Terminal, and wireless communication system

Abstract

A terminal comprising: a reception unit that monitors signals transmitted from a base station; and a transmission unit that transmits information received from the base station to one or a plurality of other terminals forming a group.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a terminal, a base station, and a wireless communication system.

Background Art

[0002] In 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), in order to achieve further increase in system capacity, further increase in data transmission speed, further reduction in latency in the radio section, etc., a wireless communication method called 5G or NR (New Radio) (hereinafter, this wireless communication method is referred to as "NR") is being studied. In 5G, in order to meet the requirement of achieving a throughput of 10 Gbps or more and reducing the latency in the radio section to 1 ms or less, various wireless technologies and network architectures are being studied (for example, Non-Patent Documents 1 and 2).

[0003] Also in NR, similar to LTE etc., a terminal periodically monitors scheduling information from a base station etc. in order to transmit and receive information (data). (For example, Non-Patent Document 1).

Prior Art Documents

Non-Patent Documents

[0004]

Non-Patent Document 1

Non-Patent Document 2

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] In conventional NR, even in a case where data transmission and reception do not occur, monitoring continues, so the power consumption of the terminal increases, and the battery life may be shortened.

[0006] The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object thereof is to provide a technique for reducing the frequency of monitoring performed by a terminal for receiving signals from a base station.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0007] According to the disclosed technique, a receiving unit that monitors signals transmitted from a base station, one or more other terminals constituting a group, In order to cause monitoring of the PDCCH transmitted from the base station, a transmitting unit that transmits wake-up information received from the base station, and a terminal comprising: the wake-up information is an instruction signal for starting monitoring of signals from the base station, and the other terminal using RFID monitors the PDCCH transmitted from the base station based on the wake-up information received from the terminal is provided.

Effects of the Invention

[0008] According to the disclosed technique, it becomes possible to reduce the frequency of monitoring performed by a terminal for receiving signals from a base station.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0009]

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Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0010] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the embodiments described below are examples, and the embodiments to which the present invention is applied are not limited to the following embodiments.

[0011] The wireless communication system according to the embodiment of the present invention is assumed to be an NR system, but the technology according to the present invention is not limited to NR and can also be applied to other systems.

[0012] (System Configuration) FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the wireless communication system according to the embodiment of the present invention. The wireless communication system according to the embodiment of the present invention includes a base station 10 and a terminal 20 as shown in FIG. 1. Although one base station 10 and one terminal 20 are shown in FIG. 1, this is an example, and there may be a plurality of each.

[0013] The base station 10 is a communication device that provides one or more cells and performs wireless communication with the terminal 20. The physical resources of the wireless signal are defined in the time domain and the frequency domain. The time domain may be defined by the number of OFDM symbols, and the frequency domain may be defined by the number of subcarriers or the number of resource blocks. Also, the TTI (Transmission Time Interval) in the time domain may be a slot or a subframe.

[0014] The base station 10 is capable of performing carrier aggregation in which a plurality of cells (a plurality of CCs (Component Carriers)) are bundled to communicate with the terminal 20. In carrier aggregation, one PCell (Primary Cell) and one or more SCells (Secondary Cells) are used.

[0015] The base station 10 transmits synchronization signals, system information, etc. to the terminal 20. The synchronization signals are, for example, NR-PSS and NR-SSS. The system information is transmitted, for example, by NR-PBCH or PDSCH and is also referred to as broadcast information. As shown in FIG. 1, the base station 10 transmits control signals or data to the terminal 20 in the DL (Downlink) and receives control signals or data from the terminal 20 in the UL (Uplink). Here, what is transmitted on control channels such as PUCCH and PDCCH is called a control signal, and what is transmitted on shared channels such as PUSCH and PDSCH is called data, but such a naming method is just an example.

[0016] The terminal 20 is a communication device equipped with a wireless communication function such as a smartphone, a mobile phone, a tablet, a wearable terminal, a communication module for M2M (Machine-to-Machine), etc. Further, the terminal 20 may be provided with a passive receiver such as an electronic tag (e.g., an RF tag). Further, the terminal 20 may be provided with an active type electronic tag that incorporates a power source and can also transmit. As shown in FIG. 1, the terminal 20 receives a control signal or data from the base station 10 in DL and transmits a control signal or data to the base station 10 in UL, thereby using various communication services provided by the wireless communication system. Note that the terminal 20 may be referred to as a UE, and the base station 10 may be referred to as a gNB. Also, the terminal 20 can perform inter-terminal communication with other terminals 20.

[0017] The terminal 20 is capable of performing carrier aggregation in which a plurality of cells (a plurality of CCs (Component Carriers)) are bundled to communicate with the base station 10. In carrier aggregation, one PCell (Primary Cell) and one or more SCell (Secondary Cells) are used. Also, a PUCCH-SCell having a PUCCH may be used.

[0018] FIG. 2 shows a configuration example of a wireless communication system when DC (Dual connectivity) is executed. As shown in FIG. 2, a base station 10A serving as an MN (Master Node) and a base station 10B serving as an SN (Secondary Node) are provided. The base station 10A and the base station 10B are each connected to a core network. The terminal 20 can communicate with both the base station 10A and the base station 10B.

[0019] The cell group provided by the base station 10A serving as the MN is called an MCG (Master Cell Group), and the cell group provided by the base station 10B serving as the SN is called an SCG (Secondary Cell Group). Also, in DC, the MCG is composed of one PCell and one or more SCell, and the SCG is composed of one PSCell (Primary SCell) and one or more SCell.

[0020] The processing operations in this embodiment may be executed with the system configuration shown in FIG. 1, may be executed with the system configuration shown in FIG. 2, or may be executed with system configurations other than these.

[0021] (Overview of the Embodiment) As described above, in the conventional NR, a terminal needs to periodically monitor scheduling information and the like from a base station or the like in order to transmit and receive data. Therefore, even in a case where data transmission and reception do not occur, monitoring continues, so that the power consumption of the terminal is large and it has an adverse effect on battery life.

[0022] Therefore, it is conceivable to reduce power consumption by performing simple signal exchange using a passive receiver such as RFID, for example, separately from the signal for actually transmitting and receiving data between the terminal and the base station.

[0023] However, since it is assumed that the communicable distance by a simple signal is shorter than the communicable distance of the signal for data transmission and reception, it is considered that direct communication by a simple signal cannot be performed between the terminal and the base station.

[0024] In this embodiment, in order to solve the above problems, a group is formed by one or more terminals 20 in the connected mode (e.g., RRC_connected state), and one or more terminals 20 in the group monitor signals from the base station 10 and perform information transmission and reception. The terminal 20 constituting the group may be called an intermediate node.

[0025] Note that in this embodiment, it is assumed that each terminal 20 constituting the group is in the connected mode. However, this assumption is an example, and it may be that there are terminals 20 in the RRC_inactive state or RRC_idle state in the group.

[0026] In this embodiment, among the terminals 20 belonging to a group, a terminal 20 that transmits and receives information based on signal monitoring to and from the base station 10 is called a "representative terminal". The "representative terminal" may also be called a "representative UE". There may be a plurality of representative terminals in one group. Also, one representative terminal may belong to a plurality of groups.

