type of RACH procedure on an uplink carrier using at least one of an uplink power control scheme of CE or type of RACH procedure in a manner determined by the indicated UE capabilities. In some examples, the operations of this step may refer to or be performed by the PDCCH receiver circuit 1223 described with reference to FIG. 12.

[0076] In operation 820, the system performs a type of RACH procedure on the uplink carrier using an uplink power control scheme of type CE or RACH procedure according to the PDCCH. In some examples, the operation of this step may refer to or be performed by the RACH procedure circuitry 1224 as described with reference to FIG.

[0077] In some aspects, the PDCCH indicates whether the RACH procedure includes a first type RACH procedure in which the UE transmits a first type RACH message including a PRACH preamble, or a second type RACH procedure in which the UE transmits a second type RACH message including a composite of the PRACH preamble and a PUSCH, and the first type RACH message or the second type RACH message may be transmitted on a normal (e.g., regular) uplink carrier or an auxiliary uplink carrier signaled by the PDCCH.

[0078] In some aspects, the PDCCH indicates whether the RACH procedure includes a first type RACH procedure or a second type RACH procedure by at least a bit in the FDRA field, a DMRS configuration of the PDCCH, an index of the PRACH preamble or preamble group, or an index of the PRACH mask.

[0079] In some aspects, the indicated UE capabilities include at least one of: a UE capability to support a second type of RACH procedure, a UE capability to support CE, a UE capability to support HD FDD, a UE RF retuning capability, or a UE process for processing a PDCCH, a PUSCH, or a PUSCH transmission.

[0080] In some aspects, the method 800 includes determining the minimum gap based at least in part on the indicated UE capabilities. In some aspects, the method 900 further includes performing the RACH procedure only if the time between the last symbol of the PDCCH and the first symbol of the first type RACH message or the second type RACH message is greater than or equal to the minimum gap.

[0081] In some aspects, the minimum gap is determined based on at least one of a type of RACH procedure, CE capability of the UE, UE processing capability of the PDCCH, PRACH, or PUSCH, and a minimum SCS configuration of the PDCCH, PRACH, or PUSCH. In some aspects, the minimum gap is determined based on at least one of a BWP switching delay that depends on the UE capability, or a HD FDD switching delay that depends on the UE capability. In some aspects, the minimum gap is determined based on at least one of an uplink switching gap that depends on the UE capability and an uplink transmission switching option, or a delay extension that depends on the UE capability, the active FR, QCL, or TCI state, and the serving cell's SSB or downlink reference signal configuration.

[0082] In some aspects, the at least one CE includes at least one of repetition of the PRACH, repetition of the PUSCH, frequency hopping of the PRACH, frequency hopping of the PUSCH, or DMRS bundling of the PUSCH.

[0083] In some aspects, the PDCCH indicates whether the RACH procedure includes a first type RACH procedure in which the UE transmits a first type RACH message including a PRACH preamble, or a second type RACH procedure in which the UE transmits a second type RACH message including a composite of the PRACH preamble and a PUSCH. In some aspects, the PDCCH indicates at least one of one or more power control parameters for the first or second type RACH message, or one or more CE schemes for the first or second type RACH message, and a set of modulation, coding and HARQ processing parameters for the PUSCH of the second type RACH message.

[0084] In some aspects, the power control parameters depend on at least one of a RACH procedure type, a power control scheme, a TCI or QCL state, or a contention resolution scheme for the RACH procedure type. In some aspects, the power control parameters include at least one of an indicator of an uplink total power transmission parameter, a TCI or QCL state, a TPC command, a transmit power ramp-up parameter, or a transmit power offset between the PRACH and the PUSCH.

[0085] In some aspects, the PDCCH comprises a groupcast PDCCH transmitted in a CSS set, where the payload or the CRC bits of the payload are scrambled with the group RNTI.

[0086] 9 illustrates an example of a method 900 for performing a RACH procedure commanded by a PDCCH in accordance with an aspect of the disclosure. In some aspects, a UE, such as the UE 104 of FIGs. 1 and 2, or the processing system 1205 of FIG. 12, may perform the method 900.

[0087] At 902, method 900 includes transmitting an indication of one or more capabilities of the UE.

[0088] Optionally, at 904, method 900 may include transmitting a CSI report and receiving a CE configuration for the RACH procedure based on the CSI report.

[0089] At 906, the method 900 includes receiving a PDCCH instructing the UE to perform a RACH procedure on an uplink carrier based on one or more capabilities of the UE.

[0090] At 908, the method 900 includes determining a minimum gap between the last symbol of the PDCCH and the first symbol of the RACH message. The minimum gap may include an HD switching delay.

[0091] At 910, the method 900 includes performing a RACH procedure on the uplink carrier if a gap between the last symbol of the PDCCH and the first symbol of the RACH message is greater than or equal to a minimum gap.

[0092] 10 illustrates an example of a method 1000 for instructing a RACH procedure according to an aspect of the disclosure. In some aspects, a BS, such as the BS 102 of FIGs. 1 and 2, or the processing system 1305 of FIG. 13, may perform the method 1000.

[0093] In operation 1005, the system transmits a PDCCH to at least one UE instructing the UE to perform a type of RACH procedure using at least one of a CE or a power control scheme in a manner determined by the indicated UE capabilities. In some examples, the operations of this step may refer to or be performed by the PDCCH circuitry 1321 described with reference to FIG. 13.

[0094] In operation 1010, the system engages in a type of RACH procedure with the UE according to the PDCCH and the indicated UE capabilities. In some examples, the operations of this step may refer to or be performed by the RACH procedure circuitry 1322 as described with reference to FIG.

[0095] In some aspects, the PDCCH indicates whether the RACH procedure includes a first type RACH procedure in which the UE transmits a first type RACH message including a PRACH preamble, or a second type RACH procedure in which the UE transmits a second type RACH message including a composite of the PRACH preamble and a PUSCH, and the first type RACH message or the second type RACH message may be transmitted on a normal (e.g., regular) uplink carrier or an auxiliary uplink carrier signaled by the PDCCH.

[0096] In some aspects, the PDCCH indicates whether the RACH procedure includes a first type RACH procedure or a second type RACH procedure by a bit in at least the FDRA field of the DCI conveyed by the PDCCH, a DMRS configuration of the PDCCH, an index of the PRACH preamble or preamble group, or an index of the PRACH mask.

[0097] In some aspects, the indicated UE capabilities include at least one of: a UE capability to support a second type of RACH procedure, a UE capability to support CE, a UE capability to support HD FDD, a UE RF retuning capability, or a UE process for processing a PDCCH, a PUSCH, or a PUSCH transmission.

[0098] In some aspects, the method 1000 includes determining the minimum gap based at least in part on the indicated UE capabilities. In some aspects, the method 1000 further includes scheduling the UE to perform the RACH procedure via the PDCCH such that a time between a last symbol of the PDCCH and a first symbol of the first type RACH message or a second type RACH message is equal to or greater than the minimum gap.

[0099] In some aspects, the minimum gap is determined based on at least one of a type of RACH procedure, a CE capability of the UE, a UE processing capability for the PDCCH, PRACH, or PUSCH, or a minimum SCS configuration for the PDCCH, PRACH, or PUSCH. In some aspects, the minimum gap is determined based on at least one of a BWP switching delay that depends on the UE capability, or a HD FDD switching delay that depends on the UE capability. In some aspects, the minimum gap is determined based on at least one of an uplink switching gap that depends on the UE capability and an uplink transmission switching option, or a delay extension that depends on the UE capability, the active FR, QCL, or TCI state, and the serving cell's SSB or downlink reference signal configuration.

[0100] In some aspects, the at least one UE comprises a group of UEs, the PDCCH comprises a groupcast PDCCH transmitted on a CSS set, and the payload or CRC bits of the payload are scrambled with the group RNTI.

[0101] In some aspects, the CE includes at least one of repetition of the PRACH, repetition of the PUSCH, frequency hopping of the PRACH, frequency hopping of the PUSCH, or DMRS bundling of the PUSCH.

[0102] In some aspects, the PDCCH indicates whether the RACH procedure includes a first type RACH procedure in which the UE transmits a first type RACH message including a PRACH preamble, or a second type RACH procedure in which the UE transmits a second type RACH message including a composite of the PRACH preamble and a PUSCH, and the PDCCH indicates at least one of one or more power control parameters for the first type RACH message or the second type RACH message, or one or more CE schemes for the first type RACH message or the second type RACH message, or a set of modulation, coding, and HARQ processing parameters for the msgA PUSCH.

[0103] In some aspects, the power control parameters depend on at least one of the following: a type of RACH procedure, a QCI or TCI state, a CSI report, a power control scheme, or a contention resolution scheme for the type of RACH procedure. In some aspects, the power control parameters include at least one of an indicator of an uplink total power transmission parameter, a QCL or TCI, a TPC command, a transmit power ramp-up parameter, or a transmit power offset between the PRACH and the PUSCH.

[0104] 11 illustrates an example of a method 1100 for commanding a RACH procedure according to an aspect of the disclosure. In some aspects, a BS, such as the BS 102 of FIGs. 1 and 2, or the processing system 1305 of FIG. 13, may perform the method 1100.

[0105] Optionally, at 1102, the method 1100 includes obtaining an indication of one or more capabilities of the at least one UE from the at least one UE, the indication of the one or more capabilities including at least one of an indication that the at least one UE is a RedCap UE or a capability of the at least one UE to support HD.

