Method performed by network side device in wireless communication network and network side device

Abstract

To disclose a method performed by a network side device in a wireless communication network and the network side device which solve problems in existing mechanisms for determining the SSBs that need to be transmitted.SOLUTION: A network side device includes a processing unit that determines an SSB in a synchronization signal block (SSB) set to be used at the next transmission timing based on information received from user equipment and regarding the usage status of SSBs in a synchronization signal block (SSB) set during a past time period including multiple transmission timings, and a transmitting unit that transmits the determined SSB at the next transmission timing.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the field of wireless communication, and more specifically, to a method executed by a network-side device in a wireless communication network and a corresponding network-side device.

Background Art

[0002] In a network of a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Long Term Evolution (LTE) was standardized for the purpose of further increasing data rates and reducing latency. Also, a successor system to LTE is being considered for the purpose of further increasing the bandwidth and speed of LTE. Examples of successor systems to LTE include systems called Long Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE-A), Future Radio Access (FRA), 5th generation mobile communication system (5G), 5G+, Radio Access Technology (New-RAT), and New Radio (NR).

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0003] In 5G and successor systems, in order for a UE to access a wireless communication network system, a network-side device needs to periodically transmit a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB). However, existing mechanisms for determining the SSBs that need to be transmitted have problems such as a long configuration cycle and a decrease in system performance.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0004] In view of the above problems, according to one aspect of the present disclosure, based on information regarding the usage status of SSBs within a set of synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) in a past time period including a plurality of transmission timings received from a user equipment, a processing unit that determines an SSB within the set of synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) to be used at the next transmission timing, and a transmission unit that transmits the determined SSB at the next transmission timing are provided for a network-side device in a wireless network.

[0005] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a wireless communication method for a network-side device, including: determining an SSB within the set of synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) to be used at the next transmission timing based on information regarding the usage status of SSBs within a set of synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) in a past time period including a plurality of transmission timings received from a user equipment; and transmitting the determined SSB at the next transmission timing.

Advantages of the Invention

[0006] According to the network-side device and method according to the above aspect of the present disclosure, the network-side device and method provided by the present disclosure can determine an SSB to be used at the next transmission timing based on information related to the usage status of SSBs received from a user equipment. Therefore, the network-side device and method provided by the present disclosure can improve the accuracy of the determined SSB to be used at the next transmission timing compared with the prior art, thereby coping with rapid changes of the UE and improving the system capacity. In addition, the network-side device and method provided by the present disclosure can also determine an SSB to be used at the next transmission timing based on the measured signal quality of the SSB. Therefore, further, interference between network-side devices can be avoided and the SINR of the received signal can be improved.

[0007] By describing the embodiments of the present disclosure in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, the above and other objects, features, and advantages of the present disclosure will become more apparent. The accompanying drawings are used to better understand the embodiments of the present disclosure and are used to explain the present disclosure together with the embodiments of the present disclosure. They form part of the specification and do not limit the present disclosure. In the drawings, like reference numerals generally represent the same members or steps.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0008]

Figure 1

Figure 2

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Figure 15

Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0009] In order to make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the present disclosure clearer, exemplary embodiments according to the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, like reference numerals represent like elements throughout. It should be understood that the embodiments described in the present disclosure are merely exemplary and should not be construed as limiting the scope of the present disclosure.

[0010] FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a wireless communication network system 10 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0011] The wireless communication network system 10 shown in FIG. 1 may be a wireless communication network system based on NR. Note that the above is merely an example, and the wireless communication network system shown in FIG. 1 may be any suitable existing or future-developed wireless communication network system.

[0012] The wireless communication network system 10 in FIG. 1 includes three base stations (for example, gNBs 100A, 100B, and 100C) and one UE 200. Note that the numbers of the above base stations and UEs are merely examples. The wireless communication network system 10 may include any number of base stations and UEs based on an actual scenario.

[0013] To allow the UE 200 to access the wireless communication network system 10, each of the base stations 100A, 100B, and 100C can periodically transmit the SSB. Specifically, each base station can transmit the SSB through the beam corresponding to the SSB. After receiving the SSB, the UE 200 measures it to select the SSB with the best quality and notifies the base station of the selection result. The base station communicates with the UE according to the SSB selected by the UE.

[0014] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a network-side device transmitting an SSB according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. A set of SSBs including a plurality of SSBs may be arranged in each network-side device, and each network-side device can transmit different SSBs within the set of SSBs using different beams. As shown in FIG. 2, a set of SSBs including 64 SSBs may be arranged in each base station, and each base station can transmit the 64 SSBs using 64 beams corresponding to the 64 SSBs. Note that the number of SSBs, the number of beams, and the correspondence between them in the base station described above are only examples. The base station can have any number of SSBs, beams, and an appropriate correspondence between the SSBs and the beams based on the actual scenario.

[0015] The SSB may include a Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS), a Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS), and a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH).

[0016] The SSB may be used for time / frequency synchronization, cell identification, broadcast information, beam identification, layer 1 measurements (i.e., Reference Signal Receiving Power (RSRP) (i.e., L1-RSRP), Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR) (i.e., L1-SINR)), and layer 3 measurements (e.g., RSRP, Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ)), Radio Link Monitoring (RLM), etc.

[0017] Figure 3 shows an example of transmitting the SSB. As shown in Figure 3, the SSB may be transmitted periodically, such as with a transmission period of 20 ms. The base station can transmit all SSBs within the first few milliseconds (e.g., 5 ms) of each transmission cycle. When transmitting the SSB, it may occupy some time-frequency resources (e.g., time slots, symbols based on Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)).

[0018] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram showing the transmission method of the SSB. In the figure shown in Figure 4, the network-side device may transmit all SSBs with a relatively long period, such as a 100 ms period.

[0019] The network-side device may transmit a part of the SSB with the shorter one of the two periods for transmitting all SSBs, for example, a period of 20 ms. This short period may be called the transmission timing or transmission opportunity. During the transmission of a part of the SSB by the network-side device, the network-side device can turn off all other SSBs.

[0020] As shown in FIG. 4, the base station gNB100A transmits a part of the SSB at three transmission timings. The base station gNB100B transmits a part of the SSB at N transmission timings. However, among the above-mentioned parts of the SSB, the SSB is determined by the base station based on the past usage status of the SSB. For example, the base station uses the SSB in order. For example, at the first transmission timing, the SSBs numbered 1, 4, 7, and 10 are transmitted, at the next second transmission timing, the SSBs numbered 2, 5, 8, and 11 are transmitted, and at the subsequent third transmission timing, the SSBs numbered 3, 6, 9, and 12 are transmitted, etc., and the unused SSBs are turned off to save system resources.

[0021] However, the above method of constituting a part of the SSB has problems such as a long arrangement cycle and inability to cope with sudden data traffic.

[0022] To solve the above problems, the present disclosure provides a wireless communication method used for network-side devices. This method can determine the SSBs within the SSB set to be used at the next transmission timing based on the information received from the UE regarding the usage status of the SSBs within the SSB set in the past time period, thereby enabling more appropriate determination and use of the SSBs suitable for the current network environment. Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings, a wireless communication method used for network-side devices and the corresponding network-side devices provided according to an aspect of the present disclosure will be described in detail.

[0023] FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of a wireless communication method used in a network-side device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method shown in FIG. 5 may be executed by a network-side device. As an example, the network-side device may be a base station such as the above gNB. Alternatively, the network-side device may be an operation administration and maintenance (OAM) module or a service management and orchestration (SMO) module outside the base station that interacts with the base station. When the network-side device is the above OAM or SMO module, the OAM or SMO module needs to transmit the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing, which is determined by executing the method provided by the present disclosure, to a base station or the like, and the base station executes subsequent operations. Alternatively, the network-side device may be a higher-layer node of the base station.

[0024] Referring to FIG. 5, in step S510, based on the information regarding the usage status of the SSBs within the synchronization signal block (SSB) set in the past time period including a plurality of transmission timings received from the user equipment, the network-side device can determine the SSB within the synchronization signal block (SSB) set to be used at the next transmission timing.

[0025] In an example according to the present disclosure, the information regarding the usage status of the SSBs within the synchronization signal block (SSB) set in the past time period received from the user equipment includes at least one of the first related information of the SSBs used by the user equipment in the past time period and the second related information of the SSBs not used by the user equipment in the past time period. Thereby, based on the real-time usage status of the user equipment, the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing can be accurately determined, coping with the rapid changes of the user equipment, and improving the system capacity.

[0026] As an example, the past time period may include two transmission timings. As shown in FIG. 4, in gNB100A, a partial transmission timing of SSBs numbered 1 and 2 is transmitted. As another example, the past time period may include N - 1 transmission timings, where N is a positive integer. As shown in FIG. 4, in the case of gNB100B, a partial transmission timing of SSBs numbered 1 to N - 1 is transmitted.