[0027] Fig. 3 shows an example of a group in this embodiment. In the example of Fig. 3, terminals 20A to 20C form one group. In the example of Fig. 3, terminal 20A is the representative terminal. In the following description, in order to indicate that a certain terminal is a representative terminal, it may be described as "terminal 20A (representative)".

[0028] As shown in Fig. 3, the terminal 20A (representative) receives scheduling information or Wake up information from the base station 10. Hereinafter, the scheduling information or Wake up information will be referred to as scheduling information / Wake up information. Note that receiving "scheduling information or Wake up information" includes receiving both scheduling information and Wake up information.

[0029] Here, the Wake up information may be information for instructing a terminal 20 in a power saving state (e.g., sleep state) to start monitoring signals from the base station, or may be information for instructing a terminal 20 that is not monitoring signals from the base station to start monitoring signals from the base station.

[0030] The scheduling information is information for notifying resources for data transmission or reception, etc. Note that the information received by the representative terminal from the base station 10 is not limited to scheduling information and Wake up information, and other information may be received.

[0031] Also, as shown in Fig. 3, the scheduling information / Wake up information received by the terminal 20A (representative) is transmitted to other terminals 20. Information may be transmitted and received between the terminals 20 constituting the group.

[0032] The communication method between the terminals 20 constituting the group is not limited to a specific communication method. For example, a short-range wireless method using an electronic tag (passive small wireless device or active small wireless device) can be used. The communication method between the terminals 20 constituting the group may be sidelink communication, Bluetooth (registered trademark), ZigBee (registered trademark), wireless LAN, or the like. The signal transmitted and received between the terminals 20 constituting the group may be called a beacon.

[0033] In the method shown in FIG. 3, terminals other than the representative terminal in the group can determine whether there is information addressed to themselves from the base station 10 (or whether they should monitor the signal from the base station 10) based on the information from the representative terminal. As a result, the frequency of monitoring the signal from the base station 10 is reduced, and consequently, the power consumption due to monitoring the signal is reduced. Therefore, power consumption can be reduced. Also, by appropriately switching the representative terminal, power consumption of all terminals can be reduced.

[0034] Hereinafter, as a more detailed example in the present embodiment, Examples 1 to 5 will be described. Any plurality or all of Examples 1 to 5 may be combined and implemented.

[0035] (Example 1) In Example 1, a method of forming a group consisting of a plurality of terminals 20 will be described. The forming method described below may be regarded as a method of updating the group when the group has already been formed. Note that when updating the group after forming the group, the forming method and the updating method may be different. Hereinafter, Examples 1-1 to 1-3 will be described.

[0036] <Example 1-1> In Embodiment 1-1, the base station 10 determines a group and one or more terminals 20 belonging to the group, and notifies each terminal 20 in the group of group information. The group information includes, for example, a group ID for identifying the group. The group information may include, together with the group ID for identifying the group, the IDs of all terminals belonging to the group, and the ID of the representative terminal. Further, the information instructing that it becomes "representative" may be included only in the group information for the representative terminal.

[0037] An operation example will be described with reference to FIG. 4. FIG. 4 shows a case where terminals 20A to 20C constitute one group. In the example of FIG. 4, group information is notified from the base station 10 to the terminal 20A in S101, group information is notified from the base station 10 to the terminal 20B in S102, and group information is notified from the base station 10 to the terminal 20C in S103. For example, if the terminal 20A becomes the representative, the group information notified from the base station 10 to the terminal 20A in S101 includes information instructing to become the representative.

[0038] The group information may be transmitted by an individual signal from the base station 10 to each individual terminal 20, or may be transmitted by a broadcast signal or a group cast signal.

[0039] <Embodiment 1-2> In Embodiment 1-2, the base station 10 notifies the representative terminal of the group information of all terminals belonging to the group, and the representative terminal notifies each terminal in the group of the group information. The group information received by the representative terminal from the base station 10 includes, for example, a group ID for identifying the group, the IDs of all terminals belonging to the group, and the ID of the representative terminal.

[0040] An operation example will be described with reference to FIG. 5. In S511, the terminal 20A (representative) receives group information from the base station 10. The terminal 20A (representative) transmits the group information received from the base station 10 to the terminal 20B and the terminal 20C.

[0041] As described above, in Example 1-1 and Example 1-2, each terminal 20 belonging to a group can know that it belongs to a certain group and which representative terminal and other terminals belonging to that group are by receiving group information. Note that terminals other than the representative terminal do not necessarily need to know which other terminals belong to the group.

[0042] <Example 1-3> In Example 1-3, the terminals 20 autonomously form a group. For example, terminals 20 that can receive a signal with a power equal to or higher than a certain threshold value may form one group. Also, by each terminal 20 acquiring the position information of each other terminal 20, a plurality of terminals 20 included in an area of a certain size (for example, a circle with a radius of X m) may form one group.

[0043] Each terminal 20 that has come to belong to a certain group may notify the base station 10 of the group information. This group information includes, for example, the ID of the terminal 20 itself that transmits the group information and the ID of the group to which the terminal 20 belongs.

[0044] Also, as shown in FIG. 6, in S121, after autonomously forming a group, the representative terminal may transmit the group information to the base station 10. This group information includes, for example, the group ID and the IDs of all terminals 20 belonging to the group.

[0045] Note that any terminal 20 belonging to a group formed autonomously may not notify the base station 10 of the group information. In this case, since the base station 10 does not grasp the group information, it transmits information to each terminal 20 without being aware of the group. Assuming that the representative terminal belonging to the group holds group information (for example, the IDs of all terminals belonging to its own group), the representative terminal can identify whether the information is addressed to its own group based on the ID (e.g., RNTI, UE-ID) included in the information received from the base station 10.

[0046] (Example 2) In Embodiment 2, a representative terminal of a certain group receives scheduling information / Wake up information for terminals within that group from the base station 10, and transmits the scheduling information / Wake up information to one or more terminals 20 within the group based on that information.

[0047] The scheduling information transmitted from the base station 10 may include information indicating the destination terminal 20 (e.g., C-RNTI, UE ID associated with Sidelink).

[0048] Also, the Wake up information may be terminal-specific Wake up information for individual terminals, or it may be Wake up information for each group. In the case of terminal-specific Wake up information, information indicating the destination terminal 20 (e.g., C-RNTI, PS-RNTI (Power Saving RNTI), UE ID associated with Sidelink) may be included in the Wake up information.

[0049] An example of the operation when the scheduling information / Wake up information includes information indicating the destination as described above will be described with reference to FIG. 7. In this example, it is assumed that the destination is terminal 20B.

[0050] In S201, terminal 20A (representative) receives scheduling information / Wake up information from the base station 10. Terminal 20A (representative) transmits (forwards) the scheduling information / Wake up information received from the base station 10 by a communication method for terminals belonging to the group (e.g., short-range wireless method), for example.

[0051] Each terminal 20 belonging to the group is performing monitoring to receive information from terminal 20A (representative). Here, since terminal 20B detects that the information indicating the destination included in the scheduling information / Wake up information transmitted from terminal 20A (representative) is addressed to itself, it receives the scheduling information / Wake up information (S202).

[0052] After that, for example, the terminal 20B receives data from the base station 10 using the resources indicated by the scheduling information. Also, for example, the terminal 20B starts monitoring a signal (e.g., PDCCH) transmitted from the base station 10 based on the Wake up information.

