Early support information reporting method and device

Abstract

[0010] An embodiment of the present disclosure provides an early aid information reporting method and apparatus. The method includes: receiving, from a base station, configuration information related to an early aid information report; and transmitting a medium access control protocol data unit (MAC PDU) to the base station according to the configuration information, where the MAC PDU includes a specific MAC subheader carrying an early aid information field. In one embodiment, the configuration information is cell-based configuration information, RACH resource-based configuration information, or RACH resource set-based configuration information.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] (CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS) This disclosure is based on and claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. CN202311275815.6, filed on September 28, 2023, entitled "Early Assistance Information Report Method and Apparatus," the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

[0002] (Technical field) FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE The present disclosure relates to the field of communications, and in particular to a method and apparatus for reporting early assistance information. [Background technology]

[0003] In current wireless communication systems, a user equipment (UE) reports support information (e.g., UE capability) to a network (NW) after connecting to the NW in order to assist better scheduling of the UE.

[0004] In one aspect, although UE capability reporting is typically performed after the UE successfully establishes a connection to the NW, there are some cases requiring the UE to report its capabilities in a PUSCH transmission during the RACH procedure. One example is that for a non-terrestrial network (NTN), due to a limited link budget in the downlink, the NW may decide to enable repeated (re)transmission of an acknowledgment for Msg4 or MsgB. To achieve this, the NW needs to know the UE's capabilities to support this operation, and therefore, a method needs to be specified for the UE to report its capabilities before scheduling Msg4 or MsgB. One possible method is to deliver such information in the Msg3 or MsgA payload. In another aspect, because the size of the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) message affects the overall coverage of the RACH, the UE needs to transmit UE capability information in a PUSCH transmission during the RACH procedure, which does not increase the message size.

[0005] In the related art, assistance information can be indicated by using a logical channel identification (LCID) in Msg3 / MsgA. However, this method has many drawbacks: First, in the current standard developed by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP®) organization, the number of coding points reserved by LCID is limited, and as the UE's requirement for reporting assistance information during the RACH procedure continues to increase, the remaining LCID coding points may be quickly exhausted. Second, because the LCID includes two common control channels (CCCHs) with different sizes, two LCIDs need to be used to indicate the assistance information in order to distinguish between the two situations. Third, considering that various assistance information may be required to be indicated in Msg3 / MsgA in the future, assuming there are x types of assistance information to support all combinations of assistance information, up to 2^x-1 additional coding points are required for indication, accelerating the consumption of the remaining LCID coding points. Flexibility is relatively low when a combination of multiple assistance information groups is indicated.

[0006] In summary, with regard to indicating assistance information during the RACH procedure by using current LCID bits in the related art, there is still no good solution to the problem of the limited number of coding points and low flexibility of LCID. Summary of the Invention [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The embodiments of the present disclosure provide an early assistance information reporting method and apparatus to at least solve the problems of the limited number of coding points of LCID and low flexibility in indicating assistance information during a RACH procedure by using LCID in the related art.

[0008] An embodiment of the present disclosure provides an early aid information reporting method applied to a terminal, the method including: receiving configuration information related to early aid information reporting from a base station; and transmitting a MAC PDU to the base station according to the configuration information, the MAC PDU including a specific MAC subheader carrying an early aid information field.

[0009] Another embodiment of the present disclosure provides an early aid information reporting method applied to a base station, the method including: transmitting configuration information related to early aid information reporting to a terminal; and receiving a MAC PDU transmitted by the terminal according to the configuration information, wherein the MAC PDU includes a specific MAC subheader carrying an early aid information field.

[0010] An embodiment of the present disclosure provides an early assistance information reporting method applied to a terminal, the method including: receiving configuration information related to early assistance information reporting from a base station; and transmitting an early assistance message carrying the early assistance information to the base station according to the configuration information.

[0011] Another embodiment of the present disclosure further provides an early assistance information reporting method applied to a base station, the method including: transmitting configuration information related to early assistance information reporting to a terminal; and receiving an early assistance message carrying early assistance information transmitted by the terminal according to the configuration information.

[0012] Another embodiment of the present disclosure provides a terminal, wherein the terminal is configured to receive configuration information related to an early aid information report from a base station, and to send a MAC PDU to the base station according to the configuration information, wherein the MAC PDU includes a specific MAC subheader carrying an early aid information field.

[0013] Another embodiment of the present disclosure provides a base station, wherein the base station is configured to send configuration information related to an early aid information report to a terminal, and receive a MAC PDU sent by the terminal according to the configuration information, wherein the MAC PDU includes a specific MAC subheader carrying an early aid information field.

[0014] Another embodiment of the present disclosure provides a terminal, wherein the terminal is configured to receive configuration information related to an early assistance information report from a base station, and to transmit an early assistance message carrying the early assistance information to the base station according to the configuration information.

[0015] Another embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a base station, wherein the base station is configured to transmit configuration information related to an early assistance information report to a terminal, and to receive an early assistance message carrying early assistance information transmitted by the terminal according to the configuration information.

[0016] Yet another embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a computer-readable storage medium, the storage medium storing a computer program, and the steps of any one of the above method embodiments are performed when the computer program is executed by a processor.

[0017] Yet another embodiment of the present disclosure further provides an electronic device, the electronic device including a memory and a processor, the memory storing a computer program, the processor configured to execute the computer program for performing the steps of any one of the above method embodiments. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0018] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a hardware structure of an early assistance information reporting method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a flowchart (I) of an early assistance information reporting method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 3] FIG. 3 is a flowchart (II) of an early assistance information reporting method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a contention-based RACH procedure having four steps according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 5]FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a contention-based RACH procedure having two steps according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram (I) of a specific MAC subheader according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is a schematic structural diagram (II) of a specific MAC subheader according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 is a schematic structural diagram (III) of a specific MAC subheader according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 9] FIG. 9 is a schematic structural diagram (IV) of a specific MAC subheader according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a schematic structural diagram (V) of a specific MAC subheader according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 11] FIG. 11 is a schematic structural diagram (VI) of a specific MAC subheader according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 12] FIG. 12 is a flowchart (III) of an early assistance information reporting method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 13] FIG. 13 is a flowchart of a four-step RACH according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 14] FIG. 14 is a flowchart of a two-step RACH according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 15] FIG. 15 is a flowchart of a four-step RACH according to another embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 16] FIG. 16 is a schematic structural diagram of a MAC subheader of a MAC CE for identifying a C-RNTI according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0019] Embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail below with reference to the drawings and embodiments.

[0020] It should be noted that the terms "first," "second," etc. in the description of this disclosure, the claims, and the above-mentioned drawings are intended to distinguish between similar objects rather than to describe a particular order or priority.

[0021] The method embodiments provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in a mobile terminal, a computer terminal, or a similar computing device. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a hardware structure of an early assistance information reporting method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, as operated on a mobile terminal as an example. As shown in FIG. 1, the hardware single board may include one or more processors 12 (only one of which is shown in FIG. 1) (the processor 12 may include, but is not limited to, a processing unit such as a microprocessor MCU or a programmable logic device) and a memory 14 configured to store data. The mobile terminal may further include a transmission device 16 configured to realize communication functions and an input / output device 18. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the structure shown in FIG. 1 is merely a schematic diagram and does not limit the structure of the mobile terminal. For example, the mobile terminal may include more or fewer components than those shown in FIG. 1 or may have a different configuration than that shown in FIG. 1.

[0022] The memory 14 may be configured to store computer programs, such as software programs and application software modules, such as a computer program corresponding to the early assistance information reporting method of the present disclosure. The processor 12 executes the computer programs stored in the memory 14 to execute various functional applications and the early assistance information reporting method (i.e., to implement the above-described method). The memory 14 may include high-speed random access memory and may further include non-transitory memory, such as one or more magnetic disk memory devices, flash memory devices, or other non-transitory solid-state memory devices. In some embodiments, the memory 14 may further include memory located remotely from the processor 12. The remote memory may be connected to a mobile terminal using a network. Examples of the network include, but are not limited to, the Internet, an intranet, a local area network, a mobile communication network, and combinations thereof.

[0023] The transmission device 16 is configured to receive or transmit data via a network. A specific example of the network may include a wireless network provided by a carrier. In one example, the transmission device 16 includes a network interface controller (NIC) and may be connected to other network devices by using a base station to communicate with the Internet. In one example, the transmission device 16 is a radio frequency (RF) module configured to communicate with the Internet in a wireless alternative manner.

[0024] An embodiment of the present disclosure provides an early assistance information reporting method applied to a terminal. Figure 2 is a flowchart (I) of the early assistance information reporting method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 2, the flow includes the following steps:

[0025] At S202, configuration information related to early assistance information reporting is received from a base station.

[0026] At S204, a MAC PDU is sent to the base station according to the configuration information, where the MAC PDU includes a specific MAC subheader carrying an early aid information field.

[0027] In this embodiment of the present disclosure, a specific MAC subheader for indicating early assistance information is designed by S202 to S204. The terminal may set a field in the specific MAC subheader based on the configuration of the network regarding whether the terminal supports each feature, thereby solving the problems of the limited number of coding points of the LCID and low flexibility regarding indicating assistance information during the RACH procedure by using the LCID in the related art.

[0028] In some embodiments, the MAC subheader is configured to identify a CCCH message, and the CCCH message is transmitted by the UE to the base station via the PUSCH. The UE may set a field (i.e., an early support information field) in the MAC subheader that identifies the CCCH message to indicate whether the UE supports each feature.

[0029] In some embodiments, the particular MAC subheader that carries the early aid information may also be configured to identify the DCCH message.

[0030] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the base station needs to send configuration information to the UE so that the UE knows that the base station can decode a specific MAC subheader configured to indicate early aid information, or the base station enables the UE to identify CCCH messages using a specific MAC subheader, which includes an early aid information field (e.g., one or more UE capability-related information).

[0031] In this embodiment, the UE is a terminal, including but not limited to a mobile terminal, a computer terminal, and the like.

[0032] In some embodiments, the early aid information may include one or more UE capability-related information. The UE capability indicates whether the UE supports a feature or a function, and the specific content of the early aid information is not limited in this disclosure.

[0033] Furthermore, the early assistance information may be replaced with other terms such as early terminal information, early terminal identifier, early terminal indication, etc., and is not limited in this disclosure.

[0034] In some embodiments, the early assistance information may include, but is not limited to, any one or any combination of the following information:

[0035] Indication information to indicate whether the UE supports or requests automatic repeat requests for PUCCH in Msg4HARQ-ACK.

[0036] Indication information (e.g., RedCap UE) for indicating whether the UE is a UE with reduced capabilities (RedCap).

[0037] Indication information to indicate whether the UE is a UE with enhanced reduced capabilities (e.g., eRedCap UE).

[0038] Indication information to indicate whether the UE is temporarily restricted.

[0039] Indication information to indicate whether the UE supports a particular UE capability.

[0040] Indication information to indicate that the RACH procedure is triggered for a specific reason.

[0041] Instruction information to indicate that the initial access process is triggered for a specific reason.

[0042] In this embodiment, Msg4 is the fourth step message in the four-step RACH procedure, HARQ-ACK is the abbreviation for Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request-Acknowledgement, and PUCCH is the abbreviation for Physical Uplink Control Channel.

[0043] In an exemplary embodiment, the indication of whether UE capabilities are temporarily restricted may be used in a scenario in which the UE supports multiple SIMs. In this scenario, the UE's capabilities (e.g., supported frequency band combinations and the ability to support dual connectivity) may be temporarily restricted under certain conditions. For example, if the UE has established a radio resource control (RRC) connection with NW1 on one SIM card and the UE uses another SIM card to establish or restore an RRC connection with NW2, the ability of the MUSIM UE to support multiple MUSIMs may be temporarily restricted.

[0044] In some embodiments, the configuration information includes explicit and / or implicit indications to indicate whether a particular MAC subheader is enabled.

[0045] In an exemplary embodiment, the explicit indication may include explicit instructions to indicate whether the UE is enabled to use the above-mentioned particular MAC subheader.

[0046] In some embodiments, the implicit instruction includes at least one of the following:

[0047] Msg4 Automatic Repeat Request configuration information for HARQ-ACK.

[0048] Temporary capability restriction related configuration information for Multi-User Identity Module (MUSIM) terminals.

[0049] Reduced Capabilities (RedCap) terminal configuration information.

[0050] Enhanced Reduced Capability (eRedCap) terminal configuration information.

[0051] Random Access Channel (RACH) resource configuration information dedicated to early assistance information reporting; The mapping relationship between a specific MAC subheader format and RACH resources.

[0052] Device capability information.

[0053] RACH procedure trigger information (e.g., trigger cause).

[0054] Initial access process trigger information (e.g., trigger cause and purpose for initiating the process).

