Wireless relay device and communication method

Abstract

This radio relay device comprises: a receiving unit that receives signals from a plurality of base stations; a control unit that is connected to a base station having a reception quality of the signal greater than or equal to a certain threshold; and a relay unit that relays a signal between the connected base station and a terminal. The relay unit relays, to the terminal, a signal that is associated with an index and that includes broadcast information and a synchronization signal which is transmitted from the connected base station. The receiving unit receives, from the connected base station, control information indicating a beam to be applied to each resource. The control unit determines, for each resource, a beam to be applied to a relayed signal, on the basis of the control information.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a radio relay device and a communication method in a radio communication system. [Background technology]

[0002] The 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) is currently studying a wireless communication system called 5G or NR (New Radio) (hereinafter, this wireless communication system will be referred to as "NR") in order to achieve a larger system capacity, a higher data transmission speed, and a lower latency in wireless sections. In 5G, various wireless technologies and network architectures are being studied to meet the requirements of achieving a throughput of 10 Gbps or more while keeping the latency in wireless sections to 1 ms or less (for example, Non-Patent Document 1).

[0003] Next-generation communications are expected to use high-frequency bands. The characteristics of these bands require improvements in communication quality due to the reduction in the number of scatterers, the reduction in the shadowing effect, and the increase in distance attenuation. It is expected that beam control and environments that guarantee communication quality will be required.

[0004] For example, in high frequency bands, there is a problem that blind zones are likely to occur due to the strong directional nature of radio waves, etc. Therefore, methods have been attempted to improve communication quality in a multipath environment by using passive repeaters, active reflectors (RIS: Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface), smart repeaters that receive, amplify, and re-emit signals, etc. (e.g., Non-Patent Document 2). [Prior art documents] [Non-patent literature]

[0005] [Non-Patent Document 1] 3GPP TS 38.300 V16.8.0 (2021-12) [Non-patent document 2] NTT Docomo, "White Paper: 5G Advancements and 6G" (2021-02, 3.0 edition) Internet <URL: https: / / www.nttdocomo.co.jp / binary / pdf / corporate / technology / whitepaper_6g / DOCOMO_6G_White_PaperJP_20210203.pdf> [Non-patent document 3] 3GPP TS 38.331 V16.6.0 (2021-09) Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] When a wireless relay device such as a reflector or smart repeater that relays radio waves by reflecting or transmitting radio waves from a radio wave source such as a base station to a radio wave receiving destination such as a terminal relays signals from multiple base stations, it is necessary to clarify the control operation related to the relay function of the wireless relay device.

[0007] The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and has as its object to relay signals from a plurality of base stations via a wireless relay device in a wireless communication system. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] According to the disclosed technology, a wireless relay device is provided that has a receiving unit that receives signals from multiple base stations, a control unit that connects to a base station where the reception quality of the signal is above a certain threshold, and a relay unit that relays signals between the connected base station and a terminal, wherein the relay unit relays a signal that includes a synchronization signal and notification information transmitted from the connected base station and is associated with an index to the terminal, the receiving unit receives control information from the connected base station that indicates a beam to be applied for each resource, and the control unit determines a beam to be applied to the relayed signal for each resource based on the control information. [Effects of the Invention]

[0009] According to the disclosed technique, in a wireless communication system, signals from a plurality of base stations can be relayed via a wireless relay device. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram illustrating a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of a base station 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 3] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of a terminal 20 according to the embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 4] 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of a wireless relay device 30 according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 5] 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of operation of the wireless relay device 30 according to the embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 6] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of communication in a high frequency band. [Figure 7] 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a reflective wireless repeater 30 according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 8] 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a transparent wireless relay device 30 according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 9] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example (1) of communication in an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example (2) of communication in the embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 11] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example (3) of communication in the embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 12] 3A and 3B are diagrams for explaining examples of signals passing through a wireless relay device according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 13] 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of communication via a wireless relay device according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 14] 10A and 10B are diagrams illustrating an example of notifying a wireless relay device of control information according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 15]FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a beam for each resource according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 16] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a beam for each resource according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 17] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of directing a beam to a resource with low priority in an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 18] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example in which a beam is not directed to a resource with a low priority in an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 19] FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining application of beams to semi-persistent resources in an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 20] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a method for determining a priority in an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 21] 10A and 10B are diagrams for explaining a beam determination method according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 22] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example (1) of measurement and reporting in an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 23] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example (2) of measurement and reporting in the embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 24] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example (3) of measurement and reporting in an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 25] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example (4) of measurement and reporting in an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 26] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example (5) of measurement and reporting in an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 27] FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram illustrating an operation example (1) of the wireless relay device 30 according to the embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 28] FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram illustrating an operation example (2) of the wireless relay device 30 according to the embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 29] FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram illustrating an operation example (3) of the wireless relay device 30 according to the embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 30]10 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example (4) of the wireless relay device 30 according to the embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 31] 10 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example (5) of the wireless relay device 30 according to the embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 32] 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example (1) of using wireless resources in the wireless relay device 30 according to the embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 33] 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example (2) of using wireless resources in the wireless relay device 30 according to the embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 34] 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of a base station 10, a terminal 20, or a wireless relay device 30 according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 35] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a vehicle 2001 according to an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0011] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the embodiment described below is an example, and the embodiment to which the present invention is applied is not limited to the following embodiment.

[0012] In the operation of the wireless communication system according to the embodiment of the present invention, existing technologies are used as appropriate. However, the existing technologies are, for example, but not limited to, the existing LTE. Furthermore, the term "LTE" used in this specification has a broad meaning including LTE-Advanced and systems subsequent to LTE-Advanced (e.g., NR) unless otherwise specified.

[0013] Furthermore, in the embodiments of the present invention described below, terms used in existing LTE, such as SS (Synchronization signal), PSS (Primary SS), SSS (Secondary SS), PBCH (Physical broadcast channel), PRACH (Physical random access channel), PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel), PDSCH (Physical Downlink Shared Channel), PUCCH (Physical Uplink Control Channel), and PUSCH (Physical Uplink Shared Channel), are used. This is for convenience of description, and similar signals, functions, etc. may be referred to by other names. Furthermore, the above-mentioned terms in NR correspond to NR-SS, NR-PSS, NR-SSS, NR-PBCH, NR-PRACH, etc. However, even signals used in NR are not necessarily designated as "NR-".

[0014] Furthermore, in the embodiments of the present invention, the duplex method may be a TDD (Time Division Duplex) method, an FDD (Frequency Division Duplex) method, or other methods (for example, Flexible Duplex, etc.).

[0015] Furthermore, in the embodiments of the present invention, when radio parameters and the like are "configured," it may mean that predetermined values ​​are pre-configured, or that radio parameters notified from the base station 10 or the terminal 20 are set.

[0016] Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Fig. 1, the wireless communication system according to the embodiment of the present invention includes a base station 10 and a terminal 20. There may be a plurality of base stations 10 and a plurality of terminals 20.

[0017] 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 a wireless signal are defined in the time domain and the frequency domain, and the time domain may be defined by the number of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols, and the frequency domain may be defined by the number of subcarriers or the number of resource blocks. Furthermore, a TTI (Transmission Time Interval) in the time domain may be a slot or a subslot, or a TTI may be a subframe.

[0018] Base station 10 is capable of performing carrier aggregation, which aggregates multiple cells (multiple CCs (component carriers)) to communicate with terminal 20. In carrier aggregation, one primary cell (PCell) and one or more secondary cells (SCells) are used.

[0019] The base station 10 transmits a synchronization signal, system information, and the like to the terminal 20. The synchronization signal is, for example, NR-PSS and NR-SSS. The system information is transmitted, for example, on the NR-PBCH or PDSCH, and is also called broadcast information. As shown in FIG. 1 , the base station 10 transmits a control signal or data to the terminal 20 on the DL (Downlink) and receives a control signal or data from the terminal 20 on the UL (Uplink). Note that, here, what is transmitted on a control channel such as PUCCH or PDCCH is called a control signal, and what is transmitted on a shared channel such as PUSCH or PDSCH is called data, but these names are merely examples.

[0020] 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, or an M2M (Machine-to-Machine) communication module. As shown in Fig. 1, the terminal 20 receives control signals or data from the base station 10 via DL and transmits control signals or data to the base station 10 via UL, thereby utilizing various communication services provided by the wireless communication system. The terminal 20 may be referred to as a UE, and the base station 10 may be referred to as a gNB.

[0021] Terminal 20 can perform carrier aggregation, which aggregates multiple cells (multiple CCs) to communicate with base station 10. In carrier aggregation, one primary cell and one or more secondary cells are used. Also, a PUCCH-SCell having a PUCCH may be used.

[0022] In the wireless communication system according to the embodiment of the present invention, the base station 10 is, for example, a wireless base station operated in 5G or 6G, and forms a cell. The cell is a relatively large cell, and is called a macrocell.

[0023] Base station 10A to base station 10D are base stations operated in 5G or 6G. Base station 10A to base station 10D form cells CA to D, respectively, which are smaller in size than a macro cell. Cells A to D may also be called small cells, macro cells, or the like. As shown in FIG. 1, cells A to D may be formed so as to be included in the macro cell.

[0024] A macrocell may generally be interpreted as a communication area with a radius of several hundred meters to several tens of kilometers that is covered by one base station, while a small cell may be interpreted as a general term for a cell that has low transmission power and covers a smaller area than a macrocell.

[0025] The base station 10 and base stations 0A to 10D may be referred to as gNodeB (gNB) or BS (Base Station), etc. The terminal 20 may be referred to as UE or MS, etc. Furthermore, the specific configuration of the wireless communication system including the number and types of base stations and terminals is not limited to the example shown in FIG.

[0026] Furthermore, the wireless communication system is not necessarily limited to a wireless communication system conforming to 5G or 6G, and may be, for example, a next-generation 6G wireless communication system or a wireless communication system conforming to LTE.

[0027] As an example, the base station 10 and the base stations 10A to 10D perform wireless communication according to 5G or 6G with the terminal 20. The base station 10, the base stations 10A to 10D, and the terminal 20 may support Massive MIMO, which generates a more directional beam by controlling wireless signals transmitted from multiple antenna elements, Carrier Aggregation (CA), which uses aggregating multiple component carriers (CCs), Dual Connectivity (DC), which simultaneously communicates between the terminal 20 and each of two NG-RAN nodes, and Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB), which integrates wireless backhaul between wireless communication nodes such as gNBs and wireless access to the terminal 20.

[0028] The wireless communication system may also support higher frequency bands than the following frequency ranges (FR) defined in 3GPP Release 15. For example, 410 MHz-7.125 GHz may be supported as FR1, and 24.25 GHz-52.6 GHz as FR2. Furthermore, the wireless communication system may support a frequency band exceeding 52.6 GHz up to 114.25 GHz. This frequency band may be called the millimeter wave band.

[0029] Here, a base station 10 that supports massive MIMO can transmit beams. Massive MIMO generally refers to MIMO communication using an antenna with 100 or more antenna elements, which enables faster wireless communication than conventional methods by multiplexing multiple streams. Advanced beamforming is also possible. The beam width can be dynamically changed depending on the frequency band used or the status of the terminal 20. Furthermore, the use of narrow beams can increase the received signal power due to the beamforming gain. Furthermore, effects such as reduced interference and more effective use of wireless resources are expected.

[0030] The wireless communication system may also include a wireless repeater 30. In the embodiment of the present invention, the wireless repeater 30 may be, for example, a reflector (RIS), a phase-controlled reflector, a passive repeater, an IRS (Intelligent Reflecting Surface), or the like. Specific examples of the reflector (RIS: Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface) may include what is called a metamaterial reflector, a dynamic metasurface, a metasurface lens, or the like (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 2).

[0031] In an embodiment of the present invention, the wireless relay device 30 relays, for example, a wireless signal transmitted from the base station 10A. In the description of the embodiment of the present invention, "relay" may refer to at least one of "reflection," "transmission," "concentration (concentrating radio waves at approximately one point)," and "diffraction." The terminal 20 can receive the wireless signal relayed by the wireless relay device 30. Furthermore, the wireless relay device 30 may relay a wireless signal transmitted from the terminal 20, or may relay a wireless signal transmitted from the base station 10.

[0032] As an example, the wireless relay device 30 can change the phase of a wireless signal relayed to the terminal 20. From this perspective, the wireless relay device 30 may be called a variable-phase reflector. In the present embodiment, the wireless relay device 30 may have a function of changing the phase of a wireless signal to relay it, but is not limited to this. The wireless relay device 30 may also be called a repeater, a relay device, a reflect array, an IRS, a transmit array, or the like.

[0033] In addition, in the embodiment of the present invention, the wireless repeater device 30 such as a RIS may be called a battery-less device, a metamaterial functional device, an intelligent reflecting surface, a smart repeater, etc. As an example, the wireless repeater device 30 such as a RIS or a smart repeater may be defined as having the functions shown in 1) to 5) below.

[0034] 1) It may have a function for receiving signals transmitted from the base station 10. The signals may be DL signals such as SSB (SS / PBCH block), PDCCH, PDSCH, DM-RS (Demodulation Reference Signal), PT-RS (Phase Tracking Reference Signal), CSI-RS (Channel Status Information Reference Signal), and RIS-dedicated signals. It may have a function for receiving signals carrying information related to metamaterial functions. It may also have a transmission function for transmitting the signals to the terminal 20. The SSB may be a signal including a synchronization signal and broadcast information.

[0035] 2) It may have a function of transmitting signals to the base station 10. The signals may be UL signals such as PRACH, PUCCH, PUSCH, DM-RS, PT-RS, SRS, and RIS-dedicated signals. It may have a function of transmitting information related to metamaterial functions. It may also have a receiving function of receiving the signals from the terminal 20.

[0036] 3) It may have a function of frame synchronization with the base station 10. It may also have a function of frame synchronization with the terminal 20.

[0037] 4) The base station 10 may have a function of reflecting a signal transmitted from the base station 10 or the terminal 20. For example, the reflection function may be a function related to phase change, a function related to beam control (for example, a function related to control of TCI (Transmission Configuration Indication)-state, QCL (Quasi Co-Location), beam selection and application, and spatial filter / precoding weight selection and application). 5) It may have a function of changing the power of a signal transmitted from the base station 10 or the terminal 20. For example, the power change function may be power amplification.