[0027] When the UE exchanges data with the base station using a certain SSB or the beam corresponding to the SSB, the base station can obtain information regarding the usage status of the SSB based on the exchanged data.

[0028] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the first related information includes at least one of the SSB used by the user equipment at the transmission timing closest to the next transmission timing in the past time period and the number of times a specific SSB was used by the user equipment in the past time period. In this case, the network - side device determines, based on the first related information, whether the SSB used by the user equipment in the past time period is to be used as the SSB at the next transmission timing. In an example of the present disclosure, for the "number of times", when a specific SSB is used by one user equipment at one transmission timing, the number of times is regarded as 1 time.

[0029] As an example, when the first related information includes the SSB used by the user equipment at the nearest transmission timing of the next transmission timing in the past time period, the network-side device can determine, in the past time period, the SSB used by the user equipment at the nearest transmission timing of the next transmission timing as the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing. As shown in FIG. 6(a), the past time period may include two transmission timings t(m - 1) and t(m - 2), where m is a positive integer. At the nearest transmission timing t(m - 1) of the next transmission timing t(m), the SSBs numbered 1, 3, and N - 1 may have been used by the UE. For example, the transmission timing t(m - 1) indicates that the SSB numbered 1 was used twice and two UEs used the SSB. As another example, the SSB numbered N - 1 was used three times, which indicates that three UEs used the SSB. OFF in FIG. 6 means off, that is, the SSB is turned off in the past time period or at the next transmission timing. In the above case, the network-side device can determine, based on the first related information, the SSBs numbered 1, 3, and N - 1 used by the UE as the SSBs to be used at the next transmission timing. For example, as shown in FIG. 6(b), at the next transmission timing t(m), the SSBs numbered 1, 3, and N - 1 are turned on (i.e., ON), and the other SSBs are turned off (i.e., OFF).

[0030] As another example, when the first related information includes the number of times a specific SSB has been used by the user equipment in the past time period, the network-side device can determine the SSBs that have been used more than a first predetermined number of times as the SSBs to be used at the next transmission timing. The first predetermined number may be determined based on the actual usage scenario. As shown in FIG. 6(a), the past time period may include two transmission timings, t(m-1) and t(m-2). At transmission timing t(m-2), the SSB numbered 1 is used once, the SSB numbered 2 is used zero times, the SSB numbered 3 is used once, and the SSB numbered N-1 is used four times. At transmission timing t(m-1), the SSB numbered 1 is used twice, the SSB numbered 3 is used once, and the SSB numbered N-1 is used three times. The above first predetermined number may be set to 2 in advance. Since the SSB numbered 1 and the SSB numbered N-1 have been used 3 times and 6 times respectively by the UE in the past time period, both exceeding 2 times, the network-side device can determine, based on the first related information, the SSBs numbered 1 and N-1 used by the UE as the SSBs to be used at the next transmission timing t(m). For example, in FIG. 6(c), at the next transmission timing t(m), the SSBs numbered 1 and N-1 are turned on (i.e., ON), and the other SSBs are turned off (i.e., OFF).

[0031] As yet another example, when the first related information includes the SSB used by the user equipment at the transmission timing closest to the next transmission timing in the past time period and the number of times a specific SSB has been used by the user equipment in the past time period, in combination with the above two examples, the network-side device can determine, based on the first related information, the SSBs numbered 1, 3, and N-1 used by the UE as the SSBs to be used at the next transmission timing t(m). For example, the determined used SSBs in FIGS. 6(b) and 6(c) are merged.

[0032] As can be seen from the above three examples, the method provided by the present disclosure can determine to continue using the SSB that has always been used by the UE in the past time period at the next transmission timing, taking into account the current network environment, continuously providing the UE with an uninterrupted service, and providing the user with an excellent experience.

[0033] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, in an example according to the present disclosure, the second related information includes at least one of the number of times a specific SSB adjacent to the SSB not used by the user equipment has been used by the user equipment and the measured signal quality of a specific SSB adjacent to the SSB not used by the user equipment. In this case, the network-side device determines, based on the second related information, whether the SSB not used by the user equipment in the past time period is to be the SSB used at the next transmission timing.

[0034] The following two examples illustrate the case where the second related information includes the number of times a specific SSB adjacent to the SSB not used by the user equipment has been used by the user equipment.

[0035] In Example 1, the number of times a specific SSB adjacent to the SSB not used by the user equipment is used by the user equipment may include the number of times the specific SSB adjacent to the SSB not used by the user equipment is used by the user equipment at the nearest transmission timing of the next transmission timing. In this case, when the SSB adjacent to the SSB not used by the user equipment is used by the user equipment more than a second predetermined number of times, the network-side device can determine the SSB not used by the user equipment as the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing. The second predetermined number may be determined based on the actual usage scenario, and may be the same as or different from the first predetermined number described above. As shown in FIG. 7(a), at the nearest transmission timing t(m−1) of the next transmission timing t(m), a specific SSB numbered 3 adjacent to the SSB numbered 4 not used by the user equipment is used 4 times by the user equipment. The second predetermined number described above may be set to 3 in advance. In this case, the network-side device can determine the SSBs numbered 2 and 4 as the SSBs to be used at the next transmission timing t(m) based on the second related information. Further, since the network-side device can determine the SSB numbered 3 as the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing t(m) based on the first related information described above, as shown in FIG. 7(b), at the next transmission timing t(m), the SSBs numbered 2, 3, and 4 are turned on (i.e., ON), and the other SSBs are turned off (i.e., OFF).

[0036] In Example 2, the number of times a specific SSB adjacent to the SSB not used by the user equipment is used by the user equipment may include the number of times the specific SSB adjacent to the SSB not used by the user equipment is used by the user equipment at the nearest M transmission timings of the next transmission timing in the past time period. This is as shown in FIGS. 8, 9, and 10(a).

[0037] If the average number of times an SSB adjacent to an SSB not used by the user equipment exceeds a third predetermined number in a past time period, the network-side device can determine the SSB not used by the user equipment as the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing. The past time period may include two transmission timings. The third predetermined number may be determined based on the actual usage scenario, and may be the same as or different from the first predetermined number or the second predetermined number described above. As shown in FIG. 8(a), the past time period may include two transmission timings, t(m-1) and t(m-2). At transmission timing t(m-1), the SSB numbered 4 adjacent to the SSB numbered 5 not used by the user equipment was used 3 times by the user equipment. At transmission timing t(m-2), the SSB numbered 4 adjacent to the SSB numbered 5 not used by the user equipment was used 2 times by the user equipment. The third predetermined number may be set to 2. In this case, the network-side device can determine the SSB numbered 5 as the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing t(m) based on the second related information. Also, since the network-side device can determine the SSBs numbered 3 and 4 as the SSBs to be used at the next transmission timing t(m) based on the first related information described above, at the next transmission timing t(m), as shown in FIG. 8(b), the SSBs numbered 3, 4, and 5 are turned on (i.e., ON), and the other SSBs are turned off (i.e., OFF).

[0038] If the number of times an SSB adjacent to an SSB not used by the user equipment has increased and exceeded a fourth predetermined number in a past time period, the network-side device can determine the SSB not used by the user equipment as the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing. The fourth predetermined number may be determined based on the actual usage scenario, and may be the same as or different from at least one of the first predetermined number, the second predetermined number, and the third predetermined number. As shown in Fig. 9(a), two transmission timings, t(m-1) and t(m-2), may be included in the past time period. At transmission timing t(m-1), the SSB numbered 4 adjacent to the SSB numbered 5 not used by the user equipment was used 3 times by the user equipment. At transmission timing t(m-2), the SSB numbered 4 adjacent to the SSB numbered 5 not used by the user equipment was used 0 times by the user equipment. The fourth predetermined number may be set to 2. In this case, the network-side device can determine the SSB numbered 5 as the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing t(m) based on the second related information. Also, since the network-side device can determine the SSBs numbered 3 and 4 as the SSBs to be used at the next transmission timing t(m) based on the above-described first related information, as shown in Fig. 9(b), at the next transmission timing t(m), the SSBs numbered 3, 4, and 5 are turned on (i.e., ON), and the other SSBs are turned off (i.e., OFF).