[0055] In an example embodiment, explicit and implicit indications may be used in combination: explicit indications may be configured to enable specific MAC subheaders, and implicit indications may be configured to assist the UE in determining the content of the associated early aid information to be reported in the specific MAC subheaders.

[0056] In an exemplary embodiment, the automatic repeat request configuration information may include at least one of the following:

[0057] Automatic Repeat Request Enable Indication: Configured to indicate whether the UE is enabled to send an early indication to support or request an automatic repeat request for HARQ-ACK. Illustratively, the transmission of the early indication may be restricted during the RACH procedure.

[0058] Automatic Repeat Request Repetition Factor: may be configured to indicate the number of automatic repeat requests of the ACK message that may be selected by the UE when the HARQ-ACK is transmitted. Candidate values ​​for the automatic repeat request repetition factor may illustratively be {1, 2, 4, 8}.

[0059] In an exemplary embodiment, the MUSIM temporary capability restriction information may apply to all RRC states or may be restricted by some RRC processes (e.g., in the process of RRC connection establishment or RRC connection resumption).

[0060] In an exemplary embodiment, RedCap is a bandwidth reduction technology, and RedCap terminal configuration information may include at least one of the following:

[0061] RedCapUE Indication: Configured to indicate whether the RedCapUE may use an RRC message during the RACH procedure to indicate that it is a RedCapUE indication, and the RRC message may be specifically designed by providing early assistance information during the RACH procedure.

[0062] Cell Barring Indication: Configured to indicate whether a cell is barred from being configured for RedCapUEs with one or two Rx frequency bands, or configured to indicate whether a cell is barred from accessing RedCapUEs with one or two Rx frequency bands.

[0063] Half-Duplex Indication: A half-duplex indication configured to indicate whether the current cell supports half-duplex frequency division duplex (FDD) RedCapUE indication.

[0064] In an exemplary embodiment, eRedCap is an enhanced bandwidth reduction technology, and the eRedCap terminal configuration information may include at least one of the following:

[0065] eRedCapUE indication: Configured to indicate whether the eRedCapUE can indicate that the eRedCapUE indication is an eRedCapUE indication during the RACH procedure.

[0066] Cell Barring Indication: Configured to indicate whether a cell is barred from being configured for an eRedCapUE with one or two Rx frequency bands, or configured to indicate whether a cell is barred from accessing an eRedCapUE with one or two Rx frequency bands.

[0067] Half-duplex indication: Configured to indicate whether the current cell supports half-duplex FDD eRedCapUE indication.

[0068] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, through the implicit indication in any one of the above embodiments, the terminal may be implicitly notified that the cell enables the UE to use a specific MAC subheader associated with early assistance information to identify a MAC service data unit (SDU).

[0069] In some embodiments, the configuration information may be cell-based configuration information, RACH resource-based configuration information, or RACH resource set-based configuration information (e.g., RACH resources associated with a combination of control element (CE) features), i.e., the configuration is performed using a cell as the particle size, or the configuration information is provided according to different RACH resources, or the configuration information is provided according to different RACH resource sets.

[0070] In some embodiments, the UE triggers an event to select a corresponding RACH resource according to its own capabilities (e.g., functional features supported by the UE) and / or the trigger cause of the current RACH procedure.

[0071] In some embodiments, receiving configuration information related to early assistance information reporting from the base station S202 includes at least one of the following:

[0072] System information (SI) carrying configuration information is received from a base station. The SI includes at least one System Information Block 1 (SIB1) message or at least one SIBx, where x is the number of the SIB, e.g., x=22 refers to SIB22.

[0073] A broadcast message carrying configuration information is received from a base station.

[0074] A multicast message carrying configuration information is received from a base station.

[0075] Radio resource control (RRC) signaling carrying configuration information is received from a base station.

[0076] A non-access layer (NAS) message carrying configuration information is received from a base station.

[0077] A page carrying configuration information is received from a base station.

[0078] A short message carrying configuration information is received from a base station.

[0079] MAC signaling carrying configuration information is received from a base station.

[0080] Physical layer signaling carrying configuration information is received from a base station.

[0081] In an exemplary embodiment, if the configuration information is transmitted by using an SI, it may be one or more SIB1 messages or SIBxIEs, where x in the SIBxIE is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2. The SIBxIEs may be one or more existing SIBs (e.g., SIB2-SIB21) or an introduced new SIB (e.g., SIB22).

[0082] In an exemplary embodiment, one common SIBx may be configured to indicate one or more instructions in the above embodiments, and x in SIBx may be any positive integer such as SIB1 or SIB22.

[0083] In another embodiment, multiple different SIs (one or more of SIB1 message or SIBxIE) may be used to indicate the configuration information in any one of the above embodiments. Illustratively, SIB1 may include configuration information for RedCapUE, eRedCapUE, MUSIM terminal, or explicit instructions so that the terminal can use a specific MAC subheader carrying the early aid information field. Illustratively, SIB19 may include automatic repeat request (ARR) configuration information for HARQ-ACK.

[0084] In some embodiments, the particular MAC subheader includes at least one of the following contents:

[0085] Flag bits for a particular MAC subheader.

[0086] Message type field for Common Control Channel (CCCH) messages.

[0087] Early assistance information field.

[0088] In an exemplary embodiment, the flag bit is configured to distinguish between a specific MAC subheader that carries an early aid information field and other general MAC subheaders that do not carry an early aid information field.

[0089] In an exemplary embodiment, the flag bit may be a 1-bit indication field, such as a C_flag field configured to indicate that the MAC subheader includes an early aid information field. Illustratively, when the C_flag field is set to 1, it may indicate that the MAC subheader includes an early aid information field, and when the C_flag field is set to 0, it may indicate that the MAC subheader does not include an early aid information field, or vice versa; the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In some embodiments, the field may be located only in the first position on the left side to distinguish it from fields for identifying subheaders carrying indefinite-length MAC subPDUs.

[0090] In some embodiments, the message type of the CCCH message includes at least one of the following and possible combinations:

[0091] 48-bit CCCH or 64-bit CCCH1.

[0092] CCCH for RedCap terminals or CCCH for non-RedCap terminals.

[0093] In an exemplary embodiment, the classification mode of CCCH messages may be different, for example, classified into 48-bit CCCH and 64-bit CCCH1 according to the message size. Alternatively, CCCH messages for RedCap UEs and CCCH messages for non-RedCap UEs may be classified according to whether the UE supports RedCap, where RedCap UEs are terminals that support RedCap and non-RedCap UEs are terminals that do not support RedCap.

[0094] In an exemplary embodiment, the message type of the CCCH message may be a 1-bit indication field. Illustratively, the field may be set to 0 to indicate that the CCCH category is CCCH, the field may be set to 1 to indicate that the CCCH category is CCCH1, or vice versa, although the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0095] In an exemplary embodiment, the message type of the CCCH message may be a 2-bit indication field, which enables differentiation of CCCH message sizes as well as differentiation of CCCH messages for ReCap UEs and non-RedCap UEs. The 2-bit indication field may indicate four values ​​{00, 01, 10, 11}, and each value may be one-to-one mapped to {CCCH for non-RedCap UE, CCCH1 for non-RedCap UE, CCCH for RedCap UE, and CCCH1 for RedCap UE}. The mapping rule may be shown in Table 1 below, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. [Table 1]

[0096] In some embodiments, the indication mode of the early assistance information field includes at least one of the following:

[0097] An early support information field including at least one bit of information: each bit of information indicates one piece of early support information.

[0098] The value of the early assistance information field is determined by an equation comprising an early assistance information field of at least one subfield: each subfield indicates one piece of early assistance information, and the equation of the early assistance information field is determined based on the value of the at least one subfield and the number of candidate values ​​for each subfield.

[0099] In the early assistance information field indicating the LCID index: the LCID index is configured to indicate one or more pieces of early assistance information.

[0100] In some embodiments, the early aid information field may also include one or more reserved bits for future expansion, each reserved bit having a value of 0.

[0101] In some embodiments, the early aid information field may include n bits, each bit identifying one piece of early aid information (e.g., UE capability-related information). Illustratively, each bit may indicate whether the UE supports a feature or function.

[0102] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, after the NW side successfully receives the information reported by the UE, the value of each subfield (each feature) can be reverse-calculated based on different indication modes and the values ​​of the corresponding early support information fields to calculate the early support information content reported by the UE, thereby achieving the purpose of indicating the early support information through the MAC subheader.

[0103] In some embodiments, the formula for the Early Assistance Information field includes the following values:

[0104] Value of early support information field = value of first subfield + value of second subfield × number of candidate values ​​of first subfield + value of third subfield × (number of candidate values ​​of second subfield + number of candidate values ​​of first subfield) + ··· + value of nth subfield × (number of candidate values ​​of (n-1)th subfield + ··· + number of candidate values ​​of second subfield + number of candidate values ​​of first subfield): n is a positive integer.

[0105] In some embodiments, the early assistance information includes at least one of the following:

[0106] Indication information for indicating whether the terminal supports or requests automatic repeat requests for PUCCH in Msg4 HARQ-ACK.

[0107] An indication of whether the terminal capabilities of the terminal are temporarily restricted.

[0108] Indicates whether the device supports RedCap.

[0109] Indicates whether the device supports eRedCap. In some embodiments, a MAC PDU includes one or more MAC subPDUs, each MAC subPDU consisting of one of the following:

[0110] MAC subheader.

[0111] MAC subheader and MAC SDU.

[0112] MAC subheader and MAC CE.

[0113] MAC subheader and padding.

[0114] In this embodiment, when early aid information needs to be transmitted, any MAC subheader in the MAC PDU can be a specific MAC subheader carrying the early aid information field.

[0115] In some embodiments, the particular MAC subheader may be a MAC subheader configured to identify a MAC SDU and is transmitted on a common control logical channel.

[0116] In some embodiments, the particular MAC subheader may be a MAC subheader configured to identify a MAC CE for early aid information reporting.

[0117] In some embodiments, the MAC CE for early aid information reporting carries only a specific MAC subheader and does not carry any load.

[0118] In some embodiments, the MAC subheader carrying the indication is configured to identify the MAC CE for early aid information reporting, in which case the early aid information field may be included in the load of the MAC subPDU, i.e., the content of the MAC CE, rather than in the MAC subheader.

[0119] In some embodiments, the MAC subheader carrying the indication is configured to identify the MAC SDU for early aid information reporting, in which case the early aid information field may be included in the load of the MAC subPDU, i.e., the content of the MAC SDU, rather than in the MAC subheader.

[0120] In some embodiments, transmitting a MAC PDU to the base station according to the configuration information includes the following operations.

[0121] In the third step (eg, Msg3) of the four-step random access or the first step (eg, MsgA load) of the two-step random access, the MAC PDU is transmitted to the base station according to the configuration information.

[0122] Through the embodiments of the present disclosure, the UE may be provided with a specific MAC subheader (e.g., a MAC subheader configured to identify a CCCH message) to indicate whether the terminal can support each feature in the assistance information, and the early assistance information may be transmitted via a PUSCH without increasing the message size, thereby resolving the problems of the limited number of coding points of the LCID and low flexibility in indicating the assistance information during the RACH procedure by using the LCID in the related art.

[0123] Another embodiment of the present disclosure further provides an early assistance information reporting method applied to a base station.

[0124] 3 is a flowchart (II) of an early assistance information reporting method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 3, the method includes the following steps:

[0125] At S302, configuration information related to early assistance information reporting is sent to the terminal.

[0126] At S304, a MAC PDU sent by a terminal according to the configuration information is received, where the MAC PDU includes a specific MAC subheader carrying an early aid information field.

[0127] In some embodiments, the UE may send a CCCH message in an uplink transmission during the RACH procedure, where the CCCH message includes a specific MAC subheader carrying an early aid information field.

[0128] In an exemplary embodiment, the CCCH message may include, in particular, the payload of Msg3 or MsgA. The following description is given with reference to two contention-based RACH procedures. However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto, and the technical solutions in the present disclosure may also be implemented during a non-contention RACH procedure.

[0129] 4 is a flowchart of a contention-based RACH procedure having four steps according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 4, the flow includes the following steps:

[0130] At S0, the UE receives early support information reporting related configuration information from the base station.

[0131] At S1, the UE transmits a random access preamble (Msg1) to the base station.

[0132] At S2, the UE receives a random access response (Msg2) from the base station.

[0133] In S3, the UE transmits Msg3 to the base station based on NW scheduling.

[0134] At S4, the UE receives Msg4 for contention resolution from the base station.

[0135] In this embodiment, Msg3 contains a CCCH message, and the CCCH message in Msg3 can be identified through the MAC subheader.

[0136] In this embodiment, a specific MAC subheader carrying an early aid information field is arranged, thereby realizing reporting of early aid information, such as whether the terminal supports some capabilities or functions.

