User equipment, network equipment, user equipment method, and network equipment method

Abstract

Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a method, an apparatus, and a computer storage medium for communication. The communication method includes, in a terminal device, obtaining, from a network device, an offset value for adjusting a first delta preamble value for determining a transmit power of a random access channel, where the first delta preamble value is determined based on a format of the random access channel, adjusting the first delta preamble value based on the offset value to obtain a second delta preamble value, determining a transmit power of the random access channel based on the second delta preamble value, and transmitting a random access message on the random access channel to the network device using the transmit power.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] FIELD Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to the field of communications technologies, and more particularly to methods, apparatus, and computer-readable media for communications. [Background technology]

[0002] In 3GPP Release 18 (also referred to as "Rel-18"), repetition of the Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) on the same beam or different beams is introduced to further improve the coverage of the PRACH.

[0003] When transmitting on PRACH, the transmission power of PRACH is determined by a target value and a path loss value. The path loss value is determined by the terminal device based on the measurement of Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) and the set transmission power. The target value is determined by the network configuration and the number of PRACH attempts. It has been proposed to further enhance the performance of PRACH repetition. However, further research is needed on how to enhance the performance of PRACH repetition. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] Generally, exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method, apparatus, and computer storage medium for communications. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, the method including: obtaining, in a terminal device, an offset value for adjusting a first delta preamble value for determining a transmission power of a random access channel, where the first delta preamble value is determined based on a format of the random access channel; adjusting the first delta preamble value based on the offset value to obtain a second delta preamble value; determining a transmission power of the random access channel based on the second delta preamble value; and transmitting a random access message on the random access channel to a network device using the transmission power.

[0006] In a second aspect, a communication method is provided, the method including: receiving, in a terminal device, configuration information from a network device, indicating a first configuration used to determine a transmission power of a recurring random access channel and a second configuration used to determine a transmission power of a non-recurring random access channel; and determining the transmission power of the random access channel based on one of the first configuration and the second configuration.

[0007] In a third aspect, a communication method is provided, the method including: transmitting, in a terminal device, a first transmission to a network device on a random access channel using a first transmission beam; and, when the terminal device is to monitor for a random access response to the first transmission or while monitoring for the random access response, if no random access response is received, transmitting a second transmission to the network device on the random access channel using a second transmission beam different from the first transmission beam.

[0008] In a fourth aspect, a communication method is provided, the method including: determining, in a network device, an offset value for adjusting a first delta preamble value used by a terminal device to determine a transmit power of a random access channel, the first delta preamble value being determined based on a format of the random access channel; and transmitting information indicating the offset value to the terminal device.

[0009] In a fifth aspect, there is provided a communication method, the method including: determining, in a network device, a first setting used by a terminal device to determine a transmission power of a recurring random access channel and a second setting used by the terminal device to determine a transmission power of a non-recurring random access channel; and transmitting, to the terminal device, configuration information indicating the first setting and the second setting.

[0010] In a sixth aspect, there is provided a communication method, the method including: receiving, at a network device, a first transmission from a terminal device on a random access channel transmitted using a first transmission beam; and receiving, when the terminal device is to monitor a random access response to the first transmission or while monitoring the random access response, if a random access response has not been transmitted to the terminal device, a second transmission from the terminal device on the random access channel transmitted using a second transmission beam different from the first transmission beam.

[0011] In a seventh aspect, there is provided a terminal device, the terminal device comprising a processor and a memory, the memory being coupled to the processor and storing instructions, the instructions, when executed by the processor, causing the terminal device to perform a method according to any one of the first, second and third aspects described above.

[0012] In an eighth aspect, there is provided a network device, the network device comprising a processor and a memory, the memory being coupled to the processor and storing instructions, the instructions, when executed by the processor, causing the network device to perform a method according to any one of the fourth, fifth and sixth aspects described above.

[0013] In a ninth aspect, there is provided a computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform a method according to any of the first, second and third aspects, or any of the fourth, fifth and sixth aspects.

[0014] It should be understood that this summary of the disclosure is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the embodiments of the disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the disclosure. Other features of the disclosure will be readily apparent through the following description. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0015] The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present disclosure will become more apparent from the following detailed description of some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure in the accompanying drawings.

[0016] [Figure 1] 1 illustrates an exemplary communication system in which some embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented.

[0017] [Figure 2] 1 shows a signaling chart illustrating a communication process according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0018] [Figure 3] 10 shows another signaling chart illustrating a communication process according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0019] [Figure 4]1 shows a schematic diagram according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0020] [Figure 5] 1 illustrates a flowchart of an exemplary method implemented in a terminal device, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0021] [Figure 6] 1 illustrates a flowchart of an exemplary method implemented in a terminal device, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0022] [Figure 7] 1 illustrates a flowchart of an exemplary method implemented in a terminal device, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0023] [Figure 8] 1 illustrates a flowchart of an exemplary method implemented in a network device, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0024] [Figure 9] 1 illustrates a flowchart of an exemplary method implemented in a network device, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0025] [Figure 10] 1 illustrates a flowchart of an exemplary method implemented in a network device, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0026] [Figure 11] 1 shows a schematic block diagram of an apparatus suitable for practicing embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0027] Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numbers represent the same or similar elements. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0028] The principles of the present disclosure will be described with reference to several exemplary embodiments. It should be understood that these embodiments are set forth for illustrative purposes only to aid those skilled in the art in understanding and practicing the present disclosure, and are not intended to imply any limitation on the scope of the present disclosure. The embodiments described herein can be implemented in a variety of ways other than those described below.

[0029] In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

[0030] References in this disclosure to "one embodiment," "embodiment," "exemplary embodiment," etc. indicate that the described embodiment may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but not all embodiments need include such a particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Furthermore, these phrases do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. Furthermore, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is believed to be within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments, whether or not explicitly described.

[0031] Although terms such as "first," "second," etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, it should be understood that such elements are not limited by these terms. These terms are used only to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of the exemplary embodiments. As used herein, the term "and / or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed items.

[0032] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to limit example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Furthermore, it should be understood that the terms "comprise," "comprising," "having," "having," "including," and / or "including," when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and / or components, etc., but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components, and / or combinations thereof.

[0033] In some instances, values, procedures, or devices are referred to as "optimum," "lowest," "highest," "minimum," "maximum," etc. It will be understood that such descriptions are intended to indicate choices among multiple functional alternatives used, and that such choices are not necessarily better, smaller, higher, or more preferred than other choices.

[0034] As used herein, the term "communication network" refers to a network conforming to any suitable communication standard, such as New Radio (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), High-Speed ​​Packet Access (HSPA), or Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT). Furthermore, communications between terminal devices and network devices in a communication network may be performed using any suitable generation of communication protocols, including, but not limited to, first generation (1G), second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, fifth generation (5G), 5.5G, 5G-Advanced, or sixth generation (6G) communication protocols, and / or other protocols currently known or developed in the future. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied to various communication systems. Considering the rapid development of communications, there will naturally be future communications technologies and systems in which the present disclosure can be embodied, and the scope of the present disclosure should not be deemed to be limited to only the aforementioned systems.