[0053] <Regarding the RNTI for monitoring> In the present embodiment, the representative terminal receives scheduling information / wake up information for the terminals 20 within the group by monitoring the PDCCH transmitted from the base station 10. As the RNTI for monitoring the PDCCH for receiving the scheduling information / wake up information, for example, any one or any plurality of the following options 1 to 4 can be used.

[0054] Option 1: The C-RNTI assigned to the representative terminal Option 2: The RNTI assigned in group units Option 3: One or more C-RNTIs assigned to the terminals 20 belonging to the group Option 4: Other RNTIs (e.g., RNTI based on the UE ID associated with Sidelink) For example, when using any one of the above options 1, 2, and 4, the scheduling information / Wake up information received by the representative terminal may include information (e.g., UE ID, C-RNTI, UE ID associated with Sidelink) indicating for which terminal 20 the information is. That is, the base station 10 may include, in the scheduling information / Wake up information transmitted for a representative terminal of a certain group, information (e.g., UE ID, C-RNTI, UE ID associated with Sidelink) indicating for which terminal 20 within that group the information is.

[0055] For example, when using Option 1, in the example of FIG. 7, the representative terminal 20A receives the scheduling information / Wake up information in S201 by monitoring using the C-RNTI assigned to itself, and sends the received scheduling information / Wake up information to the terminal 20, so that the destination terminal 20 can receive the scheduling information / Wake up information.

[0056] Also, when using any one of the above Options 1, 2, and 4, if the representative terminal detects that the scheduling information / Wake up information received from the base station 10 does not include information about which terminal 20 in the group the information is for, the scheduling information may be sent to the entire group, or the entire group may be woken up.

[0057] From the perspective of the base station 10, when the base station 10 wants to control the entire group via the representative terminal, the base station 10 sends scheduling information / Wake up information that does not specify a specific terminal 20 in the group to the representative terminal.

[0058] <Regarding the transmission of information from the representative terminal to the terminal 20 within the group> When the representative terminal sends scheduling information / Wake up information to the terminal 20 within the group, the following Option 1 or Option 2 method can be used.

[0059] Option 1: Transmit or forward the information only to the terminal 20 corresponding to the scheduling information / Wake up information. As described above, this may be to send (transfer) the scheduling information / Wake up information that includes the ID of the destination terminal 20 (the ID used by the destination terminal 20 for monitoring) received from the base station 10, or the representative terminal may attach the ID of the destination to the scheduling information / Wake up information and send it.

[0060] Option 2: Transmit or forward scheduling information / Wake up information to the entire group. This may involve transmitting (forwarding) scheduling information / Wake up information that does not contain the ID of any terminal 20 (the ID used by the destination terminal 20 for monitoring) received from the base station 10, or it may involve attaching an ID indicating that it is addressed to all terminals (or the group) to the scheduling information / Wake up information and then transmitting it using the representative terminal.

[0061] <Regarding communication between terminals 20 within the group> As described above, communication between terminals 20 (including the representative terminal) within the group may be performed by a simple wireless system such as a passive receiver of RFID (different from the wireless system between the base station 10 and the representative terminal).

[0062] For example, a simple signal such as a beacon may be transmitted from the representative terminal to convey wake up information to the terminals 20 within the group.

[0063] Also, communication may be performed between terminals 20 within the group other than the representative terminal using a simple signal such as a beacon. For example, information addressed to terminal 20C received by the representative terminal from the base station 10 may be forwarded along the path representative terminal -> terminal 20B -> terminal 20C using a simple signal.

[0064] <Regarding information monitoring of terminals 20 other than the representative terminal> Terminals 20 other than the representative terminal within the group may not monitor information (e.g., PDCCH) related to scheduling information / Wake up information from the base station 10, and may only monitor signals from the representative terminal. Subsequently, based on the monitored signals from the representative terminal (i.e., scheduling information / Wake up information), it may be determined whether to wake up (or not), or whether to perform data reception from the base station 10 (or not).

[0065] An example is shown in FIG. 8. In the example of FIG. 8, during the period of "Monitoring A", terminals 20B and 20C, which are terminals other than the representative terminal, monitor information (or signals related to the information) from the representative terminal. As a result of this monitoring, assume that in S212, terminal 20C receives Wake up information addressed to terminal 20C from the representative terminal.

[0066] This Wake up information serves as an instruction signal to start monitoring the signal from base station 10. In "Monitoring B", terminal 20C monitors the PDCCH from base station 10. In S213, terminal 20C receives the PDCCH addressed to itself.

[0067] Here, since Monitoring A can be performed using a passive receiver or the like, power consumption can be reduced even when Monitoring A is performed.

[0068] (Example 3) In Example 3, the switching of the representative terminal will be described. For example, within a certain group, among all the terminals 20 that make up the group, the representative terminal may be switched from one terminal 20 to another terminal 20. Specific examples related to the switching will be described in Examples 3-1 to 3-3.

[0069] <Example 3-1> In Example 3-1, the representative terminal within the group switches periodically. The switching period may be defined in the specification or may be notified from base station 10 to each terminal 20. For example, when the base station 10 notifies each terminal 20 (or only the representative terminal) of the group information for group formation (e.g., FIGS. 4 and 5), the switching period may be included in the group information.

[0070] Alternatively, the switching order may be defined in the specification or notified from the base station 10 to each terminal 20. For example, when the base station 10 notifies each terminal 20 (or only the representative terminal) of group information for group formation (e.g., FIGS. 4 and 5), the switching order may be included in the group information.

[0071] For example, if it is specified or notified that the representative terminal switches in the order of terminal 20A -> terminal 20B -> terminal 20C at a cycle of X seconds, an operation such as terminal 20B becoming the representative X seconds after terminal 20A becomes the representative and terminal 20C becoming the representative X seconds after that is repeated.

[0072] <Example 3-2> In Example 3-2, the switching of the representative terminal is notified from the base station 10 or the representative terminal. Hereinafter, specific examples will be described as Examples 3-2-1 to 3-2-3.

[0073] <Example 3-2-1> In Example 3-2-1, the base station 10 notifies the switching of the representative terminal. The notification may be made at least to the representative terminals before and after the change. An example is shown in FIG. 9. FIG. 9 shows an example when the representative terminal is switched from terminal 20A to terminal 20B.

[0074] In S301, a switching notification is made from the base station 10 to terminal 20A (representative) instructing to switch the representative to terminal 20B. In S302, a switching notification is made from the base station 10 to terminal 20B instructing to become the representative.

[0075] <Example 3-2-2> In Example 3-2-2, the representative terminal autonomously notifies the switching of the representative terminal. For example, the representative terminal itself determines the switching of the representative terminal according to the state (link quality, battery status, etc.) of the representative terminal itself or the surrounding terminals 20 and notifies the switching. For example, when the representative terminal detects that the remaining battery level of the representative terminal has fallen below the threshold, it switches the representative to a neighboring terminal 20 belonging to the same group.