[0039] If the number of times an SSB adjacent to an SSB not used by the user equipment at the next transmission timing in a past time period is used by the user equipment increases compared to the number of times used at the previous transmission timing and exceeds a fifth predetermined number, the network-side device can determine the SSB not used by the user equipment as the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing. The fifth predetermined number may be determined based on the actual usage scenario, and may be the same as or different from at least one of the first predetermined number, the second predetermined number, the third predetermined number, and the fourth predetermined number. As shown in Fig. 10(a), the past time period may include three transmission timings, t(m-1), t(m-2), and t(m-3). At transmission timing t(m-1), the SSB numbered 4 adjacent to the SSB numbered 5 not used by the user equipment was used 4 times by the user equipment. At transmission timing t(m-2), the SSB numbered 4 adjacent to the SSB numbered 5 not used by the user equipment was used 1 time by the user equipment. At transmission timing t(m-3), the SSB numbered 4 adjacent to the SSB numbered 5 not used by the user equipment was used 0 times by the user equipment. The fifth predetermined number may be set to 1. In this case, the network-side device can determine the SSB numbered 5 as the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing t(m) based on the second related information. Also, since the network-side device can determine the SSBs numbered 3 and 4 as the SSBs to be used at the next transmission timing t(m) based on the above-mentioned first related information, as shown in Fig. 10(b), at the next transmission timing t(m), the SSBs numbered 3, 4, and 5 are turned on (i.e., ON), and the other SSBs are turned off (i.e., OFF).

[0040] As an example, when the second correlation information includes the measured signal quality of a specific SSB adjacent to an SSB not used by the user equipment, the second correlation information may include, for example, the number of access failures of a specific SSB adjacent to an SSB not used by the user equipment at transmission timings such as two in a past time period. In this case, when the number of access failures of an SSB adjacent to an SSB not used by the user equipment exceeds a predetermined number of failures, the network-side device can determine the SSB not used by the user equipment as the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing. The predetermined number of failures may be determined based on the actual usage scenario. As shown in FIG. 11(a), two transmission timings of t(m - 1) and t(m - 2) may be included in the past time period. At transmission timing t(m - 1), the number of access attempt failures by the user equipment for the SSB numbered 4 adjacent to the SSB numbered 5 not used by the user equipment is 3 times. At transmission timing t(m - 2), the number of access attempt failures by the user equipment for the SSB numbered 4 adjacent to the SSB numbered 5 not used by the user equipment is 0 times. The predetermined number of failures may be set to 2. In this case, the network-side device can determine the SSB numbered 5 as the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing t(m) based on the second correlation information. Also, since the network-side device can determine the SSBs numbered 3 and 4 as the SSBs to be used at the next transmission timing t(m) based on the first correlation information described above, as shown in FIG. 11(b), at the next transmission timing t(m), the SSBs numbered 3, 4, and 5 are turned on (i.e., ON), and the other SSBs are turned off (i.e., OFF).

[0041] As another example, when the second correlation information includes the measured signal quality of a specific SSB adjacent to the SSB not used by the user equipment, the second information may include the SINR for the specific SSB. In this case, when the number of UEs with a SINR less than the reported SINR threshold is greater than the UE threshold, the network-side device can determine the SSB adjacent to the specific SSB not used by the user equipment as the next transmission timing. The SINR threshold and the UE threshold may be set based on the actual scenario. For each SSB, there may be a plurality of UEs that interact with it. Each of the plurality of UEs can report the measured SINR for the SSB to the network-side device. When the number of reported UEs with a SINR smaller than the SINR threshold is greater than the UE threshold, this indicates that the signal quality of the SSB at this time is low. In this case, the network-side device can determine to turn on the SSB adjacent to the SSB, so that the UE attempts to access the adjacent SSB, and the signal quality of the user can be improved.

[0042] As a further example, based on the above-mentioned first related information and second related information, after determining the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing, the network-side device can determine, based on the method provided by the present disclosure, other SSBs that are not turned on as the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing. As shown in FIG. 12(a), based on the above-mentioned first related information and second related information, the network-side device determines the SSBs numbered 1, 5, and N-1 to be used at the next transmission timing t(m). In this case, in order to determine the effective coverage of the network-side device, the interval threshold of the turned-on SSBs may be set to 2 in advance, that is, if the interval between the turned-on SSBs exceeds 2, it is necessary to turn on the SSBs that are not turned on between them. At this time, as shown in FIG. 12(b), since the interval between the SSBs numbered 1 and 5 that are turned on is larger than the above threshold value 2, the SSB numbered 3 that is not turned on may be determined as the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing t(m). That is, turn on the SSB numbered 3 at the next transmission timing t(m). Note that turning on the SSB numbered 3 above is only an example, and if the interval is too large, one or more SSBs that have not been determined to be turned on before and are between them may be turned on.

[0043] As can be seen from the above example of the second related information, the method provided by the present disclosure can provide the user's signal quality and access success rate by turning on the SSBs that are not used by the user equipment and are adjacent to a specific SSB, thereby bringing an excellent experience to the user.

[0044] In an example according to the present disclosure, in the step where the network-side device determines, based on the second related information, whether an SSB that was not used by the user equipment in a past time period is to be the SSB used in the next transmission timing, the step may include the network-side device determining, according to the second related information, whether an SSB that was not used by the user equipment in a past time period is to be a candidate SSB used in the next transmission timing. The measured signal quality of a specific SSB adjacent to the SSB that was not used by the user equipment may include the reference signal received power RSRP of the SSB in the SSB set of the network-side device and the RSRP of the SSB in the SSB set of an adjacent network-side device. In this case, the network-side device can determine, from among the candidate SSBs, the SSB to be used in the next transmission timing according to the RSRP of the SSB in the SSB set of the network-side device included in the second related information and the RSRP of the SSB in the SSB set of an adjacent network-side device. The above situation takes into account the interference problem between base stations (such as cells).

[0045] The SSBs determined to be used in the next transmission timing in combination with the second related information may all be candidate SSBs to be used in the next transmission timing. However, considering the interference problem between base stations, the base station needs to further determine, based on the above RSRP, the SSB actually to be used in the next transmission timing from among the candidate SSBs.

[0046] In the above situation, optionally, the base station may create a table shown in FIG. 13 to determine the SSB to be used in the next transmission timing.

[0047] FIG. 13 shows a schematic table of interference between a network-side device and an adjacent network-side device caused by the network-side device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0048] The network-side device can create the table shown in FIG. 13 according to the reference signal received power (RSRP) of the SSB in the SSB set of the network-side device included in the second related information and the RSRP of the SSB in the SSB set of the adjacent network-side device. In the table shown in FIG. 13, the top row is for the serving base station, and the leftmost column is for the adjacent base stations. In FIG. 13, three base stations, namely, gNB#1, gNB#2, and gNB#3 are shown. Each base station has already determined the SSBs to be used at the next transmission timing, namely, SSB#1, SSB#2, SSB#3, and SSB#4, based on the second related information.

[0049] Each cell in the table indicates the signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) between base stations, and it may be obtained by subtracting the RSRP of the adjacent base station from the RSRP of the serving base station. For example, it is obtained by the following formula (1). SIR = RSRP_serving - RSRP_interference (1)

[0050] For example, in the case of the cell marked 1310 in FIG. 13, RSRP_serving can represent the RSRP for SSB#2 of gNB#1, and RSRP_interference can represent the RSRP for SSB#3 of gNB#2. Since the measurement results of RSRP may include multiple values, the maximum value, minimum value, average value, the position of x%, etc. among the multiple values can be used as required during the actual calculation.

[0051] Based on the above-mentioned second related information, in order to determine the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing, the network-side device, according to the reference signal received power RSRP of the SSB within the SSB set of the network-side device included in the second related information and the RSRP of the SSB within the SSB set of the adjacent network-side device, if it is determined that the conditions shown in one or more of the following examples are met, the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing is removed from the candidate SSBs, and the other SSBs that have not been removed become the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing.

[0052] In Example 1, based on the above-mentioned first related information or second related information, since the interference of the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing with respect to the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing determined by the adjacent network-side device is large, as a result, the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing is turned on. Then, based on the above-mentioned first related information or second related information, when the interference (e.g., SIR) with respect to the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing determined by the adjacent network-side device and the first predetermined interference threshold satisfy a predetermined condition (e.g., when the SIR is less than the first predetermined interference threshold), it is determined that the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing is removed from the candidate SSBs, and the other SSBs that have not been removed become the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing. The first predetermined interference threshold and the predetermined condition may be determined based on the actual usage scenario. As shown in the cell marked 1320 in FIG. 13, gNB#2 (SSB#2) is the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing determined by the adjacent network-side device based on the above-mentioned first related information, and gNB#1 (SSB#2) is the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing determined by the network-side device based on the above-mentioned second related information. When the SIR of gNB#2 (SSB#2) is less than the first predetermined interference threshold, gNB#1 (SSB#2) is removed, and the other SSBs that have not been removed become the candidate SSBs to be used at the next transmission timing.