[0137] In some embodiments, in addition to the early aid information reporting-related configuration information in step S0, the network (NW) configuration by the base station to the terminal further includes a RACH configuration. The RACH configuration may be transmitted together with or separately from the configuration information for the early aid information reporting, and the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In some embodiments, the NW may be used to refer to a base station, a core NW, a partial NW element of the base station (e.g., a distributed unit element or a centralized element), or a functional entity within the NW, such as an access and mobility management function (AMF), an operation, administration, and maintenance (OAM), etc.

[0138] 5 is a flowchart of a contention-based RACH procedure having two steps according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 5, the flow includes the following steps:

[0139] At S0, the UE receives early support information reporting related configuration information from the base station.

[0140] In SA, the UE transmits a random access preamble and a PUSCH load (MsgA) containing a CCCH message to the base station.

[0141] In SB, the UE receives MsgB for contention resolution from the base station.

[0142] In this embodiment, the CCCH message contained in MsgA can be identified through the MAC subheader.

[0143] In this embodiment, a specific MAC subheader carrying an early aid information field is arranged, thereby realizing reporting of early aid information, such as whether the terminal supports some capabilities or functions.

[0144] In some embodiments, the NW configuration further includes a RACH configuration. The RACH configuration may be transmitted together with or separately from the configuration information for early assistance information reporting, and the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0145] In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the base station may transmit configuration information to the terminal through SIB1.

[0146] In this embodiment, the structure of SIB1 is shown as follows: --ASN1START --TAG-SIB1-START SIB1-vnnmm-IEs::= SEQUENCE { subheaderForUECapAllowed-rnn::= ENUMERATED{true} OPTIONAL,--Need R nonCriticalExtension SEQUENCE{} } --TAG-SIB1-STOP --ASN1STOP

[0147] In this embodiment, SIB1-vnnmm refers to SIB1 defined in the standard, where v represents the implemented standard version, nn represents the published version number of the standard, and mm represents the mm edition of the nn version, i.e., the mm subversion of the nn version. Illustratively, SIB1-v1800 refers to SIB1 based on the 18th edition, revision 00 of the standard.

[0148] In this embodiment, the new CE subheaderForUECapAllowed-rnn (subheader for allowed UE capabilities) is a new field that will be introduced in a future standard version.

[0149] In this embodiment, the presence of the subheaderForUECapAllowed field is configured to indicate that the UE is allowed to use a particular MAC subheader that includes an early aid information field, which is a field related to early aid information as defined in standard TS38.321.

[0150] In this embodiment, the subheaderForUECapAllowed field is just an example, and other examples may be earlyUEIndicationAllowed, etc. The field name of the configuration information is not limited in the present disclosure.

[0151] In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the early support information field in a particular MAC subheader may include n bits, each of which may indicate whether the UE supports a feature or function (equivalent to the bit information above).

[0152] In an exemplary embodiment, the characteristic is whether the UE supports or requests automatic repeat requests for the PUCCH for Msg4HARQ-ACK. A 1-bit subfield (e.g., a pucchRep field) may be used in the early support information field to indicate the UE. Illustratively, a value of 0 in the subfield indicates that the UE does not support or request PUCCH repetition for Msg4HARQ-ACK, and a value of 1 in the subfield indicates that the UE can support or request PUCCH repetition for Msg4HARQ-ACK, or vice versa; the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0153] In an exemplary embodiment, the characteristic is whether the UE is a UE with RedCap (e.g., a RedCap UE). A 1-bit subfield (e.g., a RedCap field) may be used in the early assistance information field to indicate the UE. Illustratively, a value of 0 in the subfield indicates that the UE is not a RedCap UE, and a value of 1 in the subfield indicates that the UE is a RedCap UE, or vice versa, although the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0154] In some embodiments, the indication is optionally present if the base station or NW indicates that the current cell supports RedCapUE.

[0155] In an exemplary embodiment, the characteristic is whether the UE is a UE with eRedCap (e.g., an eRedCap UE). A 1-bit subfield (e.g., an eRedCap field) may be used in the early assistance information field to indicate the UE. Illustratively, a value of 0 in the subfield indicates that the UE is not an eRedCap UE, and a value of 1 in the subfield indicates that the UE is an eRedCap UE, or vice versa, although the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0156] In some embodiments, the indication is optionally present if the base station or NW indicates that the current cell supports eRedCapUE.

[0157] In an exemplary embodiment, the characteristic is whether UE capabilities (e.g., MUSIM UE capabilities) are temporarily restricted. A 1-bit subfield may be used in the early support information field to indicate the UE. Illustratively, a value of 0 in the subfield indicates that UE capabilities (e.g., MUSIM UE capabilities) are not restricted, and a value of 1 in the subfield indicates that UE capabilities (e.g., MUSIM UE capabilities) are temporarily restricted, or vice versa, although the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0158] In an example embodiment, a value of 0 in the subfield indicates that temporary restrictions on UE capabilities (e.g., MUSIM UE capabilities) have been removed, and a value of 1 in the subfield indicates that UE capabilities (e.g., MUSIM UE capabilities) have been temporarily restricted, or vice versa, although the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0159] In some embodiments, the indication is optionally present if the base station or NW indicates whether the UE is temporarily restricted in the current cell.

[0160] In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the value of the early aid information field may be determined by a formula, where the formula is determined based on the values ​​of the n subfields and the number of candidate values ​​for each subfield.

[0161] In an exemplary embodiment, assuming the early aid information field is m bits, if the initial value starts from 1, the field can have a maximum value of 2^m, or if the initial value is 0, the field can have a maximum value of 2^m-1.

[0162] In an exemplary embodiment, the formula for the early aid information field having n subfields is as follows:

[0163] Early assistance information field value = sub_field_1 + sub_field_2 × numOfsub_field_1 + sub_field_3 × (numOfsub_field_2 + numOfsub_field_1) + ··· + sub_field_n × (numOfsub_field_n-1 + ··· + numOfsub_field_2 + numOfsub_field_1).

[0164] sub_field_1 is the value of the first subfield associated with the first early support information; the number of candidate values ​​of the first subfield is numOfsub_field_1; sub_field_2 is the value of the second subfield associated with the second early support information, the number of candidate values ​​of which is numOfsub_field_2, and so on; sub_field_n-1 is the value of the (n-1)th subfield associated with the (n-1)th early support information, the number of candidate values ​​of which is numOfsub_field_n-1; sub_field_n is the value of the nth subfield associated with the nth early support information, the number of candidate values ​​of which is numOfsub_field_n.

[0165] In an exemplary embodiment, the early assistance information field includes the following three subfields related to UE capabilities:

[0166] First subfield: Device Type. Candidate values ​​are {0, 1, 2}, and each value represents one of the device types {eRedCap UE, RedCap UE, and non-RedCap and non-eRedCap UE}. Illustratively, 0 represents a UE that is neither eRedCap nor RedCap UE, 1 represents RedCap UE, and 2 represents eRedCap UE. Other correspondences may be used as long as each value is guaranteed to uniquely correspond to each candidate device type, and the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0167] Second subfield: MuSIM Indication, an indication indicating whether the capabilities of the MUSIMUE are temporarily restricted. The candidate values ​​are 1 or 0. Illustratively, the indication is set to 1 to indicate that the capabilities of the MUSIMUE are temporarily restricted, and the indication is set to 0 to indicate that the capabilities of the MUSIMUE are not temporarily restricted, and vice versa, and the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0168]

[0033] A third subfield: Msg4ACK Automatic Repeat Request Indication, which indicates whether the UE supports or requests PUCCH repetition for Msg4HARQ-ACK. Illustratively, a value of 0 indicates that the UE does not support or request PUCCH repetition for Msg4HARQ-ACK, and a value of 1 indicates that the UE can support or has requested PUCCH repetition for Msg4HARQ-ACK, and vice versa, and the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0169] In this embodiment, based on the above three sub-fields, the formula of the early assistance information field may be as follows:

[0170] Early support information field value = device type value + MuSIM instruction value × 3 (number of candidate values ​​of device type) + Msg4ACK automatic retransmission request instruction value × 3 (number of candidate values ​​of device type) × 2 (number of candidate values ​​of MuSIM instruction).

[0171] The series of subfields is not limited in the embodiments of the present disclosure, as long as the final formula complies with the above formula for the early aid information field having n subfields.

[0172] In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the early assistance information field can also indicate one or more early assistance information through an LCID index, where one LCID index uniquely references one early assistance information feature or one combination of early assistance information features.

[0173] In this embodiment, an LCID field may be used, which is specifically configured to identify different logical channels for CCCH messages. Illustratively, the field may be represented by using LCID_CCCH.

[0174] In an exemplary embodiment, the message category of the CCCH message may include at least one of CCCH1, CCCH, or other CCCH. The LCID_CCCH may have a fixed length of n bits, where n is a positive integer. The LCID_CCCH may indicate an index corresponding to any value in the range of 0 to (2^n-1), and each index may be configured to identify a logical channel type.

[0175] In an exemplary embodiment, each index may uniquely indicate any one or combination of multiple UE capability information, and the UE capability information may include at least one of the following:

[0176] Whether the UE can support or has requested performing PUCCH repetitions for Msg4HARQ-ACK.

[0177] Whether the UE is a UE with reduced capabilities (e.g., RedCap UE).

[0178] Whether the UE is an enhanced reduced capability UE (e.g., eRedCap UE).

[0179] Whether the UE capabilities (e.g., MUSIM UE) are temporarily restricted.

[0180] In this embodiment, the above four types of UE capability information may be arbitrarily combined. For example, the UE may be a RedCap UE and may support or require PUCCH repetition for Msg4HARQ-ACK.

[0181] In an exemplary embodiment, assume that the LCID field is specifically configured to identify different logical channels of the CCCH message, for example, as shown in Tables 2 and 3, and has a length of 5 bits. [Table 2]

[0182] In Table 2, a field identifying the CCCH class type is also included in the MAC subheader that includes the logical channel identification field described above, and it is not indicated by using an LCID. The field identifying the CCCH class type is a 1-bit indication having a value of 0 or 1, each value being used to indicate a CCCH or CCCH1. For example, a value of 0 indicates a CCCH and a value of 1 indicates a CCCH1, or vice versa, although the present disclosure is not limited thereto. [Table 3]

[0183] In Table 3, the distinction between CCCH classes (eg, CCCH and CCCH1) is also made by the LCID field instead of using a separate field in the MAC subheader.

[0184] In Tables 2 and 3 above, the mapping between unique logical channel identification indexes / codepoints and combinations of aiding information is merely an example. Other mapping patterns are possible as long as each unique index / codepoint is mapped to only one unique aiding information or one unique combination of aiding information. This disclosure is not limited thereto. The length of the LCID field in the above example is merely an example, and other field lengths are possible (e.g., 6 bits). This disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0185] In some other embodiments, one or more of the fields in the above embodiments may alternatively be placed in the payload of the MAC SDU or may be part of the MAC CE content. For example, for a MAC CE for early aid information reporting, the MAC CE content is octet-aligned, i.e., the length of the MAC CE is an integer number of bytes, and each byte is 8 bits long. The MAC CE may include a field indicating early aid information and one or more R bits. For example, for a MAC CE for early aid information reporting, the MAC CE content may be octet-aligned and include an early aid information field, a CCCH message type field, and one or more R bits.

[0186] Some exemplary embodiments of specific MAC subheaders including an early aid information field are listed below. In the following exemplary embodiments, the described early aid information is UE capability-related information, but other information may also be taken into consideration. The locations for arranging each field are also merely exemplary and may be replaced. The length of each field and the corresponding terminology are also exemplary, and the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0187] In some embodiments, the MAC subheader is a MAC subheader that identifies a MAC CE configured to report early aid information.

[0188] In one embodiment, a MAC CE configured to report early aid information may include only a MAC subheader (the payload of the MAC CE is 0 bytes).

[0189] In another embodiment, a specific MAC subheader may include an R / LCID field, and the early aid information field in the above embodiment is included in the MAC payload (e.g., MAC CE). In this embodiment, an LCID index may be used to indicate that this is a MAC CE for early aid information reporting.

[0190] In some embodiments, the particular MAC subheader may be a MAC subheader configured to identify a MAC SDU that includes a CCCH message.

[0191] An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides an example of a specific MAC subheader that includes an early aid information field calculated based on a formula. The positions and lengths of the fields provided in the inventive examples of the present disclosure may all be changed, and the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0192] In some embodiments, the MAC subPDU carrying the early aid information may include at least one of the following fields:

[0193] A field configured to indicate a particular MAC subheader that includes an early aid information field. Illustratively, the field is 1 bit. The field is set to 1 to indicate that the MAC subheader includes a field for early aid information reporting; otherwise, the field is set to 0. In some embodiments, the field can be located only in the first left position to distinguish it from fields configured to identify subheaders carrying indefinite-length MAC subPDUs.

[0194] A field configured to indicate a particular MAC CE that includes an early aid information field. Illustratively, the field is 1 bit. The field is set to 1 to indicate that the MAC CE includes a field for early aid information reporting; otherwise, the field is set to 0. In some embodiments, the field may be located only in the first position on the left side to distinguish it from fields configured to identify subheaders carrying indefinite-length MAC subPDUs.