[0106] Optionally, the method 1100 includes determining a minimum gap based at least in part on one or more capabilities of at least one UE, and scheduling at least one UE to perform a RACH procedure via a PDCCH such that a time between a last symbol of a PDCCH and a first symbol of the RACH message is greater than or equal to the minimum gap.

[0107] At 1106, the method 1100 includes outputting a PDCCH for transmission to the at least one UE instructing the at least one UE to perform a RACH procedure based on one or more capabilities of the at least one UE.

[0108] At 1108, the method 1100 includes obtaining a RACH message from the at least one UE after a minimum gap between the last symbol of the PDCCH and the first symbol of the RACH message, the minimum gap including an HD switching delay.

[0109] Examples of Wireless Communication Devices Figure 12 illustrates an example of a communications device 1200 that includes various components operable, configured, or adapted to perform operations for the techniques disclosed herein, such as the operations illustrated and described with respect to Figures 8 and 9. In some examples, the communications apparatus 1200 may be, for example, a UE 104 as described with respect to Figures 1 and 2.

[0110] Communications device 1200 includes a processing system 1202 coupled to a transceiver 1208 (e.g., a transmitter and / or a receiver). The transceiver 1208 is configured to transmit (or transmit) and receive various signals, as described herein, to communications device 1200 via an antenna 1210. Processing system 1202 may be configured to perform processing functions for communications device 1200, including processing signals received and / or transmitted by communications device 1200.

[0111] The processing system 1202 includes one or more processors 1220 coupled to a computer-readable medium / memory 1230 via a bus 1206. In certain aspects, the computer-readable medium / memory 1230 is configured to store instructions (e.g., computer-executable code) that, when executed by the one or more processors 1220, cause the one or more processors 1220 to perform the operations illustrated in Figures 8 and 9 or other operations for performing the various techniques discussed herein.

[0112] The various components of the communications device 1200 can provide means for performing the methods described herein, including those with respect to FIGS.

[0113] In some examples, the means for transmitting or transmitting (or the means for outputting for transmission) may include the transceiver 254 and / or antenna(s) 252 of the UE 104 shown in FIG. 2, and / or the transceiver 1208 and antenna 1210 of the communications device of FIG. 12.

[0114] In some examples, the means for receiving (or the means for obtaining) may include the transceiver 254 and / or antenna(s) 252 of the UE 104 shown in FIG. 2, and / or the transceiver 1208 and antenna 1210 of the communications device of FIG. 12.

[0115] In some examples, the means for executing and / or participating may include one or more of the processors 1220 of FIG. 12, or various processing system 1202 components, such as aspects of the UE 104 of FIG. 12, including the receive processor 258, the transmit processor 264, the TX MIMO processor 266, and / or the controller / processor 280.

[0116] In one aspect, the one or more processors 1220 include a UE capability circuit 1221 , a CSI reporting circuit 1222 , a PDCCH receiver circuit 1223 , and a RACH procedure circuit 1224 .

[0117] According to some aspects, the UE capability circuit 1221 transmits an indication of one or more capabilities of the UE to a network entity. In some examples, the indicated UE capability includes at least one of the following: the UE capability to support a second type of RACH procedure, the UE capability to support CE, the UE capability to support HD FDD, the UE RF retuning capability, or the UE processing for processing PDCCH, PUSCH, or PUSCH transmissions. In some examples, the UE capability circuit 1221 determines the minimum gap based at least in part on the indicated UE capability. In some examples, the minimum gap is determined based on at least one of the following: a type of RACH procedure, the UE CE capability, the UE processing capability for the PDCCH, PRACH, or PUSCH, and a minimum SCS configuration for the PDCCH, PRACH, or PUSCH. In some examples, the minimum gap is determined based on at least one of a BWP switching delay that depends on the UE capability, or a HD FDD switching delay that depends on the UE capability. In some examples, the minimum gap is determined based on at least one of an uplink switching gap that depends on the UE capabilities and uplink transmission switching options, or a delay extension that depends on the UE capabilities, the active FR, QCL or TCI state, and the serving cell's SSB or downlink reference signal configuration.

[0118] In accordance with some aspects, the CSI reporting circuit 1222 transmits the channel state information report to a network entity.

[0119] According to some aspects, the PDCCH receiver circuit 1223 receives a PDCCH instructing the UE to perform a type of RACH procedure on an uplink carrier using at least one of an uplink power control scheme of the CE or a type of RACH procedure in a manner determined by the indicated UE capabilities. In some examples, the PDCCH indicates whether the RACH procedure includes a first type of RACH procedure in which the UE transmits a first type of RACH message including a PRACH preamble, or a second type of RACH procedure in which the UE transmits a second type of RACH message including a composite of the PRACH preamble and the PUSCH, and the first type of RACH message or the second type of RACH message can be transmitted on a normal (e.g., regular) uplink carrier or an auxiliary uplink carrier signaled by the PDCCH. In some examples, the PDCCH indicates whether the RACH procedure includes a first type of RACH procedure or a second type of RACH procedure by at least a bit in the FDRA field, a DMRS configuration of the PDCCH, an index of the PRACH preamble or preamble group, or an index of the PRACH mask. In some examples, at least one CE includes at least one of repetition of PRACH, repetition of PUSCH, frequency hopping of PRACH, frequency hopping of PUSCH, or DMRS bundling of PUSCH.

[0120] In some examples, the PDCCH indicates whether the RACH procedure includes a first type RACH procedure in which the UE transmits a first type RACH message including a PRACH preamble, or a second type RACH procedure in which the UE transmits a second type RACH message including a composite of the PRACH preamble and the PUSCH, and the PDCCH indicates at least one of one or more power control parameters for the first or second type RACH message, one or more CE schemes for the first or second type RACH message, or a set of modulation, coding, and HARQ processing parameters for the PUSCH of the second type RACH message. In some examples, the power control parameters depend on at least one of a type of RACH procedure, a power control scheme, a TCI or QCL state, or a contention resolution scheme for the RACH procedure type. In some examples, the power control parameters include at least one of an indicator of an uplink total power transmission parameter, a TCI or QCL state, a TPC command, a transmit power ramp-up parameter, or a transmit power offset between the PRACH and the PUSCH. In some examples, the PDCCH includes a groupcast PDCCH transmitted in a CSS set, where the payload or the CRC bits of the payload are scrambled with the group RNTI.

[0121] According to some aspects, the RACH procedure circuitry 1224 performs a type of RACH procedure on the uplink carrier using an uplink power control scheme of the CE or RACH procedure type according to the PDCCH. In some examples, the RACH procedure circuitry 1224 performs the RACH procedure only if the time between the last symbol of the PDCCH and the first symbol of the first type RACH message or the second type RACH message is equal to or greater than a minimum gap.

[0122] In one aspect, the computer readable medium / memory 1230 includes (eg, stores) UE capability code 1231 , CSI reporting code 1232 , PDCCH receiver code 1233 , and RACH procedure code 1234 .

[0123] It should be noted that FIG. 12 is just one example and many other examples and configurations of communication devices are possible.

[0124] Figure 13 illustrates an example of a communications device 1300 that includes various components operable, configured, or adapted to perform operations for the techniques disclosed herein, such as those illustrated and described with respect to Figure 13. In some examples, the communications device may be, for example, a BS 102 as described with respect to Figures 1 and 2.

[0125] The communications device 1300 includes a processing system 1302 coupled to a transceiver 1308 (e.g., a transmitter and / or receiver). The transceiver 1308 is configured to transmit (or transmit) and receive various signals, as described herein, to the communications device 1300 via an antenna 1310. The processing system 1302 may be configured to perform processing functions for the communications device 1300, including processing signals received and / or transmitted by the communications device 1300.

[0126] The transceiver 1308 may communicate bidirectionally via an antenna 1310, a wired or wireless link, as described above. For example, the transceiver 1308 may represent a wireless transceiver 1308 and may communicate bidirectionally with another wireless transceiver 1308. The transceiver 1308 may include or be connected to a modem to modulate packets, provide the modulated packets for transmission, and demodulate received packets. In some examples, the transceiver 1308 may be tuned to operate at a specified frequency. For example, a modem may configure the transceiver 1308 to operate at a specified frequency and power level based on a communication protocol used by the modem.

[0127] The processing system 1302 includes one or more processors 1320 coupled to a computer-readable medium / memory 1330 via a bus 1306. In certain aspects, the computer-readable medium / memory 1330 is configured to store instructions (e.g., computer-executable code) that, when executed by the one or more processors 1320, cause the one or more processors 1320 to perform the operations illustrated in FIG. 13 or other operations for implementing the various techniques discussed herein.

[0128] The various components of the communications device 1300 can provide means for performing the methods described herein, including those with respect to FIG.

[0129] In some examples, the means for transmitting or transmitting (or the means for outputting for transmission) may include the transceiver 232 and / or antenna(s) 1260 234 of the BS 102 shown in FIG. 2, and / or the transceiver 1308 and antenna 1310 of the communications device of FIG. 13.

[0130] In some examples, the means for receiving (or the means for obtaining) may include the transceiver 232 and / or antenna(s) 234 of the base station shown in FIG. 2, and / or the transceiver 1308 and antenna 1310 of the communications device of FIG. 13.

[0131] In some examples, the means for executing and / or participating may include one or more of the processors 1320 of FIG. 13, or various processing system 1302 components, such as aspects of the base station 102 of FIG. 2, including the receive processor 238, the transmit processor 220, the TX MIMO processor 230, and / or the controller / processor 240.

