Determination of Random Access Channel Resources and Transmission Power for Multiple Physical Random Access Channel Transmissions

Abstract

During a random access ("RA") procedure associated with a network node of a new radio ("NR") communication network, a communication device may determine information associated with at least one of the communication device and a channel between the communication device and the network node. The communication device may further determine, based on the information, the number of physical RA channel ("PRACH") transmission signals to be transmitted to the network node prior to receiving a random access response as part of the RA procedure. The communication device may further transmit the number of PRACH transmission signals to the network node as part of the RA procedure.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to wireless communication systems, and more particularly, to random access channel ("RACH") resources and transmission power determination for multiplexed physical random access channel ("PRACH") transmissions.

Background Art

[0002] FIG. 1 shows an example of a new radio ("NR") network (e.g., a fifth generation ("5G") network) including a 5G core ("5GC") network 130, network nodes 120a-b (e.g., 5G base stations ("gNBs")), and a plurality of communication devices 110 (also referred to as user equipment ("UEs")).

[0003] Random access channel ("RACH") repetitions were incorporated into the Rel-13 work items ("Wis") of "Further LTE Physical Layer Enhancements for MTC" and "NarrowBand IOT (NB-IOT)" to extend coverage in Long Term Evolution ("LTE"). However, RACH repetitions are not currently supported in the NR release group up to Rel-17.

[0004] Repetition of information is a technique for achieving coverage expansion. In LTE, it can be used for all physical channels available to coverage-expanded UEs, such as the machine type communication physical downlink control channel ("M-PDCCH"), physical broadcast channel ("PBCH"), physical downlink shared channel ("PDSCH"), physical uplink control channel ("PUCCH"), physical uplink shared channel ("PUSCH"), and physical random access channel ("PRACH").

[0005] The UE can determine the repetition level for the initial PRACH transmission. The system information can include the repetition levels supported by the cell (e.g., 5, 10, and 15 dB), and the UE can select one of them, for example, based on the estimated channel quality.

[0006] During the initial random access period, the UE can measure the quality of the downlink ("DL"). The UE can select an appropriate repetition level for its initial PRACH preamble transmission from among 4 levels. If the UE does not receive a random access response ("RAR"), it can increase its PRACH repetition level. The number of repetitions for the RAR and subsequent messages can depend on the level for a successful PRACH.

[0007] Coverage extension for the physical random access PRACH preamble can be achieved, in part, through relaxation of the required PRACH false detection probability and, in part, through repetition of the legacy LTE PRACH format. Up to 3 different repetition levels (and a zero coverage extension level) can be configured, and each level has its own configurable number of repetitions and attempts for the purpose of adapting to the UE's coverage situation. For the initial random access, the UE selects its repetition level based on RSRP measurements. If the UE does not receive an RAR after the maximum number of attempts at the current level, it moves to the next higher one. Power ramping is not used for large repetition levels; otherwise, the current procedure is used. Different coverage levels correspond to different PRACH resources (e.g., various combinations of preamble sequences, timings, and narrowbands), and the available resources are signaled in the system information block ("SIB").

[0008] In LTE, the RAR message can be scheduled together with the M-PDCCH and the associated PDSCH. The UE can know the repetition level of the M-PDCCH, the possible starting subframe, and the frequency resources (in combination with the information signaled in the SIB) from the most recent PRACH transmission.

[0009] To enable different operating modes depending on the needs for the extension of the UE's coverage, two coverage extension modes have been introduced for RRC_CONNECTED LTE UEs, which are coverage extension ("CE") mode A and CE mode B. CE mode A is for cases where there is no or a small-scale coverage extension and requires only a few (e.g., up to dozens of) repetitions. CE mode B is for cases where the coverage extension is medium-scale to large-scale and requires many (e.g., hundreds of) repetitions. The network can signal the CE mode to the UE. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0010] According to some embodiments, a method of operating a communication device during a random access ("RA") procedure associated with a network node of a new radio ("NR") communication network is provided. The method includes determining information associated with at least one of the communication device and a channel between the communication device and the network node. The method further includes determining, based on the information, the number of physical RA channel ("PRACH") transmission signals to be transmitted to the network node prior to receiving a random access response as part of the RA procedure. The method further includes transmitting the number of PRACH transmission signals to the network node as part of the RA procedure.

[0011] According to another embodiment, a method of operating a network node of a new radio ("NR") communication network during a random access ("RA") procedure associated with a communication device is provided. The method includes determining information associated with at least one of the communication device and a channel between the communication device and the network node. The method further includes determining, based on the information, the number of physical RA channel ("PRACH") transmission signals to be received from the communication device as part of the RA procedure. The method further includes monitoring the NR communication network for the number of PRACH transmission signals from the communication device as part of the RA procedure.

[0012] According to another embodiment, a communication device, a network node, a non-transitory readable medium, a computer program, or a computer program product is provided for performing one of the above methods.

[0013] Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantages. In some examples, by determining RACH resources and transmission power for multiple PRACH transmission signals, the time taken for a UE to connect to a communication network can be reduced, and the resulting connection can be improved.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0014] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure and illustrate non-limiting embodiments of the inventive concept. The drawings are as follows:

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DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0015] Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings. The embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the gist to those skilled in the art, in which examples of embodiments of the inventive concept are shown. However, the inventive concept may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, those embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete and will fully convey the scope of the inventive concept to those skilled in the art. Also, it should be noted that those embodiments are not mutually exclusive. Components from one embodiment may be implicitly assumed to be present or used in other embodiments.

[0016] Considering the random access operation for the Long Term Evolution ("LTE") standard as mentioned above, a User Equipment ("UE") can transition from no coverage extension or a small extension (Coverage Enhancement ("CE") mode A) to a large coverage extension (CE mode B) when signaled. The idea is to keep the UE in CE mode B only when it is not possible to perform synchronization acquisition, system information acquisition, random access, or data transmission using the operation in small coverage. In the extended coverage operation, the number of repetitions can be adapted according to the coverage situation of the UE.

[0017] In some examples, the UE is a Bandwidth Reduction / Low Complexity ("BL") UE or a UE in extended coverage. When a random access preamble is transmitted in a non-terrestrial network, the random access response ("RAR") window starts from the subframe including the end of the last preamble repetition plus the subframes for the round trip time (RTT) between the 3 + UE and the eNB, and has a length ra-ResponseWindowSize for the corresponding extended coverage level. Otherwise, the RAR window starts from the subframe including the end of the last preamble repetition plus 3 subframes, and has a length ra-ResponseWindowSize for the corresponding extended coverage level.

[0018] In an additional or alternative example, the UE is a narrowband mono Internet ("NB-IoT") UE. When a random access preamble is transmitted in a non-terrestrial network, the RAR window starts from the subframe including the end of the last preamble repetition plus the subframes for the RTT between the X + UE and the eNB, has a length ra-ResponseWindowSize for the corresponding extended coverage level, and X is determined based on the preamble format used and the number of NPRACH repetitions. Otherwise, the random access response ("RAR") window starts from the subframe including the end of the last preamble repetition plus the X subframes, has a length ra-ResponseWindowSize for the corresponding extended coverage level, and X is determined based on the preamble format used and the number of NPRACH repetitions.

[0019] The RA-radio network temporary identifier ("RNTI") associated with the physical random access channel ("PRACH") on which the random access preamble is transmitted is calculated as follows: RA-RNTI = 1 + t_id + 10*f_id Here, t_id is the index of the first subframe of the specified PRACH (0 ≤ t_id < 10), and f_id is the index of the specified PRACH within that subframe, in ascending order in the frequency domain (0 ≤ f_id < 6), except for narrowband mono Internet ("NB-IoT") UEs, bandwidth reduction / low capacity ("BL") UEs, or UEs in extended coverage. When the PRACH resource is on a time division duplex ("TDD") carrier, f_id is set to f RA is set.

[0020] For BL UEs and UEs in extended coverage, the RA-RNTI associated with the PRACH on which the random access preamble is transmitted is calculated as follows: RA-RNTI = 1 + t_id + 10*f_id + 60*(SFN_id mod (Wmax / 10)) Here, t_id is the index of the first subframe of the specified PRACH (0 ≤ t_id < 10), f_id is the index of the specified PRACH within that subframe, in ascending order in the frequency domain (0 ≤ f_id < 6), SFN_id is the index of the first radio frame of the specified PRACH, Wmax is 400, which is the maximum possible RAR window size within a subframe for a BL UE or a UE in extended coverage. When the PRACH resource is on a TDD carrier, f_id is set to f RA is set.

[0021] For an NB-IoT UE, the RA-RNTI associated with the PRACH on which the random access preamble is transmitted is calculated as follows: RA-RNTI = 1 + floor(SFN_id / 4) + 256*carrier_id Here, SFN_id is the index of the first radio frame of the specified PRACH, and carrier_id is the index of the uplink ("UL") carrier associated with the specified PRACH. The carrier_id of the anchor carrier is 0.

[0022] For a BL / CE UE, for each PRACH coverage extension level, there is a PRACH configuration composed by the upper layer, including the PRACH configuration index (prach-ConfigurationIndex), the PRACH frequency offset [Number] (prach-FrequencyOffset), the number of times N of PRACH repetitions per attempt REP PRACH(Number of repetitions per preamble attempt), and, optionally, the PRACH start subframe periodicity N start PRACH is associated with (prach-StartingSubframe). For PRACHs with preamble formats 0 to 3, N REP PRACH is transmitted ≥ 1 time, while for PRACH with preamble format 4, it is transmitted only once.

[0023] For BL / CE UEs, for each PRACH coverage extension level, when frequency hopping is enabled for the PRACH configuration by the higher layer parameter prach-HoppingConfig, the value of the parameter n PRBoffsset RA depends on the system frame number ("SFN") and the PRACH configuration index.

[0024] In the case where the PRACH resource occurs per radio frame when the PRACH configuration index is calculated as follows from the table in Figure 2,

Number

Number

Number

[0025] For frame structure type 1 with preamble formats 0 to 3, for each PRACH configuration, there is at most one random access resource per subframe.

[0026] For frame structure type 2 with preamble formats 0 to 4, for each PRACH configuration, depending on the UL / DL configuration, there may be multiple random access resources within the UL subframe (or UpPTS for preamble format 4).

[0027] Figure 2 shows an example of a table listing the allowed PRACH configurations for frame structure type 2. The configuration index corresponds to a combination of preamble format, PRACH density value D RA , and version index r RA . For frame structure type 2 with PRACH configuration indices 0, 1, 2, 20, 21, 22, 30, 31, 32, 40, 41, 42, 48, 49, 50, or with PRACH configuration indices 51, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57 in UL / DL configurations 3, 4, 5, the UE may assume that for handover purposes, the absolute value of the relative time difference between the radio frames in the current cell and the target cell is less than 153600 Ts.

[0028] Figure 2 lists the mapping to physical resources for the various random access opportunities required for a certain PRACH density value D RA . Each of the quadruple formats (f RA , t RA (0), t RA (1), t RA (2)) indicates the location of a specific random access resource, where f RA is the frequency resource index within the considered time range, and t RA(0) = 0, 1, or 2 indicates whether the resource reappears in all radio frames, even radio frames, or odd radio frames, respectively, and t RA (1) = 0 or 1 indicates whether the random access resource is located in the first half or the second half of the frame, respectively, and t RA (2) is the uplink subframe number at which the preamble starts, counted from 0 in the first uplink subframe between two consecutive downlink to uplink switching points. As an exception, in preamble format 4, t RA (2) is represented as (*). The starting point of random access preamble formats 0 to 3 is N TA = 0 is assumed to be aligned with the starting point of the corresponding uplink subframe at the UE. The random access preamble format 4 is assumed to start 4832Ts before the end of UpPTS at the UE. Here, UpPTS is based on N TA = 0 and refers to the uplink frame timing of the UE as the reference.

[0029] The random access opportunity for each PRACH configuration is first allocated in time and then, only if time multiplexing is not sufficient to maintain all opportunities of the required PRACH configuration for a certain density value D RA without temporal overlap, it is allocated in frequency. For preamble formats 0 to 3, frequency multiplexing is assumed to be performed according to the following formula:

Equation

[0030] For BL / CE UEs, only a subset of the subframes allowed for preamble transmission is allowed as the starting subframe for N rep PRACH rounds of repetition. The allowed starting subframes for the PRACH configuration are determined as follows.

[0031] Arrange the subframes allowed for preamble transmission for the PRACH configuration as n sf RA =0,...,N sf RA -1, where n sf RA =0 and n sf RA =N sf RA -1 correspond to the two subframes allowed for preamble transmission having the smallest and largest absolute subframe numbers n sf abs respectively.

[0032] When the upper layer does not provide the PRACH start subframe periodicity N start PRACH the allowed start subframe periodicity in terms of the subframes allowed for preamble transmission is N rep PRACH . The allowed start subframes defined for n sf RA =0,...,N sf RA -1 are given by jN rep PRACH where j = 0, 1, 2,....

[0033] The PRACH start subframe periodicity N start PRACH indicates the allowed start subframe periodicity in terms of the subframes allowed for preamble transmission when provided by the upper layer. The n sf RA =0,...,Nsf RA The allowed starting subframe defined over - 1 to jN start PRACH +N rep PRACH is given by, where j = 0, 1, 2,....

[0034] n sf RA >N sf RA -N rep PRACH such that n sf RA = 0,..., N sf RA It is allowed not to define the starting subframe over - 1 to - 1.

[0035] Each random access preamble occupies a bandwidth corresponding to six consecutive resource blocks for both frame structures.

[0036] Figure 3 shows an example of the random access preamble mapping of frame structure type 2 in time and frequency, Figure 4 shows an example of the information element called PRACH - Config, and Figure 5 shows an example of the information element called PRACH - ConfigCommon. The random access preamble of the physical layer is based on a single - carrier frequency hopping symbol group. The symbol group is shown in the table of Figure 6 and consists of a cyclic prefix of length T CP and a sequence of N identical symbols with a total length T SEQ The total length of the symbol group, which is the unit of preamble repetition, is represented by P. The number of temporally adjacent symbol groups is given by G.

[0037] The preamble consisting of P symbol groups is N rep NPRACHIt is to be transmitted back. For frame structure type 2, when an invalid uplink subframe overlaps with the transmission of G symbol groups without a gap, the G symbol groups are discarded. For frame structure type 2, the transmission of G symbol groups is aligned with the subframe boundary.

[0038] The frequency position of the NPRACH transmission is within the range of N SC RA = 12 subcarriers. When the preamble format 2 as described in FIG. 6 is configured, N SC RA = 36. Frequency hopping is to be used within the range of 12 subcarriers, and within the range of 36 subcarriers when the preamble format 2 as described in FIG. 6 is configured. The frequency position of the i-th symbol group is given by the following formula:

Number

Number

[0039] Now, referring to the random access operation for the 3rd Generation Partnership Project ("3GPP") New Radio ("NR") standard, there are 64 preambles defined at each time-frequency PRACH opportunity. They start from an index obtained from the prach-RootSequenceIndex or rootSequenceIndex-BFR, which is a higher layer parameter. First, they are arranged in ascending order by increasing the cyclic shift C of the logical root sequence, and then in ascending order of the logical root sequence index. If the 64 preambles cannot be generated from a single root Zadoff-Chu sequence, additional preamble sequences are obtained from root sequences with adjacent logical indexes until all 64 sequences are found. The order of the logical root sequences is cyclic, and the logical index 0 is LRA If it is 839, it is adjacent to 837, L RA If it is 139, it is adjacent to 137. The sequence number μ is obtained from the logical root sequence index.

[0040] Cyclic shift C ν is given by the following formula:

Equation

[0041] The parameters for determining the root sequences and their cyclic shifts within the PRACH preamble sequence set include the following: sequence length, logical index for the root sequence table, and preamble subcarrier spacing ("SCS") (e.g., if SCS = 1.25 / 5 kHz, it is unrestricted, restricted set A, or restricted set B).

[0042] The random access preamble can be transmitted only in the time resource given by the prach-ConfigurationIndex of the upper layer parameter according to the tables in FIGS. 7 to 8, which depends on FR1 or FR2 and the spectrum type.

[0043] The random access preamble can be transmitted only in the frequency resource given by the msg1-FrequencyStart of the upper layer parameter. Let M be equal to the upper layer parameter msg1-FDM, the PRACH frequency resource n RA∈{0,1,...,M-1} is numbered in ascending order starting from the lowest frequency and within the range of the initial uplink bandwidth during the initial access period. Otherwise, n RA is numbered in ascending order starting from the lowest frequency and within the range of the active uplink bandwidth portion.

[0044] For the purpose of slot numbering, the following subcarrier intervals can be assumed: 15 kHz for FR1 and 60 kHz for FR2.

[0045] For each PRACH configuration index, the number of time-domain RACH opportunities within the RACH slot range is fixed.

[0046] For unpaired spectrum, if tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon is not provided to the UE, the PRACH opportunity within the PRACH slot is valid if it does not precede the synchronization signal ("SS") / physical broadcast channel ("PBCH") block within the PRACH slot, and N gap is provided, starting at least N gap symbols after the reception symbol of the last SS / PBCH block, and when channelAccessMode="semiStatic" is provided, it does not overlap with a set of consecutive symbols before the start of the next channel occupancy time when the UE does not transmit, and the candidate SS / PBCH block index of the SS / PBCH block corresponds to the SS / PBCH block index provided by ssb-PositionsInBurst in SIB1 or ServingCellConfigCommon.