[0035] As used herein, the term "terminal device" refers to any device with wireless or wired communication capabilities. Examples of terminal devices include user equipment (UE), personal computers, desktops, mobile phones, mobile phones, smartphones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), portable computers, tablets, wearable devices, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, Ultra-reliable and Low Latency Communications (URLLC) devices, Internet of Everything (IoE) devices, machine type communication (MTC) devices, vehicle-mounted devices for V2X communications (where X represents pedestrians, vehicles, or infrastructure / networks), devices for Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB), spacecraft or aircraft in Non-terrestrial networks (NTN) including High Altitude Platforms (HAP) and satellites, including Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), and XR (extended reality) including different types of reality such as Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR), and Virtual Reality (VR). These include, but are not limited to, Reality devices, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) that do not require a human pilot, commonly known as drones, devices on High Speed ​​Trains (HSTs), imaging devices such as digital cameras, sensors, gaming devices, music storage and playback devices, or internet devices that enable wireless or wired internet access and browsing.A "terminal device" may also have multicast / broadcast capabilities to support public safety, mission-critical, V2X applications, transparent IPv4 / IPv6 multicast distribution, IPTV, smart TV, wireless services, wireless software distribution, group communication, and IoT applications. It may also incorporate one or more Subscriber Identity Modules (SIMs), known as multi-SIM. The term "terminal device" can be used interchangeably with UE, mobile station, subscriber equipment, mobile terminal, user terminal, or wireless device.

[0036] As used herein, the term "network device" refers to a device capable of providing or hosting a cell or coverage area over which terminal devices can communicate. Examples of network devices include, but are not limited to, satellites, Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) platforms, Node Bs (NodeBs or NBs), Evolved Node Bs (eNodeBs or eNBs), next-generation Node Bs (gNBs), Transmission Reception Points (TRPs), Remote Radio Units (RRUs), radio heads (RHs), Remote Radio Heads (RRHs), IAB nodes, low-power nodes such as femto nodes and pico nodes, Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RISs), etc.

[0037] In one embodiment, a terminal device may be connected to a first network device and a second network device. One of the first network device and the second network device may be a master node, and the other may be a secondary node. The first network device and the second network device may use different radio access technologies (RATs). In one embodiment, the first network device may be a first RAT device, and the second network device may be a second RAT device. In one embodiment, the first RAT device is an eNB, and the second RAT device is a gNB. Information related to the different RATs may be transmitted to the terminal device from at least one of the first network device and the second network device. In one embodiment, the first information may be transmitted from the first network device to the terminal device, and the second information may be transmitted from the second network device directly to the terminal device or via the first network device. In one embodiment, information related to the configuration of the terminal device configured by the second network device may be transmitted from the second network device via the first network device. Information relating to the reconfiguration of the terminal device configured by the second network device may be transmitted from the second network device to the terminal device directly or via the first network device.

[0038] Communications discussed herein may conform to any suitable standard, including, but not limited to, New Radio Access (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE Evolution (LTE-Evolution), LTE Advanced (LTE-A), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), cdma2000, and Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). Furthermore, communications may be performed in accordance with any currently known or future-developed generation of communications protocols. Examples of communications protocols include, but are not limited to, first-generation (1G), second-generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.85G, third-generation (3G), fourth-generation (4G), 4.5G, fifth-generation (5G), and sixth-generation (6G) communications protocols. The techniques described herein may be used for the wireless networks and radio technologies listed above, as well as other wireless networks and radio technologies. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be performed in accordance with any currently known or future-developed generation of communication protocols. Examples of communication protocols include, but are not limited to, first-generation (1G), second-generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, third-generation (3G), fourth-generation (4G), 4.5G, fifth-generation (5G) communication protocols, 5.5G, 5G-Advanced networks, or sixth-generation (6G) networks.

[0039] A terminal device or network device may have artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning capabilities, which generally include models that can be used to learn from a large amount of data collected for a specific function and predict some information.

[0040] A terminal device or a network device may operate in multiple frequency ranges, such as FR1 (410 MHz to 7125 MHz), FR2 (24.25 GHz to 71 GHz), frequency bands above 100 GHz, and terahertz (THz). Furthermore, it can operate in licensed / unlicensed / shared spectrum. A terminal device may have multiple connections with a network device in a Multi-Radio Dual Connectivity (MR-DC) application scenario. A terminal device or a network device can operate in full duplex, flexible duplex, and cross-division duplex modes.

[0041] Embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in test equipment such as, for example, a signal generator, a signal analyzer, a spectrum analyzer, a network analyzer, a test terminal equipment, a test network equipment, or a channel emulator.

[0042] Embodiments of the present disclosure may be performed in accordance with any currently known or future developed generation of communication protocols, including, but not limited to, first generation (1G), second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, fifth generation (5G) communication protocols, 5.5G, 5G-Advanced networks, or sixth generation (6G) networks.

[0043] As used herein, the term "circuit" may refer to a hardware circuit and / or a combination of a hardware circuit and software. For example, a circuit may be a combination of analog and / or digital hardware circuitry with software / firmware. As a further example, a circuit may be any portion of a hardware processor with software, such as a digital signal processor, software, and memory that cooperate to perform various functions on a device, such as a terminal device or network device. In yet another example, a circuit may be a hardware circuit and / or processor, such as a microprocessor or portion of a microprocessor, that requires software / firmware for operation but the software may be absent when not required for operation. As used herein, the term circuit also encompasses a simple hardware circuit or processor, or portion of a hardware circuit or processor, and its (or their) accompanying software and / or firmware implementation.

[0044] As used herein, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. The term "comprises" and variations thereof are intended to be open-ended, meaning "including, but not limited to." The term "based on" is intended to mean "based at least in part on." The terms "one embodiment" and "embodiment" are intended to mean "at least one embodiment." The term "another embodiment" is intended to mean "at least one other embodiment." Terms such as "first," "second," etc. may refer to different objects or the same object. The following content may include other definitions, both explicit and implicit.

[0045] In some instances, values, procedures, or devices are referred to as "optimum," "lowest," "highest," "minimum," "maximum," etc. It will be understood that such descriptions are intended to indicate choices among multiple functional alternatives used, and that such choices are not necessarily better, smaller, higher, or more preferred than other choices.

[0046] As described above, the transmission power of the PRACH of the terminal device is determined by adding the path loss value to the target value. Because the path loss value depends on the communication path, it is relatively difficult to improve a specific path between the terminal device and the network device. Therefore, the target value may be revised to enhance the transmission performance of the PRACH repetition.

[0047] The target power is also determined by the network configuration and the number of PRACH attempts. The target power for PRACH is set as follows: PREAMBLE_RECEIVED_TARGET_POWER =

[0048] preambleReceivedTargetPower +

[0049] DELTA_PREAMBLE +

[0050] (PREAMBLE_POWER_RAMPING_COUNTER - 1) × PREAMBLE_POWER_RAMPING_STEP +

[0051] POWER_OFFSET_2STEP_RA. (Equation 1)

[0052] As shown above, the delta preamble parameter (i.e., "DELTA_PREAMBLE" in Equation 1) is one of several factors that can affect the target value. The original value of the delta preamble parameter is based on the preamble format of the PRACH.

[0053] However, in a network environment such as that shown in FIG. 1 , even if the terminal device 120 transmits a PRACH at its maximum transmission power in one PRACH opportunity, the PRACH may not be detected by the network device 110. This is because, for example, the maximum transmission power of the terminal device 120 may have an upper limit, and the upper limit may be below a threshold. If the power is below the threshold, the network device 110 cannot detect the PRACH. Meanwhile, the terminal device 120 may experience temporary high interference from a neighboring cell or a neighboring device, which may degrade PRACH transmission performance and prevent the network device 110 from detecting a PRACH with a set target power. Furthermore, if the terminal device 120 transmits a PRACH at its maximum transmission power in one PRACH opportunity, it may cause interference to a neighboring cell or a neighboring device. Therefore, there is a problem of how to enhance PRACH repetition to enhance cell coverage.