[0053] In Example 2, since the interference of the SSB used at the next transmission timing with respect to the SSB determined by the adjacent network-side device is greater for the network-side device, the SSB used at the next transmission timing is turned on. As a result, the number of SSBs whose SIR determined by the adjacent network-side device based on the second related information is less than the SIR threshold is greater than the threshold of a predetermined number. In this case, the SSB used at the next transmission timing is removed from the candidate SSBs, and it is determined that the other SSBs that have not been removed become the candidate SSBs to be used at the next transmission timing. The threshold of the predetermined number may be determined based on the actual usage scenario. As shown in the four cells marked at 1330 in FIG. 13, gNB#1 (SSB#3, SSB#4) and gNB#2 (SSB#1, SSB#2) are the SSBs to be used at the next transmission timing determined by the adjacent network-side device based on the second related information. gNB#3 (SSB#2) is the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing determined by the network-side device based on the second related information. If the number of SSBs with an SIR less than the SIR threshold among gNB#1 (SSB#3, SSB#4) and gNB#2 (SSB#1, SSB#2) is greater than the threshold of the predetermined number 3, gNB#3 (SSB#2) is removed, and the other SSBs that have not been removed become the candidate SSBs to be used at the next transmission timing.

[0054] In Example 3, for the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing determined based on the above second related information, since the interference from the adjacent network-side device is greater, for the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing determined by the network-side device, if the total interference from the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing determined by the adjacent network-side device based on the first correlation information and the second correlation information is greater than a second predetermined interference threshold, the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing is removed from the candidate SSBs, and it is determined that the other SSBs that have not been removed become the candidate SSBs to be used at the next transmission timing. The second predetermined interference threshold may be determined based on the actual usage scenario. As shown in the five cells marked 1340 in FIG. 13, gNB#3 (SSB#2) is the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing determined by the adjacent network-side device based on the above second related information. If the total interference from the SSB determined by the adjacent network-side device based on the first correlation information and the second correlation information for gNB#3 (SSB#2) is greater than the second predetermined interference threshold, gNB#3 (SSB#2) is removed, and the other SSBs that have not been removed become the candidate SSBs to be used at the next transmission timing.

[0055] As can be seen from removing the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing in the above description related to FIG. 13 and determining the other SSBs that have not been removed as the candidate SSBs to be used at the next transmission timing, the method provided by the present disclosure further considers the interference problem between base stations, avoids the interference between base stations, and thereby further improves the quality of the service provided to the user.

[0056] Referring to FIG. 5 again, in step 520, the network-side device can transmit the determined SSB at the next transmission timing. As described in FIGS. 6 to 13, transmitting the determined SSB at the next transmission timing means turning on the SSB at the next transmission timing to provide services to the user.

[0057] As can be seen from the wireless communication method for network-side devices provided by the present disclosure described in detail above in combination with FIGS. 5 to 13, the method provided by the present disclosure can improve the accuracy of the SSB used at the determined next transmission timing, so that it can cope with rapid changes of the UE and improve the system capacity. Further, the method provided by the present disclosure can also determine candidate SSBs to be used at the next transmission timing based on the measured signal quality of the SSB, so that further, interference between network-side devices can be avoided and the SINR of the received signal can be improved. According to statistical experiments, the method provided by the present disclosure can use only 20% of the SSBs on a time scale of 960 ms, which means that 80% of the SSBs are turned off. In the prior art, it is necessary to use 70% of the SSBs on a time scale of one day, which means that only 30% of the SSBs can be turned off in the prior art.

[0058] As described above, the wireless communication method for network-side devices provided by the present disclosure has been described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 13. Hereinafter, the network-side devices in the wireless communication network provided by the present disclosure will be described with reference to FIG. 14. The network-side device 1400 shown in FIG. 14 corresponds to the wireless communication method for network-side devices described above with reference to FIGS. 5 to 13, and for the sake of simplicity, detailed descriptions of the same content will be omitted.

[0059] FIG. 14 shows a block diagram of a network-side device 1400 in a wireless communication network according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0060] Referring to FIG. 14, the network-side device 1400 may include a processing unit 1410 and a transmission unit 1420. In this example, it is shown that the network-side device 1400 includes the processing unit 1410 and the transmission unit 1420. However, the network-side device 1400 may include other components, but since these components are not related to the content of the embodiments of the present disclosure, it should be understood that their illustration and description are omitted here.

[0061] As an example, the network-side device 1400 may be a base station such as the above-mentioned gNB. Alternatively, the network-side device 1400 may be the above-mentioned OAM module or SMO module outside the base station that interacts with the base station. When the network-side device is the above-mentioned OAM or SMO module, the OAM or SMO module needs to transmit the SSB to be used at the determined next timing to a base station or the like, and the base station performs subsequent operations. Alternatively, the network-side device may be a higher-layer node of the base station.

[0062] The processing unit 1410 may be configured to determine the SSB within the set of synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) to be used at the next transmission timing based on information regarding the usage status of the SSBs within the set of synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) in a past time period including a plurality of transmission timings received from the user equipment.

[0063] In an example according to the present disclosure, the information regarding the usage status of the SSBs within the set of synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) in a past time period received from the user equipment may include at least one of the first related information of the SSBs used by the user equipment in the past time period and the second related information of the SSBs not used by the user equipment in the past time period. Thereby, based on the real-time usage status of the user equipment, the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing can be accurately determined, coping with the rapid changes of the user equipment and improving the system capacity.

[0064] As an example, the past time period may include two transmission timings. As shown in FIG. 4, in gNB100A, a partial transmission timing of SSBs numbered 1 and 2 is transmitted. As another example, the past time period may include N - 1 transmission timings, where N is a positive integer. As shown in FIG. 4, in the case of gNB100B, a partial transmission timing of SSBs numbered 1 to N - 1 is transmitted.

[0065] When the UE exchanges data with the base station using a certain SSB or a beam corresponding to the SSB, the base station can obtain information regarding the usage status of the SSB based on the exchanged data.

[0066] In an example according to the present disclosure, the first related information may include at least one of the SSB used by the user equipment at the transmission timing closest to the next transmission timing in the past time period and the number of times a specific SSB has been used by the user equipment in the past time period. In this case, the processing unit 1410 determines, based on the first related information, whether to use the SSB used by the user equipment in the past time period as the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing. In an example of the present disclosure, for the "number of times", when a specific SSB is used by one user equipment at one transmission timing, the number of times is regarded as 1 time.

[0067] As an example, when the first related information includes the SSB used by the user equipment at the closest transmission timing to the next transmission timing in the past time period, the processing unit 1410 can determine the SSB used by the user equipment at the closest transmission timing to the next transmission timing in the past time period as the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing. As shown in FIG. 6(a), the past time period may include two transmission timings t(m - 1) and t(m - 2), where m is a positive integer. At the closest transmission timing t(m - 1) to the next transmission timing t(m), the SSBs numbered 1, 3, and N - 1 may have been used by the UE. For example, the transmission timing t(m - 1) indicates that the SSB numbered 1 was used twice, meaning that two UEs used the SSB. As another example, the SSB numbered N - 1 was used three times, indicating that three UEs used the SSB. OFF in FIG. 6 means off, that is, the SSB is turned off in the past time period or at the next transmission timing. In the above case, the processing unit 1410 can determine, based on the first related information, the SSBs numbered 1, 3, and N - 1 used by the UE as the SSBs to be used at the next transmission timing t(m). For example, as shown in FIG. 6(b), at the next transmission timing t(m), the SSBs numbered 1, 3, and N - 1 are turned on (i.e., ON), and the other SSBs are turned off (i.e., OFF).

[0068] As another example, when the first related information includes the number of times a specific SSB has been used by a user equipment in a past time period, the processing unit 1410 can determine an SSB that has been used more than a first predetermined number of times as the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing. The first predetermined number of times may be determined based on an actual usage scenario. As shown in FIG. 6(a), two transmission timings, t(m - 1) and t(m - 2), may be included in the past time period. At transmission timing t(m - 2), the SSB numbered 1 is used once, the SSB numbered 2 is used zero times, the SSB numbered 3 is used once, and the SSB numbered N - 1 is used four times. At transmission timing t(m - 1), the SSB numbered 1 is used twice, the SSB numbered 3 is used once, and the SSB numbered N - 1 is used three times. The above first predetermined number of times may be set to 2 in advance. Since the SSB numbered 1 and the SSB numbered N - 1 have been used 3 times and 6 times respectively by the UE in the past time period, both exceeding 2 times, the network-side device can determine, based on the first related information, the SSBs numbered 1 and N - 1 used by the UE as the SSBs to be used at the next transmission timing. For example, in FIG. 6(c), at the next transmission timing t(m), the SSBs numbered 1 and N - 1 are turned on (i.e., ON), and the other SSBs are turned off (i.e., OFF).

[0069] As yet another example, when the first related information includes the SSB used by the user equipment at the transmission timing closest to the next transmission timing in the past time period and the number of times a specific SSB has been used by the user equipment in the past time period, in combination with the above two examples, the network-side device can determine, based on the first related information, the SSBs numbered 1, 3, and N - 1 used by the UE as the SSBs to be used at the next transmission timing t(m). For example, the determined used SSBs in FIGS. 6(b) and 6(c) are merged.