[0047] If tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon is not provided to the UE, the PRACH opportunity within the PRACH slot is valid if it is within the range of UL symbols or does not precede the SS / PBCH block within the PRACH slot, and N gap is provided, starting at least N gapIt starts only after a certain number of symbols and at least Ngap symbols after the symbols of the last SS / PBCH block. When channelAccessMode = "semiStatic" is provided, there is no transmission assumed, and it does not overlap with a set of consecutive symbols before the start of the next channel occupancy period. The candidate SS / PBCH block index of the SS / PBCH block corresponds to the SS / PBCH block index provided by ssb-PositionsInBurst within System Information Block 1 ("SIB1") or within ServingCellConfigCommon.

[0048] For preamble format B4, N gap = 0.

[0049] For operation on a single carrier in unpaired spectrum, if the UE is configured by the upper layer to transmit a sounding reference signal ("SRS"), a physical uplink control channel ("PUCCH"), a physical uplink shared channel ("PUSCH") or a PRACH in a set of symbols of a slot, the UE detects downlink control information ("DCI") that instructs the UE to receive a channel state information reference signal ("CSI-RS") or a physical downlink shared channel ("PDSCH") in a subset of the symbols of that set of symbols, and if the UE does not indicate the [partialCancellation] capability, for the last symbol of the control resource set ("CORESET") in which the UE detected the DCI format, T proc,2If the first symbol within the set occurs, it is not expected to cancel the transmission of PUCCH, PUSCH, or PRACH within that set of symbols. Otherwise, the UE cancels the actual repetition of PUSCH determined from PUCCH or PUSCH, or PRACH transmission within that set of symbols. If the UE indicates the [partialCancellation] capability, the UE is T for the last symbol of the CORESET in which the DCI format is detected proc,2 It is not expected to cancel the transmission of PUCCH, PUSCH, or PRACH in the symbols within that set of symbols that occur within proc,2 . The UE cancels the actual repetition of PUCCH, PUSCH, or PUSCH determined from PRACH transmission in the remaining symbols within that set of symbols [6, TS38.214].

[0050] For the BWP b of carrier f of serving cell c, PRACH is transmitted with transmission power P on the indicated PRACH resource PRACH,b,f,c using the selected PRACH format together with (i).

Number

[0051] If the UE does not receive a random access response including a preamble identifier corresponding to the preamble sequence transmitted by the UE within the random access response window, it determines the transmission power for subsequent PRACH transmissions if any.

[0052] Before a PRACH retransmission, the UE changes the spatial domain transmission filter and layer 1 notifies the upper layer to suspend the power ramping counter.

[0053] The MAC entity is assumed to do the following for each random access preamble: 1> The PREAMBLE_TRANSMISSION_COUNTER is greater than 1 and 1> A notification of the suspension of the power ramping counter is not received from the lower layer and 1> If the selected SSB or CSI-RS is not changed from the selection in the last random access preamble transmission, 2> Increment the PREAMBLE_POWER_RAMPING_COUNTER by 1 1> Select the value of DELTA_PREAMBLE 1> Set PREAMBLE_RECEIVED_TARGET_POWER to preambleReceivedTargetPower + DELTA_PREAMBLE + (PREAMBLE_POWER_RAMPING_COUNTER - 1) × PREAMBLE_POWER_RAMPING_STEP 1> Calculate the RA-RNTI associated with the PRACH opportunity on which the random access preamble is transmitted, except for the contention-free random access preamble for beam failure recovery 1> Using the selected PRACH opportunity, the corresponding RA-RNTI (if any), PREAMBLE_INDEX, and PREAMBLE_RECEIVED_TARGET_POWER, instruct the physical layer to transmit the random access preamble

[0054] In Rel-17 NR, support for Msg3 retransmission is incorporated. The UE can be configured to retransmit Msg3 according to the parameters given in the SIB. Different from LTE, the UE can request retransmission for PUSCH transmission and perform it by transmitting the RACH preamble associated with the retransmission procedure. Then, the network indicates the number of retransmissions N PUSCH repeat via either the MCS field in the RAR or the PDCCH carrying DCI format 0_0.

[0055] For PUSCH transmission with PUSCH repetition type A scheduled by a RAR UL grant or by DCI format 0_0 having a CRC scrambled by a temporary cell radio network temporary identifier ("TC-RNTI"), the UE can be provided with a set of repetition counts in RACH-ConfigCommon. If the UE requests repetitions for PUSCH transmission, it transmits the PUSCH over N PUSCH repeat slots, where N PUSCH repeat is from the set of four values provided by numberOfMsg3Repetitions or, if numberOfMsg3Repetitions is not provided, from {1, 2, 3, 4}, and is indicated by the two most significant bits of the MCS field in the RAR UL grant or in DCI format 0_0. The UE determines the MCS for PUSCH transmission by the two least significant bits of the MCS field in the RAR UL grant or by the three least significant bits of the MCS field in DCI format 0_0, and also determines the redundancy version and RBs for each repetition, as described in [6, TS38.214]. For the first N PUSCH repeat slots, as N PUSCH repeat slots are determined, among which the repetitions of PUSCH transmission do not include the symbols indicated as downlink by tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon or the symbols of the SS / PBCH block having the index provided by ssb-PositionsInBurst.

[0056] When the UE transmits the PUSCH on the active UL BWP b of carrier f of serving cell c using the parameter set configuration with index j and the PUSCH power control adjustment state with index l, the PUSCH transmission power P PUSCH,b,f,c (i, j, q d , l) at the PUSCH transmission opportunity i is determined as follows: [Number] Here, for the PUSCH power control adjustment state f for the active UL BWP b of carrier f of serving cell c at PUSCH transmission opportunity i b,f,c For (i, l), when the UE receives a random access response message in response to a PRACH transmission on the active UL BWP b of carrier f of serving cell c, f b,f,c (0,1) = ΔP rampup,b,f,c +δ msg2,b,f,c where l = 0, and δ msg2,b,f,c is the TPC command value indicated in the random access response grant of the random access response message corresponding to the PRACH transmission on the active UL BWP b of carrier f in serving cell c, [Number] where P rampuprequested,b,f,c is provided by the upper layer and corresponds to the total power ramp-up required by the upper layer for the random access preamble from start to end for carrier f in serving cell c, M RB,b,f,c PUSCH (0) is the bandwidth of the PUSCH resource allocation expressed by the number of resource blocks for the first PUSCH transmission on the active BWP b of carrier f of serving cell c, Δ TF,b,f,c (0) is the power adjustment for the first PUSCH transmission on the active BWP b of carrier f of serving cell c.

[0057] The TPC command value δ msg2,b,f,c is used to set the power of the PUSCH transmission and is interpreted according to FIG. 9.

[0058] In some examples, the UE is provided with the number N of SS / PBCH block indexes associated with one PRACH opportunity and the number R of contention-based preambles per SS / PBCH block index for each valid PRACH opportunity by ssb-perRACH-OccasionAndCB-PreamblesPerSSB.

[0059] When N < 1, one SS / PBCH block index is mapped to 1 / N consecutive valid PRACH opportunities, and R contention-based preambles with consecutive indexes associated with the SS / PBCH block index for each valid PRACH opportunity start from preamble index 0. When N ≥ 1, R contention-based preambles with consecutive indexes associated with the SS / PBCH block index n (0 ≤ n ≤ N−1) for each valid PRACH opportunity start from preamble index n·N total preamble / N, where N total preamble is provided by totalNumberOfRA-Preambles for type 1 random access procedures.

[0060] The SS / PBCH block indexes provided by ssb-PositionsInBurst in SIB1 or in ServingCellConfigCommon are mapped to valid PRACH opportunities in the following order where the parameter is described. First, in ascending order of preamble indexes within the range of a single PRACH opportunity. Second, in ascending order of frequency resource indexes for frequency multiplexed PRACH opportunities. Third, in ascending order of time resource indexes for time multiplexed PRACH opportunities within the range of a PRACH slot. Fourth, in ascending order of indexes for multiple PRACH slots.

[0061] In some examples, the association period starting from frame 0 for mapping SS / PBCH blocks to PRACH opportunities is NTx SSB The minimum value within the set determined by the PRACH configuration period such that each SS / PBCH block is mapped to at least one PRACH opportunity within the scope of its association period, where the UE obtains N from the value of ssb-PositionsInBurst within SIB1 or within ServingCellConfigCommon. Tx SSB After an integer number of mapping cycles of SS / PBCH blocks to PRACH opportunities within the association period, if there is a set of PRACH opportunities or PRACH preambles not mapped to N SS / PBCH blocks, no SS / PBCH blocks are mapped to that set of PRACH opportunities or PRACH preambles. The association pattern period includes one or more association periods and is determined such that the pattern between PRACH opportunities and SS / PBCH blocks repeats at most every 160 msec. PRACH opportunities not associated with SS / PBCH blocks after an integer number of association periods, if any, are not used for PRACH transmission. Tx SSB In some examples, PRACH opportunities are mapped continuously for each corresponding SS / PBCH block index. The indexing of PRACH opportunities indicated by the mask index value is reset for each consecutive PRACH opportunity mapping cycle for each SS / PBCH block index. The UE selects, for PRACH transmission, the PRACH opportunity indicated by the PRACH mask index value for the SS / PBCH block index indicated in the first available mapping cycle.

[0062] In some examples, PRACH opportunities are mapped continuously for each corresponding SS / PBCH block index. The indexing of PRACH opportunities indicated by the mask index value is reset for each consecutive PRACH opportunity mapping cycle for each SS / PBCH block index. The UE selects, for PRACH transmission, the PRACH opportunity indicated by the PRACH mask index value for the SS / PBCH block index indicated in the first available mapping cycle.

[0063] For the preamble index shown, the order of PRACH opportunities is as follows: 1) For PRACH opportunities multiplexed in frequency, in ascending order of frequency resource index, 2) For PRACH opportunities multiplexed in time within the range of PRACH slots, in ascending order of time resource index, and 3) For multiple PRACH slots, in ascending order of index. Figure 11 shows an example of an information element ("IE") called RACH-ConfigCommon.

[0064] In response to a PRACH transmission, the UE attempts to detect DCI format 1_0 with a CRC scrambled by the corresponding RA-RNTI during the period of a window controlled by the upper layer. The window starts at the first symbol of the earliest CORESET configured for the UE to receive PDCCH for type 1-PDCCH CSS sets, as defined in section 10.1, which is at least 1 symbol and after the last symbol of the PRACH opportunity corresponding to the PRACH transmission, and the symbol duration corresponds to the SCS for type 1-PDCCH CSS sets. The window length in number of slots, based on the SCS for type 1-PDCCH CSS sets, is provided by ra-ResponseWindow.

[0065] TPC command value δ msg2,b,f,c is used to set the power of PUSCH transmission and is interpreted according to Figure 9. The CSI request field is reserved.

[0066] In some examples, when the UE receives a random access response message in response to a PRACH transmission on the active UL BWP b of carrier f of serving cell c, f b,f,c (0,1)=ΔP rampup,b,f,c +δ msg2,b,f,c where l = 0, and δ msg2,b,f,cIt is the TPC command value indicated in the random access response grant of the random access response message corresponding to the PRACH transmission on the active UL BWP b of carrier f in serving cell c.

[0067] Radio Resource Control ("RRC") can configure the following parameters for the RA procedure.

[0068] prach-ConfigurationIndex: The available set of PRACH opportunities for the transmission of random access preambles.

[0069] preambleReceivedTargetPower: The power of the initial random access preamble.

[0070] rsrp-ThresholdSSB: The RSRP threshold for the selection of SSB. When the random access procedure is initiated for beam failure recovery, the rsrp-ThresholdSSB used for the selection of SSB within candidateBeamRSList refers to the rsrp-ThresholdSSB within the IE called BeamFailureRecoveryConfig.

[0071] rsrp-ThresholdCSI-RS: The RSRP threshold for the selection of CSI-RS. When the random access procedure is initiated for beam failure recovery, rsrp-ThresholdCSI-RS is equal to the rsrp-ThresholdSSB within the IE called BeamFailureRecoveryConfig.

[0072] rsrp-ThresholdSSB-SUL: The RSRP threshold for the selection between the NUL carrier and the SUL carrier.

[0073] candidateBeamRSList: A list of reference signals (CSI-RS and / or SSB) that identify candidate beams for recovery and associated random access parameters.

[0074] recoverySearchSpaceId: Search space identity for monitoring the response to beam failure recovery requests.

[0075] powerRampingStep: Power ramping factor.

[0076] powerRampingStepHighPriority: Power ramping factor for prioritized random access procedures.

[0077] scalingFactorBI: Scaling factor for prioritized random access procedures.

[0078] ra-PreambleIndex: Random access preamble.

[0079] ra-ssb-OccasionMaskIndex: Defines the PRACH opportunities associated with SSB, within which the MAC entity may transmit a random access preamble.

[0080] ra-OccasionList: Defines the PRACH opportunities associated with CSI-RS, within which the MAC entity may transmit a random access preamble.

[0081] ra-PreambleStartIndex: Start index of the random access preamble for on-demand SI requests.

[0082] preambleTransMax: Maximum number of random access preamble transmissions.

[0083] ssb-perRACH-OccasionAndCB-PreamblesPerSSB: Defines the number of SSBs mapped to each PRACH opportunity and the number of contention-based random access preambles mapped to each SSB.

[0084] When groupBconfigured is configured, a group B of random access preambles is configured. Among the contention-based random access preambles associated with the SSB, the first numberOfRA-PreamblesGroupA random access preambles belong to the random access preamble group A. The remaining random access preambles belong to the SSB associated with the random access preamble group B (if configured). When the random access preamble group B is supported by the cell, each SSB includes the random access preamble group B.

[0085] Beam failure detection and recovery are described below.

[0086] In some examples, for beam failure detection, the gNB configures the UE with a beam failure detection reference signal (SSB or channel state information reference signal ("CSI-RS")), and the UE declares a beam failure if the number of beam failure instance indications from the physical layer reaches a configured threshold before the configured timer expires.

[0087] In additional or alternative examples, SSB-based beam failure detection is performed based on the SSB associated with the initial DL bandwidth part ("BWP"), and can be configured only for the initial DL BWP and for the DL BWP including the SSB associated with the initial DL BWP. For other DL BWPs, beam failure detection can be performed only based on the CSI-RS.

[0088] After a beam failure is detected, the UE triggers beam failure recovery by starting a random access procedure on the PCell and selects a beam suitable for performing beam failure recovery (if the gNB has provided dedicated random access resources for a certain beam, they will be prioritized by the UE).

[0089] When the random access procedure is completed, the beam failure recovery is considered complete.

[0090] In some examples, a media access control ("MAC") entity is assumed to: 1> When a beam failure instance indication is received from a lower layer: 2> Start or restart the beamFailureDetectionTimer; 2> Increment BFI_COUNTER by 1; 2> If BFI_COUNTER ≥ beamFailureInstanceMaxCount: 3> Start a random access procedure in the SpCell. 1> When the beamFailureDetectionTimer expires, or 1> When any of the beamFailureDetectionTimer, beamFailureInstanceMaxCount, or the reference signal used for beam failure detection is reconfigured by a higher layer: 2> Set BFI_COUNTER to 0. 1> When the random access procedure is successfully completed: 2> Set BFI_COUNTER to 0; 2> Stop the beamFailureRecoveryTimer if it is configured; 2> Consider the beam failure recovery procedure to be successfully completed.

[0091] For each BWP of the serving cell, the UE has a set q0 of periodic CSI-RS resource configuration indices by failureDetectionResources - ("qx -(where " is used to indicate that there is a bar on top of "qx") is provided, and for wireless link quality measurement on the BWP of the serving cell, a set q1 of periodic CSI-RS resource configuration indexes and / or SS / PBCH block indexes by candidateBeamRSList - may be provided. If the UE is not provided with failureDetectionResources, the UE includes a periodic CSI-RS resource configuration index having the same value as the RS index within the RS set indicated by the TCI-State for each CORESET used to monitor the PDCCH in the form of set q0 - is determined, and when there are two RS indexes in the TCI state, set q0 - includes the RS index having the QCL-TypeD configuration for the corresponding TCI state. The UE expects that set q0 - includes up to two RS indexes. The UE expects that there is a single-port RS within set q0 - .

[0092] In non-DRX mode operation, the physical layer in the UE provides an indication to the upper layer when the wireless link quality for all corresponding resource configurations within set q0 - used by the UE to evaluate the wireless link quality is worse than the threshold Q out,LR . The physical layer performs the notification to the upper layer when the wireless link quality is worse than the threshold Q out,LR at a periodicity determined by the greater of the shortest periodicity among the periodic CSI-RS configurations and / or SS / PBCH blocks within set q0 ― used by the UE to evaluate the wireless link quality and 2 msec. In DRX mode operation, the physical layer provides an indication to the upper layer at a certain periodicity when the wireless link quality is worse than the threshold Q out,LR .