[0195] A field configured to indicate whether the message type of the CCCH message identified by the MAC subheader is CCCH (a CCCH message of 48 bits in size) or CCCH1 (a CCCH message of 64 bits in size). Illustratively, the CCCH_ID field is set to 0 to indicate CCCH or 1 to indicate CCCH1, or vice versa.

[0196] A field configured to indicate early aiding information, configured to indicate early aiding information reported by the UE to the base station. In some embodiments, the value of the field may be determined by the formula for the early aiding information field described in this disclosure. In some other embodiments, the field may include one or more aiding information bits, each aiding information bit configured to indicate a particular piece of aiding information, for example, whether the UE has the capability to support a particular feature or whether the UE requires a particular function. In some other embodiments, the field may be an LCID field, the LCID field specifically configured to identify different logical channels.

[0197] Reserved field. The field is 1 bit and has a value of 0. In some embodiments, the size of the MAC subPDU is always an integer multiple of 8 bits. To satisfy this rule, some bits that do not currently have a specific functional direction may be set as reserved bits. Therefore, the number of reserved fields may range from 0 to multiple bits based on the length of the field in different embodiments. For example, if an 8-bit MAC subheader with a fixed length includes a 1-bit field configured to indicate a specific MAC subheader that includes an early aid information field and a 6-bit early aid information field, the remaining 1 bit may be set as a reserved bit to make up the 8 bits.

[0198] 6 is a schematic structural diagram (I) of a specific MAC subheader according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 6, the specific MAC subheader is an octet, i.e., 8 bits, and includes the following fields:

[0199] C_flag field, CCCH_ID field, early assistance information field, and reserved field (R).

[0200] C_flag field: The field is configured to indicate that the MAC subheader includes a field for early aid information reporting. Illustratively, the field has one bit, which is set to 1 to indicate that the MAC subheader includes a field for early aid information reporting, and is set to 0 otherwise. In some embodiments, the field can be located only in the first position on the left side to distinguish it from fields configured to identify subheaders carrying indefinite-length MAC subPDUs.

[0201] CCCH_ID field: The field is configured to indicate whether the CCCH identified by the subheader is a CCCH (i.e., a CCCH message of 48 bits in size) or a CCCH1 (e.g., a CCCH message of 64 bits in size). In one example, the CCCH ID is set to 0 to indicate a CCCH and to 1 to indicate a CCCH1. In another example, the field is set to 0 to indicate a CCCH1 and to 1 to indicate a CCCH, or vice versa.

[0202] Early aid information field: The field is configured to indicate early aid information reported by the UE to the base station. Illustratively, the field has a length of 5 bits. The information includes at least information related to UE capabilities. The UE sets the value of the early aid information indication based on a common formula for the early aid information field having n sub_fields as described in this application. An example assuming three capability-related fields is given below.

[0203] Field 1: Device type selected from values ​​{0, 1, 2}, where each value represents one of the following device types: {eRedCap UE, RedCap UE, non-RedCap or non-eRedCap UE}. An example could be 0 = non-eRedCap and non-RedCap UE, 1 = RedCap UE, and 2 = eRedCap UE, where the UE sets the value of this field based on its device type.

[0204] Field 2: MuSIM Indication, which is an indication of whether the MuSIM UE capabilities are temporarily restricted. This indication can have a value of 1 or 0. In one example, the UE sets this indication to 1 to indicate that the MuSIM UE capabilities are temporarily restricted, and to 0 to indicate that the MUSIM UE capabilities are not temporarily restricted, or vice versa.

[0205] Field 3: Msg4ACKRepetition indication indicating whether the UE is capable of or has a request to perform PUCCH repetition for Msg4 HARQ-ACK. This indication may have a value of 1 or 0. In one example, the UE sets this field to a value of 0 to indicate that the UE does not support or request PUCCH repetition for Msg4 HARQ-ACK, and the UE sets this field to a value of 1 to indicate that the UE is capable of or has requested PUCCH repetition for Msg4 HARQ-ACK, or vice versa. The present disclosure is not limited thereto. In this embodiment, based on the above three fields, an exemplary formula for calculating the value of the early assistance information field is given as follows:

[0206] Early support information field = device type + MuSIM instruction × 3 + Msg4ACKRepetition instruction × 3 × 2.

[0207] The UE sets each field according to the above field description. Note that the order of the fields can be changed as long as the final formula follows the common formula for the early support information field having n sub_fields, as described above.

[0208] In another exemplary embodiment, the field may have another length, such as 6 bits, as long as it is guaranteed that the final value obtained based on the values ​​of the subfields according to the formula for calculating the value of the early aid information field in the solution of the present disclosure does not exceed the maximum value that can be indicated by the field, such as (2^(the number of lengths of this field in bits)). Note that when the field is 6 bits, the reserved bits in FIG. 5 are no longer present to ensure that the length of the MAC subheader is 1 byte (i.e., the subheader includes the C_flag, CCCH_ID, and early aid information fields).

[0209] Reserved field (R), value is 0.

[0210] 7 is a schematic structural diagram (II) of a specific MAC subheader according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 7, the specific MAC subheader is an octet, i.e., 8 bits, and includes the following fields:

[0211] C_flag field, early assistance information field, and reserved field (R).

[0212] The difference between this embodiment and the above embodiment is that the field in the MAC subheader does not carry a field indicating the CCCH type (e.g., CCCH_ID). In this embodiment, the CCCH_ID indicating the type of CCCH message can be regarded as a subfield used to calculate the value of the early aid information field, and the rest is the same as the above embodiment.

[0213] In this embodiment, the early assistance information field may include several subfields:

[0214] Field 1: CCCH Message Type (CCCH_Type): Selected from among values ​​{0, 1}, each value providing one of the CCCH types {CCCH, CCCH1}. One example is that a value of 0 indicates a CCCH: CCCH message of size 48 bits, and a value of 1 indicates CCCH1: CCCH of size 64 bits. Vice versa is also true, and the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0215] Field 2: Device type selected from values ​​{0, 1, 2}, each value represents one of the device types {eRedCap UE, RedCap UE, non-RedCap or non-eRedCap UE}. An example could be 0 = non-eRedCap and non-RedCap UE, 1 = RedCap UE, and 2 = eRedCap UE, and the UE sets the value of this field based on its device type.

[0216] Field 3: MuSIM Indication, which is an indication of whether the MuSIM UE capabilities are temporarily restricted. This indication can have a value of 1 or 0. In one example, the UE sets this indication to 1 to indicate that the MuSIM UE capabilities are temporarily restricted, and to 0 to indicate that the MUSIM UE capabilities are not temporarily restricted. Vice versa is also true, and the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0217] Field 4: Msg4ACKRepetition indication indicating whether the UE is capable of or has a request to perform PUCCH repetition for Msg4 HARQ-ACK. This indication may have a value of 1 or 0. In one example, the UE sets this field to a value of 0 to indicate that the UE does not support or request PUCCH repetition for Msg4 HARQ-ACK, and the UE sets this field to a value of 1 to indicate that the UE is capable of or has requested PUCCH repetition for Msg4 HARQ-ACK. Vice versa is also true, and the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0218] In this embodiment, the value of the early aid information field including the above several subfields may be calculated based on the following formula:

[0219] Early support information field = CCCH_Type + Device type × 2 + MuSIM instruction × 2 × 3 + Msg4ACKRepetition instruction × 2 × 3 × 2.

[0220] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the value of the early aid information field can be obtained by adding an aid information field in a specific MAC subheader based on the value of each subfield and by calculation using a formula. After the NW side successfully receives the information reported by the UE, the value of each subfield can be reverse-calculated based on the value of the early aid information field to calculate the early aid information reported by the UE, thereby achieving the purpose of indicating the early aid information through the MAC subheader. Therefore, the problems of the limited number of coding points of the LCID and the low flexibility in indicating aid information during the RACH procedure by using the LCID in the related art are solved.

[0221] In another exemplary embodiment, the early aid information field may have other lengths, such as 6 bits, and the present disclosure is not limited thereto. Note that when the field is 6 bits, only one reserved bit in Figure 7 above is required to ensure that the MAC subheader is 1 byte in length (i.e., the subheader includes the C_flag, the reserved bit, and the early aid information field).

[0222] Another embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a specific MAC subheader that includes an early aid information field, in which each feature can be indicated individually.

[0223] 8 is a schematic structural diagram (III) of a specific MAC subheader according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 8, the specific MAC subheader is an octet, i.e., 8 bits, and includes the following fields: a C_flag field, a CCCH_ID field, an early support information field, and a reserved field (R).

[0224] C_flag field: In one example, the field is for indicating that the MAC subheader includes a field for early aid information reporting. The field has 1 bit, which is set to 1 to indicate that the MAC subheader includes a field for early aid information reporting, and is set to 0 otherwise.

[0225] CCCH_ID field: The field indicates whether the CCCH identified by the subheader is a CCCH (i.e., a CCCH message of size 48 bits) or a CCCH1 (e.g., a CCCH message of size 64 bits). In one example, the CCCH ID is set to 0 to indicate a CCCH and to 1 to indicate a CCCH1. In another example, the field is set to 0 to indicate a CCCH1 and to 1 to indicate a CCCH, or vice versa.

[0226] Reserved field (R): The value is 0.

[0227] Early Support Information Field: The field is 4 bits, each bit indicating the UE capability to support the features as described below.

[0228] Indication information indicating whether the UE is capable of or has a request to perform PUCCH repetition for Msg4 HARQ-ACK. In one example, a value of 0 indicates that the UE does not support or request PUCCH repetition for Msg4 HARQ-ACK, and a value of 1 indicates that the UE is capable of or has requested PUCCH repetition for Msg4 HARQ-ACK, or vice versa.

[0229] A RedCap indication to indicate whether the UE is a UE with reduced capabilities (e.g., a RedCap UE). In one example, a value of 0 indicates that the UE is not a RedCap UE, and a value of 1 indicates that the UE is a RedCap UE, and vice versa.

[0230] An eRedCap indication that indicates whether the UE is a UE with enhanced reduced capabilities (e.g., an eRedCap UE). In one example, a value of 0 indicates that the UE is not an eRedCap UE, and a value of 1 indicates that the UE is an eRedCap UE, and vice versa.

[0231] A MuSIM indication indicating whether the UE capabilities are temporarily restricted. In one example, a value of 0 indicates that the UE capabilities are not restricted, and a value of 1 indicates that the UE capabilities are temporarily restricted, or vice versa. Alternatively, in another example, a value of 0 indicates that the UE capabilities temporary restriction has been removed, and a value of 1 indicates that the UE capabilities are temporarily restricted, or vice versa. The present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0232] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, each UE capability feature can be indicated individually in a specific MAC subheader, so that early assistance information is indicated through the MAC subheader, thereby resolving the problems of limited number of coding points of LCID and low flexibility in indicating assistance information during RACH procedure by using LCID in the related art.

[0233] 9 is a schematic structural diagram (IV) of a specific MAC subheader according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 9, the specific MAC subheader is an octet, i.e., 8 bits, and includes the following fields: a C_flag field, an early support information field, and a reserved field.

[0234] Compared with the above embodiment, in this embodiment, there is no CCCH_ID in the MAC subheader to indicate the CCCH message type, and the rest is the same as the above embodiment.

[0235] Another embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a specific MAC subheader that includes an early aid information field. The early aid information field indicates an LCID field. The LCID field is specifically configured to identify different logical channels for CCCH messages. Illustratively, the field may be represented using LCID_CCCH. In another exemplary embodiment, the field may be represented by other names, and the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0236] 10 is a schematic structural diagram (V) of a specific MAC subheader according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 10, the specific MAC subheader is an octet, i.e., 8 bits, and includes the following fields: a C_flag field, a reserved field (R), a CCCH_ID field, and an LCID_CCCH field.

[0237] In this embodiment, the LCID_CCCH field is actually configured to indicate early aid information, and is therefore also referred to as an early aid information field (or by other names), although the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0238] C_flag field: This field is configured to indicate a specific MAC subheader that includes an early aid information field. Illustratively, the field is 1 bit. The field is set to 1 to indicate that the MAC subheader includes a field for early aid information reporting; otherwise, the field is set to 0.

[0239] Reserved field (R): The value is 0.

[0240] CCCH_ID field: The field is configured to indicate whether the message type of the CCCH message identified by the MAC subheader is CCCH (a CCCH message of 48 bits in size) or CCCH1 (a CCCH message of 64 bits in size). Illustratively, the CCCH_ID field is set to 0 to indicate CCCH or 1 to indicate CCCH1, or vice versa.