[0076] An example is shown in FIG. 10. In the example of FIG. 10, for example, assume that the terminal 20A (representative) determines to switch the representative to the terminal 20B at its own discretion. In that case, the terminal 20A (representative) notifies each of the base station 10, the terminal 20B, and the terminal 20C of the switching of the representative to the terminal 20B (S311, S312, S313). Thereby, the terminal 20B becomes the next representative. Also, the base station 10 and each terminal 20 can recognize that the terminal 20B has become the representative.

[0077] In addition, the representative terminal may determine the switching of the representative according to reports from other terminals 20 belonging to the same group and perform the notification as shown in FIG. 10. The report from other terminals 20 is, for example, the link quality described in Example 3-3 to be described later. For example, when the representative terminal receives a report from another terminal 20 indicating that the link quality between that terminal 20 and other terminals 20 is good, the representative terminal determines to switch the representative to the other terminal 20 that is the source of the report.

[0078] <Example 3-2-3> In Example 3-2-3, the base station 10 notifies the representative terminal of the switching of the representative terminal, and thereby the representative terminal notifies other terminals 20 of the switching of the representative terminal. An example is shown in FIG. 11. FIG. 11 shows an example when the representative terminal is switched from the terminal 20A to the terminal 20B.

[0079] In S321, a switching notification is given from the base station 10 to the terminal 20A (representative) instructing to switch the representative to the terminal 20B. In S322, a switching notification is given from the terminal 20A to the terminal 20B instructing to become the representative. In S323, a switching notification is given from the terminal 20A to the terminal 20C notifying that the representative has been switched to the terminal 20B.

[0080] <Example 3-3> Next, Example 3-3 will be described. Example 3-3 is an example regarding the criterion for switching determination and can be implemented in combination with the example of the above-described notification method.

[0081] For example, based on the link quality between the terminal 20 and each other terminal 20 within the group, or the link quality between the terminal 20 and the base station 10, it is determined whether to switch the representative terminal or not.

[0082] The determination based on the link quality between the above-mentioned terminals 20 may be made by each terminal 20, or by the representative terminal that has received the link quality report from each other terminal 20, or by the base station 10 that has received the link quality report from each terminal 20 in the group.

[0083] Also, the determination based on the link quality between the terminal 20 and the base station 10 may be made by the base station 10, or by the representative terminal that has received the link quality report from another terminal 20 or the base station 10.

[0084] The above-mentioned link quality may be the value (such as power intensity, power quality, etc.) measured by the terminal 20 or the base station 10 itself, or a value based on the measured value.

[0085] Also, the threshold value of the link quality for the switching determination may be specified in the specification, or may be notified from the base station 10 to each terminal 20.

[0086] As an example, when the base station 10 determines the switch based on the link quality between the terminal 20 and the base station 10, the base station 10 selects one or more switching candidates from among the terminals 20 whose link quality with itself is equal to or higher than the threshold value, and determines the switching destination from among the switching candidates. For example, when there are a plurality of switching candidates, as described above, the representative may be switched periodically.

[0087] (Embodiment 4) Next, Embodiment 4 will be described. Embodiment 4 is an embodiment regarding the method for determining (which may also be switching) the representative terminal. In Embodiment 4, the representative terminal is determined based on the capability of the terminal 20 (e.g., UE capability) or the terminal type, etc.

[0088] For example, a terminal 20 with high capabilities or a terminal 20 with a surplus battery may be determined as a representative terminal. The terminal 20 with high capabilities is, for example, a terminal having the ability to transmit scheduling information / Wake up information on a signal (beacon) that can be received by a passive small wireless device.

[0089] Also, as a terminal type, a terminal type that can be a representative terminal may be defined in specifications or the like, and a representative terminal may be determined from among terminals 20 having that terminal type.

[0090] Also, a plurality of terminals 20 constituting a group may be determined based on the capabilities (e.g., UE capability) or terminal types of the terminals 20. Hereinafter, as more specific examples, Example 4-1 and Example 4-2 will be described.

[0091] <Example 4-1> In Example 4-1, the base station 10 determines a representative terminal according to the capability information / terminal type of the terminal 20. An example is shown in FIG. 12. As shown in FIG. 12, first, in S401 to S403, the capability information / terminal type is reported from each terminal 20 to the base station 10. Note that the terminal type may be information different from the capability information, may be information included in the capability information, or may be information implicitly determined from the capability information.

[0092] The base station 10 determines a representative terminal from among terminals 20A to 20C based on the capability information / terminal type of each terminal 20. Assuming that the terminal 20B is determined as the representative terminal, in S404, the base station 10 sends a notification instructing the terminal 20B to become the representative terminal.

[0093] Note that the terminal 20 may assume that it is not assigned as a representative terminal according to its own capability information / terminal type. The terminal 20 that assumes that it is not assigned as a representative terminal may not report the capability information / terminal type to the base station 10.

[0094] <Example 4-2> The terminal 20 itself may recognize that it is the representative terminal according to its own capabilities / terminal type. Also, the terminal 20 that recognizes that it is the representative terminal may transmit a signal notifying that it is the representative terminal to the surroundings.

[0095] Also, when the terminal 20 that recognizes that it is the representative terminal receives the above signal from another terminal 20 that recognizes that it is the representative terminal, for example, based on comparable values such as the magnitude of the UE ID, the quality of the link, etc., it may determine which one will be the representative, or it may determine which one will be the representative according to the procedure specified in the specifications, etc.

[0096] (Embodiment 5) Embodiment 5 is an embodiment regarding leaving a group. When a terminal 20 within a certain group becomes unable to remain within the group (e.g., when transitioning from the connected mode to the idle mode), it may notify any one or a plurality of the other terminals 20 within the group, the representative terminal, and the base station 10 of the information indicating that it has become unable to remain within the group. This notification may be called a group departure notification.

[0097] When the representative terminal determines that it has become unable to remain within the group, the representative terminal may specify the next representative terminal, or a process of determining the representative terminal may be performed among the other terminals 20 within the group that have received the notification of the departure of the representative terminal, or the base station 10 that has received the notification of the departure of the representative terminal may specify the next representative terminal.

[0098] An example is shown in FIG. 13. In the example of FIG. 13, assume that the terminal 20A (representative) determines that it has become unable to remain within the group. The terminal 20A (representative) transmits a group departure notification to each of the base station 10, the terminal 20B, and the terminal 20C in S501 to S503. Here, when the terminal 20A (representative) determines that the next representative is the terminal 20B, for example, the information indicating that the next representative is the terminal 20B may be included in each of the notifications in S501 to S503.

[0099] Note that Example 5 may be applied only to the representative terminal or to each terminal 20 within the group.

[0100] (Other Examples) Next, other examples applicable to all the examples will be described.

[0101] In relation to Example 4, the following UE capabilities may be defined.

[0102] · Whether or not grouping can be formed · Whether or not scheduling information / Wake up information within the group can be transmitted and received · The ability to be a representative terminal For example, the base station 10 that has received the above UE capabilities from the terminal 20 can determine whether the terminal 20 can be a terminal constituting a group, whether it can be a candidate for a representative terminal, etc.

[0103] In relation to the information notification from the representative terminal to other terminals 20 described in each example, the following information may be notified from the representative terminal to each terminal 20 within the group.

[0104] · Information on measurement results · Information on position measurement The measurement results may be, for example, the link quality / radiowave quality between the base station 10 and the link quality / radiowave quality between other terminals 20.