[0038] Furthermore, "receive and transmit" or "relay" in a wireless relay device 30 such as a RIS or smart repeater may mean that up to function A below is performed, but transmission is performed without up to function B below. Function A: Apply a phase shifter. Function B: No compensation circuit (e.g., amplifier, filter) is used.

[0039] Another example is Function A: Apply phase shifters and compensation circuits. Function B: No frequency conversion is involved.

[0040] In addition, when the phase is changed in the wireless relay device 30 such as the RIS, the amplitude may be amplified. Furthermore, "relaying" in the wireless relay device 30 such as the RIS may mean transmitting a received signal as is without performing processing at the layer 2 or layer 3 level, transmitting a received signal at the physical layer level as is, or transmitting a received signal as is without interpreting the signal (in this case, the phase may be changed or the amplitude may be amplified).

[0041] (Device configuration) Next, a description will be given of examples of functional configurations of the base station 10, the terminal 20, and the wireless relay device 30 that execute processes and operations according to the embodiment of the present invention. The base station 10, the terminal 20, and the wireless relay device 30 each include functions for executing the embodiments described below. However, the base station 10, the terminal 20, and the wireless relay device 30 may each include only one of the functions of the embodiments.

[0042] <Base station 10> Fig. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of the base station 10. As shown in Fig. 2, the base station 10 has a transmitting unit 110, a receiving unit 120, a setting unit 130, and a control unit 140. The functional configuration shown in Fig. 2 is merely an example. The names of the functional divisions and functional units may be any as long as they can perform the operations related to the embodiment of the present invention. The transmitting unit 110 and the receiving unit 120 may be called a communication unit.

[0043] The transmitter 110 has a function of generating a signal to be transmitted to the terminal 20 and transmitting the signal wirelessly. The receiver 120 has a function of receiving various signals transmitted from the terminal 20 and acquiring, for example, information of a higher layer from the received signals. The transmitter 110 also has a function of transmitting NR-PSS, NR-SSS, NR-PBCH, DL / UL control signals, DL data, etc. to the terminal 20. The transmitter 110 also transmits setting information, etc., which will be described in the embodiments.

[0044] 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 out the information from the storage device as needed. The control unit 140 performs, for example, resource allocation and overall control of the base station 10. Note that the functional unit related to signal transmission in the control unit 140 may be included in the transmitting unit 110, and the functional unit related to signal reception in the control unit 140 may be included in the receiving unit 120. Furthermore, the transmitting unit 110 and the receiving unit 120 may be called a transmitter and a receiver, respectively.

[0045] <Terminal 20> Fig. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of the terminal 20. As shown in Fig. 3, the terminal 20 has a transmitting unit 210, a receiving unit 220, a setting unit 230, and a control unit 240. The functional configuration shown in Fig. 3 is merely an example. The names of the functional divisions and functional units may be any as long as they can execute the operations related to the embodiment of the present invention. The transmitting unit 210 and the receiving unit 220 may be called a communication unit.

[0046] The transmitter 210 creates a transmission signal from transmission data and transmits the transmission signal wirelessly. The receiver 220 receives various signals wirelessly and acquires higher layer signals from the received physical layer signals. The transmitter 210 also transmits HARQ-ACK, and the receiver 220 receives setting information and the like described in the embodiments.

[0047] The setting unit 230 stores various setting information received from the base station 10 by the receiving unit 220 in a storage device, and reads it out from the storage device as needed. The setting unit 230 also stores setting information that is set in advance. The control unit 240 performs overall control of the terminal 20. Note that the functional unit related to signal transmission in the control unit 240 may be included in the transmitting unit 210, and the functional unit related to signal reception in the control unit 240 may be included in the receiving unit 220. Note that the transmitting unit 210 and the receiving unit 220 may be called a transmitter and a receiver, respectively.

[0048] <Wireless relay device 30> Fig. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of the wireless relay device 30 according to the embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Fig. 4, the wireless relay device 30 has a transmitting unit 310, a receiving unit 320, a control unit 330, a variable unit 340, and an antenna unit 350. The functional divisions and names of the functional units may be any names as long as they can perform the operations according to the embodiment of the present invention. The transmitting unit 310 and the receiving unit 320 may be called a communication unit.

[0049] The antenna unit 350 includes at least one antenna connected to the variable unit 340. For example, the antenna unit 350 may be arranged as an array antenna. In the embodiment of the present invention, the antenna unit 350 may be particularly referred to as a relay antenna. The variable unit 340 and the antenna unit 350 may also be referred to as a relay unit.

[0050] The variable unit 340 is connected to the antenna unit 350 and can change the phase, load, amplitude, etc. For example, the variable unit 340 may be a variable phase shifter, a phase shifter, an amplifier, etc. For example, by changing the phase of the radio waves that reach the relay antenna from the radio wave generating source, it is possible to change the direction or beam of the radio waves.

[0051] The control unit 330 is a control means for controlling the variable unit 340. In the embodiment of the present invention, the control unit 330 functions as a control unit that controls the relay state when relaying radio waves from the base station 10 or the terminal 20 without signal interpretation. Here, the control unit 330 may change the relay state based on control information received from the base station 10 or the terminal 20 via the communication unit, or may change the relay state based on the reception state of the radio waves from the base station 10 or the terminal 20. For example, the control unit 330 may select appropriate reception beams and transmission beams (directions) based on control information such as SSB, and control the variable unit 340. Similarly, the control unit 330 may select an appropriate combination of reception direction and transmission direction based on criteria such as the highest reception quality or the highest received power from the reception state, and control the variable unit 340.

[0052] Furthermore, in the embodiment of the present invention, the control unit 330 can control the variable unit 340 based on, for example, information about the propagation path between the terminal 20 or the base station 10A and the antenna unit 350 (including information estimated from the reception state and control information; the same applies below). For example, the control unit 330 can relay the radio wave received from the base station 10A to a specific direction such as the radio wave receiving destination (terminal 20 in this case) by changing the phase without using transmission power, using a known method such as an active repeater or RIS. Specifically, the control unit 330 uses the estimated propagation path information H PT and H RP Based on this, the phase of the radio signal is controlled to be relayed to the terminal 20 or the base station 10A. That is, by changing the phase of an array antenna or the like based on the same principle as beamforming, radio waves can be relayed in a specific direction. Note that the radio relay device 30 controls (changes) only the phase of the radio signal (radio wave) using the control unit 330, and may relay the radio signal without power supply, without amplifying the power of the relayed radio signal.

[0053] Furthermore, in the embodiment of the present invention, the control unit 330 may acquire information according to the reception state. Furthermore, the receiving unit 320 may acquire control information from the base station 10A or the terminal 20. For example, the receiving unit 320 may receive various signals such as SSB (including the various signals exemplified in the above-mentioned functions) transmitted from the base station 10A or the terminal 20 as control information.

[0054] Furthermore, the control unit 330 calculates propagation path information (H PT and H RP ) may be estimated.

[0055] The propagation path information (propagation channel information) regarding each propagation path is specifically information such as amplitude or phase, and in the embodiment of the present invention, is information estimated regarding the propagation path of the radio wave arriving at the antenna unit 350. As an example, the control unit 330 may estimate the propagation path information of the antenna unit 350 based on a change in the received power when the phase of the variable unit 340 of the array-shaped antenna unit 350 is switched to orthogonal, using a principle similar to that of I / Q (In-phase / Quadrature) detection.

[0056] 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of the operation of the wireless relay device 30 according to the embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated in FIG. 5, as an example, the wireless relay device 30 is located between the base station 10A (or another base station 10, etc.) and the terminal 20, and relays (reflects, transmits, aggregates, diffracts, etc.) wireless signals transmitted and received between the base station 10A and the terminal 20.

[0057] As a specific example, when the wireless quality is good, the base station 10A and the terminal 20 transmit and receive wireless signals directly without going through the wireless relay device 30. On the other hand, when the wireless quality deteriorates, for example, when there is an obstruction between the base station 10A and the terminal 20, the wireless relay device 30 relays the wireless signals transmitted and received between the base station 10A and the terminal 20.

[0058] Specifically, the wireless relay device 30 calculates propagation path information H between the radio wave generating source such as the base station 10A or the terminal 20 and the relay antenna based on the change in the received power when the variable unit 340 such as a variable phase shifter is controlled. PT , H RT The propagation path information H is estimated, and the variable section 340 such as a variable phase shifter is controlled based on the estimated propagation path information to relay the radio signal to the radio wave receiving destination such as the terminal 20. PT , H RT The wireless relay device 30 may also relay a wireless signal to a radio wave receiving destination such as the base station 10A or the terminal 20 by controlling a variable unit 340 such as a variable phase shifter based on control information received from the base station 10A or the terminal 20.

[0059] Here, a propagation path or a propagation channel refers to an individual communication path for wireless communication, and in this case refers to a communication path between each transmitting and receiving antenna (such as a base station antenna and a terminal antenna in the figure).

[0060] As an example, the wireless relay device 30 includes an antenna unit 350 having a small multi-element antenna compatible with massive MIMO, and a variable unit 340 having a variable phase changer or phase shifter that changes the phase of a wireless signal, essentially, radio waves, to a specific phase, and uses the variable unit 340 to control the phase of the radio waves relayed to the terminal 20 or base station 10A.

[0061] FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of communication in a high-frequency band. As shown in FIG. 6, when a high-frequency band of several GHz to several tens of GHz or more is used, a blind zone is likely to occur due to the strong, directional nature of radio waves. When the base station 10A and the terminal 20 are line of sight, even when the high-frequency band is used, there is no effect on wireless communication between the base station 10A and the terminal 20. On the other hand, when the line of sight between the base station 10A and the terminal 20 is blocked by an obstruction, such as a building or a tree, the wireless quality is significantly degraded. In other words, when the terminal 20 moves into a blind zone blocked by an obstruction, communication may be interrupted.

[0062] Considering the existence of applications (such as remote control) that take advantage of high speed, large capacity, and low latency characteristics, it is important to eliminate blind spots, ensure communication within the wireless communication system, and ensure connections between base stations and terminals.

[0063] Therefore, technologies have been developed that can relay radio waves between the base station 10A and the terminal 20, such as radio wave propagation control devices such as RIS or smart repeaters. In this way, by controlling the propagation characteristics of the base station signal, it is possible to improve communication characteristics, expand coverage without the need for a signal source, and reduce installation and operation costs by adding base stations.

[0064] Conventional radio wave propagation control devices are classified into passive and active types. Passive types have the advantage of not requiring control information, but are unable to keep up with changes in the mobile object or environment. On the other hand, active types have the disadvantage of requiring control information and increasing overhead, but can variably control the propagation characteristics of radio waves by changing the load (phase) state of the control antenna, and can keep up with changes in the mobile object and environment.

[0065] There are two types of active radio wave propagation control devices and control methods: a feedback (FB) model and a propagation path information model. In the FB model, a variable radio wave propagation control device randomly changes the load (phase) state and has terminal 20 or the like provide feedback on the communication state, thereby searching for optimal conditions. On the other hand, in the propagation path information model, the load state is determined based on propagation path information between the base station and the radio wave propagation control device, enabling optimal radio wave propagation control. Either type can be applied to the embodiments of the present invention.

[0066] In addition, there are various types of relay methods, such as reflection, transmission, diffraction, and aggregation. In this embodiment, as an example, reflective and transmissive configurations will be described below (for diffraction and aggregation types, see Non-Patent Document 2, etc.).

[0067] Fig. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a reflective radio relay device 30 according to an embodiment of the present invention. An example of the system configuration of the reflective radio relay device 30 will be described with reference to Fig. 7. Fig. 7 is a diagram illustrating the relationship between a transmitting antenna Tx of a base station 10A or the like, a relay antenna Sx of a transparent radio relay device 30, and a receiving antenna Rx of a terminal 20 or the like. As shown in Fig. 7, the embodiment of the present invention uses MIMO as an example, in which there are multiple propagation paths between Tx and Sx and multiple propagation paths between Sx and Rx, and the radio relay device 30 relays radio waves by controlling a variable unit 340 having a variable phase shifter or the like of the relay antenna Sx.

[0068] In the case of a reflective type, the arrayed relay antennas are arranged facing the same direction, as shown in Figure 7. This allows the propagation path of the relay antenna to be estimated based on the reception state observed when the phase conditions of the relay antenna are changed multiple times.

[0069] FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a transmission-type wireless relay device 30 according to an embodiment of the present invention. An example of the system configuration of the transmission-type wireless relay device 30 will be described with reference to FIG. 8. FIG. 8 illustrates the relationship between a transmitting antenna Tx of a base station 10A or the like, a relay antenna Sx of the transmission-type wireless relay device 30, and a receiving antenna Rx of a terminal 20 or the like. As shown in FIG. 8, the embodiment of the present invention uses MIMO as an example, and there are multiple propagation paths between Tx and Sx and multiple propagation paths between Sx and Rx. As shown in the figure, the wireless relay device 30 relays radio waves arriving from one side to the other side via a variable unit 340 such as a variable phase shifter of the relay antenna Sx. In this way, in the case of the transmission-type wireless relay device, the reference antenna on the left side of the figure and the relay antenna on the right side of the figure are arranged as a pair, facing in opposite directions, so that radio waves arriving from one side can be relayed to the other side. Whether the transmission-type wireless relay device is a transmission-type or a reflection-type wireless relay device, a power detector or the like may be configured to detect the power received at the relay antenna to measure the reception status. Furthermore, the propagation path of the relay antenna can be estimated based on the received signal observed when the phase condition of the relay antenna is changed multiple times.

[0070] Future networks, such as 6G, will require even higher quality than 5G, including ultra-high speeds on the order of terabits per second, high reliability and low latency on the level of optical communications, and will need to be designed with consideration for ultra-extended coverage, ultra-long distance communications, ultra-reliable communications, virtual cells, flexible networks, mesh networks, enhanced side links, and RIS or smart repeaters.

[0071] To achieve this quality, it is expected that very high frequencies, such as terahertz waves, will be used. For example, when using very high frequencies such as terahertz waves, the advantages are expected to be high speed due to the use of ultra-wideband and low latency due to short symbol lengths, but there are also expected disadvantages such as narrow coverage due to high attenuation rates and reduced reliability due to high directivity. It is necessary to consider how to ensure redundancy for each location where 6G communications are required, i.e., how to increase communication transmission points.