[0093] In response to a request from the upper layer, the UE sets q1 -Periodic CSI-RS configuration index and / or SS / PBCH block index from, and Q in,LR Provide the corresponding L1-RSRP measurement value equal to or higher than the threshold to the upper layer.

[0094] The UE may receive the configuration for PRACH transmission by PRACH-ResourceDedicatedBFR. The index q provided by the upper layer new For PRACH transmission in slot n, according to the antenna port quasi-collocation parameters associated with the periodic CSI-RS resource configuration or the SS / PBCH block associated with the index q associated with, the UE monitors the PDCCH in the search space set provided by recoverySearchSpaceId for the detection of the DCI format with the CRC scrambled by the C-RNTI or MCS-C-RNTI, which starts from slot n+4 within the window configured by BeamFailureRecoveryConfig. For PDCCH monitoring in the search space set provided by recoverySearchSpaceId and for the corresponding PDSCH reception, the UE assumes the same antenna port quasi-collocation parameters as those associated with the index q until it receives the activation of the TCI state or any of the parameters tci-StatesPDCCH-ToAddList and / or tci-StatesPDCCH-ToReleaseList from the upper layer. After detecting the DCI format with the CRC scrambled by the C-RNTI or MCS-C-RNTI in the search space set provided by recoverySearchSpaceId, the UE continues to monitor the PDCCH candidates in the search space set provided by recoverySearchSpaceId until it receives the MAC CE activation command for the TCI state or tci-StatesPDCCH-ToAddList and / or tci-StatesPDCCH-ToReleaseList. new Assume the same antenna port quasi-collocation parameters as those associated with the index q.

[0095] 28 symbols after the last symbol of the first PDCCH reception that is a detection target of a DCI format having a CRC scrambled by a C-RNTI or MCS-C-RNTI within the search space set provided by the recoverySearchSpaceId, and until the UE receives an activation command for the PUCCH-SpatialRelationInfo or is provided with the PUCCH-SpatialRelationInfo for the PUCCH resource, the UE uses the same spatial filter as that for the last PRACH transmission and the power determined with q u = 0, q d = q new = 0, l = 0 to transmit the PUCCH on the same cell as the PRACH transmission.

[0096] 28 symbols after the last symbol of the first PDCCH reception in which a DCI format having a CRC scrambled by a C-RNTI or MCS-C-RNTI within the search space set provided by the recoverySearchSpaceId is detected, the UE assumes the same antenna port quasi-collocation parameters as those associated with index q new for PDCCH monitoring in the CORESET having index 0.

[0097] Figure 12 shows an example of a BeamFailureRecoveryConfig. A list of reference signals (CSI-RS and / or SSB) identifies candidate beams for recovery and associated RA parameters. The UE shall consider this list to include all elements of candidateBeamRSList (without suffix) and all elements of candidateBeamRSListExt-v1610. The network configures these reference signals within the scope of the UL BWP to which the BeamFailureRecoveryConfig is provided and the linked DL BWP (i.e., the DL BWP having the same bwp-Id).

[0098] Many features in Rel-17, such as Msg3 repetition, Redcap, slicing, and small data transmission, wanted to utilize the Msg1 preamble to indicate the presence of some feature early. The solution was to incorporate a common framework for allocating preambles in RO, and the conditions for using combinations of different features such as Msg3 repetition and Redcap along with those preamble groups. In this framework, for example, it is possible to define RO#1 with a preamble group indicating Redcap and Msg3 repetition, and define small data transmission and Redcap+Msg3 repetition in RO#2 with a certain preamble group. Then, the conditions for using those preamble groups are defined.

[0099] In NR, a UE is allowed to transmit one PRACH preamble for a certain attempt. Since PRACH has been identified as a coverage bottleneck, its coverage can be extended by multiple PRACH transmissions.

[0100] In some cases, solutions for PRACH repetition have been adopted in LTE eMTC and NB-IoT, and it can be rejected or extended for supporting multiple NR PRACH transmissions. For example, new solutions are needed to accommodate significantly more NR PRACH configuration indexes, as well as more flexible PRACH opportunities in the time domain and frequency domain. Furthermore, some new problems are specific to NR, including that multiple PRACH transmission signals are associated with different UL Tx beams, and the association between PRACH opportunities and SSBs.

[0101] The various embodiments described herein provide operations for determining preambles (RO) as well as corresponding power, TA, and phase for multiple PRACH transmission signals. It also includes the mapping of PRACH transmission signals and UL Tx beams / SSBs.

[0102] In some embodiments, the UE can transmit a PRACH in a PRACH opportunity associated with a selected Synchronization Signal Block ("SSB"). The RAR is quasi - co - located ("QCL") with the SSB to which the transmitted PRACH is associated. The Timing Advance ("TA") and Transmit Power Control ("TPC") fields in the RAR are based on the received PRACH. The UE can initiate a PRACH re - transmission if it does not receive a RAR containing its Random Access Preamble Identifier ("RAPID") within the RAR window, which may be associated with the same SSB or a different SSB as the initial transmission. Whether the same UL Tx beam or a different beam is used for the re - transmission is left to the UE implementation.

[0103] As shown in FIGS. 13A - 13D, there are several scenarios of multiple PRACH transmission signals in terms of UL Tx beams and SSBs. FIG. 13A shows an example where the UE transmits multiple PRACHs with the same beam (e.g., the same UL spatial relation) and all PRACH transmission signals are associated with the same SSB. FIG. 13B shows an example where different multiple beams are used for multiple PRACH transmission signals and are associated with one SSB. The determination of the UL Tx beam is left to the UE implementation and is transparent to the gNB. FIGS. 13C - 13D show examples where multiple PRACH transmission signals are associated with different SSB beams. In FIG. 13C, only one PRACH is associated with each selected SSB, while in FIG. 13D, at least one SSB is associated with more than one PRACH transmission signal. FIG. 13D is a combination of FIGS. 13B and 13C, and the embodiments associated with each can be applied to the example of FIG. 13D.

[0104] In some embodiments, determining the UL Tx beam for MSg1 is left to the UE implementation. A wide UL Tx beam may be used for UEs that perform beam sweeping with assistance and for UEs that cannot refine the TX beam within the limited time of random access, which results in relatively low power received at the gNB until the UE can go through the beam refinement procedure after the establishment of RRC connection. Multiple PRACH transmissions on different UL Tx beams enable the UE to sweep narrower beams with better directivity to increase the received power at the gNB.

[0105] Depending on the value of ssb-perRACH-OccasionAndCB-PreamblesPerSSB, there is an association between a PRACH occasion and an SS block, or between a PRACH preamble index and an SS block. It can be referred to as a PRACH transmission associated with an SSB. "Multiple PRACH transmissions" refers to those of one RACH attempt, i.e., unless otherwise stated, multiple PRACH transmissions are made prior to the reception of one RAR.

[0106] Some embodiments herein apply to contention-based random access ("CBRA") and contention-free random access ("CFRA"). The CFRA resources for beam failure recovery requests may be associated with SSB and / or CSI-RS. However, for simplicity, herein, instead of referring to PRACH transmissions associated with SSB and / or CSI-RS, reference is made to PRACH transmissions associated with SSB.

[0107] Some embodiments herein apply to 4-step RACH and 2-step RACH.

[0108] Some embodiments related to the determination of single or multiple PRACH transmission signals are described below.

[0109] In LTE's eMTC and NB-IoT, the network configures multiple, N PRACH configurations with different numbers of repetitions for cell coverage expansion. The UE will select an appropriate PRACH configuration for RA depending on the coverage level estimation from RSRP measurements. Similarly, an NR UE can determine the number of PRACH transmission signals based on the measured RSRP and the configured threshold.

[0110] In some embodiments, rsrp-ThresholdMsg3 is reused to determine whether to perform multiple PRACH transmissions, which is configured via a flag in the RRC for either a specific BWP or a specific preamble feature group. If the RSRP is below rsrp-ThresholdMsg3, the UE repeats the PRACH. Also, the repetition procedure is applied to Msg3 transmission, and Msg3 is repeated the number of times indicated in the random access response or in DCI format 0_0 with a CRC scrambled by the TC-RNTI.

[0111] In additional or alternative embodiments, the NUL and SUL can have separate new thresholds for multiple PRACH transmissions. This can be indicated through an offset related to the threshold for determining whether to select the NUL or the SUL (rsrp-ThresholdSUL).

[0112] There are other ways for the UE to select multiple PRACH transmissions, apart from depending on the RSRP threshold. A typical network has very limited information regarding the power headroom available to the UE during the initial access period, because there is usually no power headroom report available for the UE during the initial access period. In contrast, the UE knows how much power it has. Based on the PRACH target received power and path loss estimation, P CMAX,f,cIf it is not possible to convey the amount of power required that exceeds (i), multiple PRACH transmissions can be triggered. By enabling the UE to perform repetitions only when required, it is possible to avoid wasting uplink resources and UE power on unnecessary repetitions.

[0113] In some embodiments, the UE determines whether to perform a single PRACH transmission or multiple ones based on its power headroom. PRACH,target,f,c +PL b,f,c If is greater than its maximum configured power P CMAX,f,c (i) (hereinafter abbreviated as "Pcmax"), the UE performs multiple PRACH transmissions. Otherwise, the UE performs a single PRACH transmission.

[0114] In additional or alternative embodiments, according to pre-determined rules and configured values, the gap between the required power and Pcmax, i.e., P PRACH,target,f,c +PL b,f,c -P CMAX,f,c (i) may be scaled to various numbers of PRACH repetitions.

[0115] For example, the UE transmits PRACH twice when the gap is 0 - 3 dB and transmits PRACH four times when the gap is 3 - 6 dB.

[0116] In some embodiments, after the first PRACH transmission, but if the reception of the RAR fails or the received RAR is not addressed to itself, multiple PRACH transmissions can be initiated for PRACH retransmission. The number of retransmission signals and the power of the retransmission signals may depend on parameters configured by the network in that case. Whether the UE can increase both the number and the transmission power of the PRACH transmission signals for Msg1 retransmission or only one of them may be configured or pre-determined.

[0117] In some embodiments, the network enables multiple PRACH transmissions through SIB for a specific service. For example, when the establishmentCause is set as emergency or for mission-critical services within the RRCSetupRequest, the UE can start multiple PRACH transmissions if the network configures and allows it.

[0118] In NR up to Rel-17, if the gNB detects energy but fails to detect the preamble, it indicates the BI field in the RAR. A UE that does not receive an RAR with its own RAPID may perform a PRACH retransmission after a backoff time. As described below, for CBRA, it is a random value between 0 and PREAMBLE_BACKOFF × SCALING_FACTOR_BI. SCALING_FACTOR_BI is set to 1 unless it is configured within beamFailureRecoveryConfig or rach-ConfigDedicated. 2> If the random access response includes a MAC sub-PDU with a backoff indicator, 3> Set PREAMBLE_BACKOFF to the result of multiplying the value of the BI field of the MAC sub-PDU by SCALING_FACTOR_BI using Table 7.2-1; 2> If the random access procedure is not complete, 3> Select a random backoff time according to a uniform distribution between 0 and PREAMBLE_BACKOFF; 3> If the criteria for selecting a contention-free random access resource are met during the backoff time, 4> Execute the random access resource selection procedure; 3> Otherwise, 4> Execute the random access resource selection procedure after the backoff time.

[0119] The MAC sub-header may include a Backoff Indicator ("BI") field that identifies overload conditions within the cell. The size of the BI field is 4 bits.

[0120] If the NW is not overloaded, UEs in poor coverage may transmit more PRACH transmission signals by using more RACH resources. If the NW is overloaded, UEs transmitting a large number of PRACHs may cause many preamble detection misses from other UEs, and then the NW may use different strategies to ensure that all UEs have an equal opportunity for network access regardless of whether they are in good cell coverage or poor cell coverage. If UEs that transmitted different numbers of PRACH transmission signals in the previous attempt use the same backoff time for retransmission, fair access cannot be achieved. UEs that use more PRACH resources must start retransmission after a longer backoff time.

[0121] In some embodiments, UEs that transmitted a large number of PRACH transmission signals in the previous attempt are configured or instructed to have a longer backoff time than UEs that transmitted a small number of PRACH transmission signals. For example, PREAMBLE_BACKOFF and / or SCALING_FACTOR_BI can be made specific to a particular number of PRACH transmissions.

[0122] To reduce the impact on legacy UEs and facilitate preamble detection by the gNB, specific preambles and / or ROs can be allocated for UEs capable of multiple PRACH transmissions.

[0123] Regarding preamble determination for multiple transmissions, the common approach is to transmit the same preamble multiple times, just as in LTE eMTC. In LTE eMTC, since the number of PRACH repetitions is determined by the UE, the eNB can interpret the number by receiving the corresponding preamble. That is, the preamble or PRACH resource differs between repetition levels, which reduces the capacity of the PRACH.

[0124] In some embodiments, the UE can transmit different preambles across multiple ROs associated with the selected SSB.

[0125] In additional or alternative embodiments, the UE selects the preamble index for the SSB selected for the first PRACH in the legacy manner. For the remaining PRACH transmissions, an offset of the preamble index, the logical / physical index of the root sequence, and / or a cyclic shift are applied in relation to the previous PRACH, where the offset pattern can be configured / pre-determined. This is shown in FIG. 14. Some modulo of a value can be added to the offset (e.g., modulo of the number of preambles available for the PRACH), or the addition to the offset to form the updated index k can be done according to the following equation: k new =mod(k prev -K min +offset,K)+K min where mod is the modulo operation, k represents the index of the preamble (according to any of the methods described above), K is the number of consecutive preambles assigned for multiple PRACH repetitions, and K min can be the preamble with the smallest index assigned for multiple PRACH repetitions, and in this way, all of the multiple PRACH transmission signals are in the range from K min to K min+K-1. The offset may be different for different repetitions, but may be the same for all UEs at a given time instance in the system frame structure to maintain orthogonality among UEs within a cell. Alternatively, k i =mod(k0-K min +Δ i ,K)+K min for the ith iteration according to the index k i may be defined, where Δ i is the offset for the ith repetition, and k0 is the index for the first iteration. See the contents of Figure 14. The offset may be different in different cells to achieve interference diversity. Alternatively, index i may refer to a time instance relative to the system frame structure, which can be used to ensure orthogonality between UEs in a cell even if they start the repetition set at different times. RAPID is determined based on the first PRACH transmission. In addition to being based on the repetition index and / or slot index, Δ i could also be based on one or more of configuration, signaling, a random number determined by the UE, or UE identity (e.g., IMSI, IMEI), so that multiple UEs in a cell will not collide in all iterations if their preambles collide in the first iteration.

[0126] Based on the cyclic shift and logical root sequence, 64 preambles are generated. The indexes from 0 to 63 are in ascending order of the cyclic shift first and then the logical root sequence. Preambles with indexes 64 to 127, 128 to 191, 192 to 255, and so on can be generated in the same order. For example, the UE uses preamble indexes 0, 64, 128, and 192 for four PRACH transmission signals respectively. In another example, if one root sequence can provide 64 preambles with different cyclic shifts, the first preamble uses logical root index u, and the second preamble transmitted by the UE uses logical root index u + 1. The gNB needs to perform blind detection of the following possible preambles in the next RO for the SSB. Multiple different repetition levels can share the same set of preambles and ROs.

[0127] In some embodiments, the PRACH opportunities are mapped continuously for each corresponding SS / PBCH block index. The indexing of the PRACH opportunities indicated by the mask index value is reset for each mapping cycle of consecutive PRACH opportunities for each SS / PBCH block index. The UE selects, for PRACH transmission, the PRACH opportunity indicated by the PRACH mask index value for the SS / PBCH block index indicated in the first available mapping cycle.

[0128] For the indicated preamble indexes, the order of the PRACH opportunities is as follows: 1) for the PRACH opportunities multiplexed in frequency, in ascending order of the frequency resource index; 2) for the PRACH opportunities multiplexed in time within the PRACH slot range, in ascending order of the time resource index; and 3) for multiple PRACH slots, in ascending order of the index.

[0129] In additional or alternative embodiments, the preamble selected for each RO depends on where the preamble group of msg1 is located within the RO. This can be considered as a virtual preamble with the same relative index for the starting preamble configured for a number of PRACH transmissions in the RO. For example, considering only K = 2, i.e., the gNB supports only two PRACH transmissions. Let the preamble group for msg1 repetitions in RO#1 be 30 - 35 and the preamble group for msg1 repetitions in RO#2 be 19 - 24. If the UE selects preamble 30 in RO#1, preamble 30 is mapped to the first preamble within RO#2, which is preamble 19. This is important because there is no specific RO for only msg1 repetitions, rather it is as if there are preamble groups in multiple different ROs and a mapping is required. This can be seen in Figure 15.

[0130] In additional or alternative embodiments, when the UE selects a virtual preamble using the above, upon detection of the RAR, the first preamble will be used as the selected RAPID. Further, when selecting the RA-RNTI / msgB-RNTI, the first RACH opportunity will be used to calculate the RA-RNTI.