[0105] The information on position measurement may be, for example, the information on the position of the representative terminal or the information on the positions of all the terminals 20 within the group. For example, each terminal 20 can predict the signal strength etc. reaching from the representative terminal by grasping the position of the representative terminal and can perform an appropriate reception operation.

[0106] Note that the group may be composed only of terminals 20 in the connected mode, or may be composed of a mixture of terminals in the connected mode, terminals in the idle mode, and terminals in the inactive mode.

[0107] (Device Configuration) Next, a functional configuration example of the base station 10 and the terminal 20 that execute the processes and operations described so far will be described. The base station 10 and the terminal 20 include functions for implementing all the above-described embodiments. However, the base station 10 and the terminal 20 may each be provided with only the functions of any one of all the embodiments.

[0108] <Base Station 10> FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of the base station 10. As shown in FIG. 14, the base station 10 includes a transmission unit 110, a reception unit 120, a setting unit 130, and a control unit 140. The functional configuration shown in FIG. 14 is merely an example. As long as the operations according to the embodiments of the present invention can be executed, the functional division and the names of the functional units may be any. The transmission unit 110 and the reception unit 120 may be referred to as a communication unit.

[0109] The transmission unit 110 includes a function of generating a signal to be transmitted to the terminal 20 side and wirelessly transmitting the signal. The reception unit 120 includes a function of receiving various signals transmitted from the terminal 20 and obtaining information of, for example, a higher layer from the received signals. Further, the transmission unit 110 has a function of transmitting NR-PSS, NR-SSS, NR-PBCH, DL / UL control signals, DL data, etc. to the terminal 20.

[0110] The setting unit 130 stores preset setting information and various setting information to be transmitted to the terminal 20 in a storage device and reads it out from the storage device as necessary. The control unit 140 performs, for example, resource allocation, control of the entire base station 10, etc. Note that a functional unit related to signal transmission in the control unit 140 may be included in the transmission unit 110, and a functional unit related to signal reception in the control unit 140 may be included in the reception unit 120. Also, the transmission unit 110 and the reception unit 120 may be referred to as a transmitter and a receiver, respectively. Further, the function of the setting unit 130 may be included in the control unit 140.

[0111] <Terminal 20> FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of the terminal 20. As shown in FIG. 7, the terminal 20 includes a transmission unit 210, a reception unit 220, a setting unit 230, and a control unit 240. The functional configuration shown in FIG. 7 is merely an example. As long as the operations according to the embodiments of the present invention can be executed, the functional classification and the names of the functional units may be any. The transmission unit 210 and the reception unit 220 may be called a communication unit.

[0112] The transmission unit 210 creates a transmission signal from the transmission data and wirelessly transmits the transmission signal. The reception unit 220 wirelessly receives various signals and obtains signals of a higher layer from the received physical layer signals. Further, the receiver 220 may include a passive type receiver. The transmission unit 210 may include a transmitter that transmits a signal receivable by the passive type receiver.

[0113] The setting unit 230 stores various setting information received from the base station 10 by the reception unit 220 in the storage device and reads it out from the storage device as necessary. The setting unit 230 also stores preset setting information. The control unit 240 controls the entire terminal 20. Note that a functional unit related to signal transmission in the control unit 240 may be included in the transmission unit 210, and a functional unit related to signal reception in the control unit 240 may be included in the reception unit 220. Further, the transmission unit 210 and the reception unit 220 may be called a transmitter and a receiver, respectively. Also, the function of the setting unit 230 may be included in the control unit 240.

[0114] The terminal 20 and the base station 10 may be configured as the terminal and the base station described in the following items, for example. Also, the following wireless communication system including a plurality of terminals may be configured. (Item 1) A reception unit that monitors signals transmitted from a base station, A transmission unit that transmits information received from the base station to one or more other terminals constituting a group A terminal comprising. (Item 2) Based on the group information received from the base station, the terminal grasps other terminals belonging to the group The terminal according to claim 1. (Claim 3) Based on the information received from the said terminal, the said other terminal receives the information transmitted from the said base station. The terminal according to claim 1 or 2. (Claim 4) A control unit that determines a representative terminal from among a plurality of terminals constituting a group based on terminal capability information or terminal type, A transmission unit that notifies the said representative terminal that it has become a representative A base station comprising: (Claim 5) Comprising a first terminal that is a representative terminal in a group and a second terminal that is a terminal belonging to the said group, The said first terminal transmits the information received from the base station to the said second terminal, and the said second terminal receives the information transmitted from the base station based on the information received from the said first terminal. A wireless communication system. (Claim 6) The said second terminal receives the information transmitted from the said first terminal by a passive receiver. The wireless communication system according to claim 5.

[0115] With any of the above-described configurations, it is possible to reduce the frequency of monitoring performed by the terminal for receiving signals from the base station. Also, according to claim 2, the representative terminal can grasp the group and can appropriately transfer the information received from the base station. According to claim 3, other terminals can receive information from the base station without constantly monitoring signals from the base station. According to claim 6, the power reduction effect can be further enhanced.

[0116] (Hardware Configuration) The block diagrams (Figs. 14 and 15) used in the description of the above embodiments show blocks of functional units. These functional blocks (components) are realized by any combination of at least one of hardware and software. Also, the method of realizing each functional block is not particularly limited. That is, each functional block may be realized using one physically or logically combined device, or two or more physically or logically separated devices may be directly or indirectly (e.g., using wired, wireless, etc.) connected and realized using these multiple devices. The functional block may be realized by combining software with the above one device or the above multiple devices.

[0117] Functions include, but are not limited to, judgment, decision, determination, calculation, computation, processing, derivation, investigation, search, confirmation, reception, transmission, output, access, solution, selection, selection, establishment, comparison, assumption, expectation, regarded as, notification (broadcasting), notification (notifying), communication (communicating), forwarding, configuration (configuring), reconfiguration (reconfiguring), allocation (allocating, mapping), assignment (assigning), etc. For example, a functional block (component) that functions to transmit is called a transmitting unit or a transmitter. In any case, as described above, the realization method is not particularly limited.

[0118] For example, the base station 10, the terminal 20, etc. in an embodiment of the present disclosure may function as a computer that performs the processing of the wireless communication method of the present disclosure. Fig. 16 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the base station 10 and the terminal 20 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The above base station 10 and terminal 20 may physically be configured as a computer device including a processor 1001, a storage device 1002, an auxiliary storage device 1003, a communication device 1004, an input device 1005, an output device 1006, a bus 1007, etc.

[0119] In the following description, the term "device" can be read as a circuit, device, unit, etc. The hardware configuration of the base station 10 and the terminal 20 may be configured to include one or more of each device shown in the figure, or may be configured without including some devices.

[0120] Each function in the base station 10 and the terminal 20 is realized by loading a predetermined software (program) onto hardware such as the processor 1001 and the storage device 1002, so that the processor 1001 performs calculations and controls communication by the communication device 1004, or controls at least one of reading and writing data in the storage device 1002 and the auxiliary storage device 1003.

[0121] The processor 1001 controls the entire computer by operating, for example, an operating system. The processor 1001 may be composed of a central processing unit (CPU) including an interface with peripheral devices, a control device, an arithmetic device, a register, etc. For example, the above-described control units 140, 240, etc. may be realized by the processor 1001.