[0072] As described above, the RIS reflects or transmits a beam transmitted from the base station 10 or terminal 20 in a predetermined direction and delivers it to the terminal 20 or base station 10. A passive RIS is a device that does not change control of the reflection angle or beam width, etc., depending on the position of the mobile station, and does not require control information, but precise beam control is difficult. An active RIS is a device that changes control of the reflection angle and beam width, etc., depending on the position of the mobile station, and allows precise beam control, but requires control information, which increases overhead. The RIS can increase the number of communication transmission points.

[0073] The RIS may be any of the names shown below in 1)-5), but is not limited to these. 1) Battery-less device 2) Metamaterial functional devices 3) Intelligent reflecting surface 4) Smart repeater 5) Network-controlled repeater

[0074] The RIS may be any device having a predetermined function, and the predetermined function may be, for example, at least one of the following functions 1) and 2).

[0075] 1) UE function A function for receiving signals transmitted from the base station 10 (e.g., DL signals, SSB, PDCCH, PDSCH, DM-RS, PT-RS, CSI-RS, RIS-dedicated signals). The receiving function may receive information related to the metamaterial function described below in 2). A function for transmitting signals to the base station 10 (e.g., UL signals, PRACH, PUCCH, PUSCH, DM-RS, PT-RS, SRS, RIS-dedicated signals). The transmitting function may transmit information related to the metamaterial function described below in 2). A function for frame synchronization with the base station 10.

[0076] 2) Metamaterial function A reflection function (e.g., phase change) of a signal transmitted from the base station 10 or the terminal 20. The signal may be reflected by changing the phase for each of the multiple reflecting elements possessed by the RIS, or a common phase change may be performed across multiple reflecting elements. A function related to beam control (e.g., TCI-state, functions related to QCL control, selective application of beam, selective application of spatial filter / precoding weight). A power change function (e.g., power amplification) of a signal transmitted from the base station 10 or the terminal 20. A different power change may be performed for each of the reflecting elements possessed by the RIS, or a common power change may be performed across multiple reflecting elements.

[0077] "Receiving and transmitting" in RIS may mean reflecting radio waves / signals. The terms "base station" and "terminal" are used hereafter, but are not limited to these and may be replaced with communication devices. RIS may also be replaced with smart repeater, relay, etc.

[0078] For example, the RIS may operate under the assumptions set forth below in 1)-6). 1) The network operator configures the RIS. 2) RIS is fixed and does not move 3) RIS relays signals from only one base station 4) Capable of receiving and transmitting control signals 5) It operates with half-duplex signaling. 6) Single RIS environment

[0079] As described above, the use of RIS, smart repeaters, etc. is considered for the purpose of flexibly and inexpensively expanding the communication area of ​​a wireless communication network. A major difference between an RIS or smart repeater and an IAB node is that an IAB node performs baseband signal processing, while an RIS or smart repeater does not. To control the transmission direction or transmission beam of the RIS or smart repeater, a connection may be established between the base station 10 and the RIS or smart repeater, and configuration information may be defined in advance.

[0080] Here, it is necessary to define the operation when the terminal 20 uses signals via multiple RISs or wireless relay devices 30 such as smart repeaters. In the following description, the RIS may be replaced with the smart repeater.

[0081] 9 is a diagram showing an example (1) of communication in an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 9, Case 1 is assumed in which the existence of RIS 30 is transparent, and base station 10 and terminal 20 are unaware that they are communicating via RIS 30.

[0082] 10 is a diagram showing an example (2) of communication in an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 10, Case 2 is assumed in which the presence of RIS 30 is non-transparent, and base station 10 and terminal 20 recognize that they are communicating via RIS 30.

[0083] 11 is a diagram showing an example (3) of communication in an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 11, the presence of RIS 30 is non-transparent, and Case 3 is assumed in which RIS 30 relays communications between multiple base stations 10 and multiple terminals 20.

[0084] The embodiment of the present invention mainly assumes, but is not limited to, the above case 3. The embodiment of the present invention may also be applied to the above case 1 or case 2.

[0085] Common to the above Case 1, Case 2, and Case 3, for example, the following scenarios 1) to 7) may be applied, but are not limited to these.

[0086] 1) The installer is the operator. 2) The RIS30 is installed in a fixed position and is not intended to be moved. 3) The number of base stations 10 connected to the RIS 30 is one or more. 4) The number of hops is 1. 5) The RIS 30 has the function of transmitting and receiving control signals. 6) The duplexing method is half-duplex, i.e., DL and UL do not need to be relayed at the RIS 30 at the same time. 7) There may be multiple RISs interposed between the base station and the terminal.

[0087] 11, it is necessary to clarify the operation of the terminal 20 regarding the RIS function in an environment where multiple base stations 10 exist. Furthermore, it is necessary to consider how to avoid collisions of resources of signals from / to multiple base stations 10.

[0088] Therefore, when the reception quality of a predetermined signal (for example, discovery RS) from a plurality of base stations 10 is equal to or higher than a predetermined value, the RIS 30 may perform the following operations 1)-3).

[0089] 1) The RIS 30 may establish a connection with only one base station 10 whose reception quality is equal to or greater than a predetermined value. That is, the RIS 30 may control the reflection or emission of only DL signals from the base station 10 and UL signals to the base station 10. The base station 10 may be the base station 10 with the best reception quality. For example, the base station 10 may be selected based on a predetermined priority. The priority may be specified in advance or may be notified by each base station 10. For example, the priority may be determined based on a sequence of signals from the base station 10 used for measuring reception quality. For example, which base station 10 to connect to may be determined based on the implementation of the RIS 30.

[0090] 2) The RIS 30 may establish a connection with multiple (assumed to be X) base stations 10 whose reception quality is equal to or higher than a predetermined value. For example, the RIS 30 may establish a connection with the X base stations 10 whose reception quality is the highest. For example, the X base stations 10 may be base stations 10 selected based on a predetermined priority. The priority may be specified in advance or may be notified by each base station 10. For example, the priority may be determined based on a signal sequence from a base station 10 used for measuring reception quality. For example, which base station 10 to connect to may be determined based on the implementation of the RIS 30. Note that X may be a value determined based on the capabilities of the RIS 30.

[0091] 3) The RIS 30 may establish connections with all base stations 10 whose reception quality is equal to or greater than a predetermined value.

[0092] The predetermined value related to the reception quality may be defined in the specifications or may be set to the RIS 30 by another network node. Furthermore, the RIS 30 may assume that the reception quality is equal to or greater than the predetermined value when it has successfully demodulated the predetermined signal. Information related to whether or not connection to the RIS 30 is possible may be transmitted in the predetermined signal.

[0093] Establishing a connection with the base station 10 may mean that the RIS 30 performs an operation of reflecting a signal from the base station and a signal to the base station.

[0094] Which of the above 1) to 3) operations is to be performed may be defined in the specifications or may be set in the RIS 30 from another network node.

[0095] In addition, the RIS 30 may report information related to the reception quality of a predetermined signal (for example, a discovery RS) from a plurality of base stations 10 to one or more base stations 10, and may perform the operations shown in 1)-3) below.

[0096] 1) The RIS 30 may report information related to reception quality to any one of the base stations 10. For example, the base station 10 may be a base station 10 whose reception quality is equal to or greater than a predetermined value. For example, the base station 10 may be a base station 10 whose reception quality is the best. For example, the base station 10 may be a base station 10 selected based on a predetermined priority. The priority may be specified in advance or may be notified by each base station 10. For example, the priority may be determined based on a sequence of signals from the base station 10 used for measuring reception quality. For example, which base station 10 to connect to may be determined based on the implementation of the RIS 30.

[0097] 2) The RIS 30 may report information related to reception quality to a plurality (assumed to be X) of base stations 10. For example, the plurality of base stations 10 may be base stations 10 whose reception quality is equal to or higher than a predetermined value. For example, the RIS 30 may report information related to reception quality to the X base stations 10 whose reception quality is the highest. For example, the X base stations 10 may be base stations 10 selected based on a predetermined priority. The priority may be specified in advance or may be notified by each base station 10. For example, the priority may be determined based on a signal sequence from a base station 10 used for measuring reception quality. For example, which base station 10 to connect to may be determined based on the implementation of the RIS 30. Note that X may be a value determined based on the capabilities of the RIS 30.

[0098] 3) The RIS 30 may report information on reception quality to all base stations 10.

[0099] The predetermined value related to the reception quality may be defined in the specifications or may be set to the RIS 30 by another network node. Furthermore, the RIS 30 may assume that the reception quality is equal to or greater than the predetermined value when it has successfully demodulated the predetermined signal. Information related to whether or not connection to the RIS 30 is possible may be transmitted in the predetermined signal.

[0100] The information related to reception quality may be at least one of an identifier of the base station 10 and a value related to the reception quality of a predetermined signal from the base station 10. From at least one base station 10 that has received the information related to reception quality, the RIS 30 may be instructed to connect to that base station 10.

[0101] Establishing a connection with the base station 10 may mean that the RIS 30 performs an operation of reflecting a signal from the base station and a signal to the base station.

[0102] Which of the above 1) to 3) operations is to be performed may be defined in the specifications or may be set in the RIS 30 from another network node.

[0103] Therefore, the following operations 1) to 3) relating to initial access via the RIS may be enabled. Note that the following operations 1) to 3) may be executed in combination.

[0104] 1) The SSB index may be extended. The SSB index may be extended depending on whether or not a RIS is installed in the cell, and the base station 10 may notify the RIS of information related to the SSB index.

[0105] 2) DL time synchronization may be performed between the base station 10 and the RIS. The RIS may be time synchronized with the base station 10 to match the transmission pattern, reflection pattern, beam switching timing, etc. with the base station 10.

[0106] 3) UL time synchronization may be performed between the base station 10 and the RIS. The RIS may synchronize the UL switching time in consideration of the transmission timing of the terminal 20, for example, to advance the beam switching timing in the UL relative to the DL.

[0107] 12 is a diagram for explaining an example of a signal transmitted via a radio relay device according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 12, the base station 10 transmits an SSB index for an existing cell or when no RIS is installed. <0> ~<x-1>In addition to the SSB of, for example, the SSB index for RIS <x>~<X+Y-1> Y is the number of SSB indices transmitted from the RIS. ~ The notation indicates a series of SSB indices from SSB index A to SSB index B.

[0108] 12 shows an example where X = 4 and Y = 4. For example, SSB indices 0 to 3 may be assigned to an existing cell for transmission and reception by terminal 20A, SSB indices 4 to 7 may be assigned to RIS 30A for transmission and reception by terminal 20B, and SSB indices 8 to 11 may be assigned to RIS 30B for transmission and reception by terminal 20C.

[0109] It is also assumed that the RIS may be installed arbitrarily. It is assumed that the RIS may be installed, may not be installed, or may be installed and then its location changed. For example, if the RIS is not installed, SSB indices of 0 to X-1 are sufficient, but if the RIS is installed, SSB indices of X to X+Y-1 may be required. Here, X is the number of SSB indices assigned to SSBs transmitted directly from the base station 10 to the terminal 20, and Y is the number of SSB indices assigned to SSBs transmitted from the RIS 30 to the terminal 20.

[0110] 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of communication via a wireless relay device according to an embodiment of the present invention. When the RIS 30 is operating in the environment shown in FIG. 13, the RIS 30 does not need to assume that it will simultaneously reflect or emit SSBs from multiple base stations 10. For example, when an SSB is transmitted from base station 10A to the RIS 30 and relayed to terminal 20A, the SSB may not be transmitted from base station 10B to the RIS 30 at the same time. Furthermore, when an SSB is transmitted from base station 10B to the RIS 30 and relayed to terminal 20B, the SSB may not be transmitted from base station 10A to the RIS 30 at the same time.

[0111] The base station 10 may set the SSB index as shown in Option 1) to Option 3) below.

[0112] Option 1) SSB Index <0> ~ <x-1>and the SSB index assigned to RIS30, e.g. <x>~<X+Y-1> may always be set.

[0113] For example, if a control connection exists between the RIS 30 and the base station 10, when a connection with the RIS 30 is established (for example, when a random access procedure is completed or an RRC connection is established, etc.), the base station 10 <x>~<X+Y-1> may start transmitting the SSB beam corresponding to

[0114] When connecting with the base station 10, the RIS 30 may report at least one of its transmission pattern, reflection pattern, and number of beams to the base station 10 as its capabilities. The base station 10 may allocate SSBs based on the number of reports from the RIS 30. For example, the base station 10 may allocate additional SSBs equal to the number of reports from the RIS 30. The base station 10 may explicitly notify the RIS 30 of the number of SSBs and / or SSB indexes to be allocated, or may notify the RIS 30 of the SSB indexes, for example. <x>~<X+Y-1> The RIS 30 may be implicitly notified when the SSB is decoded.

[0115] The maximum value of the transmission pattern, reflection pattern, and / or number of beams (e.g., 4 or 8) of the RIS 30, i.e., the maximum number of SSBs, may be specified, set, or preset. The base station 10 may assign SSB indexes of a number equal to or less than the maximum value to one RIS 30.

[0116] Option 2) SSB Index <0> ~ <x-1>is always set, and the SSB index <x>~<X+Y-1> may be added based on the presence or absence of the RIS 30. The base station 10 includes an SSB index <0> ~ <x-1>is assigned, and the SSB index <x>~<X+Y-1> may be added depending on the presence or absence of RIS30. For example, SSB index for PBCH, etc. <x>~<X+Y-1> If the flag bit indicates invalid, the terminal 20 determines that the SSB index is <0> ~ <x-1>If the flag bit indicates validity, the terminal 20 determines that the SSB index is <0> ~ <x-1>It may be determined that α is added to the SSB index. The α may be specified in the specification or may be notified separately. For example, the α may be added to the SSB index. <x>~<X+Y-1> may be.

[0117] Option 3) SSB Index <0> ~ <x-1>and SSB index <x>~<X+Y-1> may always be set. If RIS 30 can transmit a wide beam and a narrow beam simultaneously, RIS 30 may reflect or re-radiate an SSB corresponding to one SSB index (e.g., X) with one wide beam. For example, RIS 30 may decode the PBCH and SIB to obtain the transmission period and timing of the SSB.

[0118] Furthermore, the RIS 30 may be assigned multiple CSI-RS and may reflect or re-radiate them using multiple narrow beams. When connecting with the base station 10, the RIS 30 may report at least one of its own device's transmission pattern, reflection pattern, and number of beams to the base station 10 as its capabilities. The base station 10 may assign CSI-RS based on the report from the RIS 30. The base station 10 may notify the RIS 30 of information related to the CSI-RS to be assigned (e.g., time resources and / or frequency resources). Note that the directions of the multiple narrow beams may be included in the direction of the wide beam.