[0131] The pattern given by the PRACH Config Index (Physical Random Access Channel Configuration Index) is repeated for each RACH Configuration Period. FIG. 16A shows an example of PRACH Configuration Index #160 in FR1 TDD. For an SCS of 30 KHz, there are two time-domain PRACH opportunities within a radio frame. FIG. 16B shows PRACH Configuration Index #127 in FR2. For an SCS of 120 KHz, there are eight time-domain PRACH opportunities within a radio frame. Those time-domain PRACH opportunities and the frequency-division multiplexed ROs are divided among multiple SSBs and possibly among different repetition levels (i.e., a certain number of PRACH transmissions). Briefly, in a time-domain PRACH opportunity, it is assumed that there is at least one RO associated with the selected SSB and the determined repetition level. Otherwise, those for time-domain PRACH opportunities and other repetition levels associated with SSBs other than the selected one are skipped for RO determination.

[0132] In additional or alternative embodiments, rather than being based on a fixed offset (or modulo of a fixed offset) from one transmission to the next within a set of repetitions as in the above embodiments, the preamble pattern instead follows some other pattern, such as a pattern for achieving better interference diversity between cells, for example. In this case, for the purpose of restricting the search space for the gNB, the pattern is fixed relative to the frame structure within the cell. The UE may still be allowed to start transmissions at any time-domain RO within the pattern, or may be restricted to starting transmissions only at a time-domain RO within the pattern and / or within the radio frame structure within the cell.

[0133] For a certain number of PRACH repetitions transmitted by an LTE eTMC UE, when there is a random access resource in each subframe, the subframe of the first PRACH transmission is determined explicitly by the configured periodicity or implicitly by the repetition factor so that the time-domain PRACH resources for that number of PRACH repetitions do not overlap. Similarly, in NR, periodicity can also be configured for multiple PRACH transmissions, and multiple PRACH transmissions of a RACH attempt are made within the scope of its period. The unit of periodicity can be pre-determined as an association period, a PRACH configuration period (PRACH Configuration Period), a radio frame, a subframe, or a slot having an SCS used for slot numbering. Among the time-domain PRACH opportunities associated with the selected SSB, for K PRACH transmission signals, the RO index for the first PRACH transmission signal is mod(i, K)=0.

[0134] For example, for PRACH configuration index #127 in FR2 and TDD, when the periodicity is 1 PRACH configuration period, there are 8 time-domain PRACH opportunities within the period for the selected SSB. 2, 4, or 8 PRACH transmission signals of a RACH attempt are assumed to be supported. For 8 PRACH transmission signals, the time-domain PRACH opportunity of the first PRACH has index 0. For 4 PRACH transmission signals, the UE can transmit the first one at RO#0 or RO#4. For 2 PRACH transmission signals, the first ROs are RO#0, 2, 4, 6. For 2, 4, and 8 PRACH transmission signals, as shown in Figure 17A, each RO must have a different preamble. This adds further partitioning in the preamble group for multiple PRACH transmissions. This is a legacy issue in LTE eMTC but can be solved by the NR preamble group.

[0135] In some embodiments, for multiple PRACH transmissions of a trial, a set of PRACH opportunities is determined by one or more of the following ways.

[0136] In some examples, K represents the number of PRACH transmission signals supported by the gNB, including K = 1 and K>1, and the gNB can configure the preamble for some of the values of all K in the RO. In one method, a certain ra-ssb-OccasionMaskIndex is associated with the value of K. For the selected SSB, among the time-domain PRACH opportunities within the period having a preamble configured for K PRACH transmission signals, the RO for the first PRACH transmission signal of the trial has an RO index i such that mod(i, K)=0. For example, the right part of FIG. 17B shows that for two PRACH transmission signals, the UE can start transmission at RO#0 or RO#6. RO#2 and RO#4 do not have a preamble for 2-PRACH transmission.

[0137] In additional or alternative examples, if a selected SSB is associated with multiple FDM ROs at a certain time, the UE can use the same frequency resource or hop among the frequency-domain PRACH resources across multiple PRACH transmission signals. The configuration of PRACH frequency hopping, including enabling / disabling of frequency hopping, the frequency hopping offset in units of PRB or RO, and the frequency hopping interval indicating how long the hop continues, is configured in SIB1 or is predetermined.

[0138]

Number

[0139] For example, assume that the PRACH configuration index 127 and RO shown in FIG. 16B offset = 4RO, msg1 - FDM = 8. For index 127, K = 2. For the 8 PRACH transmission signals, the UE alternates between two frequency hopping offsets after every two PRACH transmission signals.

[0140] In an additional or alternative example, for the hybrid PRACH preamble format "Ax / By", can it be used with multiple PRACH transmission signals, or does the UE transmit multiple PRACH transmission signals for Ax?

[0141] In NR, up to Rel - 17, the available RO is determined by the MAC entity. When the physical layer checks and it is valid, the UE transmits the PRACH, and no collision leading to PRACH discard occurs. The UL beam switching time can also be a cause of PRACH discard. One coverage extension in Rel - 17 is the repetition of PUSCH based on the available slots. The DL slots and the slots for SSB transmission are not considered as available slots to avoid PUSCH transmission discard. However, transmission based on available slots is not suitable for PRACH. First, the PRACH time - domain resources occur at a specific time. Second, consideration of PRACH collision between UEs is required. If a PRACH transmission is discarded, its re - transmission may increase the PRACH collision. Unlike the PUSCH transmission where the repetition factor is scheduled by the gNB, the number of PRACH repetitions is determined by the UE when the LTE eMTC rules are reused. Besides counting the available slots, several methods are possible to reduce the impact of PRACH discard.

[0142] In some embodiments, for multiple PRACH transmissions, if the PRACH transmission in the available RO determined by the MAC entity is discarded by considering the physical layer to be invalid or due to collision handling, it is not advanced.

[0143] For RedCap UE, if the RO overlaps with a certain DL reception, whether to transmit the PRACH is left to the UE implementation.

[0144] For case 8 where a valid RO overlaps with a dynamic DL reception, whether to receive the dynamically scheduled DL or transmit the PRACH is left to the UE implementation.

[0145] For case 8 where a valid RO overlaps with a DL reception configured for UE-specific use (e.g., PDCCH in USS, SPS PDSCH, CSI-RS, or DL PRS), whether to receive that DL or transmit the PRACH is left to the UE implementation.

[0146] In additional or alternative embodiments, if a valid RO overlaps with a DL reception that is dynamically scheduled or configured for UL-specific use and the RedCap UE does not transmit the PRACH in that RO, it is not advanced.

[0147] In some embodiments, when it is determined that the PRACH transmission should be discarded, it can be configured or predetermined whether the UE is allowed to change the iteration level determined according to, for example, the RSRP threshold. In the predetermined method, the determination may be made based on whether the random access was triggered by the physical layer or the upper layer, or CBRA or CFRA.

[0148] For example, a UE for CBRA is allowed to select a repetition factor higher than that determined based on the RSRP threshold to compensate for some or all of the discarded transmissions. Alternatively, if the UE wishes to transmit four PRACH transmission signals but the latter two are to be discarded, it may select a lower repetition factor of 2, which has a shorter latency but similar performance. How to maintain the balance between latency and the repetition factor can be left to the UE implementation. However, even if the determined repetition factor and its change are left to the UE implementation, it is beneficial for the gNB to recognize that the UE can change the repetition level because it can determine the number of repetitions of Msg3 based on the PRACH repetition level. In addition, for some latency-sensitive trigger events such as CFRA for HO or beam failure recovery, it is not desirable for the UE to determine an upgrade of the repetition level.

[0149] For NB-IoT and LTE eMTC, multiple PRACH transmissions in a trial have the same transmission power based on the same path loss estimation. However, if multiple NR PRACH transmissions occur over a long period of time or the radio channel changes very rapidly, the UE may update the RSRP filtered by the upper layer multiple times, depending also on the filter input rate and the PRACH transmission power. The change in the PRACH transmission power may affect the TPC command in the RAR.

[0150] In some embodiments, it can be determined or configured in advance whether the UE is allowed to change the PRACH transmission power during a multiple PRACH transmission of a trial.

[0151] When the gNB receives multiple repetitions of the same random access preamble from the UE, it can perform coherent combining or non-coherent combining. Coherent combining means that the gNB combines those repetitions of the RACH preamble and processes the combined signal without a calculated modular value. In non-coherent combining, the gNB estimates each repetition independently and adds the modular values of each repetition.

[0152] Figure 18 shows an example of coherent combining during repetitions.

[0153] Figure 19 shows an example of non-coherent combining during repetitions.

[0154] For coherent combining without guarantee by the UE of phase continuity across PRACH repetitions, the gNB must align the phases of all received PRACH repetitions by phase compensation before their combining. This will increase the complexity of the gNB implementation. If the UE maintains phase continuity across several PRACH repetitions, the gNB can perform coherent combining on them without prior phase compensation. The output sequence of coherent combining can be treated as the detected PRACH sequence and non-coherently combined for repetitions where the UE cannot maintain the same phase. In particular, when the corresponding multiple ROs are temporally continuous, it is possible for the UE to maintain phase continuity among multiple PRACH repetitions.

[0155] Some of the events that violate the agreed-upon phase continuity for Rel-17 DMRS bundling can be reused for multiple PRACH transmissions, which includes a gap of at least 14 symbols between two PUSCH transmissions. In addition, several other methods can be considered.

[0156] In some embodiments, the gNB determines whether some / all of the PRACH transmissions from the UE are phase-aligned by one or more of the following methods. In some examples, the gNB determines whether some / all of the PRACH transmissions from the UE are phase-aligned based on an explicit or implicit indication by the guard of the preamble sequence. This can be used when the actual cell radius is smaller than the maximum cell radius designed for the PRACH format.

[0157] In additional or alternative examples, the gNB determines whether some / all of the PRACH transmissions from the UE are phase-aligned based on a unique preamble configured for various levels of PRACH phase continuity. For example, preambles #0 - 9 are configured for phase continuity between two PRACH repetitions, and preambles #10 - 19 are configured for phase continuity between four PRACH repetitions. Further, if all of preambles #0 - 19 are associated with a total of four PRACH repetitions according to SIB1, the transmission of preambles #0 - 9 indicates that the UE can switch beams after the first two PRACH transmissions and that the phase can change after the beam switch.

[0158] In additional or alternative examples, the gNB determines whether some / all of the PRACH transmissions from the UE are phase-aligned based on the fact that it is essential to support phase continuity as long as no violation event occurs for a UE transmitting multiple PRACHs. Alternatively, if it is an optional UE capability, the UE implicitly indicates its capability along with the first PRACH transmission.

[0159] In some embodiments, it can be determined in advance whether TA adjustment is applied to the UE during multiple PRACH transmissions on the same beam.

[0160] Embodiments associated with multiple PRACH transmissions on different beams are described below.

[0161] In some embodiments, the UE can notify the gNB (e.g., implicitly by a unique preamble if different Tx beams are to be used for multiple PRACH transmission signals). Otherwise, the gNB assumes that the same Tx beam is used. In additional or alternative embodiments, whether the same or different Tx beams are used is determined by the UE's beam correspondence capability. For example, if the capability beamCorrespondenceWithoutUL - BeamSweeping is supported in the UE, PRACH is transmitted with the same Tx beam.

[0162] In additional or alternative embodiments, the UE desires network assistance to reduce beam refinement time and thus potentially increase the received power at the gNB by transmitting multiple beams. In this case, the number of Tx beams can be determined by the network via SIB. The UE may select a Tx beam based on the received SSB RSRP, for example, if the gNB allows PRACH transmission with two Tx beams according to the SIB configuration. If the UE receives a higher SSB RSRP on two panels but not on other panels, it could transmit one beam on each of those two panels.

[0163] In additional or alternative embodiments, the number of PRACH transmission signals is determined based on the number of the UE's Tx beams.

[0164] For example, when the UE determines its value according to the RSRP measurement of the SSB and the configured threshold, it will transmit that number of PRACHs on each of its TX beams. In other examples, the number of PRACH transmission signals is equal to the number of its Tx beams such that each PRACH is transmitted on a different beam. In some such embodiments, the network may indicate the number of repetitions that the UE should use when transmitting the PRACH, and this may be regarded as the candidate number of repetitions. If the number of different Tx beams that the UE can transmit is less than the number of repetitions that are indicated or "candidate", the UE may transmit a number of PRACHs equal to the number of different Tx beams and not transmit the remaining PRACHs at the candidate number of repetitions indicated by the network.

[0165] At a certain PRACH transmission opportunity, there are 64 preambles. The network can detect 64 PRACHs transmitted at the same time-frequency PRACH opportunity. For simplicity, only consider preambles with the same root sequence but different cyclic shifts. For an unrestricted set, when N CS = 2, the short-sequence PRACH can have 64 cyclic shifts, which are represented by C v = vN CS where v = 0, 1,..., 63 for one root index. For a single PRACH transmission, the 64 simultaneously transmitted PRACHs are received by the gNB and land in the corresponding non-overlapping time-domain search windows. N CS is indicated by the gNB via zeroCorrelationZoneConfig based on the UL delay spread of the channel for a single PRACH transmission.

[0166] When the UE transmits the PRACH with different Tx beams, if some Tx beams do not hit the gNB well, or different TAs are applied to different Tx beams, the delay spread of multiple PRACH transmission signals with different Tx beams may be larger than that configured by the gNB for a single PRACH transmission signal. In FIG. 20, the UE transmits a preamble with v = 0 in three ROs with different beams. The second PRACH transmission arrives with a longer delay than the first transmission but still lands within the correct search window. The third transmission has a delay even longer than the configured N CS and lands in another window and will be misdetected as preamble v = 1. To avoid misdetection, the UE may have to limit its Tx beam to a small degree of freedom so that they can all be received within the search window based on the NCS. However, it is difficult for the UE to determine the angular range. Therefore, in some embodiments, a larger N than the legacy one for a single PRACH transmission CS is configured for multiple PRACH transmissions with different Tx beams.

[0167] In a separate RO, the logical root sequence index obtained from the higher layer parameter prach-RootSequenceIndex or rootSequenceIndex-BFR is applied to multiple PRACH transmission signals with different Tx beams in combination with the new N CS . However, in the case of a shared RO, the logical root sequence index requires consideration.

[0168] In additional or alternative embodiments, in the case of a shared RO shared with preambles of different N CS , the logical root sequence index of the first preamble with the new N CS can be one or more of the following.

[0169] In some examples, the logical root sequence index is configured separately in SIB1, or determined by an offset configured relative to prach-RootSequenceIndex or rootSequenceIndex-BFR.

[0170] In additional or alternative examples, the logical root sequence index is RA equal to the sum of (an offset and the largest logical root sequence index among the preamble groups with legacy N) in a cyclic order where the logical index 0 follows 837 when L RA = 839, and follows 137 when L CS = 139, regardless of whether the largest logical root sequence index can still generate a preamble with the new N. The default offset can be 1. CS

[0171] In additional or alternative examples, when the largest logical root sequence index can still generate a preamble with the new N CS for the remaining preambles, the logical root sequence index is the same as the largest logical root sequence index of the preambles with legacy N CS .

[0172] To enable the UE to perform Tx beam switching, especially across the UE's panel, UL beam switching time is required. The PRACH configuration index 127 in FR2 TDD as shown in Figure 16B has a 2-symbol gap between two PRACH opportunities in two consecutive PRACH slots. In some embodiments, if the beam switching time is greater than the gap, the UE may not be ready to transmit on a different beam in the second PRACH opportunity, and thus transmits the PRACH in the PRACH opportunity without changing the beam. Otherwise, in some embodiments, determining the number of PRACH transmission signals actually transmitted by the UE includes determining the number of PRACH transmission signals based on the UL beam switching time and the amount of time between PRACH opportunities such that the time between any two consecutive transmission signals is greater than the beam switching time.

[0173] In some embodiments, one or more of the following techniques are used to determine the PRACH opportunity.

[0174] In some examples, the UE selects the SSB considering its beam switching time such that multiple PRACH transmission signals on different Tx beams in the RO associated with the selected SSB can be transmitted without a new discard rule such as self-discarding at the UE.

[0175] Since the determination of the SSB is left to the UE's implementation, if the UE wishes to switch Tx beams within or across panels, it can estimate whether the RO gap for the selected SSB is sufficient for beam switching. If the beam switching time is longer than the RO gap, the UE may select multiple Tx beams transmitted from a single panel, select different SSBs or fewer repetitions so that the beam switching time becomes shorter than the RO gap. In other examples, the UE may first activate different panels before performing beam switching, thereby reducing the beam switching time, so that the beam switching time is shorter than the RO gap. All of this is left to the UE's implementation or its discretion. From the perspective of the gNB and the standard, the UE should not discard PRACH transmissions due to its own reasons, for example, when the beam switching time is longer than the RO gap, which is unknown to the gNB and thus affects the detection rate.

[0176] If the UE can transmit multiple PRACHs associated with multiple SSBs, the selection of the multiple SSBs follows the same rules.

[0177] In additional or alternative examples, the network may select the PRACH configuration index such that the gap between consecutive PRACH ROs is greater than the maximum UE beam switching time, so that autonomous discard by the UE does not occur in different PRACH beam transmissions.

[0178] In additional or alternative examples, the MAC entity may consider the possible occurrence of UL beam switching time when determining the next available PRACH opportunity.