[0132] In some examples, the one or more processors 1320 may include one or more intelligent hardware devices (e.g., a general-purpose processing component, a digital signal processor (DSP), a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic component, a discrete hardware component, or a combination thereof). In some examples, the one or more processors 1320 are configured to operate a memory array using a memory controller. In another example, the memory controller is integrated into the one or more processors 1320. In some examples, the one or more processors 1320 are configured to execute computer-readable instructions stored in a memory to perform various functions. In some aspects, the one or more processors 1320 include dedicated components for modem processing, baseband processing, digital signal processing, or transmit processing.

[0133] In one aspect, the one or more processors 1320 include a PDCCH circuit 1321 , a RACH procedure circuit 1322 , and a UE capability management circuit 1323 .

[0134] According to some aspects, the PDCCH circuit 1321 transmits a PDCCH to at least one UE instructing the UE to perform a type of RACH procedure using at least one of a CE or a power control scheme in a manner determined by the indicated UE capabilities. In some examples, the PDCCH indicates whether the RACH procedure includes a first type RACH procedure in which the UE transmits a first type RACH message including a PRACH preamble, or a second type RACH procedure in which the UE transmits a second type RACH message including a composite of a PRACH preamble and a PUSCH, and the first type RACH message or the second type RACH message can be transmitted on a normal (e.g., regular) uplink carrier or an auxiliary uplink carrier signaled by the PDCCH. In some examples, the PDCCH indicates whether the RACH procedure includes a first type RACH procedure or a second type RACH procedure by a bit in at least the FDRA field of the DCI conveyed by the PDCCH, a DMRS configuration of the PDCCH, an index of the PRACH preamble or preamble group, or an index of the PRACH mask.

[0135] In some examples, the PDCCH 1321 schedules the UEs to perform the RACH procedure via the PDCCH such that the time between the last symbol of the PDCCH and the first symbol of the first type RACH message or the second type RACH message is equal to or greater than a minimum gap. In some examples, the at least one UE includes a group of UEs, the PDCCH includes a groupcast PDCCH transmitted in a CSS set, and the payload or CRC bits of the payload are scrambled by a group RNTI. In some examples, the CE includes at least one of PRACH repetition, PUSCH repetition, frequency hopping of the PRACH, frequency hopping of the PUSCH, or DMRS bundling of the PUSCH.

[0136] In some examples, the PDCCH indicates whether the RACH procedure includes a first type RACH procedure in which the UE transmits a first type RACH message including a PRACH preamble, or a second type RACH procedure in which the UE transmits a second type RACH message including a composite of the PRACH preamble and the PUSCH, and the PDCCH indicates at least one of one or more power control parameters for the first type RACH message or the second type RACH message, one or more CE schemes for the first type RACH message or the second type RACH message, or a set of modulation, coding, and HARQ processing parameters for the msgA PUSCH. In some examples, the power control parameters depend on at least one of a type of RACH procedure, a QCI or TCI state, a CSI report, a power control scheme, or a contention resolution scheme for the type of RACH procedure. In some examples, the power control parameters include at least one of an indicator of an uplink total power transmission parameter, a QCL or TCI, a TPC command, a transmit power ramp-up parameter, or a transmit power offset between the PRACH and the PUSCH.

[0137] According to some aspects, the RACH procedure circuitry 1322 participates in a type of RACH procedure with the UE according to the PDCCH and the indicated UE capabilities. In some examples, the indicated UE capabilities include at least one of the following: UE capability to support a second type of RACH procedure, UE capability to support CE, UE capability to support HD FDD, UE RF retuning capability, or UE processing for processing PDCCH, PUSCH, or PUSCH transmissions. In some examples, the UE capability management circuitry 1323 determines the minimum gap based at least in part on the indicated UE capabilities. In some examples, the minimum gap is determined based on at least one of the following: a type of RACH procedure, the UE CE capability, the UE processing capability for the PDCCH, PRACH, or PUSCH, or a minimum SCS configuration for the PDCCH, PRACH, or PUSCH. In some examples, the minimum gap is determined based on at least one of a BWP switching delay that depends on the UE capabilities, or a HD FDD switching delay that depends on the UE capabilities. In some examples, the minimum gap is determined based on at least one of an uplink switching gap that depends on the UE capabilities and uplink transmission switching options, or a delay extension that depends on the UE capabilities, the active FR, QCL or TCI state, and the serving cell's SSB or downlink reference signal configuration.

[0138] In one aspect, the computer readable medium / memory 1330 includes (eg, stores) PDCCH code 1331 , RACH procedure code 1332 , and UE capability management code 1333 .

[0139] Examples of computer readable medium / memory 1330 include random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), or hard disk. Examples of memory devices include solid state memory and hard disk drives. In some examples, computer readable medium / memory 1330 is used to store computer readable computer executable software including instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to perform various functions described herein. In some examples, the memory includes, among other things, a basic input / output system (BIOS) that controls basic hardware or software operations, such as interactions with peripheral components or devices. In some examples, a memory controller operates memory cells. For example, the memory controller may include a row decoder, a column decoder, or both. In some examples, memory cells in the memory store information in the format of logic states.

[0140] It should be noted that FIG. 13 is merely an example use and many other examples and configurations of communication devices are possible.

[0141] Example clause The following numbered clauses describe example implementations. Clause 1: A method for wireless communication by a UE, comprising: sending an indication of one or more capabilities of the UE to a network entity; sending a channel state information report to the network entity; receiving a PDCCH instructing the UE to perform a type of RACH procedure on an uplink carrier using at least one of an uplink power control scheme of type CE or RACH procedure in a manner determined by the indicated UE capabilities; and performing a type of RACH procedure on the uplink carrier using an uplink power control scheme of type CE or RACH procedure in accordance with the PDCCH.

[0142] Clause 2: The method according to clause 1, wherein the PDCCH indicates whether the RACH procedure includes a first type RACH procedure in which the UE transmits a first type RACH message including a PRACH preamble, or a second type RACH procedure in which the UE transmits a second type RACH message including a composite of the PRACH preamble and a PUSCH, and the first type RACH message or the second type RACH message may be transmitted on a normal uplink carrier or an auxiliary uplink carrier signaled by the PDCCH.

[0143] Clause 3: The method according to any one of clauses 1 and 2, wherein at least one CE includes at least one of repetition of PRACH, repetition of PUSCH, frequency hopping of PRACH, frequency hopping of PUSCH, or DMRS bundling of PUSCH.

[0144] Clause 4: The method according to clause 2, wherein the PDCCH indicates whether the RACH procedure includes a first type RACH procedure or a second type RACH procedure by at least a bit in the FDRA field, a DMRS configuration of the PDCCH, an index of the PRACH preamble or preamble group, or an index of the PRACH mask.

[0145] Clause 5: The method according to clause 2, wherein the PDCCH indicates whether the RACH procedure includes a first type RACH procedure or a second type RACH procedure by at least a bit in the FDRA field, a DMRS configuration of the PDCCH, an index of the PRACH preamble or preamble group, or an index of the PRACH mask.

[0146] Clause 6: The method according to clause 5, further comprising determining a minimum gap based at least in part on the indicated UE capabilities, and performing the RACH procedure only if the time between the last symbol of the PDCCH and the first symbol of the first type RACH message or the second type RACH message is greater than or equal to the minimum gap.

[0147] Clause 7: The method according to clause 6, wherein the minimum gap is determined based on at least one of a type of RACH procedure, a CE capability of the UE, a UE processing capability of the PDCCH, the PRACH, or the PUSCH, and a minimum SCS configuration of the PDCCH, the PRACH, or the PUSCH.

[0148] Clause 8: The method according to clause 6, wherein the minimum gap is determined based on at least one of a UE capability dependent BWP switching delay or a UE capability dependent HD FDD switching delay.

[0149] Clause 9: The method according to clause 6, wherein the minimum gap is determined based on at least one of an uplink switching gap depending on the UE capabilities and the uplink transmission switching option, or a delay extension depending on the UE capabilities, the active FR, QCL or TCI state, and the SSB or downlink reference signal configuration of the serving cell.

[0150] Clause 10: The method according to any one of clauses 1 to 9, wherein the PDCCH indicates whether the RACH procedure includes a first type RACH procedure, in which the UE transmits a first type RACH message including a PRACH preamble, or a second type RACH procedure, in which the UE transmits a second type RACH message including a composite of the PRACH preamble and a PUSCH, as well as at least one of one or more power control parameters for the first type or the second type RACH message, or one or more CE schemes for the first type RACH message or the second type RACH message, or a set of modulation, coding and HARQ processing parameters for the PUSCH of the second type RACH message.

[0151] Clause 11: The method according to clause 10, wherein the power control parameters depend on at least one of a type of RACH procedure, a power control scheme, a TCI or QCL state, or a contention resolution scheme of the RACH procedure type.

[0152] Clause 12: The method according to clause 11, wherein the power control parameters include at least one of an indicator of an uplink total power transmission parameter, a TCI or QCL state, a TPC command, a transmission power ramp-up parameter, or a transmission power offset between PRACH and PUSCH.

[0153] Clause 13: The method according to any one of clauses 1 to 12, wherein the PDCCH comprises a groupcast PDCCH transmitted in a CSS set, and the payload or CRC bits of the payload are scrambled by the group RNTI.