[0119] As another example, if RIS30 is capable of transmitting only one of a wide beam and a narrow beam, RIS30 may reflect or re-radiate an SSB corresponding to one SSB index (e.g., X) using multiple narrow beams. Here, for example, if RIS30 reflects or re-radiates using four narrow beams, the SSB transmission period via RIS30 will be four times longer. Note that, if RIS30 is capable of transmitting only one of a wide beam and a narrow beam, RIS30 may reflect or re-radiate an SSB corresponding to one SSB index (e.g., X) using one wide beam. Note that the direction of the multiple narrow beams may be included in the direction of the wide beam.

[0120] In the operations described above in 1)-3), if the total number of beams for existing cells and beams for RIS30 exceeds the maximum value of the existing SSB index (8 for FR1, 64 for FR2), the SSB index may be extended.

[0121] For example, the SSB index may be extended using one of the reserved bits in the PBCH MIB. Also, in the case of the operation shown in option 2) above, the SSB index may be extended using a bit that enables the SSB index for the RIS 30. For example, if the bit indicating the enablement or disablement is 0, the SSB index may be assigned to the existing cell, and the terminal 20 may search only for the SSB index of the existing cell; if the bit indicating the enablement or disablement is 1, the extended SSB index may be assigned to the RIS, and the terminal 20 may search for the SSB index reflected or re-emitted at the RIS in addition to the SSB index of the existing cell.

[0122] DL time synchronization between the base station 10 and the RIS 30 may be performed as follows.

[0123] The RIS 30 may be time synchronized with an external source or may be time synchronized using SSB to align the transmission pattern, reflection pattern, and / or beam switching timing with that of the base station 10. The external source may be, for example, a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) or a Precision Time Protocol (PTP). When time synchronization is performed using SSB, a propagation delay difference between the base station 10 and the RIS may be tolerated. Furthermore, when time synchronization is performed using SSB, the RIS 30 may be notified of timing-related information such as a Timing Advance (TA) and may correct the propagation delay based on that information, or may estimate the propagation delay based on position information of the base station 10 and the RIS 30.

[0124] The RIS 30 may also synchronize DL time with each connected base station 10. The RIS 30 may use the timing of each base station 10 when reflecting or emitting a DL signal from each base station 10.

[0125] The RIS 30 may also synchronize its DL time with any one of the base stations 10 connected thereto. The base station 10 may be specified in the specifications, or may be notified to the RIS 30 by a network node. When reflecting or emitting DL signals from each base station 10, the RIS 30 may use the timing of one base station 10 with which it is synchronized in DL time.

[0126] UL time synchronization between the base station 10 and the RIS 30 may be performed as follows.

[0127] The RIS 30 needs to synchronize with the base station 10 in DL time, and at the same time, needs to take into account the transmission timing of the terminal 20 and make the UL beam switching timing earlier than the DL beam switching timing.

[0128] For example, if the base station 10 and the RIS 30 have the same location and propagation path and the timing is always constant, the RIS 30 may recognize the TDD pattern and advance the beam switching timing for the UL slot. For example, the beam switching timing may be advanced based on the timing of the flexible symbol in the special slot. The TDD pattern may be notified by the base station 10, may be set in advance, or may be defined in the specifications. For example, the timing for switching the UL pattern and / or beam may be based on the propagation delay caused by the RIS 30, or based on the TA set by the base station 10 to the RIS 30. Information regarding the timing may be notified from the base station 10 or the terminal 20. For example, information regarding different timings may be notified to different RISs 30. By notifying different information regarding timings to different RISs 30, it is possible to more accurately avoid UL / DL collisions by applying different timings since the propagation delay between the base station and the RIS differs for each RIS 30 in the case of multiple RISs.

[0129] For example, if the positions and propagation paths of the base station 10 and the RIS 30 change and the timing changes, the timing may be changed in accordance with the change in the propagation path between the base station 10 and the RIS 30. For example, the timing for switching the UL pattern and / or beam may be dynamically switched by the RIS 30 in accordance with the TA set by the base station 10, or information related to the timing may be notified to the RIS 30 from the base station 10 or the terminal 20.

[0130] The RIS 30 may also synchronize the UL time with each connected base station 10. The RIS 30 may use the timing of each base station 10 when reflecting or emitting a UL signal to each base station 10.

[0131] The RIS 30 may also synchronize its UL time with any one of the base stations 10 connected to it. The base station 10 may be specified in the specifications, or may be notified to the RIS 30 by a network node. When reflecting or emitting a UL signal to each base station 10, the RIS 30 may use the timing of the one base station 10 with which it is UL time synchronized.

[0132] According to the above-described embodiment, the base station 10 and the terminal 20 can improve the reliability of initial access via the RIS or smart repeater.

[0133] That is, in a wireless communication system, the reliability of initial access via a wireless relay device can be improved.

[0134] An example in which information about a beam to be transmitted by the radio relay device 30 is specified for each resource will be described below.

[0135] Fig. 14 is a diagram showing an example of notifying a wireless relay device of control information in an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Fig. 14, the wireless relay device 30 may receive beam-related information from the base station 10 and determine beams to be used when transmitting signals to the terminals 20A and 20B based on the information. In Fig. 14, the base station 10 may notify the wireless relay device 30 that beam #1 and beam #2 will be used.

[0136] In any of the following embodiments, the radio relay device 30 may receive information related to beam selection indicated in at least one of the following options.

[0137] <Option 1> The radio relay device 30 may receive information indicating the uplink RS of a specific terminal 20 that has a spatial relation.

[0138] <Option 2> The radio relay device 30 may receive information regarding the direction of the beam to be applied.

[0139] <Option 3> The radio relay device 30 may receive information regarding the beam index to be applied.

[0140] <Option 4> The radio relay device 30 may receive information indicating the terminal 20 to which the beam is directed.

[0141] The RIS 30 may also receive beam-related information from each connected base station 10 and determine the beam to be applied when transmitting a signal based on the information. For example, when reflecting or emitting a DL signal to each base station 10, the RIS 30 may apply a beam instructed by each base station 10.

[0142] The RIS 30 may also receive beam-related information from any one of the connected base stations 10 and determine the beam to be applied when transmitting a signal based on the information. For example, when reflecting or emitting a DL signal to each base station 10, the RIS 30 may apply the beam instructed by the one base station 10.

[0143] An example will be described below in which it is assumed that the radio relay device 30 is instructed on the beam to be applied to the scheduled resource.

[0144] The radio relay device 30 may receive information about the resources of the periodic signal and the beams for each of the resources from the base station 10, and apply a beam for each resource based on the received information.

[0145] The periodic signal resource may be, for example, an SSB, a periodic CSI-RS, a periodic SRS, a PDCCH, a periodic PUCCH, or a PUSCH with type 1 configured grant.

[0146] The minimum time interval and minimum frequency interval at which different beams can be directed may be determined according to a predetermined rule or the capability of the radio relay device 30 .

[0147] For example, a rule may be that different beams must be spaced apart in frequency by at least X RBs or X RE, or that different beams must be spaced apart in time by at least Y symbols, Y slots, or Y ms.

[0148] The radio relay device 30 may assume that the control information does not include designations of different beams within a minimum time interval or a minimum frequency interval.

[0149] 15 is a diagram for explaining beams for each resource in an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 15, SSB#0 and SSB#2 are linked to Beam#0, and SSB#1 and SSB#3 are linked to Beam#1. Also, different Beam#0 and Beam#1 must be separated from each other by a time interval of Y symbols or more.

[0150] The beam information for each resource may be different or the same for each radio relay device 30. When the beam information for each resource is the same, the beam information for each resource may be set using the same upper layer parameters, or the beam information for each resource may be set using different parameters.

[0151] With the above-described operation, when the optimal beam differs for each resource of a plurality of RISs, reliability can be improved by setting different beam information for each RIS.

[0152] When the distance between resources associated with different applied beams is less than or equal to the minimum time / frequency interval, the radio relay device 30 may determine the priority of the applied beam using one or a combination of the following options:

[0153] <Option A> The radio relay device 30 may determine the priority according to the type of resource channel. For example, the radio relay device 30 may determine the priority in the following order: SSB, Periodic CSI-RS, Periodic PUCCH, PUSCH with type 1 configured grant, PDCCH, and Periodic SRS.

[0154] 16 is a diagram illustrating beams for each resource according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 16, SSB#0 and PUSCH#1 have a frequency interval of less than X RBs, so different beams cannot be applied to them. Therefore, radio relay device 30 determines to prioritize SSB#0 according to the priority and applies the beam corresponding to SSB#0.

[0155] Furthermore, since the time interval between SSB#1 and SRS is less than Y symbols, different beams cannot be applied. Therefore, the radio relay device 30 determines to give priority to SSB#1 according to the priority and applies the beam corresponding to SSB#1.

[0156] <Option B> The radio relay device 30 may determine the priority based on the index of each resource. For example, the radio relay device 30 may determine the priority by giving priority to a resource with a lower "configuration index" or "SSB index."

[0157] <Option C> The wireless relay device 30 may determine the priority based on the priority of each resource. For example, the wireless relay device 30 may determine the priority based on the "priority index" of the channel assigned to each resource.

[0158] When the distance between resources associated with different applied beams is equal to or less than the minimum time / frequency interval, the radio relay device 30 may determine whether to direct a beam of a resource with a lower priority according to the capability of the radio relay device 30. For example, the radio relay device 30 may determine whether to direct a beam of a resource with a lower priority using one of the following options:

[0159] <Option 1> The radio relay device 30 may direct a beam associated with a low-priority resource outside the minimum time interval or frequency interval of a high-priority resource.

[0160] Fig. 17 is a diagram showing an example of directing a beam of a low-priority resource in an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Fig. 17, when a high-priority resource #0 and a low-priority resource #1 are spaced at a frequency interval of less than X RBs and different beams cannot be applied, the wireless relay device 30 may direct Beam #0 corresponding to the high-priority resource #0 and direct Beam #1 corresponding to the low-priority resource #1 only within a frequency interval range of X RBs or more. Note that directing may also mean relaying or reflecting a signal.

[0161] <Option 2> The radio relay device 30 does not need to direct a beam associated with a low-priority resource that overlaps with the minimum time interval or frequency interval of a high-priority resource.

[0162] Specifically, if the wireless relay device 30 does not direct a beam associated with a low priority resource, it may not relay (or reflect) the signal of the low priority resource, or it may direct a beam associated with a high priority resource and relay (or reflect) the signal of the low priority resource.

[0163] Fig. 18 is a diagram showing an example in which a beam for a low-priority resource is not directed in an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Fig. 18, when a different beam cannot be applied because the time interval between the high-priority resource #0 and the low-priority resource #1 is less than Y symbols, the wireless relay device 30 may direct Beam #0 corresponding to the high-priority resource #0, but may not direct a beam corresponding to the low-priority resource #1.

[0164] The radio relay device 30 may receive information about semi-persistent resources and beams for each resource from the base station 10, and apply a beam for each resource based on the received information.

[0165] The semi-persistent resource may be, for example, a CSI-RS, a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) SRS, a PUSCH with type 2 configured grant, an SPS PDSCH, or the like.

[0166] The radio relay device 30 may receive a signal indicating activation of semi-persistent resource allocation and apply a beam per resource. For example, the radio relay device 30 may determine that semi-persistent resources are activated based on the received DCI or MAC-CE and apply a beam per resource.

[0167] The beam information for each resource may be different or the same for each radio relay device 30. When the beam information for each resource is the same, the beam information for each resource may be set using the same upper layer parameters, or the beam information for each resource may be set using different parameters.

[0168] 19 is a diagram for explaining application of beams to semi-persistent resources in an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 19, the radio relay device 30 may receive a PDCCH indicating activation of semi-persistent resource allocation and apply Beam#1 to a beam for each resource of the PCSCH, which is a semi-persistent resource.

[0169] The beam information for each resource may be different or the same for each radio relay device 30. When the beam information for each resource is different, the beam information for each resource may be set based on different DCI or MAC-CE. When the beam information for each resource is the same, the beam information for each resource may be set based on the same DCI or MAC-CE.

[0170] The radio relay device 30 may determine that a semi-persistent resource is activated and apply a beam for each resource based on a signal transmitted toward one of the following options:

[0171] <Option 1> The radio relay device 30 may determine that a semi-persistent resource is to be activated based on a signal (eg, DCI or MAC-CE) transmitted to the radio relay device 30.

[0172] For example, the radio relay device 30 may determine whether or not a signal (DCI or MAC-CE on PUSCH) is addressed to itself, based on an RNTI in which a CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) is scrambled.

[0173] Specifically, the radio relay device 30 may determine whether or not a signal is addressed to itself based on an RNTI that identifies one radio relay device 30 (for example, CS-RNTI).

[0174] Furthermore, the radio relay device 30 may determine whether a signal is addressed to itself based on an RNTI that identifies multiple radio relay devices 30. Here, the radio relay device 30 may determine which of the fields included in the DCI is addressed to itself based on a setting in an upper layer.

[0175] The radio relay device 30 may further determine that a field included in the DCI is addressed to itself by using one of the following options.

[0176] <Option 1-A> The radio relay device 30 may determine that a field included in the DCI scrambled with the RNTI corresponding to the group set by the higher layer is addressed to itself.

[0177] <Option 1-B> The radio relay device 30 may determine that a field included in DCI scrambled with an RNTI corresponding to each DCI format set in a higher layer is addressed to itself.

[0178] <Option 2> The radio relay device 30 may determine that a semi-persistent resource is to be activated based on a signal (for example, DCI or MAC-CE) transmitted to a specific terminal 20.

[0179] The radio relay device 30 may store information indicating the RNTI assigned to a specific terminal 20, and determine whether the signal is addressed to that terminal 20 (DCI or MAC-CE on PUSCH).

[0180] Each radio relay device 30 may report the maximum number of RNTIs that can be stored to the base station 10. Furthermore, each radio relay device 30 may report to the base station 10 the maximum number of PDCCH candidates and the maximum number of non-overlapped CCEs that can be monitored for each specific interval.

[0181] Hereinafter, an example will be described in which it is assumed that the radio relay device 30 is instructed on the beam to be applied to the dynamically scheduled resource.

[0182] The radio relay device 30 may receive dynamically allocated resources and information about beams for each resource from the base station 10, and apply beams for each resource based on the received information.