[0070] From the above three examples, the network-side device provided by the present disclosure can determine that the SSB always used by the UE in the past time period will continue to be used at the next transmission timing, taking into account the current network environment, continuously provide the UE with a service without interruption, and can provide an excellent experience for the user.

[0071] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, in the example according to the present disclosure, the second related information includes at least one of the number of times the specific SSB adjacent to the SSB not used by the user equipment is used by the user equipment and the measured signal quality of the specific SSB adjacent to the SSB not used by the user equipment. In this case, the processing unit 1410 determines, based on the second related information, whether the SSB not used by the user equipment in the past time period is to be used as the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing.

[0072] The following two examples illustrate the case where the second related information includes the number of times the specific SSB adjacent to the SSB not used by the user equipment is used by the user equipment.

[0073] In Example 1, the number of times a specific SSB adjacent to the SSB not used by the user equipment is used by the user equipment may include the number of times a specific SSB adjacent to the SSB not used by the user equipment at the nearest transmission timing of the next transmission timing. In this case, when the SSB adjacent to the SSB not used by the user equipment is used by the user equipment more than a second predetermined number of times, the network-side device can determine the SSB not used by the user equipment as the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing. The second predetermined number may be determined based on the actual usage scenario, and may be the same as or different from the first predetermined number described above. As shown in FIG. 7(a), at the nearest transmission timing t(m−1) of the next transmission timing t(m), a specific SSB numbered 3 adjacent to the SSB numbered 4 not used by the user equipment is used by the user equipment 4 times. The second predetermined number may be set to 3 in advance. In this case, the network-side device can determine the SSBs numbered 2 and 4 as the SSBs to be used at the next transmission timing t(m) based on the second related information. Also, since the network-side device can determine the SSB numbered 3 as the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing t(m) based on the first related information described above, as shown in FIG. 7(b), at the next transmission timing t(m), the SSBs numbered 2, 3, and 4 are turned on (i.e., ON), and the other SSBs are turned off (i.e., OFF).

[0074] In Example 2, the number of times a specific SSB adjacent to the SSB not used by the user equipment is used by the user equipment may include the number of times a specific SSB adjacent to the SSB not used by the user equipment at the nearest M transmission timings of the next transmission timing in the past time period. This is as shown in FIGS. 8, 9, and 10(a).

[0075] If the average number of times an SSB adjacent to an SSB not used by the user equipment was used by the user equipment in a past time period exceeds a third predetermined number of times, the network-side device can determine the SSB not used by the user equipment as the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing. The past time period may include two transmission timings. The third predetermined number of times may be determined based on the actual usage scenario, and may be the same as or different from the first predetermined number of times or the second predetermined number of times described above. As shown in Fig. 8(a), the past time period may include two transmission timings, t(m - 1) and t(m - 2). At transmission timing t(m - 1), the SSB numbered 4 adjacent to the SSB numbered 5 not used by the user equipment was used by the user equipment three times. At transmission timing t(m - 2), the SSB numbered 4 adjacent to the SSB numbered 5 not used by the user equipment was used by the user equipment two times. The third predetermined number of times may be set to 2. In this case, the network-side device can determine the SSB numbered 5 as the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing t(m) based on the second related information. Also, since the network-side device can determine the SSBs numbered 3 and 4 as the SSBs to be used at the next transmission timing t(m) based on the first related information described above, as shown in Fig. 8(b), at the next transmission timing t(m), the SSBs numbered 3, 4, and 5 are turned on (i.e., ON), and the other SSBs are turned off (i.e., OFF).

[0076] When the increased value of the number of times an SSB adjacent to an SSB not used by a user equipment exceeds a fourth predetermined number of times in a past time period, the network-side device can determine the SSB not used by the user equipment as the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing. The fourth predetermined number of times may be determined based on an actual usage scenario, and may be the same as or different from at least one of the first predetermined number of times, the second predetermined number of times, and the third predetermined number of times. As shown in FIG. 9(a), two transmission timings, t(m - 1) and t(m - 2), may be included in the past time period. At transmission timing t(m - 1), the SSB numbered 4 adjacent to the SSB numbered 5 not used by the user equipment was used 3 times by the user equipment. At transmission timing t(m - 2), the SSB numbered 4 adjacent to the SSB numbered 5 not used by the user equipment was used 0 times by the user equipment. The fourth predetermined number of times may be set to 2. In this case, the network-side device can determine the SSB numbered 5 as the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing t(m) based on the second related information. Also, since the network-side device can determine the SSBs numbered 3 and 4 as the SSBs to be used at the next transmission timing t(m) based on the above-described first related information, at the next transmission timing t(m), as shown in FIG. 9(b), the SSBs numbered 3, 4, and 5 are turned on (i.e., ON), and the other SSBs are turned off (i.e., OFF).

[0077] If the number of times the SSB adjacent to the SSB not used by the user equipment at the next transmission timing in the past time period is used by the user equipment is increased compared to the number of times used by the user equipment at the previous transmission timing and exceeds the fifth predetermined number of times, the network-side device can determine the SSB not used by the user equipment as the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing. The fifth predetermined number of times may be determined based on the actual usage scenario, and may be the same as or different from at least one of the first predetermined number of times, the second predetermined number of times, the third predetermined number of times, and the fourth predetermined number of times. As shown in Fig. 10(a), the past time period may include three transmission timings of t(m - 1), t(m - 2), and t(m - 3). At the transmission timing t(m - 1), the SSB numbered 4 adjacent to the SSB numbered 5 not used by the user equipment was used 4 times by the user equipment. At the transmission timing t(m - 2), the SSB numbered 4 adjacent to the SSB numbered 5 not used by the user equipment was used 1 time by the user equipment. At the transmission timing t(m - 3), the SSB numbered 4 adjacent to the SSB numbered 5 not used by the user equipment was used 0 times by the user equipment. The fifth predetermined number of times may be set to 1. In this case, the network-side device can determine the SSB numbered 5 as the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing t(m) based on the second related information. Also, since the network-side device can determine the SSBs numbered 3 and 4 as the SSBs to be used at the next transmission timing t(m) based on the above-mentioned first related information, as shown in Fig. 10(b), at the next transmission timing t(m), the SSBs numbered 3, 4, and 5 are turned on (i.e., ON), and the other SSBs are turned off (i.e., OFF).

[0078] As an example, when the second correlation information includes the measured signal quality of a specific SSB adjacent to the SSB not used by the user equipment, the second correlation information may include, for example, the number of access failures of a specific SSB adjacent to the SSB not used by the user equipment at transmission timings such as two in a past time period. In this case, when the number of access failures of the SSB adjacent to the SSB not used by the user equipment exceeds a predetermined number of failures, the network-side device can determine the SSB not used by the user equipment as the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing. The predetermined number of failures may be determined based on the actual usage scenario. As shown in FIG. 11(a), two transmission timings of t(m-1) and t(m-2) may be included in the past time period. At the transmission timing of t(m-1), the number of access attempt failures by the user equipment for the SSB numbered 4 adjacent to the SSB numbered 5 not used by the user equipment is 3 times. At the transmission timing of t(m-2), the number of access attempt failures by the user equipment for the SSB numbered 4 adjacent to the SSB numbered 5 not used by the user equipment is 0 times. The predetermined number of failures may be set to 2. In this case, the network-side device can determine the SSB numbered 5 as the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing t(m) based on the second correlation information. Also, since the network-side device can determine the SSBs numbered 3 and 4 as the SSBs to be used at the next transmission timing t(m) based on the first correlation information described above, as shown in FIG. 11(b), at the next transmission timing t(m), the SSBs numbered 3, 4, and 5 are turned on (i.e., ON), and the other SSBs are turned off (i.e., OFF).

[0079] As another example, when the second correlation information includes the measured signal quality of a specific SSB adjacent to the SSB not used by the user equipment, the second information may include the SINR for the specific SSB. In this case, when the number of UEs with a SINR less than the reported SINR threshold is greater than the UE threshold, the network-side device can determine the SSB adjacent to the specific SSB and not used by the user equipment as the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing. The SINR threshold and the UE threshold may be set based on the actual scenario. For each SSB, there may be a plurality of UEs that interact with it. Each of the plurality of UEs can report the measured SINR for the SSB to the network-side device. When the number of UEs with a SINR smaller than the reported SINR threshold is greater than the UE threshold, it indicates that the signal quality of the SSB at this time is low. In this case, the network-side device can determine to turn on the SSB adjacent to the SSB, so that the UE tries to access the adjacent SSB, and the signal quality of the user can be improved.