[0154] Clause 14: A method for wireless communication by a network entity, comprising: transmitting a PDCCH to at least one UE instructing the UE to perform a type of RACH procedure using at least one of a CE or a power control scheme in a manner determined by an indicated UE capability; and participating in a type of RACH procedure with the UE in accordance with the PDCCH and the indicated UE capability.

[0155] Clause 15: The method according to clause 14, wherein the PDCCH indicates whether the RACH procedure includes a first type RACH procedure in which the UE transmits a first type RACH message including a PRACH preamble, or a second type RACH procedure in which the UE transmits a second type RACH message including a composite of the PRACH preamble and a PUSCH, and the first type RACH message or the second type RACH message may be transmitted on a normal uplink carrier or an auxiliary uplink carrier signaled by the PDCCH.

[0156] Clause 16: The method according to clause 14, wherein the CE includes at least one of repetition of PRACH, repetition of PUSCH, frequency hopping of PRACH, frequency hopping of PUSCH, or DMRS bundling of PUSCH.

[0157] Clause 17: The method according to clause 15, wherein the PDCCH indicates whether the RACH procedure includes a first type RACH procedure or a second type RACH procedure by a bit in at least the FDRA field of the DCI conveyed by the PDCCH, a DMRS configuration of the PDCCH, an index of the PRACH preamble or preamble group, or an index of the PRACH mask.

[0158] Clause 18: The method according to clause 15, wherein the indicated UE capabilities include at least one of: a UE capability to support a second type of RACH procedure, a UE capability to support CE, a UE capability to support HD FDD, a UE RF retuning capability, or a UE process for processing a PDCCH, a PUSCH, or a PUSCH transmission.

[0159] Clause 19: A method as described in clause 15, comprising determining a minimum gap based at least in part on the indicated UE capabilities, and scheduling the UE to perform a RACH procedure via the PDCCH such that the time between the last symbol of the PDCCH and the first symbol of a RACH message of the first type or a RACH message of the second type is greater than or equal to the minimum gap.

[0160] Clause 20: The method according to clause 19, wherein the minimum gap is determined based on at least one of a type of RACH procedure, a CE capability of the UE, a UE processing capability of the PDCCH, the PRACH, or the PUSCH, or a minimum SCS configuration of the PDCCH, the PRACH, or the PUSCH.

[0161] Clause 21: The method according to clause 19, wherein the minimum gap is determined based on at least one of a UE capability dependent BWP switching delay or a UE capability dependent HD FDD switching delay.

[0162] Clause 22: The method according to clause 19, wherein the minimum gap is determined based on at least one of an uplink switching gap depending on the UE capabilities and an uplink transmission switching option, or a delay extension depending on the UE capabilities, the active FR, QCL or TCI state, and the SSB or downlink reference signal configuration of the serving cell.

[0163] Clause 23: The method according to any one of clauses 14 to 22, wherein the PDCCH indicates at least one of whether the RACH procedure includes a first type RACH procedure, in which the UE transmits a first type RACH message including a PRACH preamble, or a second type RACH procedure, in which the UE transmits a second type RACH message including a composite of the PRACH preamble and a PUSCH, one or more power control parameters for the first type RACH message or the second type RACH message, or one or more CE schemes for the first type RACH message or the second type RACH message, or a set of modulation, coding and HARQ processing parameters for the msgA PUSCH.

[0164] Clause 24: The method according to clause 23, wherein the power control parameters depend on at least one of a type of RACH procedure, a QCI or TCI state, a CSI report, a power control scheme, or a contention resolution scheme for the type of RACH procedure.

[0165] Clause 25: The method according to clause 24, wherein the power control parameters include at least one of an indicator of an uplink total power transmission parameter, a QCL or a TCI, a TPC command, a transmission power ramp-up parameter, or a transmission power offset between the PRACH and the PUSCH.

[0166] Clause 26: The method according to clause 15, wherein the at least one UE comprises a group of UEs, the PDCCH comprises a groupcast PDCCH transmitted on a CSS set, and the payload or CRC bits of the payload are scrambled by a group RNTI.

[0167] Clause 27: A method for wireless communication by a UE, comprising: transmitting an indication of one or more capabilities of a user equipment (UE) to a network entity; receiving a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) instructing the UE to perform a random access channel (RACH) procedure on an uplink carrier based on the one or more capabilities of the UE; determining a minimum gap between a last symbol of the PDCCH and a first symbol of a RACH message, the minimum gap including a half-duplex (HD) switching delay; and performing the RACH procedure on the uplink carrier if the gap between the last symbol of the PDCCH and the first symbol of the RACH message is greater than or equal to the minimum gap.

[0168] Clause 28: The method according to clause 27, wherein the RACH procedure includes a first type RACH procedure in which the UE transmits a first type RACH message including a physical RACH (PRACH) preamble, or a second type RACH procedure in which the UE transmits a second type RACH message including a composite of a PRACH preamble and a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) preamble.

[0169] Clause 29: The method according to clause 28, wherein the PDCCH indicates an uplink carrier, the uplink carrier being a normal uplink carrier or a supplemental uplink (SUL) carrier within an uplink bandwidth portion (BWP) less than or equal to a maximum uplink BWP capability of the UE.

[0170] Clause 30: The method according to any one of clauses 28 to 29, wherein the RACH procedure is performed using Coverage Extension (CE) based on one or more capabilities of the UE, the CE including at least one of repetition of a PRACH preamble, repetition of a PUSCH, frequency hopping of a PRACH preamble, frequency hopping of a PUSCH, or demodulation reference signal (DMRS) bundling of a PUSCH.

[0171] Clause 31: The method according to any one of clauses 28 to 30, wherein the PDCCH indicates a type of RACH procedure and a synchronization signal block (SSB) index, and an uplink bandwidth portion (BWP) of the RACH procedure is associated with a downlink BWP that includes an SSB, and the SSB includes a cell-defined SSB (CD-SSB) or a non-cell-defined SSB (NCD-SSB).

[0172] Clause 32: The method according to clause 31, wherein the PDCCH indicates the type of RACH procedure via at least one bit of the Frequency Domain Resource Allocation (FDRA) field, the DMRS configuration of the PDCCH, the index of the PRACH preamble, the index of the PRACH preamble group, or the index of the PRACH mask.

[0173] Clause 33: The method according to any one of clauses 27 to 32, wherein the determination of the minimum gap is based on at least one of a Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) measurement, a UE processing capability for the PDCCH, a Physical RACH (PRACH), or a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), a minimum subcarrier spacing (SCS) configuration for the PDCCH, the PRACH, or the PUSCH, a bandwidth portion (BWP) switching delay, a delay extension based on the operating frequency range (FR), or a switching gap between downlink reception and uplink transmission.

[0174] Clause 34: The method according to clause 33, wherein the BWP switching delay depends on the UE capability and the switching gap depends on the UE capability.

[0175] Clause 35: The method according to any one of clauses 27 to 34, wherein the determination of the minimum gap is based on at least one of an uplink switching gap depending on the capability of the previous UE, an uplink transmission switching option, quasi-collocation (QCL), a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state, a synchronization signal block (SSB), or a downlink reference signal configuration of the serving cell.

[0176] Clause 36: A method according to any one of clauses 27 to 35, wherein the indication of one or more capabilities of the UE includes at least one indication of the UE being a low capability (RedCap) UE or the capability of the UE to support half duplex (HD).

[0177] Clause 37: The method according to any one of clauses 27 to 36, wherein the one or more capabilities of the UE include at least one of: a capability of the UE to support a type of RACH procedure, a capability of the UE to support Coverage Extension (CE), a capability of the UE to support Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) in Half Duplex (HD), a Radio Frequency (RF) retuning capability of the UE, or a capability of the UE to process a PDCCH, a Physical RACH (PRACH), or a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH).

[0178] Clause 38: The method according to any one of clauses 27 to 37, wherein the determination of the minimum gap is based on at least one of a type of RACH procedure or a coverage extension (CE) of the RACH procedure.

[0179] Clause 39: The method according to any one of clauses 27 to 38, further comprising: specifying a set of modulation, coding and Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) processing parameters for a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) RACH message.

[0180] Clause 39: The method according to any one of clauses 27 to 39, wherein the PDCCH indicates one or more power control parameters for a Physical RACH (PRACH) message based on the one or more capabilities of the UE.

[0181] Clause 41: The method according to clause 40, wherein the one or more power control parameters depend on at least one of a type of RACH procedure, a power control scheme, a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state, a quasi-co-location (QCL) state, or a contention resolution scheme of the RACH procedure.

[0182] Clause 42: The method according to clause 41, wherein the one or more power control parameters include at least one of an indicator of an uplink total power transmission parameter, a TCI state, a QCL state, a transmit power control (TPC) command, a transmit power ramp-up parameter, or a transmit power offset between a physical RACH (PRACH) transmission and a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission.

[0183] Clause 43: The method according to any one of clauses 27 to 42, wherein the PDCCH comprises a groupcast PDCCH transmitted in a common search space (CSS) set, and the payload or cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits of the payload are scrambled by a group radio network temporary identifier (RNTI).

[0184] Clause 44: The method according to any one of clauses 27 to 43, comprising transmitting a channel state information (CSI) report; and receiving a coverage extension (CE) configuration for the RACH procedure based on the CSI report.

[0185] Clause 45: The method according to any one of clauses 27 to 44, wherein the half-duplex (HD) switching delay comprises a first delay at which the UE switches from uplink transmission to downlink reception, or a second delay at which the UE switches from downlink reception to uplink transmission.