[0054] The embodiments of the present disclosure provide a communication solution, which provides a method, an apparatus, and a medium for determining the transmit power of PRACH repetitions, individually setting it, and transmitting using a different beam in the absence of a response, thereby improving PRACH repetition performance, saving transmit power, and improving communication efficiency. The principles and implementations of the present disclosure are described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

[0055] 1 illustrates an exemplary communication system 100 in which some embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. The communication system 100 is part of a communication network and includes a network device 110 and a terminal device 120.

[0056] Network device 110 may establish a cell 102 serving terminal device 120 and provide service to terminal device 120, and network device 110 and terminal device 120 may communicate data and control information with each other. In some embodiments, network device 110 and terminal device 120 may communicate over a direct link / channel.

[0057] In system 100, the link from network device 110 to terminal device 120 is referred to as the downlink (DL), and the link from terminal device 120 to network device 110 is referred to as the uplink (UL). In the downlink, network device 110 is the transmitting (TX) device (or transmitter) and terminal device 120 is the receiving (RX) device (or receiver). In the uplink, terminal device 120 is the transmitting (TX) device (or transmitter) and network device 110 is the receiving (RX) device (or receiver). It should be understood that network device 110 may provide one or more serving cells. In some embodiments, network device 110 can provide multiple cells.

[0058] Communications in the communication system 100 may conform to any suitable standard, including, but not limited to, Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE Evolution (LTE-Evolution), LTE Advanced (LTE-A), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), and Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). Furthermore, communications may be performed according to any currently known or future-developed generation of communication protocols. Examples of communication protocols include, but are not limited to, first-generation (1G), second-generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, third-generation (3G), fourth-generation (4G), 4.5G, fifth-generation (5G), 5.5G, 5G-Advanced, or sixth-generation (6G) communication protocols.

[0059] It should be understood that the number, connections, and types of devices shown in Figure 1 are shown for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to imply any limitations. Communication system 100 may include any suitable number of devices suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0060] 2 shows a signaling diagram illustrating a communication process 200 according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For discussion purposes only, process 200 will be described with reference to FIG. 1. Process 200 may involve terminal device 120 and network device 110.

[0061] The network device 110 may determine (205) an offset value, which may be represented as "s." The offset value "s" is used by the terminal device 120 to adjust the original delta preamble value (first delta preamble value) to determine the transmit power of the random access channel. The original delta preamble value is determined based on the format of the random access channel.

[0062] Network device 110 transmits (210) configuration information 201 to terminal device 120. On the other side of the communication, terminal device 120 receives (212) configuration information 201.

[0063] In some exemplary embodiments, configuration information 201 may be transmitted from network device 110 to terminal device 120 via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling. Configuration information 201 may include an offset value, which may be represented as “s.”

[0064] Terminal device 120 may then adjust (230) the original delta preamble value based on offset value "s" to obtain an adjusted delta preamble value (second delta preamble value). For example, terminal device 120 may add offset value "s" to the original delta preamble value to obtain an adjusted delta preamble value to determine the PRACH transmit power.

[0065] Table 1: Delta Preamble Adjustments

[0066] TIFF2025528100000002.tif33145

[0067] Table 1 shows a schematic example of how to adjust the delta preamble value. As shown in Table 1, the offset value "s" is added directly to the original delta preamble value to obtain the adjusted delta preamble value. Note that only three rows are shown for illustrative purposes, but all preamble formats are applicable.

[0068] With the adjusted delta preamble value, terminal device 120 may determine a PRACH transmit power based on the adjusted delta preamble value 250. PRACH repetition over multiple opportunities while maintaining the same total energy allows the transmit power on each PRACH opportunity to be reduced below the maximum transmit power.

[0069] Terminal device 120 may then transmit 270 an UL transmission 202 at the determined transmit power to network device 110. On the other side of the communication, network device 110 may receive 272 an UL transmission 202 from terminal device 120 and then perform further operations.

[0070] In some exemplary embodiments, a PRACH repetition table may be predefined or preconfigured in terminal device 120, and configuration information 201 may include the number of PRACH repetitions.

[0071] Table 2: PRACH iteration table

[0072] TIFF2025528100000003.tif32157

[0073] The PRACH repetition table shown in Table 2 may be predefined or preconfigured in the terminal device 120. As shown in Table 2, the offset value "s" may be determined based on the number of PRACH repetitions and a setting of 0 or 1 (hereinafter also referred to as "config.0 or 1"). In other words, the terminal device 120 may determine the offset value by searching this PRACH repetition table based on the configured number of PRACH repetitions and config.0 or 1. For example, config.0 may be configured in the terminal device 120. Alternatively, config.1 may be configured in the terminal device 120 to allow the network device 110 to perform early detection of PRACH transmission.

[0074] Reference is now made to FIG. 3, which illustrates a signaling diagram illustrating a communication process 300 in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. For discussion purposes only, process 300 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. Process 300 may involve terminal device 120 and network device 110. A detailed description of operations identical or similar to process 200 will not be provided here, as reference may be made to FIG. 2.

[0075] The network device 110 may determine a first setting and a second setting (305). The first setting is used by the terminal device 120 to determine the transmission power of a repetitive random access channel, and the second setting is used by the terminal device 120 to determine the transmission power of a non-repetitive random access channel. Then, the network device 110 transmits setting information 201 to the terminal device 120 (210), where the setting information 201 indicates (includes) the first setting and the second setting.

[0076] As described above, the offset value "s" is based on the number of PRACH repetitions. After the terminal device 120 receives (212) the configuration information 201 including the number of PRACH repetitions from the network device 110, the terminal device 120 may determine (310) the offset value "s" based on a PRACH repetition table (e.g., Table 2) and the received number of PRACH repetitions included in the configuration information 201.

[0077] It should be noted that if there is a predefined / preconfigured PRACH repetition table in the terminal device 120, the offset value "s" can also be directly specified / configured by the network device 110, for example, through RRC signaling. In this case, the offset value defined in the PRACH repetition table is overridden by the value specified / configured by the network device 110. In other words, if the offset value "s" is directly specified / configured by the network device 110, the directly specified / configured offset value "s" is used (rather than the offset value defined in the PRACH repetition table).

[0078] After the offset value "s" is determined, terminal device 120 may proceed to adjust 230 the delta preamble value. The following operations have already been described in connection with FIG. 2, and reference may be made to the description in connection with FIG. 2.

[0079] By introducing an offset value "s" to adjust the delta preamble value and transmit power and performing PRACH repetitions on multiple occasions while maintaining the same total energy at the terminal device 120, the transmit power on each PRACH occasion can be reduced, allowing the terminal device 120 to transmit UL transmissions below its maximum transmit power. At the same time, the offset value "s" based on the number of PRACH repetitions reduces the delta preamble value by the offset value "s," and therefore the transmit power can also be reduced by the offset value "s." In this way, interference from the terminal device 120 to neighboring cells can be reduced, which is beneficial to the entire system. Meanwhile, the network device 110 may detect the PRACH before the end of the PRACH repetition transmitted by the terminal device 120. This can achieve low latency. Therefore, the network device 110 can also set the offset value "s" to 0 regardless of the number of repetitions for early detection. Different settings of the offset value "s" can increase the flexibility of the network device 110 in detecting PRACH repetitions.

[0080] In some exemplary embodiments, when terminal device 110 sets the target power for terminal device 120, network device 110 may take the number of PRACH repetitions into account, which can have the same effect as the offset value "s" described above. Because PRACH repetitions require higher resources than no repetitions, it is desirable to reduce the number of PRACH retransmissions, i.e., to detect them as soon as possible by network device 110, in order to reduce the resource load.

[0081] For example, the network device 110 may transmit configuration information to the terminal device 120. The configuration information may include a first configuration used to determine the transmission power with PRACH repetition and a second configuration used to determine the transmission power without PRACH repetition. Upon receiving such configuration information, the terminal device 120 may determine the PRACH transmission power based on the configuration information including the first configuration and the second configuration.