[0179] In a further or alternative example, the MAC entity does not consider the UL beam switching time when determining the next available PRACH opportunity. A PRACH opportunity is valid if it starts at least N symbols after the last symbol of the PRACH opportunity corresponding to the previous PRACH transmission, where N represents the UL beam switching time. It can be predetermined whether a PRACH transmission can be postponed on a PRACH opportunity that is considered invalid by the physical layer.

[0180] In additional or alternative embodiments, if the UE's UL beam switching time is unknown to the gNB, the gNB can use a predetermined value to determine at which PRACH occasion the PRACH should be received for that UE. The UE reports that time after the RRC connection is established. The UE may report separate beam switching times for one SSB and for multiple PRACH transmissions associated with multiple SSBs.

[0181] In NR up to Rel-17, according to 38.213, 7.1.1, the PRACH transmission power is PL b,f,c The UE determines the PL based on the SS / PBCH block associated with the PRACH transmission. b,f,c Determine.

number

[0182] The UE may sweep the DL Rx beam for the same SSB index received over time to calculate different DL path loss estimates on different DL Rx beams, which it can use to determine the PRACH UL Tx power on the corresponding UL Tx beam.

[0183] In some embodiments, the PRACH transmit power may be in one or more of the following forms:

[0184] In some examples, the same transmit power is used for all UL Tx beams based on a pre-determined / minimum / maximum / average DL path loss estimate. The UE maintains one PREAMBLE_POWER_RAMPING_COUNTER for all UL Tx beams.

[0185] In additional or alternative examples, the PRACH transmit power for a UL Tx beam is based on the DL path loss estimate of the corresponding DL Rx beam. The UE maintains a PREAMBLE_POWER_RAMPING_COUNTER for each UL Tx beam.

[0186] For the transmit power of Msg1 retransmission, the following existing rules for PRACH retransmission in one UL Tx beam in 38.213 can be reused for multiple different UL Tx beams. If it is before a PRACH retransmission, the UE changes the spatial domain transmit filter and layer 1 notifies the upper layer to pause the power ramping counter.

[0187] The retransmission of Msg1 may use a UL Tx beam different from the previous attempt. In the second example above, since the UE maintains one power control loop for one UL Tx beam, the above rules can be reused. For example, if beam #0 and #1 are used in one attempt and beam #1 and #2 are used for subsequent attempts, the power ramping counter for beam #1 is incremented by 1 and not incremented for beam #2.

[0188] In the first example above, the standard can be updated as follows. If it is before PRACH retransmission, the UE changes any of the spatial domain transmission filters, and layer 1 notifies the upper layer to pause the power ramping counter as described. The UE may determine different values of timing advance for different beams, especially for a UE having multiple panels. If the difference in TA values is within the range of the CP, a single TA can be applied to all beams. Otherwise, either the UE abandons the use of the UL Tx beam that results in a difference in TA greater than the CP, or the UE can transmit the PRACH with different TAs.

[0189] In some embodiments, it can be determined in advance whether the UE can apply different timing advances to multiple PRACH transmission signals on different beams.

[0190] The power of the UE is limited, i.e., P PRACH,target,f,c +PL b,f,c ≧P CMAX,f,c(i) If so, even if transmitting the PRACH with the same power, it helps for the gNB to know which beam has the minimum PL. Moreover, it can be suggested that the UE will use the DL Rx beam corresponding to the first PRACH transmission to receive Msg2.

[0191] In some embodiments, the order of different UL Tx beams for multiple PRACH transmissions is determined according to the increase in the PL estimation value on the corresponding DL Rx beam. Alternatively, the first UL Tx beam corresponds to the DL Rx beam having the minimum PL estimation value.

[0192] In some embodiments, the mapping between the UL Tx beam and the PRACH transmission can be predetermined or configured. One way to pre-determine is that the UE does not transmit two consecutive PRACHs in the time domain with the same UL Tx beam. That is, each PRACH is transmitted with a unique beam. Another way to pre-determine is that the same UL Tx beam is used across one PRACH slot or PRACH opportunities within consecutive PRACH slots. The UE can switch the Tx beam across PRACH opportunities in discontinuous PRACH slots.

[0193] Through the mapping, the gNB can implicitly learn the number of UL Tx beams used by the UE. With that knowledge, the gNB can indicate one of the Tx beams for the next UL transmission.

[0194] Embodiments related to multiple PRACH transmissions with different Tx beams associated with different SSBs are described below.

[0195] In some embodiments, the UE can transmit multiple PRACHs with different beams and associate them with multiple SSBs.

[0196] PRACH transmissions associated with multiple SSBs can provide more spatial diversity gain. On the one hand, due to short-term barriers or implementation concerns such as latency, the selected SSB may not be the strongest beam. Thus, when multiple PRACH repetitions are associated with one SSB, although the UE can adjust the UL Tx beam, they may not be the ideal beams for the gNB. On the other hand, the received RSRP of two adjacent SSBs is similar, especially in overlapping coverage areas. Therefore, multiple PRACHs associated with different SSBs can provide spatial diversity gain compared to one SSB.

[0197] In some embodiments, it can be configured for the UE (e.g., in SIB1) or determined in advance by one or more of the following parameters whether the UE is allowed to transmit multiple PRACH transmission signals of a trial associated with more than one SSB. These parameters can be common to the SSBs or specific to the SSBs. In some examples, it is an indication as to whether the UE is allowed to transmit PRACHs associated with different SSBs. If the gNB configures in such a way but does not configure a specific number of SSBs with which the PRACH transmission signals can be associated, it is left to the decision of the UE. In additional or alternative examples, it is the number of selected SSBs with which the PRACH transmission signals are associated. For example, the value 2 allows the UE to select two adjacent SSBs. The absence or default value of the parameter indicates that only associating the PRACH transmission signal with one SSB is allowed. In additional or alternative examples, it is the maximum number of selected SSBs with which multiple PRACH transmission signals are associated.

[0198] In additional or alternative examples, it is a combination of SSBs. For example, if a UE is configured with two SSBs for PRACH transmission and there are four SSBs in a cell, it can be configured with SSB combinations such as {SSB#0, SSB1}, {SSB#1, SSB2}, {SSB#2, SSB3}, {SSB#3, SSB#0}. If a UE is configured with at most two SSBs, some additional SSB combinations are {SSB#0, SSB0}, {SSB#1, SSB1}, {SSB#2, SSB2}, {SSB#3, SSB3} in case the UE selects only one SSB. In other words, when the UE selects the first SSB#X, with N being the number of SSBs, it can select SSB#Y such that Y = mod(X - 1, N) or Y = mod(X + 1, N). This assumes that the SSBs transmitted by the network are spatially adjacent. For the mTRP scenario, the UE selects one SSB from a TRP, and the gNB can provide a combination of SSB indexes from each TRP.

[0199] The configuration for each SSB is beneficial when the coverage and UE density are non-uniform across multiple SSBs of a cell. When the configuration is per cell, it applies to all its SSBs.

[0200] Since the RSRP of the multiple selected SSBs can be different, the corresponding repetition levels of the SSBs are different. However, this may increase the complexity of the gNB's combination.

[0201] In some embodiments, it may be pre-determined whether it is allowed that the number of PRACH transmission signals is different for different selected SSBs. When the same number of PRACH transmission signals is applied to multiple selected SSBs, it can be based on the RSRP of a specific SSB and the number of UL Tx beams that the UE will use for the PRACH transmission signals associated with those SSBs.

[0202] For example, the UE may perform transmission with an antenna panel and a UE pair of SSBs. For two selected SSBs, the two panels have different numbers of antenna elements and thus different numbers of UL Tx beams.

[0203] In some embodiments, the retransmission signal of Msg1 may be associated with the same or different numbers of SSBs. When the first RACH attempt associates multiple PRACH transmission signals with the same SSB, the next attempt can associate multiple PRACH transmission signals with multiple SSBs.

[0204] In some examples, the UE calculates the path loss based on the "SS block transmission power" and the SS block RSRP. Different SS blocks within an SS burst set may be transmitted with different powers and / or different Tx beamforming gains, at least as an NW implementation. The RMSI indicates only a single transmission power for multiple SS blocks in Rel-15.

[0205] In NR, a RACH transmission opportunity is defined as the time-frequency resource in which a PRACH message 1 is transmitted with a single specific tx beam using a configured PRACH preamble format.

[0206] In some embodiments, when multiple PRACH transmission signals are associated with multiple SSBs, the PRACH opportunity may be determined by one or more of the following options.

[0207] For multiple PRACH transmission signals associated with multiple SSBs, in some examples, the PRACH transmission signal associated with a certain SSB precedes those associated with other SSBs. In additional or alternative examples, the PRACH transmission signals associated with different selected SSBs may be interleaved.

[0208] Regarding the determination of the RO for the first PRACH transmission, in some examples, the first PRACH may be associated with the SSB having the strongest RSRP. In additional or alternative examples, the UE determines the PRACH opportunity associated with any of the selected SSBs.

[0209] These examples can be used in different configurations. Consider that the UE selects SSB#0 and SSB#1 for the RACH procedure. In some examples, one SSB mapped to two ROs can be applied as shown in Figure 21A to reduce latency. If SSB#0 has a higher RSRP than SSB#1, Figure 21A also shows the selected RO according to option a. However, if SSB#1 has a higher RSRP than SSB#0, the UE first starts from the RO associated with SSB#1 and then the available RO at SSB#0, and they are discontinuous. However, when the UE determines the PRACH opportunity associated with any of the selected SSBs, it can select the RO as shown in Figure 21A.

[0210] In additional or alternative examples, as shown in Figure 21B, one SSB can be mapped to one RO.

[0211] In some embodiments, the preamble associated with one SSB within the RO can be split for the PRACH transmission signal associated with one SSB and for that associated with multiple SSBs.

[0212] In examples of possible SSB combinations such as {SSB#0}, {SSB#1}, {SSB#2}, {SSB#3}, {SSB#0,SSB1}, {SSB#1,SSB2}, {SSB#2,SSB3}, {SSB#3,SSB#0}, different multiple PRACH resources will be configured for {SSB#0}, {SSB#0,SSB1}, and {SSB#3,SSB#0} so that the gNB can know whether it is transmitting the PRACH repetition alone for SSB#0 or together with other adjacent SSBs.

[0213] In some embodiments, when different multiple preambles in the RO are associated with multiple SSBs and the PRACH repetition is enabled, the UE transmits one preamble in the RO for one selected SSB. A preamble index offset is selected and applied to the starting preamble for the selected SSB.

[0214] FIG. 22 shows a state where ssb-perRACH-OccasionAndCB-PreamblesPerSSB is configured as 4, that is, 4 SSBs have 4 corresponding preambles in the RO. If the UE selects offset 0, it can transmit preamble indices #0, 16, 32, 48 for the corresponding SSB if selected. More generally, the UE selects a preamble index i for PRACH repetition 1, and SSBn is associated with the next preamble index

Number

[0215] In additional or alternative embodiments, the multiple PRACH transmission signals can be ordered such that the associated SSB has a decreasing / increasing SSB RSRP or SSB index.

[0216] In some embodiments, the PRACH transmission power is determined as one or more of the following forms.

[0217] In some examples, the UE maintains the same transmission power independently determined based on the minimum or average PL of the selected SSB, or the PL of the reference SSB with the smallest index, for all PRACH transmission signals. The UE maintains one PREAMBLE_POWER_RAMPING_COUNTER for all UL Tx beams. The reference SSB for path loss estimation can be determined in the same manner as the previous attempt, but with the latest SSB before the PRACH retransmission.

[0218] In additional or alternative examples, the UE maintains the same transmission power independently determined based on the RSRP of the received SSB for multiple PRACH transmission signals associated with the same SSB. The UE maintains one PREAMBLE_POWER_RAMPING_COUNTER for each selected SSB. The reference SSB for path loss estimation can be the latest SSB with the index preceding the PRACH transmission associated with the same SSB index. Since the UE holds a counter for each SSB, legacy rules can be reused. In some examples, the rules can be updated as follows. 1>Selected All If the SSB or CSI-RS does not change from the selection in the last random access preamble transmission,

[0219] it means that the power ramping counter is not incremented as long as the set of SSBs for retransmission is different from those of the previous attempt

[0220] In the following description, the communication device may be any of the wireless devices 2512A, 2512B, the wired or wireless devices UE2512C, UE2512D, UE2600, the virtual hardware 2904, the virtual machines 2908A, 2908B, or UE3006. However, for the purpose of explaining the functionality of the communication device, UE2600 (also referred to herein as communication device 2600) will be used. In accordance with some embodiments of the inventive concept, the operation of the communication device 2600 (implemented using the block diagram structure of FIG. 26) will be discussed hereinafter with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 23. For example, a group of modules may be stored in the memory 2610 of FIG. 26, and the group of modules provides a group of instructions. Thereby, the group of instructions of a certain module is executed by the processing circuit 2602 of each communication device, and the processing circuit 2602 executes each operation of the flowchart.

[0221] FIG. 23 shows an example of operations performed by a communication device during a RA procedure associated with a network node of an NR communication network.

[0222] In block 2310, the processing circuit 2602 receives an indication of PRACH transmission configuration information from the network node via the communication interface 2612.

[0223] In block 2320, the processing circuit 2602 determines a rsrp-ThresholdMsg3 threshold based on a flag in the RRC message. In some embodiments, the RRC message is associated with a specific BWP or preamble characteristic group.

[0224] In block 2330, the processing circuit 2602 determines information associated with at least one of the communication device and the channel between the communication device and the network node.

[0225] In block 2340, the processing circuit 2602 determines, based on the above information, the number of PRACH transmission signals to be transmitted to the network node as part of the RA procedure (prior to the reception of RAR). In some embodiments, determining the above information includes determining the RSRP associated with the channel. Determining the number of PRACH transmission signals includes: 1) determining the number of PRACH transmission signals based on a comparison between the RSRP and a predetermined threshold; 2) determining, according to the RSRP and the threshold, that the iterative procedure applies to the Msg3 transmission signal; and 3) repeating the Msg3 transmission at least the number of times indicated in at least the random access response.

[0226] In additional or alternative embodiments, determining the above information includes determining the power headroom of the communication device. Determining the number of PRACH transmission signals includes determining the number of PRACH transmission signals based on a comparison between the amount of power required for the PRACH transmission signals and the power headroom.

[0227] In additional or alternative embodiments, determining the number of PRACH transmission signals to be transmitted to the network node includes receiving an indication of a candidate number of PRACH transmission signals and determining the number of PRACH transmission signals as the smaller of the candidate number and the number of different Tx beams available to the communication device for PRACH transmission signals.

[0228] In additional or alternative embodiments, determining the number of PRACH transmission signals includes determining the number of PRACH transmission signals based on the uplink (UL) beam switching time and the amount of time between PRACH opportunities such that the time between any two consecutive transmission signals is greater than the beam switching time.

[0229] In block 2345, the processing circuit 2602 determines the periodicity associated with the PRACH transmission signal based on the association period.

[0230] In block 2350, the processing circuit 2602 transmits the number of PRACH transmission signals to the network node via the communication interface 2612. In some embodiments, transmitting the number of PRACH transmission signals includes transmitting a plurality of different preambles over a plurality of ROs associated with an SSB associated with a portion of the PRACH transmission signal.

[0231] In additional or alternative embodiments, the number of PRACH transmission signals includes at least two PRACH transmission signals. Transmitting the number of PRACH transmission signals includes: 1) transmitting the first PRACH transmission signal of the at least two PRACH transmission signals in the first RO using a first preamble based on where in the first RO a preamble group associated with the first PRACH transmission signal is located; and 2) transmitting the second PRACH transmission signal of the at least two PRACH transmission signals in the second RO using a second preamble based on where in the second RO a preamble group associated with the second PRACH transmission signal is located.

[0232] In additional or alternative embodiments, the number of PRACH transmission signals includes at least two PRACH transmission signals each associated with a different uplink (UL) transmission (Tx) beam. Transmitting the number of PRACH transmission signals includes transmitting the at least two PRACH transmission signals using the different UL Tx beams.

[0233] In additional or alternative embodiments, the number of PRACH transmission signals includes at least two PRACH transmission signals. Transmitting the number of PRACH transmission signals includes: 1) transmitting a first PRACH transmission signal among the at least two PRACH transmission signals using a first preamble index; 2) determining a second preamble index based on the first preamble index and an offset (e.g., a logical index of a root sequence or a cyclic shift); and 3) transmitting a second PRACH transmission signal among the at least two PRACH transmission signals using the second preamble index.

[0234] In additional or alternative embodiments, the number of PRACH transmission signals includes at least two PRACH transmission signals each associated with a different transmission power. Transmitting the number of PRACH transmission signals includes: 1) transmitting the at least two PRACH transmission signals using the different transmission powers; 2) determining each of the different transmission powers according to at least one of the corresponding path loss values; and 3) determining the different transmission powers according to different values of a power ramping counter.

[0235] In additional or alternative embodiments, the number of PRACH transmission signals includes at least two PRACH transmission signals each associated with a different timing advance (TA). Transmitting the number of PRACH transmission signals includes transmitting the at least two PRACH transmission signals using the different TAs.