[0080] As a further example, based on the above-mentioned first related information and second related information, after determining the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing, the network-side device can determine other SSBs that are not turned on as the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing. As shown in Fig. 12(a), based on the above-mentioned first related information and second related information, the network-side device determines the SSBs numbered 1, 5, and N-1 to be used at the next transmission timing t(m). In this case, the interval threshold of the turned-on SSBs can be set to 2 in advance to determine the effective coverage of the network-side device. If the interval between the turned-on SSBs exceeds 2, it is necessary to turn on the SSBs that are not turned on between them. At this time, as shown in Fig. 12(b), since the interval between the SSBs numbered 1 and 5 that are turned on is larger than the threshold value 2, the SSB numbered 3 that is not turned on may be determined as the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing t(m). That is, the SSB numbered 3 is also turned on at the next transmission timing t(m). Note that turning on the SSB numbered 3 above is just an example. When the interval is too large, one or more SSBs that were not determined to be turned on before and are between them can be turned on.

[0081] As can be seen from the above example of the second related information, the network-side device provided by the present disclosure can turn on the SSBs adjacent to a specific SSB that have not been used by the user equipment, thereby providing the user's signal quality and access success rate, and thus bringing an excellent experience to the user.

[0082] In an example according to the present disclosure, the step in which the processing unit 1410 determines whether to use, as the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing, an SSB that was not used by the user equipment in a past time period based on the second related information may include the step in which the processing unit 1410 determines whether to use, as a candidate SSB to be used at the next transmission timing, an SSB that was not used by the user equipment in a past time period according to the second related information. The measured signal quality of a specific SSB adjacent to the SSB that was not used by the user equipment may include the reference signal received power RSRP of an SSB within the SSB set of the network-side device and the RSRP of an SSB within the SSB set of an adjacent network-side device. In this case, the processing unit 1410 can determine, from among the candidate SSBs, the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing according to the reference signal received power RSRP of the SSB within the SSB set of the network-side device included in the second related information and the RSRP of the SSB within the SSB set of an adjacent network-side device. The above situation takes into account the interference problem between base stations (such as cells).

[0083] The SSBs to be used at the next transmission timing determined in conjunction with the second related information may all be used as candidate SSBs to be used at the next transmission timing. However, considering the interference problem between base stations, the base station needs to further determine, based on the above RSRP, the SSB actually to be used at the next transmission timing from among the candidate SSBs.

[0084] In the above situation, optionally, the base station can create the table shown in FIG. 13 to determine the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing.

[0085] FIG. 13 shows a schematic table of interference between a network-side device and an adjacent network-side device caused by the network-side device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0086] The network-side device can create the table shown in FIG. 13 according to the reference signal received power (RSRP) of the SSB in the SSB set of the network-side device included in the second related information and the RSRP of the SSB in the SSB set of the adjacent network-side device. In the table shown in FIG. 13, the top row is for the serving base station, and the leftmost column is for the adjacent base stations. In FIG. 13, three base stations, namely, gNB#1, gNB#2, and gNB#3 are shown. Each base station has already determined the SSBs to be used at the next transmission timing, namely, SSB#1, SSB#2, SSB#3, and SSB#4, based on the second related information.

[0087] Each cell in the table indicates the signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) between base stations, and it may be obtained by subtracting the RSRP of the adjacent base station from the RSRP of the serving base station. For example, it is obtained by the following formula (1). SIR = RSRP_serving - RSRP_interference (1)

[0088] For example, in the case of the cell marked 1310 in FIG. 13, RSRP_serving can represent the RSRP for SSB#2 of gNB#1, and RSRP_interference can represent the RSRP for SSB#3 of gNB#2. Since the measurement results of RSRP may include multiple values, the maximum value, minimum value, average value, the position of x%, etc. among the multiple values may be used as needed during the actual calculation.

[0089] Based on the above-mentioned second related information, in order to determine the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing, the processing unit 1410, according to the reference signal received power RSRP of the SSB within the SSB set of the network-side device included in the second related information and the RSRP of the SSB within the SSB set of the adjacent network-side device, when it is determined that the conditions shown in one or more of the following examples are met, the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing is removed from the candidate SSBs, and the other SSBs that have not been removed become the SSBs to be used at the next transmission timing.

[0090] In Example 1, based on the above-mentioned first related information or second related information, the interference of the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing with respect to the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing determined by the adjacent network-side device is large. As a result, the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing is turned on. Then, based on the above-mentioned first related information or second related information, when the interference (e.g., SIR) to the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing determined by the adjacent network-side device and the first predetermined interference threshold satisfy a predetermined condition (e.g., when the SIR is less than the first predetermined interference threshold), the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing is removed from the candidate SSBs, and it is determined that the other SSBs that have not been removed become the SSBs to be used at the next transmission timing. The first predetermined interference threshold and the predetermined condition may be determined based on the actual usage scenario. As shown in the cell marked 1320 in FIG. 13, gNB#2 (SSB#2) is the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing determined by the adjacent network-side device based on the above-mentioned first related information, and gNB#1 (SSB#2) is the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing determined by the network-side device based on the above-mentioned second related information. When the SIR of gNB#2 (SSB#2) is less than the first predetermined interference threshold, gNB#1 (SSB#2) is removed, and the other SSBs that have not been removed become the candidate SSBs to be used at the next transmission timing.

[0091] In Example 2, based on the second related information, since the interference of the SSB used at the next transmission timing with respect to the SSB determined by the adjacent network-side device is greater, the SSB used at the next transmission timing is turned on. As a result, the number of SSBs with a signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) less than the SIR threshold value determined by the adjacent network-side device based on the second related information becomes greater than a threshold value of a predetermined number. In this case, the SSB used at the next transmission timing is removed from the candidate SSBs, and it is determined that the other SSBs that have not been removed become the candidate SSBs used at the next transmission timing. The threshold value of the predetermined number may be determined based on the actual usage scenario. As shown in the four cells marked at 1330 in FIG. 13, gNB#1 (SSB#3, SSB#4) and gNB#2 (SSB#1, SSB#2) are the SSBs used at the next transmission timing determined by the adjacent network-side device based on the second related information. gNB#3 (SSB#2) is the SSB used at the next transmission timing determined by the network-side device based on the second related information. If the number of SSBs with an SIR less than the SIR threshold value among gNB#1 (SSB#3, SSB#4) and gNB#2 (SSB#1, SSB#2) is greater than the threshold value of the predetermined number 3, gNB#3 (SSB#2) is removed, and the other SSBs that have not been removed become the candidate SSBs used at the next transmission timing.

[0092] In Example 3, based on the second related information, for the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing determined by the processing unit 1410, since the interference from adjacent network-side devices is greater, for the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing determined by the network-side device, if the total interference from the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing determined by the adjacent network-side device based on the first correlation information and the second correlation information is greater than a second predetermined interference threshold, the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing is removed from the candidate SSBs, and it is determined that the other SSBs that have not been removed become the candidate SSBs to be used at the next transmission timing. The second predetermined interference threshold may be determined based on the actual usage scenario. As shown in the five cells marked 1340 in FIG. 13, gNB#3 (SSB#2) is the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing determined by the adjacent network-side device based on the second related information. If the total interference from the SSBs determined by the adjacent network-side device based on the first related information and the second related information with respect to gNB#3 (SSB#2) is greater than the second predetermined interference threshold, gNB#3 (SSB#2) is removed, and the other SSBs that have not been removed become the candidate SSBs to be used at the next transmission timing.

[0093] As can be seen from removing the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing in the above description related to FIG. 13 and determining the other SSBs that have not been removed as the candidate SSBs to be used at the next transmission timing, the network-side device provided by the present disclosure further considers the interference problem between base stations, avoids the interference between base stations, and thereby further improves the quality of the service provided to the user.

[0094] Referring to FIG. 14 again, the transmission unit 1420 can transmit the determined SSB at the next transmission timing. As described with reference to FIGS. 6 to 13, transmitting the determined SSB at the next transmission timing means turning on the SSB at the next transmission timing to provide a service to the user.

[0095] As can be seen from the network-side device provided by the present disclosure described in detail above in conjunction with FIGS. 6 to 14, the network-side device provided by the present disclosure can improve the accuracy of the SSB used at the determined next transmission timing, so that it can cope with rapid changes of the UE and improve the system capacity. Further, the network-side device provided by the present disclosure can also determine the SSB to be used at the next transmission timing based on the measured signal quality of the SSB, so that, furthermore, interference between network-side devices can be avoided and the SINR of the received signal can be improved.

[0096] [Hardware Configuration] Note that the block diagrams used in the description of the above embodiments show functional unit blocks. These functional blocks (components) are realized by any combination of at least one of hardware and software. Also, the realization method of each functional block is not particularly limited. That is, each functional block may be realized using one physically or logically combined device, or two or more physically or logically separated devices may be directly or indirectly (for example, using wired, wireless, etc.) connected and realized using these multiple devices. The functional block may be realized by combining software with the above one device or multiple devices.