[0241] LCID_CCCH field: Configured to indicate a unique LCID defined according to the content of the CCCH message. Illustratively, each index value of the LCID may uniquely indicate any one or combination of multiple early aid information (e.g., UE capability information). In the above embodiment, the mapping relationship between the exemplary index value and the early aid information may be shown in Table 2. In another exemplary embodiment, the field may have other lengths, such as 6 bits, and the present disclosure is not limited thereto. Note that when the field is 6 bits, the reserved bits in FIG. 10 above no longer exist (i.e., the MAC subheader includes the C_flag, CCCH_ID, and LCID_CCCH fields) to ensure that the length of the MAC subheader is 1 byte.

[0242] 11 is a schematic structural diagram (VI) of a specific MAC subheader according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 11, the specific MAC subheader is an octet, i.e., 8 bits, and includes the following fields: a C_flag field, a reserved field (R), and an LCID_CCCH field.

[0243] In this embodiment, the LCID_CCCH field is actually configured to indicate early aid information, and is therefore also referred to as an early aid information field (or by other names), although the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0244] Compared with the above embodiment, in this embodiment, the CCCH_ID indicating the CCCH message type does not exist in the MAC subheader, and the rest is the same as the above embodiment.

[0245] C_flag field: This field is configured to indicate a specific MAC subheader that includes an early aid information field. Illustratively, the field is 1 bit. The field is set to 1 to indicate that the MAC subheader includes a field for early aid information reporting; otherwise, the field is set to 0.

[0246] Reserved field (R): The value is 0.

[0247] The LCID_CCCH field indicates a unique logical channel identifier defined for the content included in the CCCH message. Illustratively, each index value of the LCID may uniquely indicate any one or combination of multiple pieces of early aiding information (e.g., UE capability information). In the above embodiment, the mapping relationship between the exemplary index values ​​and the early aiding information may be shown in Table 3. In another exemplary embodiment, the field may have other lengths, such as 6 bits, and the present disclosure is not limited thereto. Note that when the field is 6 bits, there is only one reserved bit (R) in FIG. 11 to ensure that the length of the MAC subheader is 1 byte (i.e., the subheader includes the C_flag, R, and LCID_CCCH fields).

[0248] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, an LCID can be set in a specific MAC subheader, and a mapping relationship between the LCID and the early aiding information is set, whereby the early aiding information is indicated through the MAC subheader, thereby solving the problems of the limited number of coding points of the LCID and low flexibility in indicating aiding information during the RACH procedure by using the LCID in the related art.

[0249] Another embodiment of the present disclosure further provides an early assistance message specifically configured to convey early assistance information.

[0250] In some embodiments, the early assistance message may be a radio resource control (RRC) message or an RRC message segment that carries early assistance information.

[0251] In some embodiments, the early aid message may also be a MAC CE or a MAC SDU or a MAC SDU segment that carries early aid information.

[0252] Another embodiment of the present disclosure provides an early assistance information reporting method applied to a terminal. Figure 12 is a flowchart (III) of the early assistance information reporting method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 12, the flow includes the following steps:

[0253] At S402, configuration information related to early assistance information reporting is received from a base station.

[0254] At S404, an early assistance message carrying early assistance information is sent to the base station according to the configuration information.

[0255] In this embodiment, the configuration information related to the early assistance information reporting in S402 is configured to inform the UE that the NW can decode the early assistance message or that the NW has requested or enabled the UE to report early assistance information through the early assistance message during the RACH procedure, and the NW needs to provide some related configuration information to the UE.

[0256] In some embodiments, the early assistance message may be an RRC message, an RRC message segment, a MAC CE or MAC SDU, or a MAC SDU segment.

[0257] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, by introducing an early assistance message specifically configured to provide early assistance information to a UE, the problems of the limited number of coding points of LCID and low flexibility in indicating assistance information during a RACH procedure by using an LCID in the related art can be solved.

[0258] In some embodiments, the early assistance message is a specific RRC message that carries early assistance information. Illustratively, the RRC early assistance message (RRCEarlyInformation) may be configured for illustrative purposes. In some examples, other message names may also be configured for illustrative purposes, and the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0259] In some embodiments, the early aid information may include one or more UE capability-related information. UE capability indicates whether the UE supports a feature or function, and the present disclosure does not limit the specific content of the early aid information.

[0260] In some embodiments, the early assistance information may include any one or any combination of the following information:

[0261] Indication information to indicate whether the UE supports or requests automatic repeat requests for PUCCH in Msg4HARQ-ACK.

[0262] Indication information for indicating whether the UE is a UE with reduced capabilities (RedCap) (e.g., RedCap UE).

[0263] Indication information to indicate whether the UE is a UE with enhanced reduced capabilities (e.g., eRedCap UE).

[0264] Indication information to indicate whether the UE is temporarily restricted.

[0265] MUSIM support information.

[0266] UE identity information.

[0267] Spare field.

[0268] Reserved field.

[0269] Key extension field.

[0270] In some embodiments, the configuration information of S402 includes at least one of an explicit indication or an implicit indication configured to indicate whether early assistance information can be reported during the RACH procedure.

[0271] In an exemplary embodiment, the explicit indication may include an explicit instruction configured to indicate whether the UE is enabled to use the RRC Early Assistance message (RRCEarlyInformation). Illustratively, the explicit indication is that the UE may use the RRC Early Assistance message (RRCEarlyInformation) to report early assistance information. In some embodiments, the implicit instruction includes at least one of the following:

[0272] Msg4 Automatic Repeat Request configuration information for HARQ-ACK.

[0273] Configuration information related to temporary capacity restrictions of the MUSIM terminal.

[0274] RedCap device configuration information.

[0275] eRedCap device configuration information.

[0276] Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI) configuration information.

[0277] Search space (SS) configuration information.

[0278] Control resource set (CORESET) configuration information.

[0279] RACH procedure trigger information (e.g., trigger cause).

[0280] Initial access process trigger information (e.g., trigger cause and purpose for initiating the process). In an exemplary embodiment, the automatic repeat request configuration information may include at least one of the following:

[0281] An enable indication that indicates whether the UE is enabled to send an early indication that supports or requests PUCCH repetition for Msg4 HARQ-ACK. In one example, sending an early indication may be limited to during a RACH procedure.

[0282] Repetition factor configuration of PUCCH repetition for Msg4 HARQ-ACK. An example of a candidate value for the configuration may be {1, 2, 4, 8}.

[0283] In an exemplary embodiment, the MUSIM temporary capability restriction information may apply for all RRC states, but in some examples, the indication may be limited to certain RRC procedures (e.g., in an RRC connection setup or RRC connection resumption procedure).

[0284] In an exemplary embodiment, RedCap is a bandwidth reduction technology, and RedCap terminal configuration information may include at least one of the following:

[0285] RedCapUE Indication: Configured to indicate whether a RedCap UE can indicate that it is a RedCap UE using an RRC message specifically designed to provide early assistance information during the RACH procedure.

[0286] Cell Barring Indication: Configured to indicate whether a cell is barred for RedCapUEs with one or two Rx bands, or whether a cell is barred from accessing RedCapUEs with one or two Rx bands.

[0287] Half-Duplex Indication: Configured to indicate whether the current cell supports half-duplex frequency division duplex (FDD) RedCapUE.

[0288] In an exemplary embodiment, eRedCap is an enhanced bandwidth reduction technology, and the eRedCap terminal configuration information may include at least one of the following:

[0289] eRedCapUE indication: Indicates whether the eRedCapUE can indicate that it is an eRedCapUE during the RACH procedure.

[0290] Cell Barring Indication: A cell barring indication indicating whether a cell is barred for an eRedCapUE with one or two Rx bands, or whether a cell is barred from accessing an eRedCapUE with one or two Rx bands.

[0291] Half-duplex indication: Indicates whether the current cell supports half-duplex FDD eRedCap UE.

[0292] In an example embodiment, an RNTI configuration for monitoring DCI scheduling RRC messages for early aid information. In some examples, it may include at least one of the following:

[0293] RNTI offset value for TC-RNTI. When set, the UE transmits Msg3 or MsgA indicating a request to transmit early aid information. The UE then uses the modified TC-RNTI to monitor DCI scheduling RRC messages for early aid information. The modified TC-RNTI is generated based on the RNTI offset value for TC-RNTI and the TC-RNTI value received in the random access response scheduling Msg3. In one example, the modified TC-RNTI is equal to TC-RNTI + the RNTI offset for TC-RNTI.

[0294] b) RNTI offset value for MsgB-RNTI. If set, the UE has sent MsgA indicating a request to transmit early aid information. The UE then uses the modified MsgB-RNTI to monitor DCI scheduling RRC messages for early aid information. The modified MsgB-RNTI is generated based on the RNTI offset value and the MsgB-RNTI generated based on the RACH resource selected for transmission of MsgA, as specified in Standard 38.321. In some examples, the modified MsgB-RNTI is equal to MsgB-RNTI + the RNTI offset for Msg-RNTI.

[0295] In an exemplary embodiment, a search space configuration for searching for downlink control information (DCI) scheduling RRC messages for early aid information. The search space configuration includes at least a time and frequency domain resource configuration. In some examples, at least one of the time, frequency, or code domain resources (of the search space configured to search for downlink control information (DCI) scheduling RRC messages for early aid information) may be different from a common search space configured for a UE to monitor DCI scheduling RRC messages that are not for early aid information.

[0296] In an exemplary embodiment, a control resource set (CORESET) configuration for searching for downlink control information (DCI) scheduling RRC messages for early aid information is provided. The CORESET configuration includes at least a time and frequency domain resource configuration. In some examples, at least one of the time, frequency, or code domain resources (of the CORESET configured to search for downlink control information (DCI) scheduling RRC messages for early aid information) may be different from a configured common CORESET configured for a UE to monitor DCI scheduling RRC messages that are not for early aid information.

[0297] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, through the implicit instruction in any one of the above embodiments, the terminal may be implicitly notified that the cell enables the UE to use an early assistance message, and the early assistance message is specifically configured to provide early assistance information to the NW and report the early assistance information during the RACH procedure or at the end of the RACH.

[0298] In some embodiments, the configuration information of S402 may be transmitted in any one of an SI, a broadcast message, a multicast message, RRC signaling, a NAS message, a page, a short message, MAC signaling, and physical layer signaling.

[0299] In an exemplary embodiment, when the configuration information is transmitted by using an SI, the configuration information may be transmitted via a SIB1 message and / or a system message composed of one or more SIBx IEs, where x in the SIBx IE is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2. The SIBx IE may be one or more existing SIBs (e.g., SIB2-SIB21) or an introduced new SIB (e.g., SIB22).

[0300] In an exemplary embodiment, one common SIBx may be configured to indicate one or more instructions in the above embodiments, where x in SIBx may be any positive integer (such as SIB1 or SIB22).

[0301] In another embodiment, multiple different SIs (one or more of SIB1 message or SIBxIE) may be used to indicate the configuration information in any one of the above embodiments. Illustratively, SIB1 may include configuration information for RedCap UE, eRedCap UE, MUSIM UE, or explicit instructions so that the UE can use a specific MAC subheader carrying the early aid information field. Illustratively, SIB19 may include automatic repeat request (MR) configuration information for Msg4 HARQ-ACK.

[0302] In some embodiments, an RRC early assistance message may provide early assistance information from a UE to a NW during a RACH procedure. The RRC early assistance message may be transmitted during a RACH procedure, illustratively including at least one of a RACH procedure triggered by an RRC establishment, an RRC resumption, an RRC re-establishment, an RRC reconfiguration process, or any one of other usage situations. Alternatively, the RRC early assistance message may be transmitted based on NW scheduling even after the RACH procedure is completed. The explanation will be made by using the fact that the RRC early assistance message provides early assistance information from a UE to a NW during a RACH procedure.

[0303] In some embodiments, in a four-step RACH procedure, the RRC early assistance message may be transmitted after Msg3 and before Msg4, and in a two-step RACH procedure, the RRC early assistance message may be transmitted after MsgA and before MsgB. Illustratively, to distinguish the RRC early assistance message from the existing Msg3 defined in the standard, Msg3bis or subsequent Msg3 may be used to describe a message including the RRC early assistance message. The terms RRCEarlyInformation, Msg3bis, and subsequent Msg3 above are used for ease of explanation, and the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0304] 13 is a flowchart of a four-step RACH according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 13, the flow includes the following steps:

[0305] At S0, the UE receives early support information reporting related configuration information from the base station.

[0306] At S1, the UE transmits a random access preamble (eg, Msg1) to the base station.

[0307] At S2, the UE receives a random access response (eg, Msg2) from the base station.

[0308] In S3a, the UE transmits the first port (eg, Msg3) of the uplink message based on NW scheduling.

[0309] In S3b, after transmitting the first port of the uplink message (e.g., Msg3), the UE monitors the DCI for scheduling early assistance information and transmits the scheduled transmission part 2 based on the base station's scheduling (i.e., transmits early assistance information (e.g., Msg3bis) to the base station based on the scheduling information received in the DCI).