[0186] Clause 46: A method for wireless communication by a network entity includes outputting a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for transmission to at least one user equipment (UE), the PDCCH instructing at least one UE to perform a random access channel (RACH) procedure based on one or more capabilities of the at least one UE, and obtaining a RACH message from the at least one UE after a minimum gap between a last symbol of the PDCCH and a first symbol of the RACH message, the minimum gap including a half-duplex (HD) switching delay.

[0187] Clause 47: The method according to clause 46, wherein the RACH procedure comprises a first type RACH procedure in which the UE transmits a first type RACH message including a physical RACH (PRACH) preamble, or a second type RACH procedure in which the UE transmits a second type RACH message including a composite of a PRACH preamble and a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) preamble.

[0188] Clause 48: The method according to clause 47, wherein the RACH procedure is performed using coverage extension (CE), and the CE includes at least one of repetition of a PRACH preamble, repetition of a PUSCH, frequency hopping of a PRACH preamble, frequency hopping of a PUSCH, or demodulation reference signal (DMRS) bundling of a PUSCH.

[0189] Clause 49: A method according to any one of clauses 47 to 48, further comprising obtaining from the at least one UE an indication of the one or more capabilities of the at least one UE, wherein the indication of the one or more capabilities comprises at least one of an indication that the at least one UE is a low capability (RedCap) UE, or a capability of the at least one UE to support half duplex (HD).

[0190] Clause 49: The method according to any one of clauses 47 to 49, comprising determining a minimum gap based at least in part on one or more capabilities of at least one UE, and scheduling at least one UE to perform a RACH procedure via a PDCCH such that a time between a last symbol of a PDCCH and a first symbol of the RACH message is greater than or equal to the minimum gap.

[0191] Clause 49: The method according to any one of clauses 46 to 49, wherein the determination of the minimum gap is based on at least one of a Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) measurement, a UE processing capability for the PDCCH, the Physical RACH (PRACH), or the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), a minimum subcarrier spacing (SCS) configuration for the PDCCH, the PRACH, or the PUSCH, a bandwidth portion (BWP) switching delay, a delay extension based on the operating frequency range (FR), or a switching gap between downlink reception and uplink transmission.

[0192] Clause 50: The method according to any one of clauses 46 to 49, wherein the PDCCH indicates one or more power control parameters for a Physical RACH (PRACH) message based on one or more capabilities of the device.

[0193] Clause 51: The method according to any one of clauses 46 to 50, wherein the half-duplex (HD) switching delay comprises a first delay for a UE to switch from uplink transmission to downlink reception, or a second delay for at least one UE to switch from downlink reception to uplink transmission.

[0194] Clause 52: The method according to any one of clauses 46 to 51, wherein the at least one UE comprises a group of UEs, the PDCCH comprises a groupcast PDCCH transmitted in a common search space (CSS) set, and a payload of the PDCCH or cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits of the PDCCH payload are scrambled by a group radio network temporary identifier (RNTI).

[0195] Clause 53: A processing system, comprising: a memory containing computer-executable instructions; and one or more processors configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to cause the processing system to perform a method according to any one of clauses 1 to 52.

[0196] Article 54: A processing system, comprising means for carrying out the method according to any one of articles 1 to 52.

[0197] Article 55: A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a processing system, cause the processing system to perform the method according to any one of articles 1 to 52.

[0198] Article 56: A computer program product embodied on a computer-readable storage medium comprising code for carrying out the method according to any one of clauses 1 to 52.

[0199] Additional Considerations for Wireless Communications Networks The techniques and methods described herein may be used for a variety of wireless communication networks (or wireless wide area networks (WWANs)) and radio access technologies (RATs). Although aspects may be described herein using terminology commonly associated with 3G, 4G, and / or 5G (e.g., 5G New Radio (NR)) wireless technologies, aspects of the present disclosure may be equally applicable to other communication systems and standards not explicitly mentioned herein.

[0200] 5G wireless communication networks may support a variety of advanced wireless communication services, such as eMBB, mmWave, MTC, and / or mission-critical targeted URLLC. These and other services may include latency and reliability requirements.

[0201] Returning to FIG. 1, various aspects of the disclosure may be performed within an exemplary wireless communication network 100.

[0202] In 3GPP, the term "cell" can refer to the coverage area of ​​a NodeB and / or the narrowband subsystem that provides this coverage, depending on the context in which the term is used. In NR systems, the term "cell" can be used interchangeably with BS, gNB, AP, distributed unit (DU), carrier, or transmission / reception point. A BS can provide communication coverage for a macrocell, a picocell, a femtocell, and / or other types of cells.

[0203] A macro cell may generally cover a relatively large geographic area (e.g., a radius of several kilometers) and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscriptions. A pico cell may cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a sports stadium) and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscriptions. A femto cell may cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a home) and may allow restricted access by UEs associated with the femto cell (e.g., for use with a particular subscriber group (CSG) and for use by users within the home). A base station for a macro cell may be referred to as a macro base station. A BS for a pico cell may be referred to as a pico BS. A BS in a femto cell may be referred to as a femto BS, a home BS, or a home NodeB.

[0204] A BS 102 configured for 4G LTE (collectively referred to as Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN)) may interface with the EPC 160 via a first backhaul link 132 (e.g., an S1 interface). A BS 102 configured for 5G (e.g., 5G NR or Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN)) may interface with the 5GC 190 via a second backhaul link 184. The base stations 102 may communicate with each other directly or indirectly (e.g., via the EPC 160 or the 5GC 190) via a third backhaul link 134 (e.g., an X2 interface). The third backhaul link 134 may generally be wired or wireless.

[0205] The small cell 102' may operate in a licensed and / or unlicensed frequency spectrum. When operating in the unlicensed frequency spectrum, the small cell 102' may employ NR and may use the same 5 GHz unlicensed frequency spectrum used by the Wi-Fi AP 150. The small cell 102' may employ NR in the unlicensed frequency spectrum to extend the coverage and / or increase the capacity of the access network.

[0206] Some BSs, such as the gNB 180, may operate at conventional sub-6 GHz spectrum, mmWave frequencies, and / or near mmWave frequencies when communicating with the UE 104. If the BS 180 operates at mmWave or near mmWave frequencies, the BS 180 may be referred to as a mmWave BS.

[0207] The communication link 120 between the BS 102 and, for example, the UE 104, can be via one or more carriers. For example, the BS 102 and the UE 104 can use spectrum with up to Y MHz (e.g., 5, 10, 15, 20, 100, 400, etc. MHz) bandwidth per allocated carrier with carrier aggregation up to a total of Yx MHz (x component carriers) used for transmission in each direction. The carriers may or may not be adjacent to each other. The carrier allocation may be asymmetric with respect to DL and UL (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated for DL ​​than for UL). The component carriers may include a primary component carrier and one or more secondary component carriers. The primary component carrier may be referred to as a primary cell (PCell) and the secondary component carrier may be referred to as a secondary cell (SCell).

[0208] The wireless communication system 100 further includes a Wi-Fi AP 150 that communicates with a Wi-Fi station (STA) 152 over a communication link 154 in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, e.g., 2.4 GHz and / or 5 GHz. When communicating in the unlicensed frequency spectrum, the STA 152 / AP 150 may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) prior to communicating to determine if a channel is available.

[0209] Several UEs 104 may communicate with each other using device-to-device (D2D) communication links 158. The D2D communication links 158 may use DL / UL WWAN spectrum. The D2D communication links 158 may use one or more sidelink channels, such as a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH), a physical sidelink discovery channel (PSDCH), a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), and a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH). The D2D communication may be through various wireless D2D communication systems, such as FlashLinQ, WiMedia, Bluetooth, ZigBee, Wi-Fi based on the IEEE 802.11 standard, 4G (e.g., LTE), or 5G (e.g., NR), to name a few options.

[0210] The EPC 160 may include a Mobility Management Entity (MME) 162, other MMEs 164, a Serving Gateway 166, a Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) Gateway 168, a Broadcast Multicast Service Center (BM-SC) 170, and a Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway 172. The MME 162 may communicate with a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) 174. The MME 162 is a control node that handles signaling between the UE 104 and the EPC 160. In general, the MME 162 provides bearer and connection management.

[0211] Generally, a user's Internet Protocol (IP) packets are forwarded through a Serving Gateway 166, which is connected to a PDN Gateway 172. The PDN Gateway 172 provides UE IP address allocation and other functions. The PDN Gateway 172 and the BM-SC 170 are connected to IP Services 176, which may include, for example, the Internet, an Intranet, an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), PS streaming services, and / or other IP services.

[0212] The BM-SC 170 may provide functionality for provisioning and delivery of MBMS user services. The BM-SC 170 may act as an entry point for MBMS transmissions of content providers, may be used to authorize and initiate MBMS bearer services within a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN), and may be used to schedule MBMS transmissions. The MBMS Gateway 168 may be used to assign MBMS traffic to base stations 102 that belong to a Multicast Broadcast Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) area broadcasting a particular service, and may be responsible for session management (start / stop) and collection of eMBMS related charging information.

[0213] The 5GC 190 may include an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 192, other AMFs 193, a Session Management Function (SMF) 194, and a User Plane Function (UPF) 195. The AMF 192 may communicate with a Unified Data Management (UDM) 196.