[0097] Functions include, but are not limited to, judgment, decision, determination, calculation, computation, processing, derivation, investigation, search, confirmation, reception, transmission, output, access, solution, selection, selection, establishment, comparison, assumption, expectation, consider, notification (broadcasting), notification (notifying), communication (communicating), forwarding, setting (configuring), re-setting (reconfiguring), allocation (allocating, mapping), assignment, etc. For example, a functional block (component) that causes transmission may be called a transmission unit or a transmitter. As described above, the realization method is not particularly limited.

[0098] For example, a base station, a user terminal, etc. in an embodiment of the present disclosure may function as a computer that performs the processing of the wireless communication method of the present disclosure. FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of a network-side device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The above network-side device (for example, the above network-side device 1400) may physically be configured as a computer device including a processor 1501, a memory 1502, a storage 1503, a communication device 1504, an input device 1505, an output device 1506, a bus 1507, and the like.

[0099] Note that in the following description, the term "device" can be read as a circuit, a device, a unit, etc. The hardware configuration of the network-side device may be configured to include one or more of each device shown in the figure, or may be configured without including some devices.

[0100] Each function in the network-side device is realized by causing a processor 1501 to perform an operation by loading a predetermined software (program) onto hardware such as the processor 1501 and the memory 1502, controlling communication via the communication device 1504, or controlling at least one of reading and writing data in the memory 1502 and the storage 1503.

[0101] The processor 1501 controls the entire computer by operating an operating system, for example. The processor 1501 may be constituted by a central processing unit (CPU) including an interface with peripheral devices, a control device, an arithmetic device, a register, and the like. For example, the control unit, the processing unit, etc. of the above-described network-side device may be realized by the processor 1501.

[0102] Also, the processor 1501 reads a program (program code), software module, data, etc. from at least one of the storage 1503 and the communication device 1504 into the memory 1502, and executes various processes according to them. As the program, a program that causes a computer to execute at least a part of the operations described in the above embodiments is used. For example, the processing unit or control unit of the network-side device may be realized by a control program stored in the memory 1502 and operating in the processor 1501, and the same may be true for other functional blocks. Although it means that the above various processes are executed by one processor 1501, they may be executed simultaneously or sequentially by two or more processors 1501. The processor 1501 may be realized by one or more chips. Further, this program can also be transmitted from a network via a telecommunication line.

[0103] The memory 1502 is a computer-readable recording medium, and may be constituted by at least one of, for example, a ROM (Read Only Memory), an EPROM (Erasable Programmable ROM), an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM), a RAM (Random Access Memory), etc. The memory 1502 may be referred to as a register, a cache, a main memory (main storage device), etc. The memory 1502 can store an executable program (program code), a software module, etc. for implementing the wireless communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0104] Storage 1503 is a computer-readable recording medium and may be composed of, for example, at least one of an optical disc such as a CD-ROM (Compact Disc ROM), a hard disk drive, a flexible disk, an optical disc (e.g., a compact disc, a digital versatile disc, a Blu-ray (registered trademark) disc), a smart card, a flash memory (e.g., a card, a stick, a key drive), a Floppy (registered trademark) disc, and a magnetic stripe. Storage 1503 may be referred to as an auxiliary storage device. The above recording medium may be, for example, a database, a server, or other appropriate media including at least one of Memory 1502 and Storage 1503.

[0105] Communication device 1504 is hardware (a transmission / reception device) for performing communication between computers via at least one of a wired network and a wireless network, and is also referred to as, for example, a network device, a network controller, a network card, a communication module, etc. Communication device 1504 may be configured to include a high-frequency switch, a duplexer, a filter, and a frequency synthesizer in order to implement at least one of, for example, Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) and Time Division Duplex (TDD).

[0106] Input device 1505 is an input device for receiving external input (e.g., a keyboard, a mouse, a microphone, a switch, a button, a sensor, etc.). Output device 1506 is an output device for performing external output (e.g., a display, a speaker, a Light Emitting Diode (LED) lamp, etc.). Note that input device 1505 and output device 1506 may have an integrated structure (e.g., a touch panel).

[0107] Also, each device such as the processor 1501 and the memory 1502 is connected by a bus 1507 for communicating information. The bus 1507 may be configured using a single bus or may be configured using different buses for each device.

[0108] Also, the network-side device may be configured to include hardware such as a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), a PLD (Programmable Logic Device), and an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), and some or all of the functional blocks may be realized using the hardware. For example, the processor 1501 may be implemented using at least one of these hardware components.

[0109] [Modification Example] In addition, in the present disclosure, the notification of information is not limited to the aspects / embodiments described in the present disclosure, and other methods may be used. For example, the notification of information may be implemented by physical layer signaling (e.g., DCI (Downlink Control Information), UCI (Uplink Control Information)), upper layer signaling (e.g., RRC (Radio Resource Control) signaling, MAC (Medium Access Control) signaling, broadcast information (MIB (Master Information Block), SIB (System Information Block)), other signals, or a combination thereof. Also, the RRC signaling may be referred to as an RRC message, and may be, for example, an RRC Connection Setup message, an RRC Connection Reconfiguration message, etc.

[0110] Each aspect / embodiment described in the present disclosure may be applicable to at least one of LTE (Long Term Evolution), LTE-A (LTE-Advanced), SUPER3G, IMT-Advanced, 4G (4th generation mobile communication system), 5G (5th generation mobile communication system), 6th generation mobile communication system (6G), xth generation mobile communication system (xG (where x is, for example, an integer or a decimal)), FRA (Future Radio Access), NR (new Radio), New radio access (NX), Future generation radio access (FX), W-CDMA (registered trademark), GSM (registered trademark), CDMA2000, UMB (Ultra Mobile Broadband), IEEE802.11 (Wi-Fi (registered trademark)), IEEE802.16 (WiMAX (registered trademark)), IEEE802.20, UWB (Ultra-wideBand), Bluetooth (registered trademark), systems using other suitable systems, next-generation systems extended, modified, created, and specified based thereon. Further, a plurality of systems may be combined (for example, a combination of at least one of LTE and LTE-A and 5G, etc.) and applied.

[0111] The processing procedures, sequences, flowcharts, etc. of each aspect / embodiment described in this disclosure may be reordered as long as there is no contradiction. For example, for the methods described in this disclosure, the elements of various steps are presented using an exemplary order and are not limited to the specific order presented.

[0112] In this disclosure, certain operations performed by a base station may, in some cases, be performed by its upper node. In a network including one or more network nodes having a base station, various operations performed for communication with a terminal may be performed by at least one of the base station and other network nodes other than the base station (for example, but not limited to, Mobility Management Entity (MME), Serving-Gateway (S-GW), etc.). In the above example, the case where there is one network node other than the base station is shown, but a combination of a plurality of other network nodes (for example, MME and S-GW) may also be possible.

[0113] Information, etc. (refer to the item "Information, Signal") may be output from an upper layer (or lower layer) to a lower layer (or upper layer). It may also be input and output via a plurality of network nodes.

[0114] The input and output information, etc. may be stored in a specific location (for example, memory) or may be managed using a management table. The input and output information may be overwritten, updated, or added. The output information, etc. may be deleted. The input information, etc. may be transmitted to other devices.

[0115] The determination may be made by a value represented by 1 bit (0 or 1), or by a truth value (Boolean value: true or false), or by a numerical comparison (for example, comparison with a predetermined value).

[0116] Each aspect / embodiment described in the present disclosure may be used alone, in combination, or switched and used during execution. Further, the notification of predetermined information (for example, the notification of "being X") is not limited to an explicit notification, and may be implicitly made (for example, without making the notification of the predetermined information).

[0117] As described above in detail about the present disclosure, it is obvious to those skilled in the art that the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments described in the present disclosure. The present disclosure can be implemented as a modified and changed aspect without departing from the gist and scope of the invention determined based on the description of the claims. Therefore, the description of the present disclosure is for the purpose of illustrative explanation and does not bring any restrictive meaning to the present disclosure.

[0118] In the present disclosure, software should be broadly interpreted to mean instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, software modules, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executable files, execution threads, procedures, functions, etc., whether called software, firmware, middleware, microcode, a hardware description language, or by any other name.

[0119] Also, software, instructions, information, etc. may also be transmitted and received via a transmission medium. For example, when software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using at least one of wired technologies (such as coaxial cables, optical fiber cables, twisted pairs, digital subscriber lines (DSLs)) and wireless technologies (such as infrared rays, microwaves), at least one of these wired technologies and wireless technologies is included in the definition of the transmission medium.

[0120] The information, signals, etc. described in this disclosure may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, chips, etc. that may be referred to throughout the above description may be represented by voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, optical fields or photons, or any combination thereof.