[0310] At S4, the UE receives Msg4 for contention resolution from the base station.

[0311] In some embodiments, the S3a uplink message may include an indication to indicate the presence of a second port for scheduled transmission. The uplink message may further include buffer size information for the data to be transmitted.

[0312] In some embodiments, before S1, the UE may select a RACH opportunity or a RACH partition based on the size of the buffer size or the size of the potential CCCH size.

[0313] 14 is a flowchart of a two-step RACH according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 14, the flow includes the following steps:

[0314] At S0, the UE receives early support information reporting related configuration information from the base station.

[0315] In SA1, the UE transmits a random access preamble and a PUSCH load (MsgA) to the base station.

[0316] In SA2, after transmitting the PUSCH load, the UE monitors the DCI for scheduling early aid information, and transmits early aid information (eg, MsgAbis) to the NW based on the scheduling information received in the DCI.

[0317] In SB, the UE receives MsgB for contention resolution from the base station.

[0318] In some embodiments, in SA1, one indication that there is a MsgAbis pending for transmission at the UE side may be included in the uplink message (PUSCH payload). Buffer size information for the pending data may also be included.

[0319] In some embodiments, before S1, the UE may select a RACH opportunity or a RACH partition based on the size of the buffer size or the size of the potential CCCH size.

[0320] 15 is a flowchart of a four-step RACH according to another embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 15, the flow includes the following steps:

[0321] At S0, the UE receives early support information reporting related configuration information from the base station.

[0322] At S1, the UE transmits a random access preamble (eg, Msg1) to the base station.

[0323] At S2, the UE receives a random access response (eg, Msg2) from the base station.

[0324] In S3a, the UE transmits a first port CCCH message (eg, CCCH message part 1 or CCCH message 1) to the base station as an uplink message (eg, Msg3) based on NW scheduling.

[0325] At S4, the UE receives Msg4 for contention resolution from the base station.

[0326] In S5, the UE monitors dynamic scheduling from the base station and performs transmission of a second port CCCH message (eg, CCCH message part 2 or CCCH message 2) according to the received scheduling information.

[0327] In this embodiment, the RRC may divide the CCCH message into a first port of the CCCH message and a second port of the CCCH message, or the RRC may generate two CCCH messages, namely, a first CCCH message and a second CCCH message. Compared with the conventional CCCH message, in this embodiment, partial information may be moved into the second port of the CCCH message or the second CCCH message to reduce the size of a single CCCH message.

[0328] In some embodiments, the configuration information transmitted in S0 may further include a RACH configuration, which may be transmitted together with or separately from the configuration information for early assistance information reporting.

[0329] In some embodiments, after waiting to receive the first and second ports of the CCCH message (or the first and second CCCH messages), the base station begins merging the received CCCH messages.

[0330] Through the embodiments of the present disclosure, the transmission scheduling during the RACH procedure is transmitted by being divided into two parts so that the size of a single CCCH message can be reduced, and the early assistance information is reported without increasing the size of the CCCH message, thereby solving the problems of the limited number of coding points of the LCID and low flexibility in indicating assistance information during the RACH procedure by using the LCID in the related art.

[0331] In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the base station may transmit configuration information to the terminal through SIB1.

[0332] In this embodiment, the structure of SIB1 is shown as follows: --ASN1START --TAG-SIB1-START SIB1-vnnmm-IEs::= SEQUENCE { rrcEarlyInformationAllowed-rnn::= ENUMERATED{true} OPTIONAL,--Need R nonCriticalExtension SEQUENCE{} } --TAG-SIB1-STOP --ASN1STOP

[0333] In this embodiment, SIB1-vnnmm refers to SIB1 defined in the standard, where v represents the implemented standard version, nn represents the published version number of the standard, and mm represents the mm edition of the nn version, i.e., the mm subversion of the nn version. Illustratively, SIB1-v1800 refers to SIB1 based on the 18th edition, revision 00 of the standard.

[0334] In this embodiment, a new CE rrcEarlyInformationAllowed-rnn (which allows the UE to provide early assistance information to the NW during RACH) is configured to introduce a new field in a future standard version. A specific RRC message RRCEarlyInformation (RRC Early Assistance Message) carrying early assistance information is exemplarily allowed to be an IE in the SIB1 message.

[0335] In this embodiment, the presence of the rrcEarlyInformationAllowed field may be used to indicate that the UE is allowed to provide early assistance information to the NW during the RACH procedure.

[0336] In the above example, rrcEarlyInformationAllowed is just an example setting value, and other setting values ​​are possible. For example, the field may be commonCapabilityallowed, assistanceInformationDuringRACHAllowed, rrcEarlyAssistingInformationAllowed, rrcEarlyInformationAllowed, or rrcEarlyIndicationAllowed, etc. The field name of the configuration information is not limited in this disclosure.

[0337] In this example, the RRC message for providing early aid information during the RACH procedure is transmitted from the UE to the NW using logical channel CCCH2. Thus, an enable indication that allows RRC messages for early aid information from the UE to the NW during the RACH may be equivalent to enabling support for logical CCCH2.

[0338] In this embodiment, the structure of SIB1 is shown as follows: --ASN1START --TAG-SIB1-START SIB1-vnnmm-IEs::= SEQUENCE { ccch2allowed-rnn::= ENUMERATED{true} OPTIONAL,--Need R nonCriticalExtension SEQUENCE {} } --TAG-SIB1-STOP --ASN1STOP

[0339] In this embodiment, the presence of the ccch2allowed field may be used to indicate that the cell supports the UE reporting early assistance information to the NW during the RACH procedure via CCCH2 (e.g., to indicate UE capabilities).

[0340] In another example, instead of an enumerated true type indication, the IE described in the two examples above can be a Boolean indication. For example, a value of 1 indicates that the cell supports the UE to provide assistance information to the NW using a new RRC message (e.g., RRCEarlyInformation) during the RACH procedure, and a value of 0 indicates that the cell does not support providing assistance information to the NW using a new RRC message (e.g., RRCEarlyInformation) during the RACH procedure. Vice versa is also true, and the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0341] In the above two embodiments, both ccch2allowed and rrcEarlyInformationAllowed-rnn belong to explicit instructions in the configuration information. In addition, the configuration information may be an implicit instruction to implicitly notify the NW that the cell supports using a new RRC message to deliver assistance information.

[0342] In an exemplary embodiment, it may be specified that explicit indication is only required for RedCap UEs, and implicit indication is used for other use cases.

[0343] In some embodiments, the structure of SIB1 is shown as follows: --ASN1START --TAG-SIB1-START SIB1-vnnmm-IE::= SEQUENCE { rrcEarlyInformationAllowedRedCap-rnn::=ENUMERATED{true} OPTIONAL,--Need R nonCriticalExtension SEQUENCE {} } --TAG-SIB1-STOP --ASN1STOP

[0344] In this embodiment, the presence of the rrcEarlyInformationAllowedRedCap-rnn field may indicate that the cell supports RedCap UEs using a new RRC message (e.g., an RRCEarlyInformation message) during the RACH procedure to provide assistance information to the NW.

[0345] In this embodiment, if the redcap UE does not support the RRC message introduced to provide early assistance information during RACH, the redcap UE does not use the RRC message for early assistance information. If the redcap UE supports the RRC message and the redcap UE needs to indicate assistance information (e.g., its ability to support other features) during the RACH procedure, the redcap UE can transmit the assistance information to the NW by the RRC message for early assistance information.

[0346] In some instances, if explicit instructions are provided via system information, this configuration change will result in a change in the value tag, which will result in an SI update procedure.

[0347] In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the base station may transmit configuration information to the terminal via the new SIBx.

[0348] In this embodiment, SIBx contains relevant information for evaluating whether the UE is enabled to provide early assistance information to the NW during the RACH procedure (e.g., to indicate UE capability), for example by transmitting a specific RRC message (e.g., RRCEarlyInformation message) to provide early assistance information. In this embodiment, x is an integer n starting from 22, and nn is the release version in which this new SIB is introduced into the standard.

[0349] In some embodiments, the design of the IEs of the SIBx is shown as follows: --ASN1START --TAG-SIB1-START SIBx-rnn::= SEQUENCE { rrcEarlyInformationAllowed-rnn ENUMERATED{true} OPTIONAL,--Need R pucchRepetition-EarlyIndicationAllowed-rnn ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL,--Need R musim-CapabilityRestrictionAllowed-rnn ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL,--Need R eRedCap-EarlyIndicationAllowed-rnn ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL,--Need R redCap-EarlyIndicationAllowed-rnn ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL,--Need R nonCriticalExtension SEQUENCE {} } --TAG-SIB1-STOP --ASN1STOP

[0350] In this embodiment, the SIBx field descriptions are shown in Table 4 below. [Table 4]

[0351] In this embodiment, the nonCriticalExtension field is used to introduce new fields in future versions of the standard. In another example, it can be replaced with other marks, and the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0352] In another example, separate system information (one or more of SIB1 message or SIBx information elements) can be used to indicate the above configurations, for example, SIB1 may include a configuration for RedCap UE or a configuration for eRedCap UE or a configuration for MUSIM, SIB19 may include a configuration for PUCCH repetition for Msg4 HARQ-ACK, and SIB22 includes an explicit instruction to enable RRC messages for early assistance information from the UE to the NW.

[0353] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, after receiving the configuration information, the UE needs to notify the base station that the UE wants to indicate early support information in an RRC message (alternatively, a MAC SDU or MAC SDU segment). This process may be implemented in step 3a of the above four-step RACH or step A1 of the two-step RACH. After the base station receives such a request / information from the UE, the base station can schedule uplink resources accordingly, so that the UE can transmit a corresponding RRC message (e.g., an RRCEarlyInformation message).

[0354] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the UE desires to transmit early assistance information (eg, an RRCEarlyInformation message), and to achieve this purpose, at least one of the following methods may be considered:

[0355] Alternative 1: A reserved LCID codepoint may be used to identify a CCCH / CCCH1 message followed by an RRC message indicating early assistance information from the UE to the NW.

[0356] Alternative 2: The R bit in the MAC subheader that identifies the C-RNTI may be used to indicate whether the UE has a request to send an RRC message for early assistance information.

[0357] In an exemplary embodiment, the table values ​​for Alternative 1 above are shown in Table 5. [Table 5]

[0358] In this embodiment, the values ​​m1 and m2 in Table 5 are any two reserved values ​​in the LCID table, and are any integers selected from {47 or 37 to 42}, and m1 and m2 are different.

[0359] In this embodiment, if the UE wants to send early support information in an RRC message, the UE sets the LCID field identifying the CCCH message included in Msg3 or MsgA to a value of {47 or 37-42}. When the base station receives Msg3 / MsgA including LCID, it knows that the UE has requested resources to transmit an RRC message including early support information.

[0360] 16 is a schematic structural diagram of a MAC subheader of a MAC CE for identifying a C-RNTI according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 16, the MAC subheader has two R bits.

[0361] In this embodiment, the UE wishes to transmit early assistance information to the NW side, indicated by one or two R bits reserved in the MAC subheader of the MAC CE to identify the C-RNTI (i.e., alternative II above).

[0362] In an exemplary embodiment, the first R bit may be set to 1 to indicate that the UE wants to send early assistance information (eg, an RRCEarlyInformation message) to the NW side in an RRC message.

[0363] In another exemplary embodiment, the second R bit can be set to 1 to indicate that the UE wants to send early assistance information (eg, an RRCEarlyInformation message) to the NW side in an RRC message.

[0364] In an exemplary embodiment, the above Alternative I and Alternative II may be used in combination. Illustratively, Alternative I is used when Msg3 or MsgA contains a CCCH message, and Alternative II is used when Msg3 or MsgA contains a C-RNTI MAC CE.

[0365] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, after sending the above instruction to the base station, the UE provides early support information in an RRC message (or an RRC message segment, a MAC SDU, or a MAC SDU segment). This process may be implemented in step 3b of the above four-step RACH or step A2 of the two-step RACH. Illustratively, if it is based on an RRC message or an RRC message segment, the UE may implement it by sending an RRC early support message to the NW. A description will be given below with reference to the content of the early support information.

[0366] As shown below, the content of the early support information may include at least information related to UE capability or UE type. In some embodiments, an indication indicating whether the UE is capable of or has a request to perform PUCCH repetitions for Msg4 HARQ-ACK. This information may be provided as follows:

[0367] A Boolean one-bit indication may be used. In one example, a value of 0 indicates that the UE does not support or does not request PUCCH repetitions for Msg4 HARQ-ACK, and a value of 1 indicates that the UE is capable of or requests PUCCH repetitions for Msg4 HARQ-ACK. Vice versa, and the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In some examples, this indication is optionally provided (e.g., in system information) if PUCCH repetitions for Msg4 HARQ-ACK configuration (e.g., number of repetitions) is configured by the NW.