[0122] Also, the processor 1001 reads a program (program code), software module, data, etc. from at least one of the auxiliary storage device 1003 and the communication device 1004 into the storage device 1002, and executes various processes according to these. As the program, a program for causing a computer to execute at least a part of the operations described in the above embodiments is used. For example, the control unit 140 of the base station 10 shown in FIG. 14 may be stored in the storage device 1002 and realized by a control program operating on the processor 1001. Also, for example, the control unit 240 of the terminal 20 shown in FIG. 15 may be stored in the storage device 1002 and realized by a control program operating on the processor 1001. Although it has been described that the above various processes are executed by one processor 1001, they may be executed simultaneously or sequentially by two or more processors 1001. The processor 1001 may be implemented by one or more chips. Note that the program may be transmitted from a network via a telecommunication line.

[0123] The storage device 1002 is a computer-readable recording medium, and may be constituted by at least one of, for example, ROM (Read Only Memory), EPROM (Erasable Programmable ROM), EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM), RAM (Random Access Memory), etc. The storage device 1002 may be referred to as a register, cache, main memory (main storage device), etc. The storage device 1002 can store a program (program code), software module, etc. executable for implementing the communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0124] The auxiliary storage device 1003 is a computer-readable recording medium, and may be constituted by at least one of, for example, an optical disk such as a CD-ROM (Compact Disc ROM), a hard disk drive, a flexible disk, a magneto-optical disk (for example, a compact disc, a digital versatile disc, a Blu-ray (registered trademark) disc), a smart card, a flash memory (for example, a card, a stick, a key drive), a floppy (registered trademark) disk, a magnetic strip, etc. The auxiliary storage device 1003 may also be called an auxiliary storage device. The above-described storage medium may be, for example, a database, a server, or other appropriate medium including at least one of the storage device 1002 and the auxiliary storage device 1003.

[0125] The communication device 1004 is hardware (a transmission / reception device) for performing communication between computers via at least one of a wired network and a wireless network, and is also referred to as, for example, a network device, a network controller, a network card, a communication module, etc. The communication device 1004 may be configured to include, for example, a high-frequency switch, a duplexer, a filter, a frequency synthesizer, etc. in order to realize at least one of frequency division duplex (FDD: Frequency Division Duplex) and time division duplex (TDD: Time Division Duplex). For example, a transmission / reception antenna, an amplifier unit, a transmission / reception unit, a transmission path interface, etc. may be realized by the communication device 1004. The transmission / reception unit may be physically or logically separated into a transmission unit and a reception unit.

[0126] The input device 1005 is an input device (for example, a keyboard, a mouse, a microphone, a switch, a button, a sensor, etc.) that receives an external input. The output device 1006 is an output device (for example, a display, a speaker, an LED lamp, etc.) that performs an output to the outside. Note that the input device 1005 and the output device 1006 may have an integrated configuration (for example, a touch panel).

[0127] Also, each device such as the processor 1001 and the storage device 1002 is connected by a bus 1007 for communicating information. The bus 1007 may be configured using a single bus or may be configured using different buses for each device.

[0128] Also, the base station 10 and the terminal 20 may be configured to include hardware such as a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic device (PLD), or a field programmable gate array (FPGA), and some or all of each functional block may be realized by the hardware. For example, the processor 1001 may be implemented using at least one of these hardware components.

[0129] (Supplement of the embodiment) The embodiments of the present invention have been described above. However, the disclosed invention is not limited to such embodiments, and those skilled in the art will understand various modifications, corrections, alternatives, substitutions, etc. Although specific numerical examples have been used for the purpose of facilitating the understanding of the invention, unless otherwise specified, those numerical values are merely examples, and any appropriate values may be used. The classification of items in the above description is not essential to the present invention, and the matters described in two or more items may be used in combination as necessary, or the matters described in one item may be applied to the matters described in another item (as long as there is no contradiction). The boundaries of the functional units or processing units in the functional block diagram do not necessarily correspond to the boundaries of physical components. The operations of a plurality of functional units may be physically performed by one component, or the operation of one functional unit may be physically performed by a plurality of components. Regarding the processing procedures described in the embodiments, the order of processing may be changed as long as there is no contradiction. For the sake of convenience in explaining the processing, the base station 10 and the terminal 20 have been described using functional block diagrams, but such devices may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination thereof. The software operating on the processor included in the base station 10 according to the embodiments of the present invention and the software operating on the processor included in the terminal 20 according to the embodiments of the present invention may each be stored in a random access memory (RAM), flash memory, read-only memory (ROM), EPROM, EEPROM, register, hard disk drive (HDD), removable disk, CD-ROM, database, server, or any other appropriate storage medium.

[0130] Furthermore, the notification of information is not limited to the aspects / embodiments described in this disclosure, and other methods may be used. For example, the notification of information may be implemented by physical layer signaling (e.g., DCI (Downlink Control Information), UCI (Uplink Control Information)), upper layer signaling (e.g., RRC (Radio Resource Control) signaling, MAC (Medium Access Control) signaling, notification information (MIB (Master Information Block), SIB (System Information Block)), other signals, or combinations thereof. Also, the RRC signaling may be referred to as an RRC message and may be, for example, an RRC connection setup message, an RRC connection reconfiguration message, etc.

[0131] Each aspect / embodiment described in this disclosure may be applied to at least one of systems using LTE (Long Term Evolution), LTE-A (LTE-Advanced), SUPER 3G, IMT-Advanced, 4G (4th generation mobile communication system), 5G (5th generation mobile communication system), FRA (Future Radio Access), NR (new Radio), W-CDMA (registered trademark), GSM (registered trademark), CDMA2000, UMB (Ultra Mobile Broadband), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi (registered trademark)), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX (registered trademark)), IEEE 802.20, UWB (Ultra-WideBand), Bluetooth (registered trademark), other suitable systems, and next-generation systems extended based thereon. Also, a combination of multiple systems (e.g., a combination of at least one of LTE and LTE-A and 5G, etc.) may be applied.

[0132] The processing procedures, sequences, flowcharts, etc. of each aspect / embodiment described in this specification may be reordered as long as there is no contradiction. For example, regarding the methods described in this disclosure, the elements of various steps are presented using an exemplary order and are not limited to the specific order presented.

[0133] The specific operations assumed to be performed by the base station 10 in this specification may, in some cases, be performed by its upper node. In a network consisting of one or more network nodes having the base station 10, it is clear that various operations performed for communication with the terminal 20 can be performed by at least one of the base station 10 and other network nodes other than the base station 10 (for example, but not limited to, an MME or an S-GW, etc.). Although the case where there is one other network node other than the base station 10 is exemplified above, the other network node may be a combination of a plurality of other network nodes (for example, an MME and an S-GW).

[0134] The information or signals, etc. described in this disclosure can be output from an upper layer (or a lower layer) to a lower layer (or an upper layer). They may also be input and output via a plurality of network nodes.

[0135] The input and output information, etc. may be stored in a specific location (for example, a memory) or may be managed using a management table. The input and output information, etc. can be overwritten, updated, or appended. The output information, etc. may be deleted. The input information, etc. may be transmitted to other devices.