[0236] In additional or alternative embodiments, the number of PRACH transmission signals includes at least two PRACH transmission signals. Transmitting the number of PRACH transmission signals includes transmitting the at least two PRACH transmission signals in an order based on the path loss associated with each of the at least two PRACH transmission signals.

[0237] In additional or alternative embodiments, the number of PRACH transmission signals includes at least two PRACH transmission signals each associated with a different synchronization signal block (SSB). Transmitting the number of PRACH transmission signals includes transmitting the at least two PRACH transmission signals using UL Tx beams associated with the different SSBs.

[0238] In additional or alternative embodiments, transmitting the number of PRACH transmission signals further includes transmitting an indication that the communication device will transmit the at least two PRACH transmission signals using the different UL Tx beams.

[0239] In additional or alternative embodiments, the number of PRACH transmission signals includes at least two PRACH transmission signals. Transmitting the number of PRACH transmission signals includes transmitting a first PRACH transmission signal of the at least two PRACH transmission signals using a first preamble index, determining a second preamble index by applying the same offset between the first preamble index and a start preamble index configured for a plurality of PRACH transmission signals in the first RO to a start preamble index configured for a plurality of PRACH transmission signals in the second RO, and transmitting a second PRACH transmission signal of the at least two PRACH transmission signals using the second preamble index.

[0240] In some embodiments, transmitting the number of PRACH transmission signals includes transmitting the number of PRACH transmission signals using the periodicity. In additional or alternative embodiments, transmitting the number of PRACH transmission signals using the periodicity includes transmitting the number of PRACH transmission signals during a time period equal to one or more association periods.

[0241] In an additional or alternative embodiment, transmitting the above number of PRACH transmission signals includes transmitting the above number of PRACH transmission signals during a time period starting from a resource opportunity (RO) index I defined as mod(I,K)=0, where K is the above number of PRACH transmission signals.

[0242] In an additional or alternative embodiment, for a certain point in time associated with the above number of PRACH transmission signals, there are a plurality of frequency division multiplexed (FDM) resource opportunities (ROs) associated with a selected synchronization signal block (SSB). In some examples, transmitting the above number of PRACH transmission signals includes hopping among the plurality of FDM ROs over the above number of PRACH transmission signals based on the number of FDM ROs configured for the above number of PRACH transmission signals associated with the selected SSB.

[0243] In an additional or alternative embodiment, transmitting the above number of PRACH transmission signals includes transmitting the i-th PRACH transmission signal among the above number of PRACH transmission signals at RO index RO in the frequency domain defined by the following formula start (i),

Number

[0244] In an additional or alternative embodiment, transmitting the above number of PRACH transmission signals includes transmitting a first PRACH transmission signal among the above number of PRACH transmission signals, determining that the first PRACH transmission signal is discarded following the transmission of the first PRACH transmission signal, and transmitting all of the remaining PRACH transmission signals among the above number of PRACH transmission signals in response to the determination that the first PRACH transmission signal is discarded.

[0245] At block 2360, the processing circuit 2602 determines that no RAR has been received. At block 2370, the processing circuit 2602 determines at least one of the number of PRACH retransmission signals and the transmission power for the PRACH retransmission signals based on parameters configured by the network. At block 2380, the processing circuit 2602 transmits the number of PRACH retransmission signals via the communication interface 2612.

[0246] The various operations from the flowchart of FIG. 23 may be optional for some embodiments of the communication device and related methods. In some examples, blocks 2310, 2320, 2360, 2370, and 2380 of FIG. 23 may be optional.

[0247] In the following description, a network node may be any of network nodes 2510A, 2510B, core network node 2508, network node 2700, virtualized hardware 2904, virtual machines 2908A, 2908B, or network node 3004, but for the purpose of describing the functionality of the operations of a network node, network node 2700 is used. In accordance with some embodiments of the inventive concept, with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 24, the operations of network node 2700 (implemented using the block diagram structure of FIG. 27) will be discussed hereinafter. For example, a group of modules may be stored in the memory 2704 of FIG. 27, and those groups of modules provide a group of instructions, whereby the instructions of a certain module are executed by the processing circuit 2702 of each network node, and the processing circuit 2702 executes each operation of the flowchart.

[0248] FIG. 24 shows an example of operations performed by a network node of an NR communication network during an RA procedure associated with a communication device.

[0249] In block 2410, the processing circuit 2702 transmits an indication of PRACH transmission configuration information to the communication device via the communication interface 2706.

[0250] In block 2420, the processing circuit 2702 transmits an indication of the rsrp-ThresholdMsg3 threshold via a flag in the RRC message via the communication interface 2706.

[0251] In block 2430, the processing circuit 2702 may determine information associated with at least one of the communication device and the channel between the communication device and the network node.

[0252] In block 2440, the processing circuit 2702 determines the number of PRACH transmission signals to be received from the communication device as part of the RA procedure based on the information. In some embodiments, determining the information includes determining the RSRP associated with the channel. Determining the number of PRACH transmission signals includes determining the number of PRACH transmission signals based on a comparison of the RSRP with a predetermined threshold.

[0253] In additional or alternative embodiments, determining the information includes determining the power headroom of the communication device. Determining the number of PRACH transmission signals includes determining the number of PRACH transmission signals based on a comparison of the power required for the number of PRACH transmission signals with the power headroom.

[0254] In block 2450, processing circuit 2702 monitors the NR communication network for the number of PRACH transmission signals from the communication device via communication interface 2706. In some embodiments, monitoring the NR communication network for the number of PRACH transmission signals includes monitoring the NR communication network for different preambles over multiple random access channel opportunities (ROs) associated with synchronization signal blocks associated with a portion of the plurality of PRACH transmission signals.

[0255] In additional or alternative embodiments, the number of PRACH transmission signals includes at least two PRACH transmission signals each associated with a different uplink (UL) transmission (Tx) beam. Monitoring the NR communication network for the number of PRACH transmission signals includes monitoring the NR communication network for the at least two PRACH transmission signals via different UL Tx beams.

[0256] In additional or alternative embodiments, the number of PRACH transmission signals includes at least two PRACH transmission signals each associated with a different transmission power. Monitoring the NR communication network includes monitoring the NR communication network for the at least two PRACH transmission signals using different transmission powers.

[0257] In additional or alternative embodiments, the number of PRACH transmission signals includes at least two PRACH transmission signals each associated with a different timing advance (TA). Monitoring the NR communication network includes monitoring the NR communication network for the at least two PRACH transmission signals using different TAs.

[0258] In additional or alternative embodiments, the number of PRACH transmission signals includes at least two PRACH transmission signals. Monitoring the NR communication network includes monitoring the NR communication network for the at least two PRACH transmission signals in an order based on the path loss associated with each of the at least two PRACH transmission signals.

[0259] In additional or alternative embodiments, the number of PRACH transmission signals includes at least two PRACH transmission signals each associated with a different synchronization signal beam (SSB). Monitoring the NR communication network includes monitoring the NR communication network for the at least two PRACH transmission signals using different SSBs.

[0260] In block 2460, the processing circuit 2702 determines that no PRACH transmission signal has been received.

[0261] In block 2470, the processing circuit 2702 monitors the NR communication network for a number of PRACH retransmission signals based on parameters configured by the network.

[0262] The various operations from the flowchart of FIG. 24 may be optional with respect to some embodiments of the network entity and related methods. In some examples, blocks 2410, 2420, 2460, and 2470 of FIG. 24 may be optional.

[0263] FIG. 25 shows an example of a communication system 2500 according to some embodiments.

[0264] In this example, the communication system 2500 includes a telecommunications network 2502 that includes an access network 2504, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network 2506 that includes one or more core network nodes 2508. The access network 2504 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 2510a and 2510b (one or more of which may generally be referred to as network node 2510), or some other similar 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access node or non-3GPP access point. The network node 2510 facilitates direct or indirect connection of user equipment (UE), such as by connecting UEs 2512a, 2512b, 2512c, and 2512d (one or more of which may generally be referred to as UE 2512) to the core network 2506 over one or more wireless connections.

[0265] Exemplary wireless communication over a wireless connection includes transmitting and / or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and / or other types of signals suitable for carrying information without using wires, cables, or other physical conductors. Moreover, in various embodiments, the communication system 2500 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and / or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and / or signals, whether over a wired or wireless connection. The communication system 2500 may include any type of communication, telecommunications, data, cellular, wireless network, and / or other similar types of systems, and / or interface with them.

[0266] UE2512 may be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including a wireless device arranged, configured, and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with network node 2510 and other communication devices. Similarly, network node 2510 is arranged, enabled, and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with UE2512 and / or with other network nodes or devices within telecommunication network 2502 in order to enable and / or provide network access such as wireless network access and / or to perform other functions such as management within telecommunication network 2502.

[0267] In the illustrated example, core network 2506 connects network node 2510 to one or more hosts such as host 2516. Those connections may be direct or may be indirect via one or more intermediate networks or devices. In other examples, a network node may be directly coupled to a host. Core network 2506 includes one or more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 2508) structured with hardware and software components. The functions of those components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UE, network node, and / or host, and thus those descriptions are generally applicable to the corresponding components of core network node 2508. Exemplary core network nodes include one or more functions of a mobile switching center (MSC), a mobility management entity (MME), a home subscriber server (HSS), an access and mobility management function (AMF), a session management function (SMF), an authentication server function (AUSF), a subscription identifier de-concealment function (SIDF), a unified data management (UDM), a security edge protection proxy (SEPP), a network exposure function (NEF), and / or a user plane function (UPF).

[0268] Host 2516 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator, or of a provider of access network 2504 and / or telecommunications network 2502, and may be operated by or on behalf of such service provider. Host 2516 may host various applications to provide one or more services. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio / video content, data collection services such as the acquisition and compilation of data regarding various ambient conditions sensed by a plurality of UEs, analytical functionality, social media, functionality for the control or otherwise interaction with remote devices, functionality for alarm and monitoring centers, or any other such functionality executed by a server.

[0269] Overall, the communication system 2500 of FIG. 25 enables connectivity between UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system may be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as certain standards including, but not limited to, GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), Long-Term Evolution (LTE), and / or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G standards, or any applicable future generation standards (e.g., 6G), WLAN (wireless local area network) standards such as IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.11 standards (WiFi), and / or any other suitable wireless communication standards such as WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, NFC (Near Field Communication) ZigBee, LiFi, and / or any LPWAN (low-power wide-area network) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox.

[0270] In some examples, the telecommunication network 2502 is a cellular network implementing functions standardized by 3GPP. Thus, the telecommunication network 2502 may support network slicing to provide various logical networks to the various devices connected to the telecommunication network 2502. For example, the telecommunication network 2502 may provide ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and may further provide massive machine type communication (mMTC) / massive IoT services to additional UEs.

[0271] In some examples, UE 2512 is configured to send and / or receive information without direct human interaction. For example, the UE may be designed to send information to access network 2504 at a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to a request from access network 2504. Additionally, the UE may be configured to operate in single or multi-RAT, or in multi-standard mode. For example, the UE may be configured and operate in any one or combination of Wi-Fi, NR (New Radio), and LTE, i.e., for multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC) such as E-UTRAN (Evolved-UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) New Radio - Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

[0272] In the above example, the hub 2514 communicates with the access network 2504 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UEs 2512c and / or 2512d) and a network node (e.g., network node 2510b). In some examples, the hub 2514 may be any of a controller, a router, a content source and analytics, or other communication devices described herein with respect to the UE. For example, the hub 2514 may be a broadband router that enables access to the core network 2506 for the UE. As another example, the hub 2514 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators within the UE. The commands or instructions may be received from the UE or the network node 2510, or may be received by executable code, scripts, processes, or other instructions within the hub 2514. As another example, the hub 2514 may be a data controller that operates as temporary storage for UE data, and in some embodiments may perform analysis or other processing of that data. As another example, the hub 2514 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR headset, a display, a loudspeaker, or other media delivery device, the hub 2514 may obtain media or data related to VR assets, video, audio, or other sensory information via the network node, in which case the hub 2514 provides it to the UE either directly, after local processing is performed, and / or after additional local content is added. In yet another example, the hub 2514 operates as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UE, especially when one or more of the UEs are low-energy IoT devices.

[0273] Hub 2514 may have a steady / permanent or intermittent connection to network node 2510b. Also, Hub 2514 may enable different communication methods and / or schedules between Hub 2514 and the UEs (UE2512c and / or 2512d), as well as between Hub 2514 and core network 2506. In other examples, Hub 2514 is connected to core network 2506 and / or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, Hub 2514 may be configured to be connected to an M2M service provider on access network 2504 and / or to other UEs on a direct connection. In some scenarios, a UE may establish a wireless connection with network node 2510 while still being connected via Hub 2514 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, Hub 2514 may be a dedicated hub, i.e., a hub whose main function is to route communications between the UE and network node 2510b. In other embodiments, Hub 2514 may be a non-dedicated hub, i.e., a device that is operable to route communications between the UE and network node 2510b, but in addition is operable as a starting point and / or endpoint of communication for some data channel.

[0274] FIG. 26 shows a UE 2600 according to some embodiments. As used herein, a UE refers to a device that is capable of wirelessly communicating with a network node and / or another UE, and is configured, arranged, and / or operable to do so. Examples of UEs include, but are not limited to, smartphones, mobile phones, cell phones, VoIP (Voice over IP) phones, wireless local loop phones, desktop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), wireless cameras, game consoles or devices, music storage devices, playback appliances, wearable terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, tablets, laptops, laptop embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), smart devices, wireless customer premise equipment (CPE), vehicle-mounted or vehicle-embedded / integrated wireless devices, etc. Other examples include any UE identified by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) UEs, machine type communication (MTC) UEs, and / or enhanced MTC (eMTC) UEs.

[0275] The UE may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example, by implementing 3GPP standards for sidelink communication, dedicated short range communication (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), or vehicle-to-everything (V2E). In other examples, the UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and / or operates the associated device. Instead, the UE may represent a device (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller) that is intended for sale to or operation by a human user but is not initially associated with a particular human user. Alternatively, the UE may represent a device (e.g., a smart power meter) that is not intended for sale to or operation by an end user and may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user.

[0276] UE 2600 includes a processing circuit 2602, a power supply 2608, a memory 2610, a communication interface 2612, and / or any other components, or any combination thereof, that are operably coupled via a bus 2604 to an input / output interface 2606. A UE may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in FIG. 26. The level of integration between components may vary between one UE and another UE. Further, a UE may include multiple instances of components, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, and the like.

[0277] The processing circuit 2602 is configured to process instruction sets and data and may be configured to implement some sequential state machine operable to execute instruction sets stored as machine-readable computer programs within the memory 2610. The processing circuit 2602 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc.), programmable logic with appropriate firmware, one or more stored computer programs, a general purpose processor such as a microprocessor or a digital signal processor (DSP) with appropriate software, or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuit 2602 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs).

[0278] In the above example, the input / output interface 2606 may be configured to provide an interface to an input device, an output device, or one or more input / output devices. Examples of output devices include speakers, sound cards, video cards, displays, monitors, printers, actuators, emitters, smart cards, other output devices, or any combination thereof. The input device may enable a user to capture information with respect to the UE 2600. Examples of input devices include touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive displays, cameras (e.g., digital cameras, digital video cameras, webcams, etc.), microphones, sensors, mice, trackballs, directional pads, trackpads, scroll wheels, and smart cards. The presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor for sensing input from a user. The sensor may be, for example, an accelerometer, gyroscope, tilt sensor, force sensor, magnetometer, optical sensor, proximity sensor, biometric sensor, etc., or any combination thereof. The output device may use the same type of interface port as the input device. For example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port may be used to provide the input device and the output device.

[0279] In some embodiments, the power supply 2608 is structured as a battery or a battery pack. Other types of power supplies such as an external power supply (e.g., an electrical outlet), a photovoltaic device or a fuel cell may also be used. The power supply 2608 may further include a power circuit for delivering power from the power supply 2608 itself and / or an external power supply to various parts of the UE 2600 via an interface such as an input circuit or a power cable. The delivery of power may be, for example, for charging the power supply 2608. The power circuit may perform some shaping, conversion or other modification to the power from the power supply 2608 in order to make the power suitable for each component of the UE 2600 that is the power recipient.

[0280] The memory 2610 may be, for example, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a hard disk, a removable cartridge, and a flash drive, or may be configured to include such memories. In one example, the memory 2610 includes one or more application programs 2614, such as an operating system, a web browser application, a widget, a gadget engine, or other applications, and corresponding data 2616. The memory 2610 may store any of a wide variety of operating systems or combinations of multiple operating systems for use by the UE 2600.

[0281] The memory 2610 may be configured to include one or more SIM (subscriber Identity Module) such as a plurality of physical drive units such as RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks), flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, HD-DVD (High-Density Digital Versatile Disc), optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray optical disc drive, HDDS (Holographic Digital Data Storage) optical disc drive, external mini DIMM (Dual In-Line Memory Module), SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory), external micro DIMM SDRAM, USIM and / or ISIM, etc., a smart card memory such as a tamper-resistant module in the form of a UICC (universal integrated circuit card), other memories, or any combination thereof. The UICC may be, for example, an embedded UICC (eUICC), an integrated UICC (iUICC), or a removable UICC commonly known as a "SIM card". The memory 2610 may enable the UE2600 to access instruction groups and application programs stored in a temporary or non-temporary storage medium to offload or upload data. Items of a product such as those using a communication system may be embodied tangibly as or within the memory 2610 which may be or include a device-readable storage medium.