[0183] The dynamically allocated resources may be, for example, PDSCH / PUSCH scheduled by DCI or RAR, AP CSI-RS, AP SRS, etc.

[0184] The beam information for each resource may be different or the same for each radio relay device 30. When the beam information for each resource is the same, the beam information for each resource may be set using the same upper layer parameters, or the beam information for each resource may be set using different parameters.

[0185] The radio relay device 30 may receive information regarding dynamic resource allocation to the terminal 20 and apply a beam for each resource. For example, the radio relay device 30 may recognize dynamic resource allocation to a specific terminal 20 based on the received DCI and apply a beam for each resource.

[0186] <Option A> Here, in a similar manner to the example in which it is assumed that the beam to be applied to the resource for which the scheduling is set as described above is instructed, the radio relay device 30 may recognize dynamic resource allocation based on the DCI transmitted to the radio relay device 30.

[0187] <Option B> In addition, in a similar manner to the example in which it is assumed that the beam to be applied to the resource for which the scheduling is set as described above is instructed, the radio relay device 30 may recognize dynamic resource allocation based on the DCI transmitted to a specific terminal 20.

[0188] Each radio relay device 30 may report to the base station 10 the maximum number of PDCCH candidates and the maximum number of non-overlapped CCEs that can be monitored for each specific interval.

[0189] When the distance between resources associated with different applied beams is less than or equal to the minimum time / frequency interval, the radio relay device 30 may determine the priority of the applied beam using one or a combination of the following options:

[0190] <Option 1> As in the above-mentioned option A, the radio relay device 30 may determine the priority according to the type of channel of the resource.

[0191] <Option 2> As in the above-mentioned option B, the radio relay device 30 may determine the priority based on the index of each resource.

[0192] <Option 3> As in the above-mentioned option C, the radio relay device 30 may determine the priority based on the priority of each resource.

[0193] <Option 4> The wireless relay device 30 may determine the priority based on whether the resource is a periodic resource or an aperiodic resource. For example, the wireless relay device 30 may determine that the aperiodic resource has a higher priority than the periodic resource.

[0194] Fig. 20 is a diagram illustrating a method for determining priority in an embodiment of the present invention. The "AP CSI-RS" and "P CSI-RS" shown in Fig. 20 have a frequency interval of less than X RBs or a time interval of less than Y Symbols, so different beams cannot be applied. Therefore, radio relay device 30 determines to prioritize the "AP CSI-RS," which is a non-periodic resource, and applies a beam corresponding to the "AP CSI-RS."

[0195] Depending on the capability, the radio relay device 30 may or may not direct a beam associated with a low-priority resource outside the minimum time / frequency interval.

[0196] An example in which the radio relay device 30 determines a beam to be applied based on scheduling information will be described below.

[0197] The radio relay device 30 may determine a beam based on the RS index that the terminal 20 refers to for each resource.

[0198] Specifically, the radio relay device 30 may assume that the mapping between the referenced RS index and the beam to be applied by the radio relay device 30 is set by RRC or the like.

[0199] The radio relay device 30 may also determine the RS index to refer to by using one of the following options or a combination thereof.

[0200] <Option 1> The radio relay device 30 may determine a beam based on the RS index that the terminal 20 uses as a spatial relation when transmitting.

[0201] Fig. 21 is a diagram illustrating a beam determination method according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Fig. 21, radio relay device 30 determines a beam by referring to the index of SSB / CSI-RS, which is an RS that has a spatial relation with an SRS (Sounding reference signal) transmitted by terminal 20.

[0202] <Option 2> The radio relay device 30 may determine a beam based on the reception channel of the terminal 20 and the QCL-related RS index.

[0203] <Option 3> The radio relay device 30 may determine a beam based on the RS index transmitted from the same antenna port as the transmission signal of the terminal 20.

[0204] <Option 4> The radio relay device 30 may determine the beam based on the index of the RS transmitted in each resource.

[0205] According to the above-described embodiment, it is possible to realize appropriate beam control based on information about the beam transmitted by the wireless relay device.

[0206] The following describes the operation of the terminal 20 when it measures and reports channel state information of a signal transmitted via a radio relay device 30 such as a RIS or a smart repeater.

[0207] The RIS 30 may receive settings related to measurement and reporting of channel state information from each connected base station 10. Alternatively, the RIS 30 may receive settings related to measurement and reporting of channel state information from any one connected base station 10.

[0208] Alternatively, the RIS 30, the terminal 20, and the base station 10 may operate as in option 1) or option 2) shown below.

[0209] Option 1) Existing CSI measurement and reporting may be applied. The RIS 30 transmits a reference signal for measuring channel state information (e.g., CSI-RS) received from the base station 10 to the terminal 20, and transmits a report of channel state information (e.g., CSI report) received from the terminal 20 to the base station 10.

[0210] Fig. 22 is a diagram showing an example (1) of measurement and reporting in an embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 22 shows an example of the operation of the above option 1). As shown in Fig. 22, gNB10, which is base station 10, transmits a measurement reference signal to UE20, which is terminal 20. UE20 transmits a report of channel state information based on the measurement results of the received measurement reference signal to gNB10. In Fig. 22, RIS30 only performs signal relaying operations.

[0211] Option 2) Measurement and reporting may be performed separately between the RIS 30 and the base station 10 and between the RIS 30 and the terminal 20.

[0212] Option 2-1) Measurement and reporting may be performed between the RIS 30 and the base station 10 and between the RIS 30 and the terminal 20.

[0213] As a measurement operation, the RIS 30 may receive the CSI-RS transmitted from the base station 10, and the terminal 20 may receive the CSI-RS transmitted from the RIS 30.

[0214] As the reporting operation, the following Alt. 1) and Alt. 2) may be performed.

[0215] Alt. 1) The RIS 30 may transmit CSI reports between the RIS 30 and the base station 10 and between the RIS 30 and the terminal 20 to the base station 10 individually. The RIS 30 may transmit a CSI report corresponding to the CSI-RS received from the base station 10 and / or a CSI report received from the terminal 20 to the base station 10 using configured and / or instructed individual resources. The terminal 20 may transmit a CSI report corresponding to the CSI-RS received from the RIS 30 to the RIS 30 using configured and / or instructed individual resources.

[0216] Figure 23 is a diagram showing an example (2) of measurements and reports in an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 23 shows an example of the operation of option 2-1) Alt. 1). As shown in Figure 23, gNB10 transmits a measurement reference signal to RIS30. RIS30 transmits a measurement reference signal to UE20. UE20 transmits a channel state information report to RIS30 based on the measurement results of the received measurement reference signal. RIS30 transmits the channel state information report received from UE20 to gNB10, and separately transmits a channel state information report to gNB10 based on the measurement results of the received measurement reference signal.

[0217] Alt. 2) The RIS 30 may collectively transmit CSI reports between the RIS 30 and the base station 10 and between the RIS 30 and the terminal 20 to the base station 10. The RIS 30 may multiplex the CSI report corresponding to the CSI-RS received from the base station 10 and / or the CSI report received from the terminal 20, and transmit the multiplexed CSI report to the base station 10 using a single configured and / or instructed resource. A processing time required for the multiplexing process in the RIS 30 may be defined. This processing time may be defined as the processing time in the UE 20. For example, it may be defined that the CSI report can be transmitted to the base station 10 N symbols or more after the last symbol of the CSI report received by the terminal 20. The N symbols may be determined based on the capability of the RIS 30 (which may be read as UE capability) or based on the RRC configuration. The terminal 20 may transmit the CSI report corresponding to the CSI-RS received from the RIS 30 to the RIS 30 using a separate configured and / or instructed resource.

[0218] FIG. 24 is a diagram showing an example (3) of measurements and reports in an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 24 shows an example of the operation of option 2-1) Alt. 2). As shown in FIG. 24, gNB 10 transmits a measurement reference signal to RIS 30. RIS 30 transmits the measurement reference signal to UE 20. UE 20 transmits a channel state information report based on the measurement results of the received measurement reference signal to RIS 30. RIS 30 multiplexes the channel state information report received from UE 20 and the channel state information report based on the measurement results of the received measurement reference signal, and transmits the multiplexed report to gNB 10.

[0219] Option 2-2) Measurement and reporting may be performed between the RIS 30 and the base station 10 and between the base station 10 and the terminal 20.

[0220] As a measurement operation, the RIS 30 may receive the CSI-RS transmitted from the base station 10. The terminal 20 may receive the CSI-RS transmitted from the base station 10, and the CSI-RS may be relayed to the RIS 30.

[0221] As the reporting operation, the following Alt. 1) and Alt. 2) may be performed.

[0222] Alt. 1) The RIS 30 may transmit CSI reports between the RIS 30 and the base station 10 and between the RIS 30 and the terminal 20 to the base station 10 individually. The RIS 30 may transmit a CSI report corresponding to the CSI-RS received from the base station 10 to the base station 10 using configured and / or instructed resources. The terminal 20 may transmit a CSI report corresponding to the CSI-RS received from the base station 10 to the base station 10 using configured and / or instructed resources.

[0223] Figure 25 is a diagram showing an example (4) of measurements and reports in an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 25 shows an example of the operation of option 2-2) Alt. 1). As shown in Figure 25, gNB10 transmits a measurement reference signal to RIS30. gNB10 transmits a measurement reference signal to UE20. UE20 transmits a channel state information report to gNB10 based on the measurement results of the received measurement reference signal. RIS30 transmits a channel state information report to gNB10 based on the measurement results of the received measurement reference signal.

[0224] Alt. 2) The RIS 30 may collectively transmit CSI reports between the RIS 30 and the base station 10 and between the RIS 30 and the terminal 20 to the base station 10. The RIS 30 may multiplex the CSI report corresponding to the CSI-RS received from the base station 10 and / or the CSI report received from the terminal 20, and transmit the multiplexed CSI report to the base station 10 using a single configured and / or instructed resource. The terminal 20 may transmit the CSI report corresponding to the CSI-RS received from the gNB 10 to the RIS 30 using individual configured and / or instructed resources.

[0225] Figure 26 is a diagram showing an example (5) of measurements and reports in an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 26 shows an example of the operation of option 2-2) Alt. 2). As shown in Figure 26, gNB 10 transmits a measurement reference signal to RIS 30. gNB 10 transmits a measurement reference signal to UE 20. UE 20 transmits a channel state information report based on the measurement results of the received measurement reference signal to RIS 30. The channel state information report received from UE 20 and the channel state information report based on the measurement results of the received measurement reference signal are multiplexed and transmitted to gNB 10.

[0226] Regarding measurement resources, the RIS 30 and the terminal 20 may be configured with and / or instructed by the base station 10 about CSI-RS information. The information may include at least one of the following items 1)-7).

[0227] 1) Resource setting identifier 2) Resource transmission type, e.g., periodic, semi-persistent, aperiodic 3) Resource set identifier 4) the time and / or frequency resources over which the signal is transmitted; 5) The time period during which the signal is transmitted 6) Number of ports 7) Transmission power

[0228] The above information set and / or instructed to the RIS 30 and the terminal 20 may be the same or different. For example, the RIS 30 and the terminal 20 may assume that the resourceType included in the information element CSI-ResourceConfig is the same. When the above information set and / or instructed to the RIS 30 and the terminal 20 is the same, the RIS 30 and the terminal 20 may refer to the same information element.

[0229] Regarding reporting resources, the RIS 30 and the terminal 20 may be configured and / or instructed by the base station 10 about information for transmitting CSI reports. The information may include at least one of the following items 1)-11).

[0230] 1) Resource setting identifier 2) An identifier indicating correspondence with CSI-RS, for example, the identifier of the resource configuration of the CSI-RS described above 3) Report transmission type, e.g., periodic, semi-persistent, aperiodic 4) Report type, e.g., RI (Rank indicator), LI (Layer indicator), PMI (Precoding matrix indicator), CQI (Channel quality indicator), CRI (CSI-RS resource indicator), SSBRI (SSB resource indicator), L1-RSRP (Layer 1 Reference signal received power), L1-SINR (Layer 1 Signal to interference plus noise power ratio) 5) Time and / or frequency resources 6) Time period 7) Information regarding frequency hopping 8) CQI table 9) Transmission power 10)RNTI(Radio network temporary identifier) 11) Information related to RE (Resource element) mapping

[0231] The above information set and / or instructed to the RIS 30 and the terminal 20 may be the same or different. For example, the RIS 30 and the terminal 20 may assume that the cqi-Table included in the information element reportQuantity, the information element reportConfigType, and the information element CSI-ReportConfig are the same. When the above information set and / or instructed to the RIS 30 and the terminal 20 is the same, the RIS 30 and the terminal 20 may refer to the same information element.

[0232] The RIS 30 may be configured or instructed to receive the above information set and / or instructed to the terminal 20. For example, in the above option 2-1) and Alt. 2) of the above option 2-2), the RIS 30 needs to decode the CSI report received from the terminal 20. To perform the decoding, the RIS 30 may retain necessary information related to the terminal 20.

[0233] According to the above-described embodiment, the RIS and the terminal can improve communication quality by receiving a measurement reference signal transmitted from the base station and transmitting a measurement result report to the base station in a specified manner.

[0234] That is, in a wireless communication system, it is possible to measure and report channel state information of communication via a wireless relay device.

[0235] For example, for the purposes shown in 1)-3) below, control may be performed to appropriately enable or disable the functionality of the RIS or smart repeater. 1) Avoiding unwanted reflections or repetitions or radiation and suppressing interference 2) Reduce power consumption of RIS or smart repeaters 3) To provide temporary coverage to a specific area (e.g., for an event)

[0236] The RIS or smart repeater, which is the wireless relay device 30, may control enabling or disabling of its own reflection or radiation function based on higher layer configuration and / or physical layer instructions from other network nodes. The higher layer configuration may be Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling or Medium Access Control (MAC)-Control Element (CE). The physical layer instruction may be Downlink Control Information (DCI) or Uplink Control Information (UCI). The enabling or disabling may mean turning a function on or off, or activating or deactivating a function.

[0237] For example, the RIS 30 may receive a setting related to enabling or disabling the reflection or radiation function of its own device from each base station 10 or each terminal 20 to which it is connected. For example, the RIS 30 may receive a setting related to enabling or disabling the reflection or radiation function of its own device from any one of the base stations 10 or terminals 20 to which it is connected. For example, the RIS 30 may apply the setting only when it receives the same setting related to enabling or disabling the reflection or radiation function of its own device from each of the base stations 10 or terminals 20 to which it is connected. For example, the setting may be limited to a specific setting (e.g., disable). For example, the RIS 30 may receive a specific setting related to enabling or disabling the reflection or radiation function of its own device from any one of the base stations 10 or terminals 20 to which it is connected. The specific setting may be enable, for example.