[0368] The information may be delivered by the presence of an indication, in this example, the presence of the indication field indicates that the UE is capable of or has a request to perform PUCCH repetitions for Msg4 HARQ-ACK, while the absence of this indication indicates that the UE does not support or request performing PUCCH repetitions for Msg4 HARQ-ACK.

[0369] In some embodiments, the indication information to indicate whether the UE is a UE with reduced capabilities (eg, a RedCap UE) may be provided as follows:

[0370] A Boolean one-bit indication may be used. In one example, a value of 0 indicates that the UE is not a RedCap UE, and a value of 1 indicates that the UE is a RedCap UE, and vice versa, as the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0371] The presence of the indication is used to indicate whether the UE is a RedCap UE. In one example, the presence of the indication indicates that the UE is a RedCap UE, and the absence of the indication indicates that the UE is not a RedCap UE. In some embodiments, an indication of whether the UE is an enhanced reduced capability UE (e.g., an eRedCap UE). This information may be provided as follows:

[0372] A Boolean one-bit indication may be used. In one example, a value of 0 indicates that the UE is not an eRedCap UE, and a value of 1 indicates that the UE is an eRedCap UE, and vice versa, as the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0373] The presence of the indication is used to indicate whether the UE is a RedCap UE. In one example, the presence of the indication indicates that the UE is an eRedCap UE, and the absence of the indication indicates that the UE is not an eRedCap UE.

[0374] In some embodiments, an indication of whether UE capabilities are temporarily limited. A typical use case is for a UE that supports Multi-SIM, where if the UE activates two or more SIM cards, the UE capabilities (e.g., supported band combinations, ability to support dual connectivity) will likely be temporarily limited in such a situation. This information may be provided as follows:

[0375] A Boolean one-bit indication may be used. In one example, a value of 0 indicates that the UE capabilities are not restricted, and a value of 1 indicates that the UE capabilities are temporarily restricted, or vice versa. Alternatively, in another example, a value of 0 indicates that the UE capabilities temporary restriction has been removed, and a value of 1 indicates that the UE capabilities are temporarily restricted, or vice versa, as the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0376] The presence of the indication is used to indicate whether the UE capabilities are temporarily restricted. In one example, the presence of the indication indicates that the UE capabilities are temporarily restricted, and the absence of the indication indicates that the UE capabilities are not restricted or that the UE capability restriction has been removed.

[0377] In some embodiments, the multiple SIM (MUSIM) support information includes at least one of the following: a UE preference for MUSIM gap priority, a UE preference for a maximum number of MIMO layers, a UE supported band combination and bandwidth, and UE supported capability information when the UE's capabilities are temporarily limited.

[0378] In some embodiments, the UE supported capability information when the UE capability is temporarily restricted includes at least one of supported band combinations and bandwidths, a maximum number of supported MIMO layers, a supported MUSIM gap, or a supported MUSIM gap priority.

[0379] In some embodiments, UE specific information. This field is used to allow the NW to identify from which UE the RRC message was sent. The UE specific information can be generated based on the UE specificity included in msg3 during the RACH procedure and includes at least one of the following: UE identification included in an RRC message (e.g., an RRCSetupRequest message) to request RRC setup UE identification included in the RRC message to request RRC resumption (e.g., RRCResumeRequest or RRCResumeRequest1 message) UE identification included in an RRC message (e.g., an RRCReestablishmentRequest message) for requesting RRC reestablishment

[0380] C-RNTI.

[0381] In some embodiments, the UE identification information may be a bit string of various sizes or a bit string of fixed size X. In some embodiments, the UE identity may be a bit string of various sizes and may be the same UE identity included in msg3 transmitted during the RACH procedure. In an exemplary embodiment, with respect to the RRC setup procedure, the UE identity information may be a UE identity included in an RRC message for requesting RRC setup (e.g., an RRC Setup Request message), or For the RRC resumption procedure, the UE identity information may be the UE identity included in the RRC message for requesting RRC resumption (e.g., the RRCResumeRequest or RRCResumeRequest1 message), or For the RRC re-establishment procedure, the UE identity information may be the UE identity included in the RRC message for requesting RRC re-establishment (e.g., RRCReestablishmentRequest message), or

[0382] For others where the C-RNTI is available (eg, for an RRC reconfiguration procedure), the UE identity is the C-RNTI.

[0383] In another example embodiment, the C-RNTI may also be considered as the UE identity during the RRC re-establishment procedure.

[0384] In some embodiments, the UE identity is a bit string of fixed size X, where X is a positive integer, and the UE identity can be generated based on the UE identity included in Msg3 transmitted during the RACH procedure, taking into account different situations as follows:

[0385] In an exemplary embodiment, if X is equal to the bit string length of the UE identification included in Msg3, the UE identification information has the same value as the UE identification included in Msg3. If X is greater than the bit string length of the UE identification included in Msg3, the UE identification information may be equal to a combination of the UE identification included in Msg3 and Y bits of a random value generated by the UE. The Y bits of the random value may be located to the right or left of the UE identification. The number Y is equal to X minus (the bit string length of the UE identification included in Msg3). By doing so, the total bit string length of the UE identification information is still X. If X is less than the bit string length of the UE identification included in Msg3, the UE identification information may be the X least significant bits (LSBs) and / or the X most significant bits (MSBs) of the UE identification included in Msg3 transmitted during the RACH procedure.

[0386] In the embodiment of the present disclosure, Spare bits: are unused bits reserved for future use. This field is included in the RRC message when early aid information is transmitted using RRC layer signaling. Reserved bits: are bits reserved for future use. This field is included in the MAC CE when early aid information is transmitted using MAC layer signaling. Critical extension field: can be used in the future when critical extension is required.

[0387] In some embodiments, the early aid information may be transmitted in an RRC message, an RRC message segment, a MAC CE or MAC SDU, or a MAC SDU segment.

[0388] In this embodiment, the logical channel of the RRC message for specifically providing early assistance information may be a CCCH logical channel or a DCCH logical channel. When the CCCH logical channel is used, the signaling radio bearer (SRB) for transmitting the new RRC message is SRB0. When the DCCH logical channel is used, the SRB type may be SRB1.

[0389] In some embodiments, the RRC message for providing early assistance information may be a fixed-size RRC message or a variable-size RRC message. If a CCCH logical channel is used for the RRC message to provide early assistance information, the CCCH logical channel class may vary according to the RRC message size. For example, if it is a 48-bit RRC message, it may be transmitted from the UE to the network on the uplink CCCH logical channel. For another example, if it is a 64-bit RRC message, it may be transmitted from the UE to the network on the uplink CCCH1 logical channel. Alternatively, for a fixed-size RRC message whose size is a value different from 48 and 64, a new UL-CCCH class (e.g., CCCH2) other than CCCH and CCCH1 may be used to transmit the new RRC message.

[0390] In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, for example, the early support information includes UE identification information, and the UE provides the early support information to the base station (or NW) through a specific RRC message. The RRC message has the following structure: Signaling radio bearer: SRB0 RLC-SAP:TM Logical channel: CCCH Direction: UE to NW

[0391] In this embodiment, the new RRC message (e.g., RRCEarlyInformation message) is a fixed 48-bit RRC message that can be transmitted from the UE to the NW using the logical channel CCCH. The RLC mode of the new RRC message is transparent mode (TM mode). The signaling radio bearer carrying the new RRC message is SRB0.

[0392] In this embodiment, the content of the RRC early support message (RRCEarlyInformation) is as follows: --ASN1START --TAG-RRCRESUMEREQUEST1-START RRCEarlyInformation-rxx::=SEQUENCE{ criticalExtensions CHOICE { rrcEarlyInformation-rxx RRCEarlyInformation-rxx-IEs, criticalExtensionsFuture SEQUENCE{} } } RRCEarlyInformation-rxx-IEs::= SEQUENCE { truncatedUE-Identity BIT STRING(SIZE(X)), / / :X here means that the string in the truncatedUE-Identity field is X bits long pucchRepetition-EarlyIndication-rnn ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, musim-CapabilityRestrictionIndication-rnn ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, eRedCap-EarlyIndication-rnn ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, redCap-EarlyIndication-rnn ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, spare BIT STRING(SIZE(n)) } --TAG-RRCRESUMEREQUEST1-STOP --ASN1STOP

[0393] Note that the field names, field positions, and field sizes in this embodiment are merely examples, and the present disclosure is not limited thereto. Furthermore, the content included in the embodiment is not limited to the currently described content, i.e., other fields may be included.

[0394] In this embodiment, the RRCEarlyInformation-IE field is shown in Table 6. [Table 6]

[0395] In this embodiment, the spare field of the RRC early assistance message (RRCEarlyInformation) is n bits that are currently unused and will possibly be used for other purposes in the future. The number n is the remaining bits that are currently unused out of the 48 bits. In this example, providing the UE identification is mandatory. In another example, the UE identification can be provided optionally, for example, when the message is scheduled by a PDCCH scrambled with a Temporary C-RNTI (TC-RNTI), but this indication is not required when the message is scheduled by a PDCCH scrambled with a C-RNTI.

[0396] In an exemplary embodiment, assuming that the length of the truncated UE-identification field is equal to the length of the C-RNTI, the truncated UE-identification field may include several situations:

[0397] With respect to the RRC setup procedure, the truncated UE identity refers to the least significant X bits of the InitialUE-Identity field contained in the RRCSetupRequest message.

[0398] With respect to the RRC resume procedure, the truncated UE identity refers to the least significant X bits of the resumeIdentity (restore identifier) ​​included in the RRCResumeRequest (RRC resume request) or RRCResumeRequest1 (RRC resume request 1) message.

[0399] For the RRC re-establishment procedure, the UE identity refers to the least significant X bits of the ReestabUE-Identity included in the RRCReestablishmentRequest message.

[0400] For other situations when the C-RNTI is available, the UE identity may be equal to the value of the C-RNTI.

[0401] In another exemplary embodiment, the truncated UE identity described above with respect to the RRC re-establishment procedure may be the most significant X bits of the ReestabUE-Identity included in the RRCReestablishmentRequest message, with the remaining part being the same as in the above embodiment.

[0402] In another exemplary embodiment, another situation when C-RNTI is available can be used to replace the truncated UE identity during the RRC re-establishment procedure, where C-RNTI is the C-RNTI value of the ReestabUE-Identity included in the RRCReestablishmentRequest message, and the rest is the same as in the above embodiment.

[0403] In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, for example, the early support information does not include UE identification information, and the UE provides the early support information to the base station (or NW) through a specific RRC message. The RRC message has the following structure: SRB:SRB0 RLC-SAP:TM Logical channel: CCCH Direction: UE to NW

[0404] In this embodiment, the specific RRC message (e.g., RRC early support message) is a fixed 48-bit RRC message transmitted from the UE to the NW by using the logical channel CCCH. The radio link control mode for the specific RRC message is TM. The SRB for carrying the specific RRC message is SRB0.

[0405] In this embodiment, the content of the RRC early support message (RRCEarlyInformation) is as follows: ---ASN1START --TAG-RRCRESUMEREQUEST1-START RRCEarlyInformation-rxx=S EQUENCE{ criticalExtensions CHOICE{ rrcEarlyInformation-rxx RRCEarlyInformation-rxx-IEs, criticalExtensionsFuture SEQUENCE{} } } RRCEarlyInformation-rxx-IEs::= SEQUENCE{ pucchRepetition-EarlyIndication-rnn ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, musim-CapabilityRestrictionIndication-rnn ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, eRedCap-EarlyIndication-rnn ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, redCap-EarlyIndication-rnn ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, spare BIT STRING(SIZE(n))} --TAG-RRCRESUMEREQUEST1-STOP --ASN1STOP

[0406] In this embodiment, the RRCEarlyInformation-IE field is shown in Table 7. [Table 7]

[0407] In this embodiment, the spare field indicates n bits that are not currently used and may be used in the future for other purposes, where the number n is the remaining currently unused bits of the 48 bits.

[0408] In some embodiments, the early aiding information can be conveyed in MAC layer signaling.

[0409] In an exemplary embodiment, the early aid information MAC CE can be used to report early aid information, such as information related to UE capabilities, from the UE to the NW. The early aid information MAC CE is octet-aligned. In some examples, the MAC CE is of various sizes. In another example, the MAC CE is of a fixed size. In yet another example, the MAC CE can be a MAC subheader with no MAC payload, i.e., the MAC payload is 0 bytes.

[0410] In this embodiment, the early aid information MAC CE may include at least one of the early aid information fields described with respect to step 3 or step A in any one of the above embodiments.

[0411] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, reporting of early aid information may be performed through an RRC early aid message.

[0412] In some embodiments, to enable the NW to distinguish an RRC message or RRC message segment (alternatively, a MAC SDU or MAC SDU segment) that provides early aid information (e.g., RRCEarlyInformation) from other scheduled uplink transmissions specified in current standards, an LCID codepoint selected from the reserved LCID reserved bits can be used to identify the RRC message or RRC message segment (alternatively, a MAC SDU or MAC SDU segment) that includes the early aid information.