[0214] The AMF 192 is generally a control node that handles signaling between the UE 104 and the 5GC 190. Generally, the AMF 192 provides QoS flow and session management.

[0215] All user IP packets are forwarded through UPF 195, which connects to IP Services 197 and provides UE IP address allocation and other functions of 5GC 190. IP Services 197 may include, for example, the Internet, an Intranet, IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), PS streaming services, and / or other IP services.

[0216] Turning now to FIG. 2, examples of various components of the BS 102 and the UE 104 (eg, the wireless communication network 100 of FIG. 1) that may be used to implement aspects of the present disclosure are shown.

[0217] At the BS 102, the transmit processor 220 may receive data from a data source 212 and control information from the controller / processor 240. The control information may be for a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH), a Physical Control Format Indicator Channel (PCFICH), a Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel (PHICH), a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), a Group Common PDCCH (GC PDCCH), etc. In some examples, the data may be for a PDSCH.

[0218] A Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (MAC-CE) is a MAC layer communication structure that can be used to control command exchanges between wireless nodes. The MAC-CE can be carried on a shared channel such as a PDSCH, a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), or a PSSCH.

[0219] The processor 220 may process (e.g., encode and symbol map) the data and control information to obtain data symbols and control symbols, respectively. The transmit processor 220 may also generate reference symbols, such as a primary synchronization signal (PSS), SSS, PBCH demodulation reference signal (DMRS), and CSI-RS.

[0220] The transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 230 may perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on ​​the data symbols, control symbols, and / or reference symbols, if applicable, and may provide output symbol streams to modulators (MODs) in the transceivers 232a-t. Each modulator in the transceivers 232a-t may process a respective output symbol stream (e.g., for OFDM) to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator may further process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, and upconvert) the output sample stream to obtain a downlink signal. The downlink signals from the modulators in the transceivers 232a-t may be transmitted via the antennas 234a-t, respectively.

[0221] At the UE 104, the antennas 252a-252r may receive the downlink signals from the BS 102 and provide received signals to demodulators (DEMODs) within the transceivers 254a-254r, respectively. Each demodulator within the transceivers 254a-254r may condition (e.g., filter, amplify, downconvert, and digitize) a respective received signal to obtain input samples. Each demodulator may further process the input samples (e.g., for OFDM) to obtain received symbols.

[0222] A MIMO detector 256 may obtain received symbols from all demodulators in transceivers 254a-254r, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols, if applicable, and provide detected symbols. A receive processor 258 may process (e.g., demodulate, deinterleave, and decode) the detected symbols and provide decoded data for the UE 104 to a data sink 260 and provide decoded control information to the controller / processor 280.

[0223] On the uplink, at the UE 104, a transmit processor 264 may receive and process data from a data source 262 (e.g., for the PUSCH) and control information from a controller / processor 280 (e.g., for the Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH)). The transmit processor 264 may also generate reference symbols for a reference signal (e.g., a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS)). The symbols from the transmit processor 264 may be precoded by a TX MIMO processor 266, if applicable, further processed by a modulator (e.g., for SC-FDM) in the transceivers 254a-254r, and transmitted to the BS 102.

[0224] At the BS 102, the uplink signals from the UE 104 may be received by antennas 234a-t, processed by demodulators in transceivers 232a-t, detected by a MIMO detector 236, if applicable, and further processed by a receive processor 238 to obtain decoded data and control information transmitted by the UE 104. The receive processor 238 may provide the decoded data to a data sink 239 and provide the decoded control information to a controller / processor 240.

[0225] Memories 242 and 282 may store data and program codes for BS 102 and UE 104, respectively.

[0226] The scheduler 244 may schedule UEs for data transmission on the downlink and / or uplink.

[0227] 5G may utilize Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) with Cyclic Prefix (CP) on the uplink and downlink. 5G may also support half-duplex operation using TDD. OFDM and Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiplexing (SC-FDM) divide the system bandwidth into multiple orthogonal subcarriers, which are also commonly referred to as tones and bins. Each subcarrier may be modulated with data. Modulation symbols may be transmitted in the frequency domain with OFDM and in the time domain with SC-FDM. The spacing between adjacent subcarriers may be fixed, and the total number of subcarriers may depend on the system bandwidth. The minimum resource allocation, called a resource block (RB), may be 12 consecutive subcarriers in some examples. The system bandwidth may also be partitioned into subbands. For example, a subband may cover multiple RBs. NR may support a base subcarrier spacing (SCS) of 15 KHz, and other SCSs may be defined in relation to the base SCS (e.g., 30 kHz, 60 kHz, 120 kHz, 240 kHz, etc.).

[0228] As mentioned above, FIGS. 3A-3D illustrate various example aspects of data structures for a wireless communications network, such as wireless communications network 100 of FIG.

[0229] In various aspects, the 5G frame structure may be FDD where for a particular set of subcarriers (carrier system bandwidth), subframes within the set of subcarriers are dedicated to either DL or UL. The 5G frame structure may be TDD where for a particular set of subcarriers (carrier system bandwidth), subframes within the set of subcarriers are dedicated to both DL and UL. In the example provided by Figures 3A and 3C, the 5G frame structure is assumed to be TDD, with subframe 4 configured with slot format 28 (mostly DL), D for DL, U for UL, and X flexible for use between DL / UL, and subframe 3 configured with slot format 34 (mostly UL). Subframes 3 and 4 are shown with slot formats 34 and 28, respectively, although a particular subframe may be configured with any of the various available slot formats 0-61. Slot formats 0 and 1 are all DL and UL, respectively. The other slot formats 2-61 include a mix of DL, UL, and flexible symbols. The UE is configured with the slot format (dynamically via DCI or semi-statically / statically via RRC signaling via a received Slot Format Indicator (SFI)). The following description also applies to the 5G frame structure, which is TDD.

[0230] Other wireless communication technologies may have different frame structures and / or different channels. A frame (10 ms) may be divided into 10 subframes (1 ms) of equal size. Each subframe may include one or more time slots. A subframe may also include a minislot, which may include 7, 4, or 2 symbols. In some examples, each slot may include 7 or 14 symbols, depending on the slot configuration.

[0231] For example, for slot configuration 0, each slot may contain 14 symbols, and for slot configuration 1, each slot may contain 7 symbols. Symbols on the DL may be cyclic prefix (CP) OFDM (CP-OFDM) symbols. Symbols on the UL may be CP-OFDM symbols (for high throughput scenarios) or discrete Fourier transform (DFT) spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) symbols (also called single carrier frequency-division multiple access (SC-FDMA) symbols) (for power-limited scenarios, restricted to a single stream transmission).

[0232] The number of slots in a subframe is based on the slot configuration and numerology. For slot configuration 0, the different numerologies (μ) 0-5 allow 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, and 32 slots per subframe, respectively. For slot configuration 1, the different numerologies 0-2 allow 2, 4, and 8 slots per subframe, respectively. Thus, for slot configuration 0 and numerology μ, there are 14 symbols / slot and 2μ slots / subframe. Subcarrier spacing and symbol length / duration are functions of numerology. Subcarrier spacing is 2 μ ×15 kHz, where μ is a number between 0 and 5. Thus, numerology μ=0 has a subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz, and numerology μ=5 has a subcarrier spacing of 480 kHz. The symbol length / duration is inversely proportional to the subcarrier spacing. Figures 3A-3D provide examples of slot configuration 0 with 14 symbols per slot, and numerology μ=2 with 4 slots per subframe. The slot duration is 0.25 ms, the subcarrier spacing is 60 kHz, and the symbol duration is approximately 16.67 μs.

[0233] The resource grid may be used to represent the frame structure. Each time slot contains a RB (also called a physical RB (PRB)) that extends over 12 consecutive subcarriers. The resource grid is divided into multiple resource elements (REs). The number of bits carried by each RE depends on the modulation scheme.

[0234] As shown in Figure 3A, some of the REs carry reference (pilot) signals (RS) for UEs (e.g., UE 104 in Figures 1 and 2). The RS may include DMRS (denoted as Rx for a particular configuration, where 100x is the port number, but other DMRS configurations are possible) for channel estimation at the UE and CSI-RS. The RS may also include beam measurement RS (BRS), beam improvement RS (BRRS), and phase tracking RS (PT-RS).

[0235] 3B shows an example of various DL channels within a subframe of a frame. The PDCCH carries DCI within one or more control channel elements (CCEs), each CCE containing 9 RE groups (REGs), each REG containing 4 consecutive REs in an OFDM symbol.

[0236] The PSS may be within symbol 2 of a particular subframe of a frame. The PSS is used by the UE (e.g., 104 in Figures 1 and 2) to determine the timing and physical layer identity of the subframe / symbol.

[0237] The SSS may be within symbol 4 of a particular subframe of a frame. The SSS is used by the UE to determine the physical layer cell identity group number and radio frame timing.

[0238] Based on the physical layer identity and the physical layer cell identity group number, the UE can determine the physical cell identifier (PCI). Based on the PCI, the UE can determine the location of the aforementioned DMRS. The PBCH carrying the master information block (MIB) can be logically grouped with the PSS and SSS to form a synchronization signal (SS) / PBCH block. The MIB provides the number of RBs in the system bandwidth and the system frame number (SFN). The PDSCH carries user data and broadcast system information that is not transmitted over the PBCH, such as the system information block (SIB), and paging messages.