[0121] In addition, terms described in this disclosure and terms necessary for understanding this disclosure may be replaced with terms having the same or similar meanings. For example, at least one of a channel and a symbol may be a signal (signaling). Also, a signal may be a message. Also, a component carrier (CC) may also be referred to as a carrier frequency, a cell, a frequency carrier, etc.

[0122] The terms "system" and "network" used in this disclosure may be used interchangeably.

[0123] Also, the information, parameters, etc. described in this disclosure may be represented using absolute values, relative values from a predetermined value, or using corresponding other information. For example, a radio resource may be indicated by an index.

[0124] The names used for the above parameters are not limiting in any way. Furthermore, mathematical formulas, etc. using these parameters may be different from those explicitly disclosed in this disclosure. Since various channels (e.g., PUCCH, PDCCH, etc.) and information elements can be identified by any suitable name, the various names assigned to these various channels and information elements are not limiting in any way.

[0125] In the present disclosure, terms such as "base station (BS)", "radio base station", "fixed station", "NodeB", "eNodeB (eNB)", "gNodeB (gNB)", "access point", "transmission point", "reception point", "transmission / reception point", "cell", "sector", "cell group", "carrier", and "component carrier" can be used interchangeably. A base station may also be referred to by terms such as macro cell, small cell, femto cell, pico cell, etc.

[0126] A base station can accommodate one or more (e.g., three) cells. When a base station accommodates multiple cells, the entire coverage area of the base station can be divided into multiple smaller areas, and each of the smaller areas can also provide communication services by a base station subsystem (e.g., a small indoor base station (Remote Radio Head (RRH))). Terms such as "cell" or "sector" refer to part or all of the coverage area of at least one of the base station and the base station subsystem that provides communication services in this coverage.

[0127] In the present disclosure, terms such as "mobile station (MS)", "user terminal", "user device (user equipment (UE))", and "terminal" can be used interchangeably.

[0128] A mobile station may also be referred to as a subscriber station, mobile unit, subscriber unit, wireless unit, remote unit, mobile device, wireless device, wireless communication device, remote device, mobile subscriber station, access terminal, mobile terminal, wireless terminal, remote terminal, handset, user agent, mobile client, client, or some other suitable term.

[0129] At least one of the base station and the mobile station may be referred to as a transmission device, a reception device, a communication device, etc. Note that at least one of the base station and the mobile station may be a device mounted on a moving body, the moving body itself, etc. The moving body is a movable object, and its moving speed is arbitrary. Naturally, the case where the moving body stops is also included. Examples of the moving body include, for example, vehicles, transport vehicles, automobiles, motorcycles, bicycles, connected cars, forklifts, bulldozers, wheel loaders, dump trucks, forklifts, trains, buses, wrecker trucks, rickshaws, ships (ships and other watercraft), aircrafts, rockets, artificial satellites, drones (registered trademark), multicopters, quadcopters (vertical takeoff and landing helicopters), balloons, and objects mounted on them, or are not limited thereto. Further, the moving body may be a moving body that autonomously travels based on an operation command. This may be a transportation vehicle (e.g., a car, an airplane, etc.), a moving body that moves unmanned (e.g., a drone, an autonomous driving vehicle, etc.), or a robot (manned or unmanned). Furthermore, at least one of the base station and the mobile station further includes a device that does not necessarily move during the communication operation. For example, at least one of the base station and the mobile station may be an IoT (Internet of Things) device such as a sensor.

[0130] In addition, the base station in the present disclosure may be replaced by a user terminal. For example, with respect to a structure in which communication between the base station and the user terminal is replaced by communication between a plurality of user terminals (for example, which may be referred to as D2D (Device-to-Device), V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything), etc.), each aspect / embodiment of the present disclosure may be applied. In this case, the functions of the base station 10 described above may be configured to be possessed by the user terminal 20. Further, terms such as "uplink" and "downlink" may be replaced by terms corresponding to communication between terminals (for example, "sidelink"). For example, an uplink channel, a downlink channel, etc. may be replaced by a sidelink channel.

[0131] Similarly, the user terminal in the present disclosure may be replaced by a base station. In this case, the functions of the user terminal 20 described above may be configured to be possessed by the base station 10.

[0132] As used herein, the term "determining" may encompass a wide variety of operations. For example, "determining" may be considered to be "judging", "calculating", "computing", "processing", "deriving", "investigating", "looking up (searching, retrieving)", "searching", "inquiring (e.g., searching in a table, database, or other data structure)", "ascertaining", etc. Also, "determining" may be considered to be "receiving" (e.g., receiving information), "transmitting" (e.g., transmitting information), "inputting", "outputting", "accessing" (e.g., accessing data in memory), etc. Further, "determining" may be considered to be "resolving", "selecting", "choosing", "establishing", "comparing", etc. That is, "determining" may be considered to be determining some operation. Also, "determining" may be read as "assuming", "expecting", "considering", etc.

[0133] In the present disclosure, the terms "connected", "coupled", or any variations thereof, mean any direct or indirect connection or coupling between two or more elements, and can include the presence of one or more intermediate elements between two elements that are "connected" or "coupled" to each other. The coupling or connection between elements can be physical, logical, or a combination thereof. For example, "connected" may be read as "accessed". When used in the present disclosure, at least one of one or more wires, cables, printed electrical connections can be used, and as some non-limiting and non-exhaustive examples, wavelengths in the radio frequency region, microwave region, and optical (both visible and invisible light) region can be used.

[0134] As used in the present disclosure, the expression "based on" does not mean "based only on" unless otherwise specified. In other words, the description "based on" means both "based only on" and "based at least on".

[0135] Any reference to an element using designations such as "first", "second", etc. used in the present disclosure does not generally limit the quantity or order of those elements. These designations can be used in the present disclosure as a convenient way to distinguish between two or more elements. Therefore, a reference to a first and a second element does not mean that only two elements can be employed or that the first element must precede the second element in any form.

[0136] In the present disclosure, the "unit" in the structure of each of the above-described devices can be replaced with a "circuit", a "device", etc.

[0137] In the present disclosure, when terms such as "include", "including" and their variants are used, these terms are intended to be inclusive, similar to the term "comprising". Further, the term "or" used in the present disclosure is not intended to be an exclusive disjunction.

[0138] As described above, the present disclosure has been described in detail. However, it is obvious to those skilled in the art that the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments described in this specification. The present disclosure can be implemented in modified and changed forms without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure as determined based on the claims. Therefore, the description in this specification is for illustrative purposes and does not bring any limiting meaning to the present disclosure.

Claims

1. A network-side device in a wireless communication network, comprising: a processing unit that determines an SSB within a set of synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) to be used at a next transmission timing based on information regarding the usage status of SSBs within a set of SSBs in a past time period received from a user equipment, the set of SSBs including a plurality of transmission timings; and a transmission unit that transmits the determined SSB at the next transmission timing.

2. The information regarding the usage status of SSBs within a set of SSBs in a past time period received from the user equipment includes at least one of: a first related information of SSBs used by the user equipment in the past time period; and a second related information of SSBs not used by the user equipment in the past time period. The network-side device according to claim 1.

3. The first related information includes at least one of: an SSB used by the user equipment at a transmission timing closest to the next transmission timing in the past time period; and the number of times a specific SSB was used by the user equipment in the past time period. The processing unit determines, based on the first related information, whether to use an SSB used by the user equipment in the past time period as an SSB to be used at a next transmission timing. The network-side device according to claim 2.

4. The second related information includes at least one of: the number of times a specific SSB adjacent to an SSB not used by the user equipment was used by the user equipment; and the measured signal quality of a specific SSB adjacent to an SSB not used by the user equipment. The processing unit determines, based on the second related information, whether to use an SSB not used by the user equipment in the past time period as an SSB to be used at a next transmission timing. The network-side device according to claim 2.

5. The step in which the processing unit determines, based on the second related information, whether to use an SSB not used by the user equipment in the past time period as an SSB to be used at a next transmission timing is: ​ ​ The processing unit includes a step of determining, based on the second related information, whether an SSB not used by the user equipment in the past time period is to be a candidate SSB to be used at the next transmission timing. The measured signal quality of a specific SSB adjacent to the SSB not used by the user equipment includes the reference signal received power (RSRP) of an SSB in the SSB set of the network-side device and the RSRP of an SSB in the SSB set of an adjacent network-side device. The network-side device according to claim 4, wherein the processing unit determines an SSB to be used at the next transmission timing from among the candidate SSBs according to the RSRP of an SSB in the SSB set of the network-side device included in the second related information and the RSRP of an SSB in the SSB set of an adjacent network-side device.

6. A wireless communication method used for a network-side device, comprising: determining an SSB in a synchronization signal block (SSB) set to be used at the next transmission timing based on information regarding the usage status of SSBs in a set of SSBs in a past time period including a plurality of transmission timings, received from a user equipment; transmitting the determined SSB at the next transmission timing.

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