[0413] In an exemplary embodiment, if the early aid information is transmitted using RRC layer signaling, the value of LCID for the UL-SCH to identify the RRC message carrying the early aid information is shown in Table 8 below. [Table 8]

[0414] In another exemplary embodiment, when MAC signaling is used to transmit early aid information, the values ​​of the LCID of the UL-SCH to identify the MAC CE carrying the early aid information are shown in Table 9 below. [Table 9]

[0415] In some embodiments, the DCI for scheduling early assistance information may be monitored by configuring dedicated resources.

[0416] In some embodiments, after transmitting Msg3 or MsgA indicating a request to transmit an RRC message for early assistance information, the UE searches for downlink control information (DCI) within the configured PDCCH resources and performs subsequent transmissions based on the scheduling information included in the downlink control information (DCI), such as transmitting an RRC message (e.g., an RRC Early Information message) or an RRC message segment (alternatively, a MAC CE, a MAC SDU, or a MAC SDU segment) carrying the early assistance information.

[0417] In an example embodiment, both UEs with and without the capability to support the RRC message for early aid information may exist in the system, and they may share the same configured common physical layer RACH resource. In this case, the scheduling information included in the DCI scheduling RRC message for early aid information and the DCI scheduling RRC message not for early aid information may be different. Therefore, to ensure that only the UE that sent a request for the RRC message for early aid information receives the corresponding DCI scheduling RRC message for early information, at least one of the following options may be considered:

[0418] Option 1: A dedicated search space (SS) can be configured for the UE to monitor DCI scheduling RRC messages for early assistance information.

[0419] Illustratively, after transmitting the message indicating the UE's request to transmit early aid information, the UE monitors DCI on an SS specifically configured to monitor DCI scheduling RRC messages for early aid information.

[0420] Option 2: A dedicated CORESET configuration may be configured for the UE to monitor DCI scheduling RRC messages for early assistance information.

[0421] Illustratively, after the UE transmits a request indicating that early assistance information is about to be transmitted, DCI is monitored on the CORESET, which is specifically configured to monitor DCI for scheduling early assistance message transmission.

[0422] Option 3: Different RNTI value ranges for monitoring DCI scheduling RRC messages for early assistance information. Exemplarily, at least one of the following cases may be considered for this option:

[0423] When a UE receives a TC-RNTI in a random access response scheduling an Msg3 transmission, and the Msg3 includes a message indicating a request to transmit early aid information, the extended TC-RNTI can be used to monitor the DCI scheduling RRC message for the early aid information. For example, the extended TC-RNTI value may be equal to the TC-RNTI received in the random access response scheduling the Msg3 transmission plus an RNTI offset. If the extended TC-RNTI value has a different value range from the value range of the original TC-RNTI, it is guaranteed that the DCI scheduling RRC message for the early aid information will not be received by a UE that does not indicate a request to transmit early aid information.

[0424] For example, if the UE previously transmitted MsgA and MsgA contains a message indicating a request to transmit early assistance information, the UE monitors the PDCCH using MsgB-RNTI. For example, the value of the extended MsgB-RNTI is equal to MsgB-RNTI plus an RNTI offset. If the value of the extended MsgB-RNTI is different from the range of values ​​of the original MsgB-RNTI, it ensures that only UEs requesting early assistance message reporting receive DCI for scheduling early assistance message transmission.

[0425] In some embodiments, the DCI format used to schedule transmission of the RRC message for early assistance information may include at least one of the following information:

[0426] Information indicating that the NW confirms successful reception of the RRC message for early aid information. In one example, this field may be present with a 1-bit indication indicating whether the NW successfully received the previously scheduled RRC message for early aid information. For example, a value of 1 indicates that the NW successfully received the previously scheduled RRC message for early aid information, and a value of 0 means that the NW did not receive the previously scheduled RRC message for early aid information. Vice versa is also true, and the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0427] Information on whether to schedule an RRC message for early aid information. In one example, this field may be present by a 1-bit indication, where a value of 1 indicates that the DCI schedules an RRC message for early aid information, and a value of 0 indicates that the DCI does not schedule an RRC message for early aid information. Vice versa is also applicable, and the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0428] An indication of whether the NW should schedule the UE for a new transmission or a retransmission. If the value indicated in this field has changed compared to the last received DCI scheduling the same HARQ procedure, the UE considers it to be a new transmission. In one example, if the UE receives a DCI scheduling an RRC message for early assistance information for the first time, the UE always assumes it is a new transmission, regardless of the value indicated in this field.

[0429] Time domain resource information to indicate when the UE will perform scheduled transmissions.

[0430] Frequency domain resource information to indicate on which frequency bands the UE is scheduled to transmit.

[0431] HARQ procedure number to indicate the HARQ procedure used for the scheduled transmission.

[0432] In some embodiments, a UE buffer can be introduced to store the RRC message for early aid information, such that the buffer allows for temporary storage of the contents of the RRC message for early aid information for possible retransmission.

[0433] In some embodiments, the conditions for flushing or clearing the buffer may include at least one of the following:

[0434] Upon receiving positive feedback from the NW indicating that the previously transmitted RRC message for early assistance information was successfully received by the NW;

[0435] Upon completion of the RACH procedure;

[0436] When DCI is received from the NW indicating that the UE will perform a new transmission in the HARQ procedure used to transmit the RRC message for early assistance information.

[0437] Through the embodiments of the present disclosure, a specific MAC subheader, MAC CE, MAC SDU, MAC SDU segment, specific RRC message, or RRC message segment can be designed to provide early assistance information for a base station, and the early assistance information is transmitted through a PUSCH without increasing the message size, thereby solving the problems of the limited number of coding points of an LCID and low flexibility regarding indicating assistance information during a RACH procedure by using an LCID in the related art.

[0438] Another aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a terminal, wherein the terminal is configured to receive configuration information related to an early aid information report from a base station, and to transmit a MAC PDU to the base station according to the configuration information, wherein the MAC PDU includes a specific MAC subheader carrying an early aid information field.

[0439] In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the terminal may perform the steps in any one of the embodiments of the terminal-side method.

[0440] Another aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a base station, the base station being configured to transmit configuration information related to an early aid information report to a terminal, and receive a MAC PDU transmitted by the terminal according to the configuration information, the MAC PDU including a specific MAC subheader carrying an early aid information field.

[0441] In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the base station can perform the steps in any one of the embodiments of the base station side method.

[0442] The embodiments of the present disclosure further provide a computer-readable storage medium, which stores a computer program, and the steps of any one of the above method embodiments are performed when the computer program is executed by a processor.

[0443] In an exemplary embodiment, the computer-readable storage medium may include, but is not limited to, various media capable of storing computer programs, such as a USB flash disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), and a mobile hard disk, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, and the like.

[0444] An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides an electronic device, the electronic device including a memory and a processor, the memory configured to store a computer program, and the processor configured to execute the computer program to perform the steps of any one of the above-described method embodiments.

[0445] In an exemplary embodiment, the electronic device may further include a transmission device and an input / output device. The transmission device is coupled to the processor. The input / output device is coupled to the processor.

[0446] For specific examples in this embodiment, please refer to the examples described in the preceding embodiments and exemplary embodiments, and this embodiment will not be repeated.

[0447] It should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the above-described modules or steps of the present disclosure may be implemented by a common computing device, may be grouped together on a single computing device, or may be distributed across a network of multiple computing devices. The above-described modules or steps of the present disclosure may be implemented using program code executable by a computing device and thereby stored in a storage device for execution by the computing device. In some cases, the steps illustrated or described may be performed in a different order than described herein, or may each be fabricated into individual integrated circuit modules, or multiple modules or steps thereof may be fabricated into a single integrated circuit module for implementation. Thus, the present disclosure is not limited to any specific combination of hardware and software.

[0448] The above is only a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure and is not intended to limit the present disclosure. Those skilled in the art may have various modifications and variations to the present disclosure. Modifications, equivalent replacements, improvements, etc. made within the scope of the principle of the present disclosure shall be included in the scope of protection of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. An early support information reporting method applied to a terminal, the method comprising: receiving configuration information related to early assistance information reporting from a base station; transmitting a medium access control protocol data unit (MAC PDU) to the base station according to the configuration information; Including, The MAC PDU comprises a specific MAC subheader carrying an early aid information field.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the configuration information comprises an explicit and / or implicit indication to indicate whether the particular MAC subheader is enabled.

3. The implicit instruction is: Msg4 Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request-Acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) automatic repeat configuration information; Multi-User Identity Module (MUSIM) terminal temporary capability restriction related configuration information; Reduced Capability (RedCap) terminal configuration information; Enhanced Reduced Capability (eRedCap) terminal configuration information; Random Access Channel (RACH) resource configuration information dedicated to early assistance information reporting; the mapping relationship between a specific MAC subheader format and a RACH resource; Device capability information, Random Access Channel (RACH) process trigger information, or Initial access process trigger information The method of claim 2 , comprising at least one of:

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the configuration information is cell-based configuration information, RACH resource-based configuration information, or RACH resource set-based configuration information.

5. receiving, from the base station, the configuration information related to an early assistance information report; receiving, from the base station, system information (SI) conveying the configuration information, the SI comprising at least one system information block 1 (SIB1) message or SIBx information element (IE), the SIBx IE comprising at least one SIB; receiving a broadcast message from the base station, the broadcast message conveying the configuration information; receiving a multicast message from the base station carrying the configuration information; or receiving radio resource control (RRC) signaling from the base station, the RRC signaling conveying the configuration information; The method of claim 1 , comprising at least one of:

6. The specific MAC subheader is flag bits of the particular MAC subheader; the message type field of a Common Control Channel (CCCH) message, or The early assistance information field The method of claim 1 , comprising at least one of:

7. The message type of the CCCH message is: 48-bit CCCH or 64-bit CCCH1, or For reduced capability (RedCap) terminals or for non-RedCap terminals The method of claim 1 , comprising at least one of:

8. The indication mode of the early assistance information field is: the early support information field comprising at least one bit of information, each bit of information indicating one piece of early support information; A value of the early support information field determined by an equation comprising the early support information field of at least one subfield, each subfield indicating one of the early support information, and the equation of the early support information field determined based on the value of the at least one subfield and the number of candidate values ​​for each subfield; or a logical channel identifier (LCID) index, the LCID index configured to indicate one or more of the early aid information; The method of claim 1 , comprising at least one of:

9. The formula for the early assistance information field is:

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the value of the early support information field = value of a first subfield + value of a second subfield × number of candidate values ​​of the first subfield + value of a third subfield × (number of candidate values ​​of the second subfield + number of candidate values ​​of the first subfield) + ... + value of an nth subfield × (number of candidate values ​​of an (n-1)th subfield + ... + number of candidate values ​​of the second subfield + number of candidate values ​​of the first subfield), where n is a positive integer.

10. The early support information is Indication information for indicating whether the terminal supports or requests an automatic repeat request for a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) of Msg4 Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request-Acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK); Indication information for indicating whether the terminal capabilities of the terminal are temporarily restricted; Indication information for indicating whether the terminal supports reduced capabilities (RedCap); or Indication information for indicating whether the terminal supports enhanced reduced capabilities (eRedCap) The method of claim 8 , comprising at least one of:

11. The MAC PDU comprises a plurality of MAC subPDUs, each of which comprises: MAC subheader, the MAC subheader and MAC service data unit (SDU); the MAC subheader and MAC Control Element (CE), or The MAC subheader and padding 10. The method of claim 1, comprising one of:

12. transmitting the MAC PDU to the base station according to the configuration information, 2. The method of claim 1, comprising: transmitting the MAC PDU to the base station according to the configuration information in a third step of a four-step random access or a first step of a two-step random access.

13. 1. An early support information reporting method applied to a base station, the method comprising: transmitting configuration information related to the early support information report to the terminal; receiving a medium access control protocol data unit (MAC PDU) transmitted by the terminal in accordance with the configuration information; Including, The method for reporting early aid information, wherein the MAC PDU comprises a specific MAC subheader carrying an early aid information field.

14. A terminal, the terminal comprising: receiving configuration information related to early assistance information reporting from a base station; transmitting a medium access control protocol data unit (MAC PDU) to the base station according to the configuration information; configured to: The MAC PDU comprises a specific MAC subheader carrying an early aid information field.

15. A base station, the base station comprising: transmitting configuration information related to the early support information report to the terminal; receiving a medium access control protocol data unit (MAC PDU) transmitted by the terminal in accordance with the configuration information; configured to: The MAC PDU comprises a specific MAC subheader carrying an early aid information field.

16. 14. A computer readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, the computer program being configured to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 13 when executed by a processor.

17. 14. An electronic device comprising a memory and a processor, the memory storing a computer program, the processor being configured to execute the computer program for performing the method of any one of claims 1 to 13.

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