[0282] The processing circuit 2602 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using the communication interface 2612. The communication interface 2612 may include one or more communication subsystems, may include the antenna 2622, or may be communicatively coupled to the antenna 2622. The communication interface 2612 may include one or more transceivers used to conduct communication, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of other wirelessly communicable devices (e.g., other UEs or network nodes within an access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter 2618 and / or a receiver 2620 appropriate to provide network communication (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocation, etc.). Additionally, the transmitter 2618 and the receiver 2620 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 2622), and they may share circuit components, software, or firmware, or alternatively may be implemented separately.

[0283] In the illustrated embodiment, the communication functions of the communication interface 2612 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communication such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communication such as the use of GPS (Global Positioning System) for location determination, other similar communication functions, or any combination thereof. The communication may be implemented according to one or more communication protocols and / or standards such as IEEE802.11, code division multiple access (CDMA), wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, new radio (NR), UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, TCP / IP (transmission control protocol / internet protocol), SONET (synchronous optical networking), ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode), QUIC, HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), etc.

[0284] Regardless of the type of sensor, the UE may provide, via its communication interface 2612, an output of data captured by its sensors to a network node over a wireless connection. The data captured by the UE's sensors may be communicated to the network node over the wireless connection via other UEs. The output may be periodic (e.g., every 15 minutes when reporting a measured temperature), random (e.g., to even out the load from reports from multiple sensors), made in response to a trigger event (e.g., an alert is sent when moisture is detected), made in response to a request (e.g., a request initiated by a user), or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of a patient).

[0285] As another example, the UE includes an actuator, motor, or switch associated with a communication interface configured to receive a wireless input from a network node over a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input, the state of the actuator, motor, or switch may change. For example, the UE may include a motor that adjusts the control surfaces or rotors of a drone in flight according to the received input, or a robotic arm that performs a medical procedure according to the received input.

[0286] When the UE is in the form of an Internet of Things (IoT) device, it may be a device for use in one or more application domains, which include, but are not limited to, wearable technology in the street, extended industrial applications, and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such IoT devices are connected refrigerators or freezers, TVs, connected lighting devices, electricity meters, robotic vacuum cleaners, voice-controlled smart speakers, home security cameras, motion detectors, thermostats, smoke detectors, door / window sensors, waterlogging / moisture sensors, electric door locks, connected doorbells, air conditioning systems such as heat pumps, autonomous vehicles, surveillance systems, climate monitoring devices, parking monitoring devices, vehicle charging stations, smartwatches, fitness trackers, head-mounted displays for augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR), wearables for tactile or perceptual augmentation, water sprinklers, animal or item tracking devices, sensors for monitoring plants or animals, industrial robots, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and any type of medical device such as a heart rate monitor or a remotely controlled surgical robot, or a device incorporated therein. The UE in the form of an IoT device comprises other components as described in relation to the UE2600 shown in FIG. 26, in addition to circuits and / or software that depend on the intended application of the IoT device.

[0287] As yet another specific example, in an IoT scenario, the UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and / or measurements and transmits the results of such monitoring and / or measurements to other UEs and / or network nodes. The UE may in this case be an M2M device and may be referred to as an MTC device in the 3GPP context. As one specific example, the UE may implement the 3GPP NB-IoT standard. In other scenarios, the UE may represent a passenger vehicle, bus, truck, ship or aircraft, or other equipment, capable of monitoring and / or reporting on its operating status or other functions associated with its operation.

[0288] In practice, any number of UEs may be used together for a single use case. For example, a first UE may be a drone or integrated into a drone and provide drone speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller operating the drone. When the user makes a change from the remote controller, the first UE may adjust the drone throttle (e.g., by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone speed. The first and / or second UE may also include more than one of the functionality described above. For example, the UE may be equipped with sensors and actuators and handle the communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuator.

[0289] Figure 27 shows a network node 2700 according to some embodiments. As used herein, a network node refers to a device capable of communicating directly or indirectly with a UE and / or other network nodes or devices within a telecommunication network, and configured, arranged, and / or operable to do so. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., wireless access points) and base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node B, evolved Node B (eNB), and NR Node B (gNB)).

[0290] Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, put another way, their transmit power levels), and thus may be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations, depending on the amount of coverage provided. A base station may also be a relay donor node that controls relay nodes or relays. A network node may include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station, such as a centralized digital unit and / or a remote radio unit (RRU), which may also be referred to as a remote radio head (RRH). Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna, such as an antenna-integrated radio. A part of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as a node within a distributed antenna system (DAS).

[0291] Other examples of network nodes include multi-transmission point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, multi-standard radio (MSR) devices such as MSR BS, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, multi-cell / multicast coordination entities (MCEs), operation and maintenance (O&M) nodes, operation support system (OSS) nodes, self-organizing network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., including evolved serving mobile location center (E-SMLC) and / or drive test minimization (MDT)).

[0292] The network node 2700 includes a processing circuit 2702, a memory 2704, a communication interface 2706, and a power supply 2708. The network node 2700 may be composed of a plurality of physically distinct components (e.g., Node B components and RNC components, or BTS components and BSC components, etc.), each of which may have its own respective components. In a scenario where the network node 2700 includes a plurality of distinct components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more of those distinct components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control a plurality of Node Bs. In such scenarios, each unique pair of Node B and RNC may, in some instances, be regarded as a single distinct network node. In some embodiments, the network node 2700 may be configured to support a plurality of radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be redundant (e.g., separate memories 2704 for different RATs), and some components may be reused (e.g., the same antenna 2710 may be shared by a plurality of different RATs). Also, the network node 2700 may include a plurality of sets of various exemplary components for various wireless technologies integrated into the network node 2700, such as, for example, GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, LoRaWAN, RFID (Radio Frequency Identification), or Bluetooth wireless technologies. Those wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chips or sets of chips and other components within the network node 2700.

[0293] The processing circuit 2702 may include one or more combinations of a microprocessor, a controller, a microcontroller, a central processing unit, a digital signal processor, an application specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array, or other suitable computing device, resource, or hardware, software, and / or encoded logic that is operable to provide the functionality of the network node 2700 alone or in cooperation with other components of the network node 2700 such as the memory 2704.

[0294] In some embodiments, the processing circuit 2702 includes a system on chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuit 2702 includes one or more of a radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuit 2712 and a baseband processing circuit 2714. In some embodiments, the radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuit 2712 and the baseband processing circuit 2714 may be on separate chips (or a set of chips), substrates, or units, such as a radio unit and a digital unit. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the RF transceiver circuit 2712 and the baseband processing circuit 2714 may be on the same chip or a set of chips, substrate, or unit.

[0295] Memory 2704 includes, without limitation, any form of volatile or non-volatile computer-readable memory, including persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (e.g., hard disk), removable storage media (e.g., flash drive, compact disc (CD) or digital video disc (DVD)), and / or any other volatile or non-volatile non-transitory device-readable and / or computer-executable memory device. Memory 2704 may store any suitable instructions, data or information, including one or more of computer programs, software, logic, rules, code, tables, applications, and / or other instructions executable by processing circuitry 2702 and available for use by network node 2700. Memory 2704 may be used to store any calculation results generated by processing circuitry 2702 and / or any data received via communication interface 2706. In some embodiments, processing circuitry 2702 and memory 2704 are integrated.

[0296] The communication interface 2706 is used for wired or wireless communication of signaling and / or data between network nodes, access networks, and / or UEs. As illustrated, the communication interface 2706 includes, for example, ports / terminals 2716 for transmitting and receiving data to and from a network over a wired connection. The communication interface 2706 also includes a radio front-end circuit 2718 that may be connected to or in some embodiments part of the antenna 2710. The radio front-end circuit 2718 includes a filter 2720 and an amplifier 2722. The radio front-end circuit 2718 may be connected to the antenna 2710 and the processing circuit 2702. The radio front-end circuit may be configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna 2710 and the processing circuit 2702. The radio front-end circuit 2718 may receive digital data to be transmitted to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuit 2718 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of the filter 2720 and / or the amplifier 2722. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna 2710. Similarly, when data is received, the antenna 2710 may collect the radio signal, and the radio signal may then be converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuit 2718. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuit 2702. In other embodiments, the communication interface may include different components and / or different combinations of components.

[0297] In some alternative embodiments, network node 2700 may not include a separate radio front-end circuit 2718. Instead, processing circuit 2702 may include a radio front-end circuit and may be connected to antenna 2710. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of RF transceiver circuit 2712 is part of communication interface 2706. In yet another embodiment, communication interface 2706 includes one or more ports or terminals 2716, radio front-end circuit 2718, and RF transceiver circuit 2712 as part of a wireless unit (not shown), and communication interface 2706 communicates with baseband processing circuit 2714, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

[0298] Antenna 2710 may include one or more antennas or antenna arrays configured to transmit and / or receive wireless signals. Antenna 2710 may be coupled to radio front-end circuit 2718 and may be any type of antenna capable of wirelessly transmitting and receiving data and / or signals. In some embodiments, antenna 2710 is separate from network node 2700 and can be connected to network node 2700 through an interface or port.

[0299] Antenna 2710, communication interface 2706, and / or processing circuit 2702 may be configured to perform any of the receiving operations and / or certain acquisition operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data, and / or signals may be received from a UE, other network nodes, and / or any other network device. Similarly, antenna 2710, communication interface 2706, and / or processing circuit 2702 may be configured to perform any of the transmitting operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data, and / or signals may be transmitted to a UE, other network nodes, and / or any other network device.

[0300] Power supply 2708 provides power to the various components of network node 2700 in a form suitable for each component (e.g., at the voltage and current levels required for each respective component). The power supply 2708 may include, or be coupled to, a power management circuit for supplying power to the components of network node 2700 for performing the functionality described herein. For example, network node 2700 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., a power grid, an electrical outlet) via an input circuit or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to the power circuit of power supply 2708. As a further example, power supply 2708 may include a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack connected to or integrated with the power circuit. The battery may provide backup power in case of a failure of the external power source.

[0301] Embodiments of network node 2700 may include additional components other than those shown in FIG. 27 to provide a functional view of the network node that includes any of the functionality described herein and / or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, network node 2700 may include a user interface device that enables input of information to network node 2700 and output of information from network node 2700. This may enable a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions with respect to network node 2700.

[0302] FIG. 28 is a block diagram of a host 2800 that may be an embodiment of the host 2516 of FIG. 25 according to the various aspects described herein. As used herein, the host 2800 may be hardware and / or software in various combinations, including a stand-alone server, a blade server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server, a virtual machine, a container, or processing resources within a server farm, or may include any of these. The host 2800 may provide one or more services to one or more UEs.

[0303] The host 2800 includes a processing circuit 2802, a network interface 2808, a power supply 2810, and a memory 2812 that are operably coupled via a bus 2804 to an input / output interface 2806. In other embodiments, other components may be included. The functionality of those components may be substantially similar to that described for the devices of the previous figures, such as FIGS. 26 and 27, and thus the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the host 2800.

[0304] Memory 2812 may include one or more computer programs including one or more host application programs 2814, and data 2816 that may include user data such as data generated by the UE for the host 2800 or data generated by the host 2800 for the UE. Embodiments of the host 2800 may utilize only a subset or all of the illustrated components. The host application program 2814 may be implemented in a container-based architecture and may provide support for video codecs (VVC (Versatile Video Coding), HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding), AVC (Advanced Video Coding), MPEG, VP9) and audio codecs (e.g., FLAC, AAC (Advanced Audio Coding), MPEG, G_711) including transcoding for different classes, types or implementations of multiple UEs (e.g., handsets, desktop computers, wearable display systems, head-up display systems). Also, the host application program 2814 may provide user authentication and license checking and may periodically report health, route and content availability to a central node such as a device within or at the edge of the core network. Thus, the host 2800 may select and / or indicate different hosts for over-the-top services for the UE. The host application program 2814 may support various protocols such as the HLS (HTTP Live Streaming) protocol, RTMP (Real-Time Messaging Protocol), RTSP (Real-Time Streaming Protocol), MPEG-DASH (Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP).

[0305] FIG. 29 is a block diagram showing a virtualization environment 2900 in which functions implemented according to some embodiments can be virtualized. In this context, virtualization means for generating a virtual version of a device or apparatus may include a virtual hardware platform, a storage device, and networking resources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to any device or their components described herein, and is related to an implementation example in which at least a part of its functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functions described herein are implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines (VMs) implemented within one or more virtual environments 2900 hosted by one or more hardware nodes such as a hardware computing device operating as a network node, a UE, a core network node, or a host. Further, in embodiments where the virtual node does not require wireless connectivity (e.g., a core network node or a host), the node may be virtualized as a whole.

[0306] Application 2902 (alternatively, may be referred to as a software instance, a virtual appliance, a network function, a virtual node, a virtual network function, etc.) operates in a virtualization environment Q400 for implementing some of the features, functions, and / or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0307] Hardware 2904 includes a processing circuit, a memory storing software and / or a set of instructions executable by the processing circuit which is hardware, and / or hardware devices as described herein such as a network interface and an input / output interface. The software is executed by the processing circuit to instantiate one or more virtualization layers 2906 (also referred to as a hypervisor or a virtual machine monitor (VMM)), provide VMs 2908a and VM2908b (one or more of which may be collectively referred to as VM2908), and / or execute any of the functions, features, and / or benefits described in relation to several embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer 2906 may present a virtual operating platform that appears to the virtual machines 2908 as networking hardware.

[0308] VMs 2908 include virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interfaces, and virtual storage and may be executed by the corresponding virtualization layer 2906. Various embodiments of instances of the virtual appliance 2902 may be implemented in one or more of the VMs 2908, and the implementation may be made in various ways. Virtualization of hardware is referred to in some contexts as network function virtualization (NFV). NFV can be used to consolidate many types of network equipment into industry-standard high-volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage that can be located within data centers and customer premise equipment.

[0309] In the context of NFV, VM2908 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs a program as if it were running on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each of the VM2908s, and the portions of the hardware 2904 that execute the VMs, form separate virtual network elements, whether they are hardware dedicated to the VM and / or hardware shared by the VM with other VMs. Also in the context of NFV, the virtual network function is responsible for handling the native network functions operating in one or more VMs2908 at the top level of the hardware 2904 and corresponds to the application 2902.

[0310] The hardware 2904 may be implemented in a stand-alone network node with general or proprietary components. The hardware 2904 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, the hardware 2904 may be part of a larger class of hardware where multiple hardware nodes cooperate and are managed via management and orchestration 2910 (such as those within a data center or CPE), which oversees, among other things, the lifecycle management of the application 2902. In some embodiments, the hardware 2904 is coupled to one or more radio units, each including one or more transmitters and one or more receivers, which may be coupled to one or more antennas. The radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more suitable network interfaces and may be used in combination with virtual components to provide radio capabilities to virtual nodes such as radio access nodes or base stations. In some embodiments, some signaling can be provided in conjunction with the use of the control system 2912, which may alternatively be used for communication between the hardware nodes and the radio units.

[0311] Figure 30 shows a communication diagram of host computer 3002 that communicates with UE 3006 via network node 3004 over a partially wireless connection, according to some embodiments. Exemplary implementations according to various embodiments of the UE (UE 2512a of FIG. 25 and / or UE 2600 of FIG. 26), network node (network node 2510a of FIG. 25 and / or network node 2700 of FIG. 27), and host (host 2516 of FIG. 25 and / or host 2800 of FIG. 28) discussed in the paragraphs up to this point will be described hereinafter with reference to FIG. 30.

[0312] Similar to host 2800, embodiments of host 3002 include hardware such as a communication interface, processing circuitry, and memory. Host 3002 further includes software stored within host 3002 or accessible by host 3002 and executable by the processing circuitry. The software may include a host application operable to provide services to a remote user such as UE 3006 connected via an over-the-top (OTT) connection 3050 that extends between UE 3006 and host computer 3002. During the provision of services to the remote user, the host application may provide user data transmitted using OTT connection 3050.

[0313] Network node 3004 includes hardware that enables communication with host 3002 and UE 3006. Connection 3060 is direct or may pass through one or more other intermediate networks such as a core network (such as core network 2506 of FIG. 25) and / or one or more public, private, or hosted networks. For example, the intermediate network may be a backbone network or the Internet.

[0314] UE3006 includes software stored within or accessible by UE3006, which is executable by the processing circuitry of the UE. The software may include client applications, such as a web browser or a carrier - specific "app", that are operable, with the support of host 3002, to provide services to human or non - human users via UE3006. At host 3002, the host application to be executed may communicate with the client application to be executed via OTT connection 3050 that terminates at UE3006 and host 3002. During service provision to the user, the client application of the UE may receive request data from the host application of the host and provide user data as a response to the request data. OTT connection 3050 may transfer both request data and user data. The client application of the UE may interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides to the host application through OTT connection 3050.