[0136] The determination in this disclosure may be made based on a value represented by 1 bit (0 or 1), or may be made based on a Boolean value (true or false), or may be made based on a numerical comparison (for example, comparison with a predetermined value).

[0137] Software should be broadly construed to mean instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, software modules, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executable files, execution threads, procedures, functions, etc., whether called software, firmware, middleware, microcode, a hardware description language, or by any other name.

[0138] Also, software, instructions, information, etc. may be transmitted and received via a transmission medium. For example, if software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using at least one of wired technologies (such as coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL)) and wireless technologies (such as infrared, microwave), at least one of these wired and wireless technologies is included within the definition of a transmission medium.

[0139] The information, signals, etc. described in this disclosure may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, chips, etc., which may be referred to throughout the above description, may be represented by voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, optical fields or photons, or any combination thereof.

[0140] Note that terms described in this disclosure and terms necessary for understanding this disclosure may be replaced with terms having the same or similar meanings. For example, at least one of a channel and a symbol may be a signal (signaling). Also, a signal may be a message. Also, a component carrier (CC) may be referred to as a carrier frequency, a cell, a frequency carrier, etc.

[0141] The terms "system" and "network" used in this disclosure are used interchangeably.

[0142] Also, the information, parameters, etc. described in the present disclosure may be represented using absolute values, relative values from a predetermined value, or another corresponding piece of information. For example, the radio resources may be indicated by an index.

[0143] The names used for the above-described parameters are not limiting names in any way. Furthermore, the mathematical formulas, etc. using these parameters may be different from those explicitly disclosed in the present disclosure. Since various channels (e.g., PUSCH, PUCCH, PDCCH, etc.) and information elements can be identified by any suitable names, the various names assigned to these various channels and information elements are not limiting names in any way.

[0144] In the present disclosure, terms such as "base station (BS: Base Station)", "radio base station", "base station", "fixed station", "NodeB", "eNodeB (eNB)", "gNodeB (gNB)", "access point", "transmission point", "reception point", "transmission / reception point", "cell", "sector", "cell group", "carrier", "component carrier", etc. may be used interchangeably. The base station may also be referred to by terms such as macrocell, small cell, femtocell, picocell, etc.

[0145] A base station can accommodate one or more (e.g., three) cells. When the base station accommodates a plurality of cells, the entire coverage area of the base station can be divided into a plurality of smaller areas, and each of the smaller areas can also provide communication services by a base station subsystem (e.g., a small indoor base station (RRH: Remote Radio Head)). The term "cell" or "sector" refers to a part or the whole of the coverage area of at least one of the base station and the base station subsystem that provides communication services in this coverage.

[0146] In the present disclosure, terms such as "mobile station (MS)", "user terminal", "user equipment (UE)", and "terminal" can be used interchangeably.

[0147] A mobile station may also be referred to by those skilled in the art as a subscriber station, mobile unit, subscriber unit, wireless unit, remote unit, mobile device, wireless device, wireless communication device, remote device, mobile subscriber station, access terminal, mobile terminal, terminal, wireless terminal, remote terminal, handset, user agent, mobile client, client, or some other suitable terms.

[0148] At least one of the base station and the mobile station may be referred to as a transmitting device, a receiving device, a communication device, etc. Note that at least one of the base station and the mobile station may be a device mounted on a moving body, the moving body itself, etc. The moving body may be a vehicle (e.g., a car, an airplane, etc.), a moving body that moves unmanned (e.g., a drone, an autonomous vehicle, etc.), or a robot (humanoid or unmanned). Note that at least one of the base station and the mobile station also includes a device that does not necessarily move during communication operations. For example, at least one of the base station and the mobile station may be an IoT (Internet of Things) device such as a sensor.

[0149] Also, the base station in the present disclosure may be replaced by a terminal. For example, for a configuration in which communication between the base station and the terminal is replaced by communication between a plurality of terminals 20 (which may be referred to as, for example, D2D (Device-to-Device), V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything), etc.), each aspect / embodiment of the present disclosure may be applied. In this case, the functions of the above-described base station 10 may be configured to be possessed by the terminal 20. Also, terms such as "uplink" and "downlink" may be replaced with terms corresponding to inter-terminal communication (for example, "side"). For example, an uplink channel, a downlink channel, etc. may be replaced with a side channel.

[0150] Similarly, the terminal in the present disclosure may be replaced by a base station. In this case, the functions of the above-described terminal may be configured to be possessed by the base station.

[0151] The terms "determining" and "deciding" as used in this disclosure may encompass a wide variety of actions. "Determining" and "deciding" may include, for example, judging, calculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, looking up (e.g., searching in a table, database, or other data structure), ascertaining, and considering something as having "determined" or "decided" the ascertained matter. Also, "determining" and "deciding" may include considering something as having "determined" or "decided" the matter of receiving (e.g., receiving information), transmitting (e.g., transmitting information), inputting, outputting, accessing (e.g., accessing data in memory), etc. Further, "determining" and "deciding" may include considering something as having "determined" or "decided" the matter of resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, comparing, etc. That is, "determining" and "deciding" may include considering something as having "determined" or "decided" some action. Also, "determining (deciding)" may be read as "assuming", "expecting", "considering", etc.

[0152] The terms "connected" or "coupled", or any variation thereof, mean any direct or indirect connection or coupling between two or more elements, and can include the presence of one or more intermediate elements between two elements that are "connected" or "coupled" to each other. The coupling or connection between elements can be physical, logical, or a combination thereof. For example, "connected" may be read as "accessed". As used in this disclosure, two elements can be considered to be "connected" or "coupled" to each other using at least one of one or more wires, cables, and printed electrical connections, as well as, by way of some non-limiting and non-exhaustive examples, electromagnetic energy having wavelengths in the radio frequency region, microwave region, and optical (both visible and invisible) region.

[0153] The reference signal can also be abbreviated as RS (Reference Signal) and may be called a Pilot depending on the applicable standard.

[0154] As used in this disclosure, the description "based on" does not mean "based only on" unless otherwise specified. In other words, the description "based on" means both "based only on" and "based at least on".

[0155] Any reference to an element using designations such as "first", "second", etc. used in this disclosure does not generally limit the quantity or order of those elements. These designations can be used in this disclosure as a convenient way to distinguish between two or more elements. Thus, a reference to a first and a second element does not mean that only two elements can be employed, or that the first element must precede the second element in any form.

[0156] The "means" in the configuration of each of the above devices may be replaced with a "section", "circuit", "device", etc.

[0157] In the present disclosure, when terms such as "include", "including" and their variants are used, these terms are intended to be inclusive, similar to the term "comprising". Further, the term "or" used in the present disclosure is not intended to be an exclusive disjunction.

[0158] A wireless frame may be composed of one or more frames in the time domain. Each of the one or more frames in the time domain may be referred to as a subframe. The subframe may further be composed of one or more slots in the time domain. The subframe may have a fixed time length (e.g., 1 ms) independent of numerology.

[0159] Numerology may be a communication parameter applied to at least one of transmission and reception of a certain signal or channel. Numerology may indicate, for example, at least one of subcarrier spacing (SCS), bandwidth, symbol length, cyclic prefix length, transmission time interval (TTI), number of symbols per TTI, wireless frame configuration, specific filtering processing performed by a transceiver in the frequency domain, specific windowing processing performed by a transceiver in the time domain, etc.