[0082] In one example, a different target power and / or a different power ramping step and / or a different maximum transmission is configured for a PRACH repetition relative to a non-repetitive PRACH. Specifically, the first configuration may include at least one of a first target power, a first power ramping step, or a first maximum transmission, and the second configuration may include at least one of a second target power, a second power ramping step, or a second maximum transmission. In such a case, at least one of the following conditions is satisfied: the first target power is different from the second target power; the first power ramping step is different from the second power ramping step; or the first maximum transmission is different from the second maximum transmission.

[0083] In another example, the first configuration includes individual first parameters for transmission in a repetitive random access channel, where the individual first parameters include at least one of a PRACH preamble, an opportunity, or a resource. Specifically, an individual / dedicated PRACH preamble, an individual / dedicated opportunity, and / or an individual / dedicated resource for the PRACH repetition may be configured in the terminal device 120 by the network device 110. In this way, the network device 110 can easily distinguish PRACH repetition attempts by the terminal device 120 and detect PRACH transmissions after non-coherent combinations of PRACH opportunities.

[0084] In another example, for a random access channel opportunity shared between a repetitive random access channel and a non-repetitive random access channel, the first target power is the same as the second target power, and the first power ramping step is different from the second power ramping step, or the first maximum transmission is different from the second maximum transmission. Specifically, in a shared opportunity, the power difference between a PRACH repetition and no PRACH repetition may cause relatively high interference, and a relatively high-power preamble will cause relatively high interference to a relatively low-power preamble. Therefore, the same target power should be set for a PRACH opportunity shared between a PRACH repetition and no PRACH repetition. In other words, in such a case, the first target power is the same as the second target power. Also, the ramping step and / or maximum transmission can be set separately / differently for the PRACH repetition and no PRACH repetition.

[0085] Thus, it is beneficial to have a lower maximum number of transmissions / retransmissions for PRACH repetitions and a higher power ramping step for PRACH repetitions than the corresponding no-repetition setting.

[0086] NR supports various features, e.g., small data transmission, msg3 repetition, reduced capability, etc. To distinguish between these features and utilize feature combinations, RRC configuration may be used to associate a set of preambles with a feature combination.

[0087] PRACH repetition (also referred to as "msg1 repetition") can also be considered a feature and can be combined with other features. For example, a feature combination could be a set of preambles associated with combined msg1 repetitions and / or msg3 repetitions, or a set of combined msg1 repetitions and / or another preamble associated with a Reduced Capability request.

[0088] The terminal device 120 may be configured with different numbers of PRACH repetitions by the network device via RRC signaling. Different numbers of PRACH repetitions may be considered different functions. Functions with different numbers of PRACH repetitions cannot be combined as a function combination. Thus, in some exemplary embodiments, the terminal device 120 may be configured with a function combination with the same number of PRACH repetitions, but may not be configured with a function with a different number of PRACH repetitions. This is because, as described above, functions with different numbers of PRACH repetitions cannot be combined as a function combination.

[0089] The network device 110 may set a first threshold value of the quality metric of the beam for a combination of functions, which may include repetition of a random access channel, where the quality metric of the beam is one of Layer 1-Reference Signal Received Power (L1-RSRP), Layer 1-Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio (L1-SINR), RSRP, or SINR.

[0090] If RSRP is selected as the beam quality metric for a feature combination, an RSRP threshold can be configured in the terminal device 120 by the network device 110 via RRC signaling, and the RSRP threshold is used for the feature combination including PRACH repetitions. If the measured actual RSRP (field RSRP) is smaller than the RSRP threshold for the feature combination including PRACH repetitions, the feature combination can be selected as applicable to the terminal device 120. If multiple feature combinations that differ only in the number of PRACH repetitions are selected, the feature combination with the larger number of PRACH repetitions can be selected and used by the terminal device 120.

[0091] In some exemplary embodiments, the terminal device 120 may be configured with separate second parameters for each combination of functions including random access channel repetition, and the second parameters may include at least one of a target power, a power ramping step, or a maximum transmission.

[0092] In one example, the terminal device 120 may be configured by the network device 110 with individual parameters for each combination of functions including PRACH repetition. In this case, the individual parameters may include at least one of a target power, a power ramping step, or a maximum transmission. In other words, for each combination of functions including PRACH repetition, the network device 110 may configure an individual / different target power, an individual / different power ramping step, and / or an individual / different maximum transmission.

[0093] In some exemplary embodiments, if at least one random access channel attempt fails to be transmitted during a transmission opportunity for a random access channel repetition that includes multiple random access channel attempts, the terminal device 120 is notified by Layer 1 (L1) to higher layers to pause a corresponding power ramping counter.

[0094] In one example, if terminal device 120 is unable to transmit all PRACH attempts in a transmission opportunity for a PRACH repetition that includes multiple PRACH attempts, Layer 1 notifies higher layers to pause the corresponding power ramping counters.

[0095] In another example, the terminal device 120 is unable to transmit some of the PRACH attempts in a transmission opportunity of a PRACH repetition that includes multiple PRACH attempts. In this case, Layer 1 may notify higher layers to pause the corresponding power ramping counters. Alternatively, in this case, Layer 1 may ignore the failure to transmit some of the PRACH attempts and may not notify higher layers to pause the corresponding power ramping counters (in other words, in this case, Layer 1 may increment the corresponding power ramping counters normally as if all PRACH attempts in the transmission opportunity of the PRACH repetition were successfully transmitted).

[0096] The inability of the terminal device to transmit all or some of the PRACH attempts in a PRACH recurrence transmission opportunity may be due to power allocation for the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) / Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) / Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) / Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) transmission, or power allocation in EUTRA-NR Dual Connectivity (EN-DC) or NR-EUTRA Dual Connectivity (NE-DC) or New Radio-Dual Connectivity (NR-DC) operation, or slot format decision, or PUSCH / PUCCH / PRACH / SRS transmission opportunities being in the same slot, or a small gap between PRACH and PUSCH / PUCCH / SRS transmissions.

[0097] In some exemplary embodiments, terminal device 120 transmits at least one of the random access channel attempts at reduced power during a transmission opportunity of a random access channel repetition that includes multiple random access channel attempts, and layer 1 signals higher layers at terminal device 120 to pause a corresponding power ramping counter.

[0098] In one example, due to power allocation for PUSCH / PUCCH / PRACH / SRS transmissions or due to power allocation in EN-DC, NE-DC, or NR-DC operation, terminal device 120 transmits at least one PRACH attempt at reduced power in a transmission opportunity of a PRACH repetition that includes multiple PRACH attempts. In this case, Layer 1 in terminal device 120 may notify higher layers to suspend the corresponding power ramping counter. Alternatively, in this case, Layer 1 may ignore the fact that at least one PRACH attempt was transmitted at reduced power and may not notify higher layers to suspend the corresponding power ramping counter (in other words, in this case, Layer 1 may increment the corresponding power ramping counter normally as if all PRACH attempts in the transmission opportunity of the PRACH repetition were transmitted at normal transmit power).

[0099] The reason for this is as follows: if the terminal device 120 fails to transmit some of the PRACH attempts or transmits some of the PRACH attempts at reduced transmit power, the network device 110 may receive correspondingly lower energy as a result, which is similar to reducing the PRACH transmit power from the perspective of the network device 110. Therefore, the terminal device 120 may decide whether to notify the upper layer to pause the power ramping counter. For example, the terminal device may decide whether to notify the upper layer to pause the power ramping counter based on the ratio of the reduced power. However, if the terminal device 120 fails all repeated attempts (in other words, if none of the repeated attempts are successfully transmitted), there is no need for the next power ramping, and Layer 1 should notify the upper layer to pause the corresponding power ramping counter.