[0239] As shown in FIG. 3C, some of the REs carry DMRS (denoted as R for one particular configuration, but other DMRS configurations are possible) for channel estimation at the BS. The UE can transmit DMRS for PUCCH and DM-RS for PUSCH. The PUSCH DMRS may be transmitted in the first one or two symbols of the PUSCH. The PUCCH DMRS may be transmitted in different configurations depending on whether a short or long PUCCH is transmitted and depending on the particular PUCCH format used. The UE may transmit a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS). The SRS may be transmitted in the last symbol of a subframe. The SRS may have a comb structure, and the UE may transmit the SRS on one of the combs. The SRS may be used by the BS for channel quality estimation, which allows for frequency-dependent scheduling in the UL.

[0240] 3D shows an example of various UL channels within a subframe of a frame. The PUCCH, in one configuration, may be located as shown. The PUCCH carries uplink control information (UCI), such as scheduling requests, channel quality indicators (CQI), precoding matrix indicators (PMI), rank indicators (RI), and HARQ ACK / NACK feedback. The PUSCH carries data and may additionally be used to carry buffer status reports (BSR), power headroom reports (PHR), and / or UCI.

[0241] 4 illustrates an example of a distributed base station architecture 400. The distributed base station architecture 400 may include one or more central units (CUs) 410 that may communicate directly with a core network 420 via a backhaul link or indirectly with the core network 420 via one or more distributed base station units (such as a near-real-time (Near-RT) RAN intelligent controller (RIC) 425 via an E2 link, or a non-real-time (non-RT) RIC 415 associated with a service management and orchestration (SMO) framework 405, or both). The CUs 410 may communicate with one or more DUs 430 via respective midhaul links, such as an F1 interface. The DUs 430 may communicate with one or more radio units (RUs) 440 via respective fronthaul links. The RUs 440 may communicate with respective UEs 104 via one or more radio frequency (RF) access links. In some implementations, the UEs 104 may be served by multiple RUs 440 simultaneously.

[0242] Each of the units, e.g., CU 410, DU 430, RU 440, and N-quasi-RT RIC 425, non-RT RIC 415, and SMO framework 405, may include one or more interfaces or be coupled to one or more interfaces configured to receive and transmit signals, data, or information (collectively, signals) over a wired or wireless transmission medium. Each unit, or an associated processor or controller that provides instructions to the unit's communication interface, may be configured to communicate with one or more of the other units over a transmission medium. For example, a unit may include a wired interface configured to receive or transmit signals to one or more other units over a wired transmission medium. Additionally or alternatively, a unit may include a wireless interface, which may include a receiver, transmitter, or transceiver (e.g., an RF transceiver) configured to receive or transmit signals to one or more of the other units, or both, over a wireless transmission medium.

[0243] In some aspects, the CU 410 may host one or more upper layer control functions. Such control functions may include RRC, Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP), Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP), etc. Each control function may be implemented with an interface configured to communicate signals with other control functions hosted by the CU 410. The CU 410 may be configured to handle user plane functions (e.g., Central Element-User Plane (CU-UP)), control plane functions (e.g., Central Element-Control Plane (CU-CP)), or a combination thereof. In some implementations, the CU 410 may be logically divided into one or more CU-UP units and one or more CU-CP units. The CU-UP units may bidirectionally communicate with the CU-CP units via an interface, such as an E1 interface, if implemented in an O-RAN configuration. The CU 410 may be implemented to communicate with the DU 430 for network control and signaling, as needed.

[0244] The DU 430 may correspond to a logic unit including one or more base station functions for controlling the operation of one or more RUs 440. In some aspects, the DU 430 may host one or more of a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, a MAC layer, and one or more upper physical (PHY) layers (such as modules for forward error correction (FEC) encoding and decoding, scrambling, modulation and demodulation, etc.), depending at least in part on a functional division such as that defined by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). In some aspects, the DU 430 may further host one or more lower PHY layers. Each layer (or module) may be implemented with an interface configured to communicate signals with other layers (and modules) hosted by the DU 430 or with a control function hosted by the CU 410.

[0245] The lower layer functionality may be implemented by one or more RUs 440. In some deployments, the RUs 440 controlled by the DU 430 may correspond to logic nodes hosting RF processing functionality, or low PHY layer functionality (such as performing Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), inverse FFT (iFFT), digital beamforming, PRACH extraction and filtering, etc.), or both, based at least in part on a functional division, such as a functional division of the lower layers. In such an architecture, the RUs 440 may be implemented to handle over-the-air (OTA) communications with one or more UEs 104. In some implementations, real-time and non-real-time aspects of control and user plane communications with the RUs 440 may be controlled by a corresponding DU 430. In some scenarios, this configuration allows the DUs 430 and CUs 410 to be implemented in a cloud-based RAN architecture, such as a vRAN architecture.

[0246] The SMO framework 405 may be configured to support RAN deployment and provisioning of non-virtualized and virtualized network elements. For non-virtualized network elements, the SMO framework 405 may be configured to support deployment of dedicated physical resources for RAN coverage requirements that can be managed via an operational management interface (e.g., an O1 interface). For virtualized network elements, the SMO framework 405 may be configured to interact with a cloud computing platform (e.g., an open cloud (O-cloud) 490) to perform network element lifecycle management (e.g., instantiating virtualized network elements) via a cloud computing platform interface (e.g., an O2 interface). Such virtualized network elements include, but are not limited to, the CU 410, the DU 430, the RU 440, and the quasi-RT RIC 425. In some implementations, the SMO framework 405 may communicate with hardware aspects of a 4G RAN, such as an open eNB (O-eNB) 411, via an O1 interface. Additionally, in some implementations, the SMO framework 405 may communicate directly with one or more RUs 440 via an O1 interface. The SMO framework 405 may include a non-RT RIC 415 configured to support the functionality of the SMO framework 405 .

[0247] The non-RT RIC 415 may be configured to include logic functions that enable non-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources, artificial intelligence / machine learning (AI / ML) workflows including model training and updates, or policy-based guidance of applications / functions of the quasi-RT RIC 425. The non-RT RIC 415 may be connected to or communicate with the quasi-RT RIC 425 (e.g., via an A1 interface). The quasi-RT RIC 425 may be configured to include logic functions that enable near real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources through data collection and operation on one or more CUs 410, one or more DUs 430, or both, and an interface connecting the O-eNB and the quasi-RT RIC 425 (e.g., via an E2 interface).

[0248] In some implementations, the non-RT RIC 415 can receive parameters or external enrichment information from an external server to generate the AI / ML models that are deployed to the quasi-RT RIC 425. Such information can be utilized by the quasi-RT RIC 425 and received at the SMO framework 405 or the non-RT RIC 415 from non-network data sources or network functions. In some examples, the non-RT RIC 415 or the quasi-RT RIC 425 can be configured to adjust the operation or performance of the RAN. For example, the non-RT RIC 415 can monitor long-term trends and patterns of performance and employ the AI / ML models to take corrective action through the SMO framework 405 (e.g., reconfiguration via O1) or the creation of RAN management policies (e.g., A1 policies).

[0249] Additional Considerations The foregoing description provides an example of a PDCCH-commanded RACH procedure for a low capability UE. The preceding description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice various aspects described herein. The embodiments described herein are not intended to limit the scope, applicability, or aspects described in the claims. Various modifications of these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other aspects. For example, changes may be made in the function and arrangement of the elements described without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Various embodiments may omit, substitute, or add various procedures or components as appropriate. For example, the methods described may be performed in an order different from that described, and various steps may be added, omitted, or combined. Also, features described with respect to some embodiments may be combined in some other embodiments. For example, an apparatus may be implemented or a method may be practiced using any number of the aspects described herein. Additionally, the scope of the disclosure is intended to encompass such apparatus or methods practiced using other structures, functions, or structures and functions in addition to or other than the various aspects of the disclosure described herein. It should be understood that any aspect of the disclosure disclosed herein may be embodied by one or more elements of a claim.

[0250] The techniques described herein may be used for various wireless communication technologies such as 5G (e.g., 5G NR), 3GPP® Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE Advanced (LTE-A), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA), Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA), and other networks. The terms "network" and "system" are often used interchangeably. A CDMA network may implement wireless technologies such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), cdma2000, and the like. UTRA includes Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) and other variants of CDMA. cdma2000 covers IS-2000, IS-95, and IS-856 standards. A TDMA network may implement a radio technology such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). An OFDMA network can implement a wireless technology such as NR (e.g., 5G RA), Next Generation UTRA (E-UTRA), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, Flash-OFDMA, etc. UTRA and E-UTRA are parts of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). LTE and LTE-A are releases of UMTS that use E-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE, LTE-A, and GSM are described in documents from an organization named "3rd Generation Partnership Project" (3GPP®). cdma2000 and UMB are described in documents from an organization named "3rd Generation Partnership Project 2" (3GPP2). NR is an emerging wireless communications technology under development.

[0251] The various example logic blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with this disclosure may be implemented or performed using a general purpose processor, a DSP, an ASIC, a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device (PLD), discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but alternatively, the processor may be any commercially available processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, such as a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, a system on a chip (SoC), or any other such configuration.