[0238] For example, the information element (IE) of the RRC signaling may be as follows: RepeaterConfig ::= SEQUENCE { repeaterState ENUMERATED {activated, deactivated} OPTIONAL, -- Need M }

[0239] 27 is a sequence diagram illustrating an operation example (1) of the wireless relay device 30 according to the embodiment of the present invention. For example, the wireless relay device 30 may control activation or deactivation based on a setting and / or an instruction from the base station 10. The setting and / or instruction may be the above-mentioned upper layer setting or a physical layer instruction.

[0240] In step S11, the base station 10 transmits settings and / or instructions related to the reflection / radiation function to the wireless relay device 30. In the following step S12, the wireless relay device 30 enables or disables the reflection / radiation function based on the settings and / or instructions. Hereinafter, "reflection / radiation" may mean reflection or radiation, or may mean reflection and radiation.

[0241] FIG. 28 is a sequence diagram illustrating an operation example (2) of the wireless relay device 30 according to the embodiment of the present invention. For example, the wireless relay device 30 may control the activation or deactivation based on a setting and / or an instruction from the terminal 20. The setting and / or the instruction may be the above-mentioned upper layer setting or a physical layer instruction.

[0242] In step S21, the terminal 20 transmits settings and / or instructions related to the reflection / emission function to the wireless relay device 30. In the following step S22, the wireless relay device 30 enables or disables the reflection / emission function based on the settings and / or instructions.

[0243] 29 is a sequence diagram illustrating an operation example (3) of the wireless relay device 30 according to the embodiment of the present invention. For example, the wireless relay device 30 may control activation or deactivation based on settings and / or instructions from the base station 10 and the terminal 20. The settings and / or instructions may be the above-mentioned upper layer settings or physical layer instructions.

[0244] In step S31, the base station 10 transmits settings and / or instructions related to the reflection / radiation function to the wireless relay device 30. In step S32, the terminal 20 transmits settings and / or instructions related to the reflection / radiation function to the wireless relay device 30. The order of steps S31 and S32 may be reversed, or only one of them may be performed. In step S33, the wireless relay device 30 enables or disables the reflection / radiation function based on the settings and / or instructions.

[0245] Here, the wireless relay device 30 may apply the setting and / or instruction only when it receives the same setting and / or instruction from the base station 10 and the terminal 20. For example, the wireless relay device 30 may enable the reflection / emission function when it receives an enabling setting and / or instruction from both the base station 10 and the terminal 20. For example, the wireless relay device 30 may disable the reflection / emission function when it receives a disabling setting and / or instruction from both the base station 10 and the terminal 20.

[0246] Furthermore, the wireless relay device 30 may autonomously determine whether to enable or disable the reflection / radiation function. For example, if the wireless relay device 30 does not receive settings and / or instructions related to the reflection / radiation function from the base station 10 and the terminal 20, the wireless relay device 30 may execute a predetermined autonomous operation.

[0247] When the wireless relay device 30 controls the enabling or disabling of the reflection / radiation function based on upper layer settings and / or instructions from the base station 10 or the terminal 20, the enabled or disabled state may be directly set semi-statically, or the period during which the enabled or disabled state is set semi-statically.

[0248] When the wireless relay device 30 is dynamically instructed to enable or disable the reflection / radiation function by a physical layer control signal (e.g., PDCCH or PUCCH) from the base station 10 or the terminal 20, the time from receiving the physical layer control signal to applying the enablement or disablement may be specified in the specifications, may be instructed by the physical layer control signal, or a minimum time may be specified, and the wireless relay device 30 does not have to assume that a time shorter than the minimum time will be instructed.

[0249] When the radio relay device 30 is dynamically instructed to enable or disable the reflection / radiation function by a physical layer control signal (e.g., PDCCH or PUCCH) from the base station 10 or the terminal 20, when it reflects / radiates a PDCCH including a DL grant, it may disable the reflection / radiation function after reflecting / radiating the PDSCH and PUCCH scheduled by the DL grant.

[0250] When the radio relay device 30 is dynamically instructed to enable or disable the reflection / radiation function by a physical layer control signal (e.g., PDCCH or PUCCH) from the base station 10 or the terminal 20, when it reflects / radiates a PDCCH including an UL grant, it may disable the reflection / radiation function after reflecting / radiating a PUSCH scheduled by the UL grant.

[0251] The wireless relay device 30 may enable or disable the reflection / emission function when detecting a configured UL signal triggered by the terminal 20. That is, the UL signal from the terminal 20 may be used as a wake-up signal (WUS).

[0252] When a signal instructing the terminal 20 to enable or disable the reflection / radiation function is set as valid by the base station 10 and / or the terminal 20, the wireless relay device 30 may enable or disable the reflection / radiation function upon detecting the signal. That is, the UL signal and the WUS may be transmitted separately from the terminal 20. The terminal 20 may always transmit the signal before transmitting a UL signal, or may transmit the signal only when the wireless relay device 30 has disabled the reflection / radiation function.

[0253] 30 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example (4) of the wireless relay device 30 according to the embodiment of the present invention. In step S41, the wireless relay device 30 determines whether the reception quality of a predetermined signal is equal to or greater than a threshold. If the reception quality of the predetermined signal is equal to or greater than the threshold (YES in S41), the process proceeds to step S42, and if the reception quality of the predetermined signal is not equal to or greater than the threshold (NO in S41), the process ends. In step S42, the wireless relay device 30 may enable the reflection / emission function.

[0254] 31 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example (5) of the wireless relay device 30 according to the embodiment of the present invention. In step S51, the wireless relay device 30 determines whether the reception quality of a predetermined signal is equal to or lower than a threshold. If the reception quality of the predetermined signal is equal to or higher than the threshold (YES in S51), the process proceeds to step S52, and if the reception quality of the predetermined signal is not equal to or higher than the threshold (NO in S51), the process ends. In step S52, the wireless relay device 30 may disable the reflection / emission function.

[0255] The predetermined signal may be an SSB from the base station 10, a TRS from the base station 10, or an SRS from the terminal 20. A signal for measuring reception quality may be specified or set as the predetermined signal. The reception quality may be RSRP (Reference Signal Received Power), RSRQ (Reference Signal Received Quality), or SINR (Signal to interference plus noise ratio). The threshold may be specified in the specifications or may be set by another node. In addition, the threshold may have hysteresis, and may be enabled when the specified or set reception quality measurement opportunity exceeds the threshold N times in a row, and disabled when the specified or set reception quality measurement opportunity falls below the threshold N times in a row.

[0256] The wireless relay device 30 may control the enabling or disabling of the reflection / radiation function for both DL and UL, or may control the enabling or disabling of the reflection / radiation function for DL ​​and UL independently.

[0257] Whether DL and UL are controlled in common or independently may be specified in the specifications, or may be set or instructed by another node. In the case of common control, for example, they may be controlled in common by upper layer setting from the base station 10, they may be controlled in common by a physical layer control signal from the base station 10, they may be controlled in common by upper layer setting from the terminal 20, or they may be controlled in common by a physical layer control signal from the terminal 20.

[0258] When they are controlled independently, for example, DL may be controlled by higher layer settings from the base station 10, and UL may be controlled by physical layer control signals from the terminal 20. Alternatively, DL may be controlled by physical layer control signals from the base station 10, and UL may be controlled by physical layer control signals from the terminal 20. Alternatively, DL may be controlled by physical layer control signals from the base station 10, and UL may be controlled by higher layer settings from the terminal 20. Alternatively, DL may be controlled by higher layer settings from the base station 10, and UL may be controlled by higher layer settings from the terminal 20.

[0259] For example, the RIS 30 may execute different control regarding activation or deactivation for each base station 10 and terminal 20 to which it connects.

[0260] When the reflection / radiation function is enabled, the radio relay device 30 may reflect / radiate all signals from the base station 10 and the terminal 20. The period during which the reflection / radiation function is enabled may be the period during which an RRC connection state with the base station 10 is established, or the period during which an RRC connection state with the terminal 20 is established. For example, the radio relay device 30 may maintain the reflection / radiation function enabled when it receives a WUS in a Monitoring Occasion (MO) of the PDCCH, as in CDRX (Connected mode DRX) with the base station 10, and disable the function until the next MO if it does not receive a WUS.

[0261] The radio relay device 30 may not reflect / radiate signals from the base station 10 and the terminal 20 while the reflection / radiation function is disabled. The period during which the reflection / radiation function is disabled may be a period during which the RRC state with the base station 10 is in an RRC idle or RRC inactive state, or a period during which the RRC state with the terminal 20 is in an RRC idle or RRC inactive state. For example, if a Paging Early Indication (PEI), which is a WUS, is received in the main circuit before a Paging Occasion (PO), the function may be kept enabled, and if no PEI is received, the function may be disabled until the next PEI. For example, the reflection / radiation function of the main circuit may be disabled, and if a WUS is received in a passive circuit dedicated to WUS reception, the reflection / radiation function of the main circuit may be enabled.

[0262] The radio relay device 30 may control whether reflection / radiation is enabled or disabled in conjunction with the RRC connection state between the radio relay device 30 and the base station 10 of the terminal 20 that is connected to the radio relay device 30 or that reflects / radiates a signal.

[0263] In response to an instruction from a terminal 20 that is connected to the wireless relay device 30 or that reflects / radiates a signal, the wireless relay device 30 may change the state of enabling / disabling reflection / radiation. For example, when the terminal 20 detects a transmittable UL signal in RRC idle or inactive mode, the wireless relay device 30 may change the state of enabling / disabling reflection / radiation, for example, enable it. In other words, the UL signal from the terminal 20 may be used as a WUS.

[0264] The UL signal may be a PRACH in a four-step random access procedure, an MsgA in a two-step random access procedure, a CG-PUSCH in SDT (Small Data Transmission), or the like. Furthermore, if the UL signal is set as valid by the base station 10 and / or the terminal 20, the radio relay device 30 may enable or disable the reflection / radiation function upon detecting the signal. That is, the UL signal and the WUS from the terminal 20 may be transmitted separately. The terminal 20 may always transmit the signal before performing UL transmission, or may transmit the signal only when the radio relay device 30 has disabled the reflection / radiation function.

[0265] According to the above-described embodiment, the wireless relay device 30 can receive a control signal including a setting or instruction from the base station 10 or the terminal 20, and enable or disable the reflection / emission function based on the setting or instruction.

[0266] That is, in a wireless communication system, a wireless relay device can be appropriately enabled or disabled.

[0267] Furthermore, when connecting to multiple base stations 10, the RIS 30 may be configured or instructed by the base station 10 or the terminal 20 as to which radio resources are permitted to reflect signals from / to each base station 10. Such configuration or instruction may be notified by control information. Note that "signals from / to the base station 10" means "signals from the base station 10 and signals to the base station 10."

[0268] 32 is a flowchart for explaining an example (1) of wireless resource usage by the wireless relay device 30 according to the embodiment of the present invention. In step S61, when connecting to multiple base stations 10, the RIS 30 is set or instructed on wireless resources that may reflect signals from / to each base station 10. In the following step S62, the RIS 30 reflects signals from / to the target base station 10 using the wireless resources, and does not assume that wireless resources other than the wireless resources will reflect signals from / to the target base station 10.

[0269] 33 is a flowchart illustrating an example (2) of wireless resource usage by the wireless relay device 30 according to the embodiment of the present invention. In step S71, when connecting to multiple base stations 10, the RIS 30 is configured or instructed to use wireless resources that may reflect signals from / to each base station 10. In the following step S72, the RIS 30 reflects signals from / to the target base station 10 using the wireless resources. If a wireless resource other than the wireless resources is configured or instructed to reflect signals from / to the target base station 10, the RIS 30 determines the base station 10 and / or wireless resource to reflect signals from based on predetermined conditions. Note that the priority of the base station 10 may be configured or instructed for the other resources, and reflection may be performed from / to a base station 10 with a higher priority. Furthermore, the RIS 30 does not necessarily need to consider reflection from / to multiple base stations 10 with the same priority.

[0270] According to the above embodiment, when the wireless relay device 30 is connected to a plurality of base stations 10, it is possible to avoid collision of wireless resources used for signals from and to the base stations 10.

[0271] That is, in a wireless communication system, signals from a plurality of base stations can be relayed via a wireless relay device.

[0272] (Hardware configuration) The block diagrams (FIGS. 2, 3, and 4) used in the description of the above embodiments show functional blocks. These functional blocks (components) are realized by any combination of at least one of hardware and software. Furthermore, the method of realizing each functional block is not particularly limited. That is, each functional block may be realized using a single device that is physically or logically coupled, or may be realized using two or more physically or logically separated devices that are connected directly or indirectly (for example, by wire, wirelessly, etc.) and these multiple devices. The functional block may be realized by combining the single device or the multiple devices with software.

[0273] Functions include, but are not limited to, judgment, determination, judgment, calculation, computation, processing, derivation, investigation, search, confirmation, reception, transmission, output, access, resolution, selection, election, establishment, comparison, assumption, expectation, consideration, broadcasting, notifying, communicating, forwarding, configuring, reconfiguring, allocation, mapping, and assignment. For example, a functional block (component) that performs transmission is called a transmitting unit or transmitter. As mentioned above, there are no particular limitations on how these functions are implemented.

[0274] For example, the base station 10, the terminal 20, the wireless relay device 30, etc. according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may function as a computer that performs processing of the wireless communication method of the present disclosure. Fig. 34 is a diagram illustrating an example of the hardware configuration of the base station 10, the terminal 20, and the wireless relay device 30 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The base station 10, the terminal 20, and the wireless relay device 30 described above may be physically 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.

[0275] In the following description, the term "apparatus" can be interpreted as a circuit, a device, a unit, etc. The hardware configurations of the base station 10, the terminal 20, and the wireless relay device 30 may be configured to include one or more of the devices shown in the drawings, or may be configured to exclude some of the devices.

[0276] Each function in the base station 10, terminal 20 and wireless relay device 30 is realized by loading predetermined software (programs) onto hardware such as processor 1001, memory device 1002, etc., so that the processor 1001 performs calculations, controls communication by the communication device 1004, and controls at least one of reading and writing data in memory device 1002 and auxiliary memory device 1003.