[0160] A slot may be composed of one or more symbols (OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) symbols, SC-FDMA (Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access) symbols, etc.) in the time domain. The slot may be a time unit based on numerology.

[0161] The slot may include a plurality of mini-slots. Each mini-slot may be composed of one or more symbols in the time domain. Also, the mini-slot may be called a sub-slot. The mini-slot may be composed of a smaller number of symbols than the slot. The PDSCH (or PUSCH) transmitted in a time unit larger than the mini-slot may be called PDSCH (or PUSCH) mapping type A. The PDSCH (or PUSCH) transmitted using the mini-slot may be called PDSCH (or PUSCH) mapping type B.

[0162] The radio frame, sub-frame, slot, mini-slot, and symbol all represent time units when transmitting signals. Different names corresponding to each of them may also be used.

[0163] For example, one sub-frame may be called a Transmission Time Interval (TTI), or a plurality of consecutive sub-frames may be called a TTI, or one slot or one mini-slot may be called a TTI. That is, at least one of the sub-frame and the TTI may be the sub-frame (1 ms) in the existing LTE, or a period shorter than 1 ms (for example, 1 - 13 symbols), or a period longer than 1 ms. Note that the unit representing the TTI may be called a slot, a mini-slot, etc. instead of a sub-frame.

[0164] Here, the TTI refers to, for example, the minimum time unit for scheduling in wireless communication. For example, in the LTE system, the base station performs scheduling to allocate radio resources (such as the frequency bandwidth and transmission power that can be used in each terminal 20) to each terminal 20 in TTI units. Note that the definition of the TTI is not limited to this.

[0165] The TTI may be a transmission time unit such as a channel-coded data packet (transport block), code block, codeword, etc., or may be a processing unit such as scheduling and link adaptation. When the TTI is given, the time interval (e.g., number of symbols) in which a transport block, code block, codeword, etc. are actually mapped may be shorter than the TTI.

[0166] Note that when one slot or one mini-slot is called a TTI, one or more TTIs (i.e., one or more slots or one or more mini-slots) may be the minimum time unit for scheduling. Also, the number of slots (number of mini-slots) constituting the minimum time unit for the scheduling may be controlled.

[0167] A TTI having a time length of 1 ms may be called a normal TTI (TTI in LTE Rel.8 - 12), normal TTI, long TTI, normal subframe, normal subframe, long subframe, slot, etc. A TTI shorter than the normal TTI may be called a shortened TTI, short TTI, partial TTI (partial or fractional TTI), shortened subframe, short subframe, mini-slot, sub-slot, slot, etc.

[0168] Note that a long TTI (e.g., normal TTI, subframe, etc.) may be read as a TTI having a time length exceeding 1 ms, or a short TTI (e.g., shortened TTI, etc.) may be read as a TTI having a TTI length less than that of the long TTI and equal to or more than 1 ms.

[0169] A resource block (RB) is a resource allocation unit in the time domain and the frequency domain, and in the frequency domain, it may include one or a plurality of consecutive subcarriers. The number of subcarriers included in the RB may be the same regardless of the numerology, and may be, for example, 12. The number of subcarriers included in the RB may be determined based on the numerology.

[0170] Also, the time domain of the RB may include one or more symbols, and may be the length of 1 slot, 1 mini-slot, 1 sub-frame, or 1 TTI. 1 TTI, 1 sub-frame, etc. may each be composed of one or more resource blocks.

[0171] Note that one or more RBs may be referred to as physical resource blocks (PRBs), sub-carrier groups (SCGs), resource element groups (REGs), PRB pairs, RB pairs, etc.

[0172] Also, the resource block may be composed of one or more resource elements (REs). For example, 1 RE may be a radio resource area of 1 sub-carrier and 1 symbol.

[0173] The bandwidth part (BWP) (which may also be called a partial bandwidth, etc.) may represent a subset of consecutive common resource blocks for a certain numerology in a certain carrier. Here, the common RB may be specified by the index of the RB based on the common reference point of the carrier. The PRB is defined in a certain BWP and may be numbered within the BWP.

[0174] The BWP may include a BWP for UL (UL BWP) and a BWP for DL (DL BWP). For a UE, one or more BWPs may be set within one carrier.

[0175] At least one of the set BWPs may be active, and the UE may not be assumed to transmit and receive a predetermined signal / channel outside the active BWP. Note that "cell", "carrier", etc. in the present disclosure may be read as "BWP".

[0176] The structures such as the above-described radio frames, sub-frames, slots, mini-slots, and symbols are merely examples. For example, the number of sub-frames included in a radio frame, the number of slots per sub-frame or radio frame, the number of mini-slots included in a slot, the number of symbols and RBs included in a slot or mini-slot, the number of sub-carriers included in an RB, and the number of symbols, symbol length, cyclic prefix (CP) length, etc. within a TTI can be variously changed.

[0177] In the present disclosure, for example, when articles are added by translation like a, an, and the in English, the present disclosure may include that the nouns following these articles are in the plural form.

[0178] In the present disclosure, the term "A and B are different" may mean "A and B are different from each other". Note that the term may also mean "A and B are each different from C". Terms such as "separate", "coupled", etc. may also be interpreted in the same way as "different".

[0179] In the present disclosure, each aspect / embodiment described may be used alone, in combination, or switched for use during execution. Also, the notification of predetermined information (for example, the notification of "being X") is not limited to being explicitly performed, and may be performed implicitly (for example, without performing the notification of the predetermined information).

[0180] Note that in the present disclosure, an SS block or CSI-RS is an example of a synchronization signal or a reference signal.

[0181] As described in detail above, it is obvious to those skilled in the art that the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments described in the present disclosure. The present disclosure can be implemented in modified and changed forms without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure defined by the claims. Therefore, the description of the present disclosure is for illustrative purposes and has no restrictive meaning for the present disclosure.

Explanation of Reference Numerals

[0182] 10 Base station 110 Transmitter 120 Receiver 130 Setting unit 140 Control unit 20 Terminal 210 Transmitter 220 Receiver 230 Setting unit 240 Control unit 1001 Processor 1002 Storage device 1003 Auxiliary storage device 1004 Communication device 1005 Input device 1006 Output device

Claims

1. a receiving unit that monitors signals transmitted from a base station; a transmitting unit that transmits wake-up information received from the base station to one or more other terminals constituting a group in order to cause the other terminals to monitor a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) transmitted from the base station, the terminal comprising: wherein the wake-up information is an instruction signal for starting monitoring of signals from the base station, and the other terminals monitor the PDCCH transmitted from the base station based on the wake-up information received from the terminal using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). A terminal.

2. The terminal according to claim 1, wherein the terminal identifies other terminals belonging to the group based on group information received from the base station. The terminal according to claim 1.

3. A wireless communication system comprising: a first terminal that is a representative terminal in a group; and a second terminal that is a terminal belonging to the group. The first terminal transmits wake-up information received from the base station, which is an instruction signal for starting monitoring of signals from the base station, to the second terminal in order to cause the second terminal to monitor the PDCCH transmitted from the base station. The second terminal monitors the PDCCH transmitted from the base station based on the wake-up information received from the first terminal using RFID. A wireless communication system.

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