[0252] When implemented in hardware, an exemplary hardware configuration may comprise a processing system in a wireless node. The processing system may be implemented using a bus architecture. The bus may include any number of interconnected buses and bridges depending on the particular application of the processing system and the overall design constraints. The bus may link various circuits together, including the processor, the machine-readable medium, and the bus interface. The bus interface may be used to connect a network adapter to the processing system via the bus, among other things. The network adapter may be used to implement the signal processing functions of the PHY layer. In the case of user equipment (see FIG. 1), the user interface (e.g., keypad, display, mouse, joystick, touch screen, biometric sensor, proximity sensor, light emitting element, etc.) may also be connected to the bus. The bus may also link various other circuits, such as timing sources, peripherals, voltage regulators, power management circuits, etc., which are well known in the art and will not be described further. The processor may be implemented using one or more general-purpose and / or special-purpose processors. Examples include microprocessors, microcontrollers, DSP processors, and other circuits capable of executing software. Those skilled in the art will recognize how to best implement the described functionality for a processing system depending on the particular application and the overall design constraints imposed on the overall system.

[0253] If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over a computer-readable medium as one or more instructions or code. Software shall be broadly construed to mean instructions, data, or any combination thereof, whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media, including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A processor may be responsible for general processing, including managing a bus and executing software modules stored on a machine-readable storage medium. A computer-readable storage medium may be coupled to a processor such that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. Alternatively, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. By way of example, a machine-readable medium may include a transmission line, a carrier wave modulated by data, and / or a computer-readable storage medium having stored instructions separate from a wireless node, all of which may be accessed by a processor through a bus interface. Alternatively or additionally, the machine-readable medium or any portion thereof may be integrated into the processor, such as may be a cache and / or a general-purpose register file. Examples of machine-readable storage media may include, by way of example only, a random access memory (RAM), a flash memory, a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a register, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a hard drive, or any other suitable storage medium, or any combination thereof. The machine-readable medium may be embodied in a computer program product.

[0254] A software module may comprise a single instruction or many instructions, and may be distributed across several different code segments, among different programs, and across multiple storage media. A computer-readable medium may comprise several software modules. A software module includes instructions that, when executed by a device such as a processor, cause a processing system to perform various functions. A software module may include a transmitting module and a receiving module. Each software module may reside in a single storage device or may be distributed across multiple storage devices. As an example, a software module may be loaded into RAM from a hard drive when a trigger event occurs. During execution of a software module, a processor may load some of the instructions into a cache to increase access speed. One or more cache lines may then be loaded into a general-purpose register file for execution by the processor. When referring to a function of a software module below, it will be understood that such function is implemented by a processor upon executing instructions from that software module.

[0255] As used herein, a phrase referring to "at least one of" a list of items refers to any combination of those items and includes single members. By way of example, "at least one of a, b, or c" is intended to encompass a, b, c, ab, ac, bc, and abc, as well as any combination having multiples of the same element (e.g., aa, aaa, aab, aac, abb, acc, bb, bbb, bbc, cc, and ccc, or any other permutation of a, b, and c).

[0256] As used herein, the term "determining" encompasses a wide variety of actions. For example, "determining" may include calculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, looking up (e.g., looking up in a table, database, or another data structure), ascertaining, etc. Also, "determining" can include receiving (e.g., receiving information), accessing (e.g., accessing data in a memory), etc. Also, "determining" can include resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, etc.

[0257] The methods disclosed herein include one or more steps or actions for achieving the method. The method steps and / or actions may be interchanged with one another without departing from the scope of the claims. In other words, unless a specific order of steps or actions is specified, the order and / or use of specific steps and / or actions may be modified without departing from the scope of the claims. Furthermore, various operations of the methods described above may be performed by any suitable means capable of performing the corresponding functions. The means may include various hardware and / or software component(s) and / or module(s), including but not limited to circuits, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or processors. Generally, where there are operations illustrated in the figures, those operations may have corresponding counterpart means-plus-function components with similar numbering.

[0258] The following claims are not limited to the embodiments set forth herein, but are to be accorded the full scope consistent with the language of the claims. In the claims, reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean "one and only one," but rather "one or more." Unless otherwise specified, the term "several" refers to one or more. No element of a claim is to be construed under the provisions of 35 U.S.C. 112(f) unless the element is expressly recited using the phrase "means of," or, in the case of a method claim, unless the element is recited using the phrase "step of." All structural and functional equivalents of the elements of the various embodiments described throughout this disclosure that are known or that later become known to those skilled in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be encompassed by the claims. Moreover, nothing disclosed herein is intended to be made public, regardless of whether such disclosure is expressly recited in the claims.

Claims

1. A method for wireless communication by a user equipment (UE), comprising: transmitting an indication of one or more capabilities of the UE; receiving a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) that commands the UE to perform a random access channel (RACH) procedure on an uplink carrier based on the one or more capabilities of the UE; performing the RACH procedure on the uplink carrier if a gap between a last symbol of the PDCCH and a first symbol of an RACH message is greater than or equal to a minimum gap based on a half-duplex switching delay.

2. The type of the RACH procedure is a first type of RACH procedure in which the UE transmits a first type of RACH message including a physical RACH (PRACH) preamble, or a second type of RACH procedure in which the UE transmits a second type of RACH message including a composite of the PRACH preamble and a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), according to Claim 1.

3. The PDCCH indicates the uplink carrier, which is a normal uplink carrier or a supplementary uplink (SUL) carrier within an uplink bandwidth part (BWP) not exceeding the maximum uplink BWP capability of the UE, or The PDCCH indicates the type of the RACH procedure and a synchronization signal block (SSB) index, and an uplink bandwidth part (BWP) of the RACH procedure is associated with a downlink BWP including the SSB, and the SSB includes a cell-defined SSB (CD-SSB) or a non-cell-defined SSB (NCD-SSB), according to Claim 2.

4. The RACH procedure is performed using coverage extension (CE) based on the one or more capabilities of the UE, wherein the CE includes at least one of repetition of the PRACH preamble, repetition of the PUSCH, frequency hopping of the PRACH preamble, frequency hopping of the PUSCH, or demodulation reference signal (DMRS) bundling of the PUSCH, according to Claim 2.

5. The method according to Claim 1, further comprising determining the minimum gap before performing the RACH procedure, the minimum gap including a half-duplex (HD) switching delay.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the minimum gap is based on at least one of reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement, the processing capability of the UE for the PDCCH, physical RACH (PRACH), or physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), the minimum subcarrier spacing (SCS) configuration of the PDCCH, the PRACH, or the PUSCH, bandwidth part (BWP) switching delay, delay extension based on the operating frequency range (FR), or the switching gap between downlink reception and uplink transmission.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the minimum gap is based on at least one of an uplink switching gap that depends on the capability of the UE, an uplink transmission switching option, quasi-collocation (QCL), a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state, a synchronization signal block (SSB), or the downlink reference signal configuration of the serving cell.

8. The indication of the one or more capabilities of the UE includes an indication that the UE is a low-capability (RedCap) UE or at least one of the capabilities of the UE that supports half-duplex (HD), or, The one or more capabilities of the UE include at least one of the capability of the UE to support a certain type of RACH procedure, the capability of the UE to support coverage extension (CE), the capability of the UE to support half-duplex (HD) frequency-division duplex (FDD), the radio frequency (RF) reconfiguration capability of the UE, or the capability of the UE to process the PDCCH, physical RACH (PRACH), or physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). The method according to claim 1.

9. The minimum gap is based on at least one of the type of the RACH procedure or the coverage extension (CE) of the RACH procedure, or, The PDCCH indicates a set of modulation, coding, and hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) processing parameters for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) RACH message, or, The PDCCH indicates one or more power control parameters for a physical RACH (PRACH) message based on the one or more capabilities of the UE. The method according to claim 1.

10. The PDCCH includes a groupcast PDCCH transmitted in a common search space (CSS) set. The method according to claim 1, wherein the payload or the cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits of the payload are scrambled by a group radio network temporary identifier (RNTI). **Claim 11** Transmitting a channel state information (CSI) report; The method according to claim 1, further comprising receiving, based on the CSI report, a coverage expansion (CE) configuration of the RACH procedure. **Claim 12** The method according to claim 1, wherein the half-duplex (HD) switching delay includes a first delay for the UE to switch from uplink transmission to downlink reception, or a second delay for the UE to switch from downlink reception to uplink transmission. **Claim 13** A method for wireless communication by a network entity, comprising: Outputting a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for instructing at least one user equipment (UE) to perform a random access channel (RACH) procedure based on one or more capabilities of the at least one UE, for transmission to the at least one UE; Obtaining a RACH message from the at least one UE after a minimum gap between a last symbol of the PDCCH and a first symbol of the RACH message, wherein the minimum gap is based on a half-duplex (HD) switching delay. **Claim 14** An apparatus, comprising: A memory comprising computer-executable instructions; One or more processors configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to cause the apparatus to: Transmit an indication of one or more capabilities of the apparatus to a network entity; Receive a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for instructing the apparatus to perform a random access channel (RACH) procedure on an uplink carrier based on the one or more capabilities of the apparatus; Execute the RACH procedure on the uplink carrier when a gap between a last symbol of the PDCCH and a first symbol of the RACH message is greater than or equal to a minimum gap based on a half-duplex switching delay. **Claim 15** A processing system, comprising: A memory comprising computer-executable instructions; One or more processors configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to cause the processing system to: Output a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) that instructs the at least one user equipment (UE) to execute a random access channel (RACH) procedure based on one or more capabilities of the at least one UE, for transmission to the at least one UE. A processing system including one or more processors configured to obtain a RACH message from the at least one UE after a minimum gap between a last symbol of the PDCC and a first symbol of the RACH message, the minimum gap being based on a half-duplex (HD) switching delay.

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