[0100] In conventional PRACH transmission, i.e., PRACH transmission before Rel. 18, the terminal device 120 may retransmit the PRACH after the expiration of the RAR (random access response) window. However, during the RAR window, the preamble ID used by the PRACH may not be detected in the RAR message. The terminal device 120 may change the transmission beam for the retransmitted PRACH, in which case power ramping is paused to determine the transmission power. However, especially if the beam selected in the first PRACH attempt is not optimal, the terminal device 120 must wait until the end of the RAR window for the next PRACH attempt, which may increase access latency. This issue is discussed below with reference to FIG. 4.

[0101] 4 illustrates a diagram 400 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For discussion purposes only, diagram 400 will be described with reference to FIG. 1. Diagram 400 may involve terminal device 120 and network device 110.

[0102] In some exemplary embodiments, terminal device 120 may transmit a first transmission to network device 110 on a random access channel using a first transmission beam. When terminal device 120 is scheduled to monitor for a random access response to the first transmission, or if a random access response is not received while monitoring for the random access response, terminal device 120 may transmit a second transmission to network device 110 on the random access channel using a second transmission beam. The second transmission beam is different from the first transmission beam.

[0103] Terminal device 120 does not increase the PRACH transmit power of the second transmission. In other words, when terminal device 120 transmits the second transmission using the second transmit beam, the transmit power is not increased.

[0104] When network device 110 transmits an RAR for one of the first and second transmissions to terminal device 120 and terminal device 120 thus detects a random access response corresponding to the transmitted random access channel transmission, terminal device 120 may discontinue transmitting further random access channel transmissions using further beams and may discontinue monitoring the random access responses of other transmitted random access channel transmissions. In other words, when an RAR for any of the transmitted PRACHs is detected, terminal device 120 may discontinue transmitting the PRACH using a different beam, may discontinue monitoring the RAR for other transmitted PRACHs, discontinue the RACH, and may transmit message 3 based on the received RAR and the corresponding beam.

[0105] The first and second transmission beams may have individual preamble power ramping counters, and the preamble power ramping counter of a particular one of the first and second transmission beams is incremented by one after the particular beam finishes a random access channel transmission. In other words, each beam may have an individual PREAMBLE_POWER_RAMPING_COUNTER counter. In the case of a retransmission, the PREAMBLE_POWER_RAMPING_COUNTER is incremented by one based on the corresponding counter of the selected transmission beam.

[0106] The terminal device 120 may increment the preamble power ramping counter by 1 or N after N random access channel transmissions before receiving a random access response, where N is the number of beams used to transmit the random access channel transmissions to the network device 110. In other words, the terminal device 120 may increment the PREAMBLE_TRANSMISSION_COUNTER by 1 or N after N PRACH transmissions before an RAR is detected.

[0107] 4, the terminal device 120 transmits a first transmission using a first transmission beam to the network device 110. The terminal device 120 then plans to monitor (prepare for monitoring) the RAR for the first transmission. Then, once preparation for RAR monitoring is complete, the RAR window for the first transmission begins, and the terminal device 120 monitors this RAR window for the RAR for the first transmission.

[0108] However, unlike conventional solutions in which the terminal device 120 must wait until the end of the RAR window to initiate a PRACH retransmission, in the example shown in FIG. 4, the terminal device 120 may begin transmitting the second transmission using a second transmission beam, as shown in FIG. 4, well before the end of the RAR window for the first transmission, or even before the start of the RAR window for the first transmission. In the example shown in FIG. 4, if the terminal device 120 is scheduled to monitor (prepares to monitor) for a random access response to the first transmission but no random access response is received, the terminal device 120 transmits the second transmission using the second transmission beam. Alternatively, the timing at which the terminal device 120 transmits the second transmission to the network device 110 may be a point in time when the terminal device 120 is monitoring for the RAR for the first transmission but no RAR is received. In this example, the second transmission beam is different from the first transmission beam.

[0109] As shown in FIG. 4, the terminal device 120 may begin transmitting the third transmission using the third transmission beam well before the RAR window for the second transmission ends, or even before the RAR window for the second transmission begins. In the example shown in FIG. 4, if the terminal device 120 is scheduled to monitor (prepares to monitor) the RAR for the second transmission but no RAR is received, the terminal device 120 transmits the third transmission using the third transmission beam. Alternatively, the timing at which the terminal device 120 transmits the third transmission to the network device 110 may be a point in time when the terminal device 120 is monitoring the RAR for the second transmission but no RAR is received. In this example, the third transmission beam is different from the first and second transmission beams.

[0110] As shown in FIG. 4, if an RAR is transmitted by the network device 110 and received by the terminal device 120 before the end of the latest RAR window, in other words, if the terminal device 120 detects any RAR corresponding to the transmitted PRACH transmission, the terminal device 120 may stop transmitting further PRACH transmissions using further beams, stop monitoring the RARs of other transmitted PRACH transmissions, and initiate the next operation (e.g., sending message 3 to the network device 110).

[0111] Each of the first, second, and third transmission beams may have an individual preamble power ramping counter, and the preamble power ramping counter of a particular beam among the first, second, and third transmission beams may be incremented by one after the particular beam completes random access channel transmission. In one example, in the example shown in FIG. 4 , if no RAR is detected by the terminal device 120 after three RAR windows have ended, the first, second, and third beams may be retransmitted. In this case, the preamble power ramping counters of the first, second, and third transmission beams may be incremented by one, respectively. In another example, if no RAR is detected by the terminal device 120 after the first and second RAR windows have ended and the third RAR window has not yet ended, the first and second beams may be retransmitted. In this case, the preamble power ramping counters of the first and second transmission beams are incremented by one, while the preamble power ramping counter of the third transmission beam remains unchanged.

[0112] The terminal device 120 can increment the PREAMBLE_TRANSMISSION_COUNTER by 1 or N after N PRACH transmissions before an RAR is detected, where N is the number of beams used for transmitting random access channel transmissions to the network device 110. In the example shown in FIG. 4, there are three transmission beams, namely, a first, second, and third transmission beam, so N=3. In one example, for the example shown in FIG. 4, when the first, second, and third transmission beams are successfully transmitted, the terminal device 120 can increment the PREAMBLE_TRANSMISSION_COUNTER by 1. Alternatively, in this case, the terminal device 120 can increment the PREAMBLE_TRANSMISSION_COUNTER by N (=3).

[0113] 5 illustrates a flowchart of an exemplary method 500 implemented in a terminal device, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For purposes of discussion, the method 500 will be described from the perspective of the terminal device 120 with reference to FIG.

[0114] At block 510, terminal device 120 obtains from network device 110 an offset value for adjusting a first delta preamble value for determining the transmit power of the random access channel. The first delta preamble value is determined based on a format of the random access channel. At block 520, terminal device 120 adjusts the first delta preamble value based on the offset value to obtain a second delta preamble value. At block 530, terminal device 120 determines the transmit power of the random access channel based on the second delta preamble value. At block 540, terminal device 120 transmits a random access message to network device 110 on the random access channel using the transmit power.

[0115] In some exemplary embodiments, terminal device 120 receives the number of repetitions of the random access channel from network device 110. The offset value is based on the number of repetitions. In some exemplary embodiments, the offset value is obtained by terminal device 120 by obtaining the offset value through RRC signaling or by obtaining the offset value based on the number of repetitions from a predefined table. In some exemplary embodiments, the first delta preamble value is adjusted by terminal device 120 by adding the offset value to the first delta preamble value to obtain a second delta preamble value.