[0277] The processor 1001 controls the entire computer by running, for example, an operating system. The processor 1001 may be configured as a central processing unit (CPU) including an interface with peripheral devices, a control device, an arithmetic unit, a register, etc. For example, the above-mentioned control unit 140, control unit 240, etc. may be realized by the processor 1001.

[0278] Furthermore, the processor 1001 reads programs (program codes), software modules, 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 in accordance with the programs. The programs used are those that cause a computer to execute at least some of the operations described in the above-described embodiments. For example, the control unit 140 of the base station 10 shown in FIG. 2 may be implemented by a control program stored in the storage device 1002 and executed by the processor 1001. Furthermore, for example, the control unit 240 of the terminal 20 shown in FIG. 3 may be implemented by a control program stored in the storage device 1002 and executed by the processor 1001. While the above-described various processes have been described as being executed by one processor 1001, they may also be executed simultaneously or sequentially by two or more processors 1001. The processor 1001 may be implemented by one or more chips. The programs may be transmitted from a network via a telecommunications line.

[0279] The storage device 1002 is a computer-readable recording medium and may be configured, for example, by at least one of a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), a random access memory (RAM), etc. The storage device 1002 may also be called a register, a cache, a main memory, etc. The storage device 1002 can store executable programs (program codes), software modules, etc. for implementing a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0280] The secondary storage device 1003 is a computer-readable recording medium, and may be, for example, at least one of an optical disk such as a CD-ROM (Compact Disc ROM), a hard disk drive, a flexible disk, a magneto-optical disk (e.g., a compact disk, a digital versatile disk, a Blu-ray disc), a smart card, a flash memory (e.g., a card, a stick, a key drive), a floppy disk, a magnetic strip, etc. The above-mentioned storage medium may be, for example, a database, a server, or other suitable medium including at least one of the storage device 1002 and the secondary storage device 1003.

[0281] The communication device 1004 is hardware (transmission / reception device) for communicating 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, or a communication module. The communication device 1004 may be configured to include a high-frequency switch, a duplexer, a filter, a frequency synthesizer, etc. to realize at least one of frequency division duplex (FDD) and time division duplex (TDD). 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 implemented as a transmission unit and a reception unit that are physically or logically separated.

[0282] 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 input from the outside. The output device 1006 is an output device (for example, a display, a speaker, an LED lamp, etc.) that performs output to the outside. Note that the input device 1005 and the output device 1006 may be integrated into one device (for example, a touch panel).

[0283] Furthermore, 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 between each device.

[0284] Furthermore, the base station 10, the terminal 20, and the wireless relay device 30 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 the functional blocks may be realized by the hardware. For example, the processor 1001 may be implemented using at least one of these pieces of hardware.

[0285] Furthermore, the wireless relay device 30 may include, as necessary, a variable phase shifter, a phase shifter, an amplifier, an antenna, an array antenna, and the like as hardware that constitutes the variable section 340 and the antenna section 350.

[0286] Fig. 35 shows an example configuration of a vehicle 2001. As shown in Fig. 35, the vehicle 2001 includes a drive unit 2002, a steering unit 2003, an accelerator pedal 2004, a brake pedal 2005, a shift lever 2006, front wheels 2007, rear wheels 2008, an axle 2009, an electronic control unit 2010, various sensors 2021 to 2029, an information service unit 2012, and a communication module 2013. Each aspect / embodiment described in the present disclosure may be applied to a communication device mounted on the vehicle 2001, and may be applied to the communication module 2013, for example.

[0287] The drive unit 2002 is configured, for example, by an engine, a motor, or a hybrid of an engine and a motor. The steering unit 2003 includes at least a steering wheel (also called a handle), and is configured to steer at least one of the front wheels and the rear wheels based on the operation of the steering wheel operated by the user.

[0288] The electronic control unit 2010 is composed of a microprocessor 2031, a memory (ROM, RAM) 2032, and a communication port (IO port) 2033. Signals are input to the electronic control unit 2010 from various sensors 2021 to 2029 provided in the vehicle 2001. The electronic control unit 2010 may also be called an ECU (Electronic Control Unit).

[0289] The signals from the various sensors 2021 to 2029 include a current signal from a current sensor 2021 that senses the current of the motor, a rotation speed signal of the front and rear wheels obtained by a rotation speed sensor 2022, an air pressure signal of the front and rear wheels obtained by an air pressure sensor 2023, a vehicle speed signal obtained by a vehicle speed sensor 2024, an acceleration signal obtained by an acceleration sensor 2025, an accelerator pedal depression amount signal obtained by an accelerator pedal sensor 2029, a brake pedal depression amount signal obtained by a brake pedal sensor 2026, a shift lever operation signal obtained by a shift lever sensor 2027, and a detection signal for detecting obstacles, vehicles, pedestrians, etc. obtained by an object detection sensor 2028.

[0290] The information service unit 2012 is composed of various devices, such as a car navigation system, an audio system, speakers, a television, and a radio, for providing various types of information such as driving information, traffic information, and entertainment information, and one or more ECUs for controlling these devices. The information service unit 2012 uses information obtained from external devices via the communication module 2013, etc., to provide various types of multimedia information and multimedia services to the occupants of the vehicle 2001.

[0291] The driving assistance system unit 2030 is composed of various devices that provide functions for preventing accidents and reducing the driver's driving burden, such as a millimeter-wave radar, a LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), a camera, a positioning locator (e.g., GNSS, etc.), map information (e.g., high-definition (HD) map, autonomous vehicle (AV) map, etc.), a gyro system (e.g., an IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit), an INS (Inertial Navigation System), etc.), an AI (Artificial Intelligence) chip, and an AI processor, as well as one or more ECUs that control these devices. The driving assistance system unit 2030 also transmits and receives various information via the communication module 2013 to realize the driving assistance function or the autonomous driving function.

[0292] The communication module 2013 can communicate with the microprocessor 2031 and components of the vehicle 2001 via the communication port. For example, the communication module 2013 transmits and receives data via the communication port 2033 to and from the drive unit 2002, steering unit 2003, accelerator pedal 2004, brake pedal 2005, shift lever 2006, front wheels 2007, rear wheels 2008, axle 2009, microprocessor 2031 and memory (ROM, RAM) 2032 in the electronic control unit 2010, and sensors 2021 to 29, which are provided in the vehicle 2001.

[0293] The communication module 2013 is a communication device that can be controlled by the microprocessor 2031 of the electronic control unit 2010 and can communicate with an external device. For example, it transmits and receives various information to and from the external device via wireless communication. The communication module 2013 may be located either inside or outside the electronic control unit 2010. The external device may be, for example, a base station, a mobile station, or the like.

[0294] The communication module 2013 transmits, via wireless communication, to an external device a current signal from the current sensor that is input to the electronic control unit 2010. The communication module 2013 also transmits, via wireless communication, to an external device, the rotation speed signals of the front and rear wheels acquired by a rotation speed sensor 2022, the air pressure signals of the front and rear wheels acquired by an air pressure sensor 2023, the vehicle speed signal acquired by a vehicle speed sensor 2024, the acceleration signal acquired by an acceleration sensor 2025, the accelerator pedal depression amount signal acquired by an accelerator pedal sensor 2029, the brake pedal depression amount signal acquired by a brake pedal sensor 2026, the shift lever operation signal acquired by a shift lever sensor 2027, and the detection signals for detecting obstacles, vehicles, pedestrians, etc. acquired by an object detection sensor 2028, which are input to the electronic control unit 2010.

[0295] The communication module 2013 receives various information (traffic information, traffic signal information, inter-vehicle information, etc.) transmitted from external devices and displays it on an information service unit 2012 provided in the vehicle 2001. The communication module 2013 also stores the various information received from the external devices in a memory 2032 that can be used by the microprocessor 2031. Based on the information stored in the memory 2032, the microprocessor 2031 may control the drive unit 2002, steering unit 2003, accelerator pedal 2004, brake pedal 2005, shift lever 2006, front wheels 2007, rear wheels 2008, axle 2009, sensors 2021 to 2029, etc. provided in the vehicle 2001.

[0296] (Summary of the embodiment) As described above, according to an embodiment of the present invention, a wireless relay device is provided which has a receiving unit that receives signals from a plurality of base stations, a control unit that connects to a base station where the reception quality of the signal is above a certain threshold, and a relay unit that relays signals between the connected base station and a terminal, wherein the relay unit relays a signal that includes a synchronization signal and notification information transmitted from the connected base station and is associated with an index to the terminal, the receiving unit receives control information from the connected base station that indicates a beam to be applied for each resource, and the control unit determines a beam to be applied to the relayed signal for each resource based on the control information.

[0297] With the above configuration, the base station 10 and the terminal 20 can improve the reliability of initial access via the RIS or smart repeater. Furthermore, appropriate beam control can be achieved based on information about beams transmitted by the wireless relay device. That is, in a wireless communication system, signals from multiple base stations can be relayed via the wireless relay device.

[0298] The control unit may be connected to a plurality of base stations whose reception quality of the signal is equal to or higher than a certain threshold, or to all base stations whose reception quality of the signal is equal to or higher than a certain threshold. With this configuration, in a wireless communication system, signals from a plurality of base stations can be relayed via a wireless relay device.

[0299] The control unit may report information on the reception quality of the signal to a plurality of base stations whose reception quality of the signal is equal to or higher than a certain threshold, or to all base stations whose reception quality of the signal is equal to or higher than a certain threshold. With this configuration, signals from a plurality of base stations can be relayed via a wireless relay device in a wireless communication system.

[0300] When the base station is connected to a plurality of base stations, the control unit may not assume that signals associated with a plurality of the indexes are to be relayed simultaneously. With this configuration, signals of a plurality of base stations can be relayed via a wireless relay device in a wireless communication system.

[0301] When the number of connected base stations is multiple, the receiving unit may receive the control information from each of the connected base stations and determine a beam to be applied to a signal to be relayed to each of the connected base stations based on the corresponding control information. With this configuration, signals from multiple base stations can be relayed via a wireless relay device in a wireless communication system.

[0302] In addition, according to an embodiment of the present invention, a communication method is provided in which a wireless relay device performs the following procedures: a receiving procedure for receiving signals from a plurality of base stations; a control procedure for connecting to a base station where the reception quality of the signals is above a certain threshold; a relay procedure for relaying signals between the connected base station and a terminal; a procedure for relaying a signal that includes a synchronization signal and notification information transmitted from the connected base station and is associated with an index to the terminal; a procedure for receiving control information from the connected base station indicating a beam to be applied for each resource; and a procedure for determining, for each resource, a beam to be applied to the relayed signal based on the control information.

[0303] With the above configuration, the base station 10 and the terminal 20 can improve the reliability of initial access via the RIS or smart repeater. Furthermore, appropriate beam control can be achieved based on information about beams transmitted by the wireless relay device. That is, in a wireless communication system, signals from multiple base stations can be relayed via the wireless relay device.

[0304] (Supplementary explanation of the embodiment) Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the disclosed invention is not limited to such embodiments, and those skilled in the art will understand various modifications, alterations, alternatives, and substitutions. While specific numerical examples have been used to facilitate understanding of the invention, unless otherwise specified, these numerical values ​​are merely examples, and any appropriate values ​​may be used. The division of items in the above description is not essential to the present invention; two or more items may be combined as needed, and items described in one item may apply to items described in another item (unless inconsistent). The boundaries between functional units or processing units in the functional block diagram do not necessarily correspond to the boundaries between physical components. The operations of multiple functional units may be performed by a single physical component, or the operations of a single functional unit may be performed by multiple physical components. The order of the processing steps described in the embodiments may be reversed as long as there is no contradiction. For convenience of processing description, the base station 10 and terminal 20 have been described using functional block diagrams. However, such devices may be implemented using hardware, software, or a combination thereof. The software operated by the processor of the base station 10 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention and the software operated by the processor of the terminal 20 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention may each be stored in random access memory (RAM), flash memory, read-only memory (ROM), EPROM, EEPROM, registers, hard disk (HDD), removable disk, CD-ROM, database, server or any other suitable storage medium.

[0305] Furthermore, the notification of information is not limited to the aspects / embodiments described in the present disclosure, and may be performed using other methods. For example, the notification of information may be performed by physical layer signaling (e.g., Downlink Control Information (DCI), Uplink Control Information (UCI)), higher layer signaling (e.g., Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, Medium Access Control (MAC) signaling), broadcast information (Master Information Block (MIB), System Information Block (SIB)), other signals, or a combination thereof. Furthermore, 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, or the like.

[0306] Each aspect / embodiment described in the present disclosure may be any of the following: LTE (Long Term Evolution), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), SUPER 3G, IMT-Advanced, 4G (4th generation mobile communication system), 5G (5th generation mobile communication system), 6th generation mobile communication system (6G), xth generation mobile communication system (xG) (xG (x is, for example, an integer or decimal number)), FRA (Future Radio Access), NR (new Radio), New radio access (NX), Future generation radio access (FX), W-CDMA (registered trademark), GSM (registered trademark), CDMA2000, UMB (Ultra Mobile Broadband), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi (registered trademark)), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX (registered trademark)), IEEE The present invention may be applied to at least one of systems using 802.20, UWB (Ultra-Wideband), Bluetooth (registered trademark), or other appropriate systems, and next-generation systems that are extended, modified, created, or defined based on these systems. The present invention may also be applied to a combination of multiple systems (e.g., a combination of at least one of LTE and LTE-A with 5G).

[0307] The order of the procedures, sequences, flowcharts, etc. of each aspect / embodiment described herein may be changed unless it is consistent. For example, the methods described in this disclosure present elements of various steps using an example order and are not limited to the particular order presented.

[0308] In this specification, a specific operation that is described as being performed by the base station 10 may also be performed by its upper node in some cases. 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 may be performed by at least one of the base station 10 and another network node other than the base station 10 (such as, but not limited to, an MME or an S-GW). Although the above example illustrates a case where there is one other network node other than the base station 10, the other network node may be a combination of multiple other network nodes (such as an MME and an S-GW).

[0309] The information or signals described in the present disclosure may be output from a higher layer (or a lower layer) to a lower layer (or a higher layer), or may be input / output via multiple network nodes.

[0310] Input and output information may be stored in a specific location (for example, memory) or may be managed using a management table. Input and output information may be overwritten, updated, or added to. Output information may be deleted. Input information may be sent to another device.