[0315] OTT connection 3050 extends via connection 3060 between host 3002 and network node 3004 and via wireless connection 3070 between network node 3004 and UE3006, and may provide a connection between host 3002 and UE3006. To illustrate communication between host 3002 and UE3006 via network node 3004 without explicit reference to any intermediate devices and the exact routing of messages through those devices, connection 3060 and wireless connection 3070 through which OTT connection 3050 may be provided are abstractly depicted.

[0316] As an example of transmitting data via the OTT connection 3050, in step 3008, the host 3002 provides user data, which can be done by executing a host application. In some embodiments, the user data is associated with a particular human user interacting with the UE 3006. In other embodiments, the user data is associated with the UE 3006 sharing data with the host 3002 without explicit human interaction. In step 3010, the host 3002 starts transmitting the user data to the UE 3006 that conveys it. The host 3002 may start the transmission in response to a request transmitted by the UE 3006. The request may be caused by a human interaction with the UE 3006 or by the operation of a client application running on the UE 3006. The transmission may pass through the network node 3004 in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. Accordingly, in step 3012, the network node 3004 transmits the user data conveyed in the above transmission started by the host 3002 to the UE 3006 in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In step 3014, the UE 3006 receives the user data conveyed in the above transmission, which can be done by a client application running on the UE 3006 associated with a host application executed by the host 3002.

[0317] In some examples, UE 3006 executes a client application, thereby providing user data destined for host 3002. The user data may be provided in reaction or response to receiving data from host 3002. Accordingly, at step 3016, UE 3006 may provide the user data, which may be done by executing the client application. During the provision of the user data, the client application may further consider user input received from the user via the input / output interface of UE 3006. Regardless of the specific manner in which the user data is provided, at step 3018, UE 3006 initiates the transmission of the user data to host 3002 via network node 3004. At step 3020, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, network node 3004 receives the user data from UE 3006 and initiates the transmission of the received user data to host 3002. At step 3022, host 3002 receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by UE 3006.

[0318] One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of the OTT service provided to UE 3006 using the OTT connection 3050, and the wireless connection 3070 forms its last segment. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments may enable the identification of the UL Tx beam to be used for Msg3 transmission.

[0319] In an exemplary scenario, the host 3002 may collect and analyze the status information of the factory. As another example, the host 3002 may process audio and video data that may be obtained from the UE for use in generating a map. As another example, the host 3002 may collect and analyze real-time data to assist in controlling vehicle congestion (e.g., traffic signal control). As another example, the host 3002 may store surveillance videos uploaded by the UE. As another example, the host 3002 may perform storage or access control for media content such as video, audio, VR, or AR that can be broadcast, multicast, or unicast to the UE. As another example, the host 3002 may be used for energy pricing, remote control of non-time-critical power loads for balancing power generation needs, location services, presentation services (such as editing diagrams from data collected from remote devices), or any other function of collecting, obtaining, storing, analyzing, and / or transmitting data.

[0320] In some examples, a measurement procedure may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rate, latency, and other factors that are improved by one or more embodiments. There may further be network functionality as an option to reconfigure the OTT connection 3050 between the host 3002 and the UE 3006 in response to variations in the measurement results. The measurement procedure and / or the network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection may be implemented in the software and hardware of the host 3002 and / or the UE 3006. In some embodiments, sensors (not shown) through which the OTT connection 3050 passes may be deployed within or associated with other devices, and those sensors may participate in the measurement procedure by supplying the quantitative values of the monitoring results exemplified above or supplying the values of other physical quantities, and the quantity to be monitored may be calculated or estimated by software from those values. The reconfiguration of the OTT connection 3050 may include message format, retransmission settings, suitable routing, etc., and it is not necessary for the reconfiguration to directly change the operation of the network node 3004. Such procedures and functionality may be known or in use in the art. In one embodiment, the measurement may include unique UE signaling that facilitates measurements such as throughput, propagation time, and latency by the host 3002. The measurement may be implemented in such a way that the software monitors the propagation time, errors, etc. while transmitting a message that is specifically empty or a "dummy" message using the OTT connection 3050.

[0321] Although the computing devices (e.g., UEs, network nodes, hosts) described herein may include a combination of the illustrated hardware components, other embodiments may include computing devices with different combinations of components. It should be understood that those computing devices may include any suitable combination of hardware and / or software required to perform the tasks, features, functions, and methods disclosed herein. The determinations, calculations, acquisitions, or similar operations described herein may be performed by a processing circuit, which may, for example, convert the acquired information into other information, compare the acquired information or the converted information with information stored in a network node, and / or perform one or more operations based on the acquired information or the converted information, and make a determination as a result of the processing, thereby processing the information. Moreover, although a component is depicted as a single box located within a larger box or nested within multiple boxes, in reality, a computing device may include a plurality of different physical components that make up the single component illustrated, and the functionality may be partitioned among separate components. For example, a communication interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and the functionality of those components may be partitioned between the processing circuit and the communication interface. In other examples, computationally lightweight functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware, and computationally heavy functions may be implemented in hardware.

[0322] In some embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein may be provided by a processing circuit executing a set of instructions stored in a memory. In some embodiments, it may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by a processing circuit in a hardwired manner, without executing instructions stored in a separate or discrete device-readable storage medium. In any of those specific embodiments, the processing circuit can be configured to perform the described functionality, whether or not it executes instructions stored in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The benefits provided by such functionality are enjoyed by the computing device as a whole, and / or by the end user and the wireless network in general, without being limited to just the processing circuit or other components of the computing device.

Claims

1. A method for operating a communication device during a random access (RA) procedure associated with a network node of a new radio (NR) communication network, the method comprising: determining (2330) information associated with at least one of the communication device and a channel between the communication device and the network node; determining (2340), based on the information, a number of physical RA channel (PRACH) transmission signals to be transmitted to the network node prior to receiving a random access response as part of the RA procedure; transmitting (2350) the number of PRACH transmission signals to the network node as part of the RA procedure; A method comprising the above steps.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: determining (2345) a periodicity associated with the PRACH transmission signal based on an association period; including: transmitting the number of PRACH transmission signals includes transmitting the number of PRACH transmission signals using the periodicity. A method comprising the above steps.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein transmitting the number of PRACH transmission signals using the periodicity includes transmitting the number of PRACH transmission signals during a time period equal to one or more association periods. A method comprising the above steps.

4. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 3, wherein transmitting the number of PRACH transmission signals includes transmitting the number of PRACH transmission signals during a time period starting with a resource opportunity (RO) index I defined as mod(I, K)=0, where K is the number of PRACH transmission signals. A method comprising the above steps.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein for a certain point in time associated with the number of PRACH transmission signals, there are a plurality of frequency division multiplexed (FDM) resource opportunities (ROs) associated with a selected synchronization signal block (SSB); transmitting the number of PRACH transmission signals includes hopping among the plurality of FDM ROs across the number of PRACH transmission signals based on the number of FDM ROs configured for the number of PRACH transmission signals associated with the selected SSB. A method comprising the above steps.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein transmitting the plurality of PRACH transmission signals is a RO index RO within a frequency domain defined by the following formula ｓｔａｒｔ (i) includes transmitting the i-th PRACH transmission signal among the plurality of PRACH transmission signals, 【Number 16】 Here, K represents the number of time-domain PRACH opportunities of the hops, and F represents the number of FDMed ROs for the PRACH transmission signals of the number, a method.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein transmitting the number of PRACH transmission signals comprises: transmitting a first PRACH transmission signal among the number of PRACH transmission signals; subsequent to transmitting the first PRACH transmission signal, determining that the first PRACH transmission signal is discarded; in response to the determination that the first PRACH transmission signal is discarded, transmitting all the remaining PRACH transmission signals among the number of PRACH transmission signals; A method comprising.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein determining the information includes determining a reference signal received power (RSRP) associated with the channel, and determining the number of PRACH transmission signals comprises: determining the number of PRACH transmission signals based on a comparison between the RSRP and a predetermined threshold; determining that an iterative procedure applies to the Msg3 transmission signal according to the RSRP and the threshold; repeating the Msg3 transmission signal at least the number of times indicated in at least the random access response; A method comprising.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the predetermined threshold includes an rsrp-ThresholdMsg3 threshold, and the method further comprises: determining the rsrp-ThresholdMsg3 threshold based on a flag in a radio resource control (RRC) message associated with a dedicated bandwidth part (BWP) or a preamble feature group (2320); A method comprising.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein determining the information includes determining a power headroom of the communication device, and determining the number of PRACH transmission signals comprises determining the number of PRACH transmission signals based on a comparison between the amount of power required for the PRACH transmission signals and the power headroom. A method comprising.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, further comprising Determining that no Random Access Response (RAR) is received during a predetermined time period in response to transmitting the PRACH transmission signals of the number (2360); Determining at least one of the number of PRACH retransmission signals and the transmission power for the PRACH retransmission signals based on parameters configured by the network in response to determining that no RAR is received during the predetermined time period (2370); Transmitting the number of PRACH retransmission signals (2380); A method comprising.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, further comprising: Receiving an indication of PRACH transmission configuration information from the network node via a System Information Block (SIB) (2310); Including, The PRACH transmission configuration information enables the communication device to transmit a plurality of PRACH transmission signals. A method.

13. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein transmitting the number of PRACH transmission signals includes transmitting a plurality of different preambles over a plurality of Random Access Channels (ROs) associated with a synchronization signal block associated with the PRACH transmission signals. A method.

14. The method according to claim 13, The number of PRACH transmission signals includes at least two PRACH transmission signals, Transmitting the number of PRACH transmission signals is Based on where in the first RO there is a preamble group associated with the first PRACH transmission signal, using the first preamble, in the first RO of the plurality of ROs, transmitting the first PRACH transmission signal of the at least two PRACH transmission signals; Based on where in the second RO there is a preamble group associated with the second PRACH transmission signal, using the second preamble, in the second RO of the plurality of ROs, transmitting the second PRACH transmission signal of the at least two PRACH transmission signals. A method comprising.

15. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 14, wherein the number of PRACH transmission signals includes at least two PRACH transmission signals, Transmitting the number of PRACH transmission signals is Transmitting a first PRACH transmission signal among the at least two PRACH transmission signals using a first preamble index; Determining a second preamble index based on at least one of the first preamble index, a logical index of a root sequence, and a cyclic shift; Transmitting a second PRACH transmission signal among the at least two PRACH transmission signals using the second preamble index; A method comprising.

16. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 15, The number of PRACH transmission signals includes at least two PRACH transmission signals, Transmitting the number of PRACH transmission signals is Transmitting a first PRACH transmission signal among the at least two PRACH transmission signals using a first preamble index; Determining a second preamble index by applying the same offset between the first preamble index and a start preamble index configured for a plurality of PRACH transmission signals in the first RO to a start preamble index configured for a plurality of PRACH transmission signals in the second RO; Transmitting a second PRACH transmission signal among the at least two PRACH transmission signals using the second preamble index; A method comprising.

17. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 16, Determining the number of PRACH transmission signals to be transmitted to the network node is Receiving an indication of a candidate number of PRACH transmission signals; Determining the number of PRACH transmission signals as the smaller of the candidate number and the number of different Tx beams available to the communication device for PRACH transmission signals; Including, The number of PRACH transmission signals includes at least two PRACH transmission signals each associated with a different uplink (UL) transmission (Tx) beam, Transmitting the number of PRACH transmission signals includes transmitting the at least two PRACH transmission signals using the different UL Tx beams. A method comprising.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein transmitting the number of PRACH transmission signals further comprises transmitting an indication that the communication device will transmit the at least two PRACH transmission signals using the different UL Tx beams.

19. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 18, wherein determining the number of PRACH transmission signals is based on the UL beam switching time and the amount of time between PRACH opportunities such that the time between any two consecutive transmission signals is greater than the beam switching time, and determining the number of PRACH transmission signals.

20. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 19, wherein the number of PRACH transmission signals includes at least two PRACH transmission signals each associated with a different transmission power, transmitting the number of PRACH transmission signals includes transmitting the at least two PRACH transmission signals using the different transmission powers, and determining each of the different transmission powers according to at least one of the corresponding path loss values.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein transmitting the number of PRACH transmission signals further comprises determining the different transmission powers according to different values of a power ramping counter.

22. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 21, wherein the number of PRACH transmission signals includes at least two PRACH transmission signals each associated with a different timing advance (TA), and transmitting the number of PRACH transmission signals includes transmitting the at least two PRACH transmission signals using the different TAs.

23. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 22, wherein the number of PRACH transmission signals includes at least two PRACH transmission signals, and transmitting the number of PRACH transmission signals includes transmitting the at least two PRACH transmission signals in an order based on the path loss associated with each of the at least two PRACH transmission signals.

24. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 23, wherein The number of PRACH transmission signals includes at least two PRACH transmission signals respectively associated with different synchronization signal blocks (SSBs), Transmitting the number of PRACH transmission signals includes transmitting the at least two PRACH transmission signals using the UL Tx beam associated with the different SSBs. The method includes: Claim 25 A method of operating a network node of a new radio (NR) communication network during a random access (RA) procedure associated with a communication device, determining (2430) information associated with at least one of the communication device and a channel between the communication device and the network node; determining (2440) the number of physical RA channel (PRACH) transmission signals to be received from the communication device as part of the RA procedure based on the information; monitoring (2450) the NR communication network for the number of PRACH transmission signals from the communication device as part of the RA procedure; A method including: Claim 26 The method according to claim 25, wherein determining the information includes determining a reference signal received power (RSRP) associated with the channel, and determining the number of PRACH transmission signals includes determining the number of PRACH transmission signals based on a comparison between the RSRP and a predetermined threshold. The method includes: Claim 27 The method according to claim 26, wherein the predetermined threshold includes an rsrp-ThresholdMsg3 threshold, and the method further includes: transmitting (2420) an indication of the rsrp-ThresholdMsg3 threshold via a flag in a radio resource control (RRC) message associated with a dedicated bandwidth part (BWP) or a preamble feature group; A method including: Claim 28 The method according to any one of claims 25 to 27, wherein determining the information includes determining a power headroom of the communication device, and determining the number of PRACH transmission signals includes determining the number of PRACH transmission signals based on a comparison between the amount of power required for the number of PRACH transmission signals and the power headroom. The method includes: Claim 29 The method according to any one of claims 25 to 28, further comprising: determining that no PRACH transmission signal has been received during a predetermined time period in response to monitoring the NR communication network (2460); monitoring the NR communication network for a certain number of PRACH retransmission signals based on parameters configured by the network in response to determining that no PRACH transmission signal has been received during the predetermined time period (2470). **Claim 30** The method according to any one of claims 25 to 29, further comprising: transmitting an indication of PRACH transmission configuration information from the network node via a system information block (SIB) (2410); including wherein the PRACH transmission configuration information enables the communication device to transmit a plurality of PRACH transmission signals. **Claim 3*** The method according to any one of claims 25 to 30, wherein monitoring the NR communication network for the number of PRACH transmission signals comprises monitoring the NR communication network for a plurality of different preambles over a plurality of RA channel opportunities (ROs) associated with a synchronization signal block associated with a part of the plurality of PRACH transmission signals. **Claim 32** The method according to any one of claims 25 to 31, wherein the number of PRACH transmission signals includes at least two PRACH transmission signals each associated with a different uplink (UL) transmission (Tx) beam, and monitoring the NR communication network for the number of PRACH transmission signals comprises monitoring the NR communication network for the at least two PRACH transmission signals via the different UL Tx beams. **Claim 33** The method according to any one of claims 25 to 32, wherein the number of PRACH transmission signals includes at least two PRACH transmission signals each associated with a different transmission power, and monitoring the NR communication network comprises monitoring the NR communication network for the at least two PRACH transmission signals using the different transmission powers. **Claim 34** The method according to any one of claims 25 to 33, The number of PRACH transmission signals includes at least two PRACH transmission signals each associated with a different timing advance (TA). Monitoring the NR communication network includes monitoring the at least two PRACH transmission signals of the NR communication network that use the different TAs. A method.

35. The method according to any one of claims 25 to 34, The number of PRACH transmission signals includes at least two PRACH transmission signals, Monitoring the NR communication network includes monitoring the NR communication network for the at least two PRACH transmission signals in an order based on the path loss associated with each of the at least two PRACH transmission signals. A method.

36. The method according to any one of claims 25 to 35, The number of PRACH transmission signals includes at least two PRACH transmission signals each associated with a different synchronization signal beam (SSB), Monitoring the NR communication network includes monitoring the NR communication network for the at least two PRACH transmission signals that use the different SSBs. A method.

37. A communication device (2600), A processing circuit (2602), A memory (2610) connected to the processing circuit and having a set of instructions stored therein, the set of instructions being executable by the processing circuit to cause the communication device to perform an operation including any of the operations described in claims 1 to 24. A communication device.

38. A network node (2700) for configuring a successful handover report (SHR), A processing circuit (2702), A memory (2704) connected to the processing circuit and having a set of instructions stored therein, the set of instructions being executable by the processing circuit to cause the network node to perform an operation including any of the operations described in claims 25 to 36. A network node.

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