[0116] 6 illustrates a flowchart of an exemplary method 600 implemented in a terminal device, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For purposes of discussion, the method 600 will be described from the perspective of the terminal device 120 with reference to FIG.

[0117] In block 610, the terminal device 120 receives configuration information indicating a first configuration and a second configuration from the network device 110. The first configuration is used to determine the transmit power of a recurring random access channel, and the second configuration is used to determine the transmit power of a non-recurring random access channel. In block 620, the terminal device 120 determines the transmit power of the random access channel based on one of the first configuration and the second configuration.

[0118] In some exemplary embodiments, the first configuration includes at least one of a first target power, a first power ramping step, or a first maximum transmission, and the second configuration includes at least one of a second target power, a second power ramping step, or a second maximum transmission, where at least one of the following conditions is met: the first target power is different from the second target power, the first power ramping step is different from the second power ramping step, or the first maximum transmission is different from the second maximum transmission. In some exemplary embodiments, the first configuration includes individual first parameters for transmissions in the recurring random access channel, where the individual first parameters include at least one of a PRACH preamble, an opportunity, or a resource. In some exemplary embodiments, for a shared random access channel opportunity between the recurring random access channel and the non-recurring random access channel, the first target power is the same as the second target power.

[0119] In some exemplary embodiments, terminal device 120 is configured by network device 110 with combinations of capabilities that have the same number of random access channel repetitions. In some exemplary embodiments, terminal device 120 is configured by network device 110 with separate second parameters for each combination of capabilities that includes random access channel repetitions, the second parameters including at least one of a target power, a power ramping step, or a maximum transmission.

[0120] In some exemplary embodiments, if at least one random access channel attempt fails to be transmitted in a transmission opportunity of a random access channel repetition that includes multiple random access channel attempts, the terminal device 120 notifies upper layers from Layer 1 (L1) to pause the corresponding power ramping counter.

[0121] In some exemplary embodiments, the terminal device 120 transmits at least one of the random access channel attempts at a reduced power during a transmission opportunity of a random access channel repetition that includes multiple random access channel attempts, and notifies upper layers from Layer 1 (L1) to pause a corresponding power ramping counter.

[0122] 7 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 700 implemented in a terminal device, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For purposes of discussion, the method 700 will be described from the perspective of the terminal device 120 with reference to FIG.

[0123] In block 710, terminal device 120 transmits a first transmission to network device 110 on the random access channel using a first transmission beam. In block 720, when the terminal device is to monitor for a random access response to the first transmission, or if a random access response is not received while monitoring for a random access response, terminal device 120 transmits a second transmission to network device 110 on the random access channel using a second transmission beam.

[0124] In some exemplary embodiments, when the second PRACH transmission is transmitted using the second transmission beam, the transmission power is not increased. In some exemplary embodiments, the first transmission beam and the second transmission beam have individual preamble power ramping counters, and the preamble power ramping counter of a particular one of the first transmission beam and the second transmission beam is incremented by 1 after the particular beam finishes transmitting the random access channel.

[0125] In some exemplary embodiments, after N random access channel transmissions before a random access response is received, terminal device 120 increments the preamble power ramping counter by 1 or N, where N represents the number of beams used to transmit the random access channel transmissions to the network device.

[0126] In some exemplary embodiments, terminal device 120 detects a random access response corresponding to the transmitted random access channel transmission. Upon detecting the random access response, terminal device 120 ceases transmitting further random access channel transmissions using further beams and ceases monitoring for random access responses of other transmitted random access channel transmissions. In some exemplary embodiments, terminal device 120 transmits message 3 to network device 110 using the corresponding beam based on the received random access response.

[0127] 8 illustrates a flowchart of an exemplary method 800 implemented in a network device, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For purposes of discussion, the method 800 will be described from the perspective of the network device 110 with reference to FIG.

[0128] In block 810, the network device 110 determines an offset value for adjusting a first delta preamble value used by the terminal device 120 to determine the transmit power of the random access channel. The first delta preamble value is determined based on the format of the random access channel. In block 1220, the network device 110 transmits information indicating the offset value to the terminal device 120.

[0129] In some exemplary embodiments, network device 110 transmits the number of repetitions of the random access channel to terminal device 120. The offset value is based on the number of repetitions.

[0130] 9 illustrates a flowchart of an exemplary method 900 implemented in a network device, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For purposes of discussion, the method 900 will be described from the perspective of the network device 110 with reference to FIG.

[0131] In block 910, the network device 110 determines a first configuration and a second configuration. The first configuration is used by the terminal device to determine the transmit power of a repetitive random access channel, and the second configuration is used by the terminal device to determine the transmit power of a non-repetitive random access channel. In block 920, the network device 110 transmits configuration information indicating the first configuration and the second configuration to the terminal device 120.

[0132] In some exemplary embodiments, the first setting includes at least one of a first target power, a first power ramping step, or a first maximum transmission, and the second setting includes at least one of a second target power, a second power ramping step, or a second maximum transmission, where at least one of the following conditions is met: the first target power is different from the second target power, the first power ramping step is different from the second power ramping step, or the first maximum transmission is different from the second maximum transmission.

[0133] In some exemplary embodiments, the first configuration includes individual first parameters for transmissions with random access channel repetitions, where the first parameters include at least one of a PRACH preamble, an opportunity, or a resource. In some exemplary embodiments, for a shared random access channel opportunity with a random access channel with repetitions and a random access channel without repetitions, the first target power is the same as the second target power. In some exemplary embodiments, the network device 110 combines features with the same number of random access channel repetitions as a feature combination.

[0134] In some exemplary embodiments, the network device 110 sets a first threshold value for the quality metric of the beam for a combination of features including random access channel repetition.

[0135] In some exemplary embodiments, the network device 110 selects a feature combination that includes random access channel repetition when the network device 110 determines that the quality metric of the received beam is less than a first threshold for the feature combination.

[0136] In some exemplary embodiments, the quality metric of the beam is one of Layer 1-Reference Signal Received Power (L1-RSRP), Layer 1-Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio (L1-SINR), RSRP, or SINR.

[0137] In some exemplary embodiments, the network device 110 sets a separate second parameter for each combination of functions including random access channel repetition, and the second parameter includes at least one of a target power, a power ramping step, or a maximum transmission.

[0138] 10 illustrates a flowchart of an exemplary method 1000 implemented in a network device, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For purposes of discussion, the method 1000 will be described from the perspective of the network device 110 with reference to FIG.

[0139] In block 1010, the network device 110 receives a first transmission from the terminal device 120 on a random access channel transmitted using a first transmission beam. In block 1020, when the terminal device is scheduled to monitor a random access response to the first transmission, or if a random access response is not transmitted to the terminal device while monitoring the random access response, the network device 110 receives a second transmission on the random access channel transmitted using a second transmission beam different from the first transmission beam.

[0140] In some exemplary embodiments, network device 110 transmits a random access response to one of the first transmission and the second transmission to terminal device 120.

[0141] 11 shows a schematic block diagram of an apparatus 1100 suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. Apparatus 1100 may be considered a further exemplary implementation of terminal device 120 and / or network device 110 shown in FIG. 1. Thus, apparatus 1100 may be implemented in, or at least as part of, terminal device 120 or network device 110.