[0311] In the present disclosure, the determination may be made based on a value represented by one bit (0 or 1), a Boolean value (true or false), or a numerical comparison (e.g., comparison with a predetermined value).

[0312] Software shall be construed broadly to mean instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, software modules, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executable files, threads of execution, procedures, functions, etc., whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise.

[0313] Software, instructions, information, etc. may also be transmitted or received over a transmission medium. For example, if software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using wired technologies (such as coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)), and / or wireless technologies (such as infrared, microwave), then these wired and / or wireless technologies are included within the definition of transmission media.

[0314] The information, signals, etc. described in this disclosure may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, chips, etc. that may be referred to throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, optical fields or photons, or any combination thereof.

[0315] Note that terms explained 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). Furthermore, a signal may be a message. Furthermore, a component carrier (CC) may be called a carrier frequency, a cell, a frequency carrier, etc.

[0316] As used in this disclosure, the terms "system" and "network" are used interchangeably.

[0317] Furthermore, the information, parameters, etc. described in the present disclosure may be expressed using absolute values, may be expressed using relative values ​​from a predetermined value, or may be expressed using other corresponding information. For example, a radio resource may be indicated by an index.

[0318] The names used for the above-described parameters are not intended to be limiting in any way. Furthermore, the mathematical expressions using these parameters may differ from those explicitly disclosed in this disclosure. The various channels (e.g., PUCCH, PDCCH, etc.) and information elements may be identified by any suitable names, and therefore the various names assigned to these various channels and information elements are not intended to be limiting in any way.

[0319] In this disclosure, terms such as "base station (BS)," "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," and "component carrier" may be used interchangeably. Base stations may also be referred to by terms such as macrocell, small cell, femtocell, and picocell.

[0320] A base station can accommodate one or more (e.g., three) cells. When a base station accommodates multiple cells, the overall coverage area of ​​the base station can be divided into multiple smaller areas, and each smaller area can be provided with communication service 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 entire coverage area of ​​a base station and / or base station subsystem that provides communication service within this coverage.

[0321] In this disclosure, the terms "Mobile Station (MS)," "user terminal," "User Equipment (UE)," "terminal," etc. may be used interchangeably.

[0322] 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, wireless terminal, remote terminal, handset, user agent, mobile client, client, or some other suitable terminology.

[0323] At least one of the base station and the mobile station may be called a transmitting device, a receiving device, a communication device, etc. At least one of the base station and the mobile station may be a device mounted on a mobile body, or the mobile body itself. The mobile body may be a vehicle (e.g., a car, an airplane, etc.), an unmanned mobile body (e.g., a drone, an autonomous vehicle, etc.), or a robot (manned or unmanned). At least one of the base station and the mobile station may also include devices that do 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.

[0324] Furthermore, a base station in the present disclosure may be read as a user terminal. For example, the aspects / embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied to a configuration in which communication between a base station and a user terminal is replaced with communication between a plurality of terminals 20 (which may be called, for example, D2D (Device-to-Device) or V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything)). In this case, the terminal 20 may be configured to have the functions of the base station 10 described above. Furthermore, terms such as "uplink" and "downlink" may be read as terms corresponding to terminal-to-terminal communication (for example, "side"). For example, terms such as an uplink channel and a downlink channel may be read as a side channel.

[0325] Similarly, the user terminal in the present disclosure may be read as a base station, in which case the base station may be configured to have the functions of the user terminal described above.

[0326] As used in this disclosure, the terms "determining" and "determining" may encompass a wide variety of actions. "Determining" and "determining" may include, for example, judging, calculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, looking up, searching, inquiring (e.g., searching in a table, database, or other data structure), ascertaining, and the like. "Determining" and "determining" may also include receiving (e.g., receiving information), transmitting (e.g., sending information), input, output, accessing (e.g., accessing data in memory), and the like. Furthermore, "judgment" and "decision" can include regarding resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, comparing, etc. as having been "judged" or "decided." In other words, "judgment" and "decision" can include regarding some action as having been "judged" or "decided." Furthermore, "judgment (decision)" can be interpreted as "assuming," "expecting," "considering," etc.

[0327] The terms "connected," "coupled," or any variation thereof, refer to any direct or indirect connection or coupling between two or more elements, and may 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 may be physical, logical, or a combination thereof. For example, "connected" may be read as "access." As used in this disclosure, two elements may be considered to be "connected" or "coupled" to each other using one or more wires, cables, and / or printed electrical connections, as well as electromagnetic energy having wavelengths in the radio frequency range, microwave range, and optical (both visible and invisible) range, as some non-limiting and non-exhaustive examples.

[0328] The reference signal may be abbreviated as RS (Reference Signal) or may be called a pilot depending on the applicable standard.

[0329] As used in this disclosure, the phrase "based on" does not mean "based only on," unless expressly stated otherwise. In other words, the phrase "based on" means both "based only on" and "based at least on."

[0330] As used in this disclosure, any reference to an element using a designation such as "first," "second," etc. does not generally limit the quantity or order of those elements. These designations may be used in this disclosure as a convenient method of distinguishing between two or more elements. Thus, a reference to a first and a second element does not imply that only two elements may be employed or that the first element must in some way precede the second element.

[0331] The "means" in the configuration of each of the above devices may be replaced with "part," "circuit," "device," etc.

[0332] When used in this disclosure, the terms "include," "including," and variations thereof are intended to be inclusive, similar to the term "comprising." Furthermore, when used in this disclosure, the term "or" is not intended to be an exclusive or.

[0333] A radio 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 called a subframe. A subframe may further be composed of one or more slots in the time domain. A subframe may have a fixed time length (e.g., 1 ms) that is independent of numerology.

[0334] Numerology may be communication parameters that apply to at least one of transmission and reception of a signal or channel, such as subcarrier spacing (SCS), bandwidth, symbol length, cyclic prefix length, transmission time interval (TTI), number of symbols per TTI, radio frame structure, specific filtering operations performed by the transceiver in the frequency domain, and specific windowing operations performed by the transceiver in the time domain.

[0335] A slot may be composed of one or more symbols (such as an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol or a Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) symbol) in the time domain. A slot may be a time unit based on numerology.

[0336] A slot may include multiple minislots. Each minislot may consist of one or multiple symbols in the time domain. A minislot may also be called a subslot. A minislot may consist of fewer symbols than a slot. A PDSCH (or PUSCH) transmitted in a time unit larger than a minislot may be called PDSCH (or PUSCH) mapping type A. A PDSCH (or PUSCH) transmitted using a minislot may be called PDSCH (or PUSCH) mapping type B.

[0337] The radio frame, subframe, slot, minislot, and symbol all represent time units for transmitting signals, and may be referred to by other names corresponding to the radio frame, subframe, slot, minislot, and symbol.

[0338] For example, one subframe may be called a transmission time interval (TTI), multiple consecutive subframes may be called a TTI, or one slot or one minislot may be called a TTI. That is, at least one of the subframe and the TTI may be a subframe (1 ms) in existing LTE, 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, minislot, etc. instead of a subframe.

[0339] Here, TTI refers to, for example, the smallest time unit for scheduling in wireless communication. For example, in an LTE system, a base station performs scheduling to allocate wireless resources (such as frequency bandwidth and transmission power that can be used by each terminal 20) to each terminal 20 in TTI units. Note that the definition of TTI is not limited to this.

[0340] The TTI may be a transmission time unit for a channel-encoded data packet (transport block), a code block, a code word, etc., or may be a processing unit for scheduling, link adaptation, etc. When a TTI is given, the time interval (e.g., the number of symbols) to which a transport block, a code block, a code word, etc. is actually mapped may be shorter than the TTI.

[0341] When one slot or one minislot is called a TTI, one or more TTIs (i.e., one or more slots or one or more minislots) may be the minimum time unit for scheduling. Also, the number of slots (minislots) constituting the minimum time unit for scheduling may be controlled.

[0342] A TTI having a time length of 1 ms may be called a regular TTI (TTI in LTE Rel. 8-12), normal TTI, long TTI, regular subframe, normal subframe, long subframe, slot, etc. A TTI shorter than a regular TTI may be called a shortened TTI, short TTI, partial or fractional TTI, shortened subframe, short subframe, minislot, subslot, slot, etc.

[0343] In addition, a long TTI (e.g., a normal TTI, a subframe, etc.) may be interpreted as a TTI having a time length of more than 1 ms, and a short TTI (e.g., a shortened TTI, etc.) may be interpreted as a TTI having a TTI length shorter than the TTI length of a long TTI and equal to or greater than 1 ms.

[0344] A resource block (RB) is a resource allocation unit in the time domain and frequency domain, and may include one or more consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain. The number of subcarriers included in an RB may be the same regardless of numerology, for example, 12. The number of subcarriers included in an RB may also be determined based on numerology.

[0345] The time domain of an RB may include one or more symbols and may have a length of one slot, one minislot, one subframe, or one TTI. One TTI, one subframe, etc. may each be composed of one or more resource blocks.

[0346] Note that one or more RBs may also be called a physical resource block (PRB), a sub-carrier group (SCG), a resource element group (REG), a PRB pair, an RB pair, or the like.

[0347] Furthermore, a resource block may be composed of one or more resource elements (REs). For example, one RE may be a radio resource region of one subcarrier and one symbol.

[0348] A Bandwidth Part (BWP) (which may also be referred to as a fractional bandwidth) may represent a subset of contiguous common resource blocks (RBs) for a given numerology on a given carrier, where the common RBs may be identified by their index relative to a common reference point of the carrier. PRBs may be defined in a given BWP and numbered within that BWP.

[0349] The BWP may include a BWP for UL (UL BWP) and a BWP for DL ​​(DL BWP). One or more BWPs may be set for the terminal 20 within one carrier.

[0350] At least one of the configured BWPs may be active, and the terminal 20 may not expect to transmit or receive a predetermined signal / channel outside the active BWP. Note that the terms "cell," "carrier," and the like in this disclosure may be read as "BWP."

[0351] The above-described structures of radio frames, subframes, slots, minislots, symbols, etc. are merely examples. For example, the number of subframes included in a radio frame, the number of slots per subframe or radio frame, the number of minislots included in a slot, the number of symbols and RBs included in a slot or minislot, the number of subcarriers included in an RB, the number of symbols in a TTI, the symbol length, the cyclic prefix (CP) length, etc. may be changed in various ways.

[0352] In this disclosure, where articles are added by translation, such as a, an, and the in English, the disclosure may include that the nouns following these articles are in the plural form.

[0353] In the present disclosure, the term "A and B are different" may mean "A and B are different from each other." The term may also mean "A and B are each different from C." Terms such as "separate" and "coupled" may also be interpreted in the same way as "different."

[0354] Each aspect / embodiment described in this disclosure may be used alone, in combination, or switched depending on the implementation. Furthermore, notification of predetermined information (e.g., notification that "X is true") is not limited to being done explicitly, but may be done implicitly (e.g., by not notifying the predetermined information).

[0355] In the present disclosure, the variable section 340 and the antenna section 350 are an example of a relay section.

[0356] Although the present disclosure has been described in detail above, it is clear to those skilled in the art that the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments described herein. The present disclosure can be implemented in modified and altered forms without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure as defined by the claims. Therefore, the description of the present disclosure is intended to be illustrative and does not have any limiting meaning on the present disclosure. [Explanation of symbols]

[0357] 10 base station 110 Transmitter 120 Receiver 130 Setting section 140 Control Unit 20 terminals 210 Transmitter 220 Receiving unit 230 Setting Section 240 Control Unit 30 Radio repeater 310 Transmitter 320 Receiving Unit 330 Control Unit 340 Variable Section 350 Antenna section 1001 processor 1002 Storage device 1003 Auxiliary storage device 1004 Communication equipment 1005 Input Device 1006 Output Device 2001 Vehicle 2002 Drive unit 2003 Steering Section 2004 accelerator pedal 2005 brake pedal 2006 Shift Lever 2007 front wheel 2008 rear wheel 2009 Axle 2010 Electronic Control Unit 2012 Information Services Department 2013 Communication Module 2021 Current Sensor 2022 RPM Sensor 2023 Air Pressure Sensor 2024 Vehicle speed sensor 2025 Acceleration Sensor 2026 Brake pedal sensor 2027 Shift lever sensor 2028 Object Detection Sensor 2029 Accelerator pedal sensor 2030 Driving Assistance Systems Department 2031 microprocessor 2032 memory (ROM, RAM) 2033 Communication port (IO port)< / x> < / x> < / x> < / x> < / x> < / x> < / x> < / x> < / x>

Claims

1. a receiving unit that receives signals from a plurality of base stations; a control unit that connects to a base station whose signal reception quality is equal to or higher than a certain threshold; a relay unit that relays signals between the base station and the terminal; the relay unit relays to the terminal a signal that includes a synchronization signal and broadcast information transmitted from the connected base station and that is associated with an index; The receiver receives control information indicating a beam to be applied for each resource from the connected base station; The control unit determines a beam to be applied to a signal to be relayed for each resource based on the control information; The control unit is a wireless relay device that reports information regarding the reception quality of the signal to multiple base stations where the reception quality of the signal is above a certain threshold, or to all base stations where the reception quality of the signal is above a certain threshold.

2. The wireless relay device according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit connects to a plurality of base stations whose reception quality of the signal is equal to or higher than a certain threshold, or to all base stations whose reception quality of the signal is equal to or higher than a certain threshold.

3. The wireless relay device according to claim 1 , wherein when the connected base station is a plurality of base stations, the control unit does not assume that signals associated with a plurality of the indexes will be relayed simultaneously.

4. The wireless relay device of claim 1, wherein when there are multiple base stations connected, the receiving unit receives the control information from each of the connected base stations and determines the beam to be applied to the signal to be relayed to each of the connected base stations based on the corresponding control information.

5. a receiving step of receiving signals from a plurality of base stations; a control procedure for connecting to a base station whose signal reception quality is equal to or higher than a certain threshold; a relay procedure for relaying a signal between the connecting base station and the terminal; a step of relaying a signal transmitted from the base station to the terminal, the signal including a synchronization signal and broadcast information and associated with an index; receiving control information indicating a beam to be applied for each resource from the base station to which the mobile station is connected; determining a beam to be applied to a signal to be relayed for each resource based on the control information; and a procedure of reporting information related to the reception quality of the signal to a plurality of base stations whose reception quality of the signal is equal to or higher than a certain threshold, or to all base stations whose reception quality of the signal is equal to or higher than a certain threshold.

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