[0142] As shown, the apparatus 1100 includes a processor 1110, a memory 1120 coupled to the processor 1110, a suitable transmitter (TX) and receiver (RX) 1140 coupled to the processor 1110, and a communication interface coupled to the TX / RX 1140. The memory 1110 stores at least a portion of a program 1130. The TX / RX 1140 is for bidirectional communication. The TX / RX 1140 has at least one antenna to facilitate communication, although in practice, the access nodes described in this disclosure may have multiple antennas. The communication interface may represent any interface required for communication with other network elements, such as an X2 interface for bidirectional communication between eNBs, an S1 interface for communication between a Mobility Management Entity (MME) / Serving Gateway (S-GW) and an eNB, a Un interface for communication between an eNB and a Relay Node (RN), or a Uu interface for communication between an eNB and a terminal device.

[0143] The program 1130 is assumed to include program instructions that, when executed by an associated processor 1110, enable the device 1100 to operate in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, as discussed herein with reference to FIGS. 2-10. The embodiments herein may be implemented by computer software, hardware, or a combination of software and hardware executable by the processor 1110 of the device 1100. The processor 1110 may be configured to implement various embodiments of the present disclosure. Additionally, the combination of the processor 1110 and the memory 1120 may constitute a processing means 1550 suitable for implementing various embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0144] The memory 1120 may be of any type suitable for the local technology network and may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology (including, but not limited to, computer-readable non-transitory storage media, semiconductor-based storage devices, magnetic storage devices and systems, optical storage devices and systems, fixed and removable memory, etc.). Although only one memory 1120 is shown in the device 1100, multiple physically distinct memory modules may be installed in the device 1100. The processor 1110 may be of any type suitable for the local technology network and may include, but is not limited to, one or more of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), and a processor based on a multi-core processor configuration. The device 1100 may have multiple processors, for example, application-specific integrated circuit chips time-slaved to a clock synchronous with the main processor.

[0145] In summary, the embodiments of the present disclosure can provide the following solutions:

[0146] The present disclosure provides a communication method, including: in a terminal device, obtaining, from a network device, an offset value for adjusting a first delta preamble value for determining a transmission power of a random access channel, where the first delta preamble value is determined based on a format of the random access channel; adjusting the first delta preamble value based on the offset value to obtain a second delta preamble value; determining a transmission power of the random access channel based on the second delta preamble value; and transmitting a random access message on the random access channel to the network device using the transmission power.

[0147] In one embodiment, the method further includes receiving a number of repetitions of the random access channel from the network device, and the offset value is based on the number of repetitions.

[0148] In one embodiment, in the method, the offset value is obtained by obtaining the offset value through radio resource control (RRC) signaling or by obtaining the offset value based on the number of repetitions from a predefined table.

[0149] In one embodiment, in the method, adjusting the first delta preamble value to obtain the second delta preamble value includes adding an offset value to the first delta preamble value to obtain the second delta preamble value.

[0150] The present disclosure provides a communication method, including: receiving, in a terminal device, configuration information from a network device, indicating a first configuration used to determine a transmission power of a recurring random access channel and a second configuration used to determine a transmission power of a non-recurring random access channel; and determining the transmission power of the random access channel based on one of the first configuration and the second configuration.

[0151] In one embodiment, the method includes the first setting including at least one of a first target power, a first power ramping step, or a first maximum transmission, and the second setting including at least one of a second target power, a second power ramping step, or a second maximum transmission, and at least one of the following conditions is satisfied: the first target power is different from the second target power, the first power ramping step is different from the second power ramping step, or the first maximum transmission is different from the second maximum transmission.

[0152] In one embodiment, in the method, the first configuration includes individual first parameters for transmission in the recurring random access channel, and the individual first parameters include at least one of a PRACH preamble, an opportunity, or a resource.

[0153] In one embodiment, in the method, for a shared random access channel opportunity with a recurring random access channel and a non-recurring random access channel, the first target power is the same as the second target power.

[0154] In one embodiment, the method further includes setting a separate second parameter for each combination of functions including random access channel repetition, the second parameter including at least one of a target power, a power ramping step, or a maximum transmission.

[0155] In one embodiment, the method further includes informing a higher layer from Layer 1 (L1) to pause a corresponding power ramping counter if at least one random access channel attempt fails to be transmitted in a transmission opportunity of a random access channel repetition that includes multiple random access channel attempts.

[0156] In one embodiment, the method further includes, in a transmission opportunity of a random access channel repetition comprising a plurality of random access channel attempts, transmitting at least one of the random access channel attempts at reduced power, and informing upper layers from Layer 1 (L1) to pause a corresponding power ramping counter.

[0157] The present disclosure provides a communication method, including: transmitting, in a terminal device, a first transmission on a random access channel to a network device using a first transmission beam; and transmitting, when the terminal device is to monitor for a random access response to the first transmission or while monitoring for the random access response, if no random access response is received, a second transmission on the random access channel to the network device using a second transmission beam.

[0158] In one embodiment, in the method, when transmitting the second PRACH transmission using the second transmit beam, the transmit power is not increased.

[0159] In one embodiment, in the above method, the first transmission beam and the second transmission beam have individual preamble power ramping counters, and the preamble power ramping counter of a particular beam among the first transmission beam and the second transmission beam is increased by 1 after the particular beam finishes transmitting a random access channel.

[0160] In one embodiment, the method further includes increasing a preamble power ramping counter by 1 or N after N random access channel transmissions before a random access response is received, where N is the number of beams used to transmit the random access channel transmissions to the network device.

[0161] In one embodiment, the method further includes detecting a random access response corresponding to the transmitted random access channel transmission, and upon detecting the random access response, ceasing transmission of further random access channel transmissions using further beams and ceasing monitoring for random access responses of other transmitted random access channel transmissions.

[0162] In one embodiment, the method further includes transmitting a message 3 to the network device using a corresponding beam based on the received random access response.

[0163] The present disclosure provides a communication method, including: determining, in a network device, an offset value for adjusting a first delta preamble value used by a terminal device to determine a transmit power of a random access channel, where the first delta preamble value is determined based on a format of the random access channel; and transmitting information indicating the offset value to the terminal device.

[0164] In one embodiment, the method further includes transmitting a number of repetitions of the random access channel to the terminal device, and the offset value is based on the number of repetitions.

[0165] The present disclosure provides a communication method, including: determining, in a network device, a first setting used by a terminal device to determine a transmission power of a recurring random access channel and a second setting used by the terminal device to determine a transmission power of a non-recurring random access channel; and transmitting, to the terminal device, configuration information indicating the first setting and the second setting.

[0166] In one embodiment, in the method, the first setting includes at least one of a first target power, a first power ramping step, or a first maximum transmission, and the second setting includes at least one of a second target power, a second power ramping step, or a second maximum transmission, and at least one of the following conditions is satisfied: the first target power is different from the second target power, the first power ramping step is different from the second power ramping step, or the first maximum transmission is different from the second maximum transmission.

[0167] In one embodiment, in the above method, the first configuration includes individual first parameters for a transmission with a random access channel repetition, and the first parameters include at least one of a PRACH preamble, an opportunity, or a resource.

[0168] In one embodiment, in the method, for a shared random access channel opportunity with a recurring random access channel and a non-recurring random access channel, the first target power is the same as the second target power.

[0169] In one embodiment, the method further comprises combining functions having the same number of repetitions of the random access channel into a combination of functions.

[0170] In one embodiment, the method further includes setting a first threshold value of the beam quality metric for a combination of functions including random access channel repetition.

[0171] In one embodiment, the method further includes selecting a feature combination that includes random access channel repetition upon determining that the quality metric of the received beam is less than a first threshold for the feature combination.

[0172] In one embodiment, the method further comprises selecting, from among one or more combinations of features comprising random access channel repetition, a combination of features with a greater number of repetitions of the random access channel.

[0173] In one embodiment, in the above method, the quality metric of the beam is one of Layer 1-Reference Signal Received Power (L1-RSRP), Layer 1-Signal to Interference and Noise Ratio (L1-SINR), RSRP, or SINR.

[0174] In one embodiment, the method further includes setting a separate second parameter for each combination of functions including random access channel repetition, the second parameter including at least one of a target power, a power ramping step, or a maximum transmission.

[0175] The present disclosure provides a communication method, including: receiving, in a network device, a first transmission from a terminal device on a random access channel transmitted using a first transmission beam; and receiving, when the terminal device is to monitor a random access response to the first transmission or while monitoring the random access response, if a random access response has not been transmitted to the terminal device, a second transmission from the terminal device on the random access channel transmitted using a second transmission beam different from the first transmission beam.

[0176] In one embodiment, the method further includes transmitting a random access response to one of the first transmission and the second transmission to the terminal device.

[0177] The present disclosure provides a terminal device comprising a processor and a memory storing computer program code, the memory and the computer program code being configured, together with the processor, to cause the terminal device to execute the above-described method implemented in the terminal device.

[0178] The present disclosure provides a network device comprising a processor and a memory storing computer program code, the memory and the computer program code together with the processor configured to cause the network device to perform the above-mentioned method when implemented in the network device.

[0179] The present disclosure provides a computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by a processor of a device, cause the device to perform a method implemented in a terminal device or network device as described above.

[0180] Generally, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic, or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented by hardware, while other aspects may be implemented by firmware or software that may be executed by a controller, microprocessor, or other computing device. Various aspects of the embodiments of the present disclosure have been shown and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or illustrated by some other pictorial representation, and it will be understood that the blocks, apparatus, systems, techniques, or methods described herein may be implemented by, for example, but not limited to, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing device, or combinations thereof.

[0181] The present disclosure further provides at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a computer-readable, non-transitory storage medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as instructions included in program modules. The instructions execute on a target real or virtual processor device to perform a process or method such as those described above with reference to FIGS. 2-10. Typically, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or split among program modules as desired in various embodiments. The machine-readable instructions of the program modules may be executed in local or distributed devices. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.

[0182] Program code for carrying out the methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. These program codes may be provided to a processor or controller of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, and when executed by the processor or controller, the functions / operations specified in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams are performed. The program code may run entirely on a machine, partially on a machine, as a separate software package, partially on a machine and partially on a remote machine, or entirely on a remote machine or server.

[0183] The above-described program code may be embodied on a machine-readable medium, which may be any tangible medium that contains or stores a program used by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The machine-readable medium may be a machine-readable signal medium or a machine-readable storage medium. The machine-readable medium may include, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of machine-readable storage media include an electrical connection including one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

[0184] Although operations have been described in a particular order, it should not be understood that performing these operations in the particular order or sequence shown, or performing all of the operations shown, is required to achieve desired results. In some situations, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Similarly, while the above discussion includes several specific implementation details, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments. Some features that are described in the context of individual embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitable subcombination.

[0185] Although the present disclosure has been described in language specific to structural features and / or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the present disclosure, as defined by the appended claims, is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

1. In the terminal device, an offset value for adjusting a first delta preamble value for determining a transmission power of a random access channel is acquired from a network device, and the first delta preamble value is determined based on a format of the random access channel; adjusting the first delta preamble value based on the offset value to obtain a second delta preamble value; determining the transmit power of the random access channel based on the second delta preamble value; transmitting a random access message to a network device on the random access channel using the transmission power; Including, Communication method.

2. receiving a number of repetitions of a random access channel from the network device; the offset value is based on the number of iterations; The method of claim 1.

3. To get the offset value, obtaining the offset value through Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling; or obtaining the offset value based on the number of repetitions from a predefined table; Including, The method of claim 2.

4. receiving, in the terminal device, configuration information from a network device, indicating a first configuration used to determine a transmission power of a recurring random access channel and a second configuration used to determine a transmission power of a non-recurring random access channel; determining the transmit power of the random access channel based on one of the first setting and the second setting; Including, Communication method.

5. the first configuration includes at least one of a first target power, a first power ramping step, or a first maximum transmission, and the second configuration includes at least one of a second target power, a second power ramping step, or a second maximum transmission; the first target power is different from the second target power; the first power ramping step is different from the second power ramping step; or the first maximum transmission is different from the second maximum transmission; At least one of the following conditions is met: The method of claim 4.

6. the first configuration includes individual first parameters for transmission on a recurring random access channel, the individual first parameters including at least one of a PRACH preamble, an opportunity, or a resource; The method of claim 4.

7. and further including: setting a separate second parameter for each combination of functions including random access channel repetition, the second parameter including at least one of a target power, a power ramping step, or a maximum transmission. The method according to any one of claims 4 to 6.

8. transmitting, at the terminal device, a first transmission on a random access channel to a network device using a first transmission beam; transmitting a second transmission to the network device on the random access channel using a second transmission beam when the terminal device is to monitor a random access response to the first transmission or if the random access response is not received while monitoring the random access response; Including, Communication method.

9. when transmitting the second transmission using the second transmit beam, transmit power is not increased; The method of claim 8.

10. the first transmission beam and the second transmission beam have individual preamble power ramping counters, and the preamble power ramping counter of a particular beam among the first transmission beam and the second transmission beam is incremented by 1 after the particular beam finishes transmitting the random access channel.

10. The method according to claim 8 or 9.

11. and further comprising: incrementing a preamble power ramping counter by 1 or N after N random access channel transmissions before a random access response is received, where N is the number of beams used to transmit the random access channel transmissions to the network device.

10. The method according to claim 8 or 9.

12. detecting a random access response corresponding to the transmitted random access channel transmission; upon detecting the random access response, ceasing transmission of further random access channel transmissions using further beams and ceasing monitoring of other transmitted random access channel transmissions for random access responses; further comprising:

10. The method according to claim 8 or 9.

13. In the network device, determining an offset value for adjusting a first delta preamble value used by a terminal device to determine a transmission power of a random access channel, wherein the first delta preamble value is determined based on a format of the random access channel; transmitting information indicating the offset value to the terminal device; Including, Communication method.

14. determining, in a network device, a first setting used by a terminal device to determine a transmission power of a repetitive random access channel and a second setting used by the terminal device to determine the transmission power of the non-repetitive random access channel; transmitting setting information indicating the first setting and the second setting to the terminal device; Including, Communication method.

15. the first configuration includes at least one of a first target power, a first power ramping step, or a first maximum transmission, and the second configuration includes at least one of a second target power, a second power ramping step, or a second maximum transmission; the first target power is different from the second target power; the first power ramping step is different from the second power ramping step; or the first maximum transmission is different from the second maximum transmission; At least one of the following conditions is met:

15. The method of claim 14.

16. the first configuration includes individual first parameters for a transmission of a random access channel repetition, the first parameters including at least one of a PRACH preamble, an opportunity, or a resource; 16. The method of claim 14 or 15.

17. receiving, at the network device, a first transmission from the terminal device on a random access channel transmitted using a first transmission beam; When the terminal device is scheduled to monitor a random access response to the first transmission, or while monitoring the random access response, if the random access response has not been transmitted to the terminal device, receiving a second transmission from the terminal device on the random access channel transmitted using a second transmission beam different from the first transmission beam; Including, Communication method.

18. A terminal device, a processor; a memory for storing computer program code; Equipped with The memory and the computer program code, together with the processor, are configured to cause the terminal device to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 12. Terminal device.

19. A network device, a processor; a memory for storing computer program code; Equipped with The memory and the computer program code, together with the processor, are configured to cause the network device to perform the method of any one of claims 13 to 17. Network equipment.

20. A computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions which, when executed by a processor of a device, cause the device to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 12 or any one of claims 13 to 17. Computer-readable medium.

Images