User equipment, base station and method

Abstract

A system (1) is disclosed in which a user equipment (UE) (3) receives configuration information for determining at least one location of resources for transmission / reception associated with a data stream. The configuration information includes information identifying a first period and information identifying an offset to apply to the first period. The UE (3) adjusts the offset based on a frame rate or a second period associated with the data stream.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] This disclosure relates to wireless communication systems and devices thereof that operate in accordance with 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP®) standards or equivalents or derivatives thereof. This disclosure is particularly, but not exclusively, related to improvements relating to power saving techniques in so-called "5G" or "new radio" (also referred to as "next generation" systems) and similar systems. [Background technology]

[0002] Under 3GPP standards, a NodeB (or "eNB" in LTE and "gNB" in 5G) is a base station through which communication devices (user equipment, or "UE") connect to the core network and communicate with other communication devices or remote servers. A communication device may be, for example, a mobile communication device such as a mobile phone, smartphone, smartwatch, personal digital assistant, laptop / tablet computer, web browser, e-book reader, etc. Such mobile (or generally stationary) devices are typically operated by a user (and therefore are often collectively referred to as user equipment, "UE"), although it is also possible for Internet of Things (IoT) devices and similar Machine Type Communications (MTC) devices to connect to the network. For simplicity, this application uses the term base station to refer to any such base station and the term mobile device or UE to refer to such a communication device.

[0003] The latest development in the 3GPP standard is the so-called "5G" or "New Radio" (NR) standard, which refers to an evolving communications technology that is expected to support a variety of applications and services, such as MTC / IoT communications, vehicular communications and autonomous vehicles, high-definition video streaming, and smart city services. 3GPP intends to support 5G through the so-called 3GPP Next Generation (NextGen) radio access network (RAN) and 3GPP NextGen core (NGC) network. Various details of 5G networks are described, for example, in the "NGMN 5G White Paper" V1.0 (Non-Patent Document 1).

[0004] End-user communication devices are commonly referred to as User Equipment (UE) and may be operated by a human or may comprise automated (MTC / IoT) devices. Base stations in 5G / NR communication systems are commonly referred to as New Radio Base Stations ("NR-BS") or "gNBs," although it will be understood that they may also be referred to using the term "eNB" (or 5G / NR eNB), which is typically associated with Long Term Evolution (LTE) base stations (also commonly referred to as "4G" base stations). 3GPP Technical Specification (TS) 38.300 V16.7.0 (Non-Patent Document 2) and 3GPP TS 37.340 V16.7.0 (Non-Patent Document 3) define, among other things, the following nodes: gNB: A node that provides NR user plane and control plane protocol termination towards the UE and is connected to the 5G Core Network (5GC) via the NG interface. ng-eNB: A node that provides Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) user plane and control plane protocol termination towards the UE and is connected to the 5GC via the NG interface. En-gNB: A node that provides protocol termination for the NR user plane and control plane towards the UE and functions as a secondary node in E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity (EN-DC). NG-RAN node: Either gNB or ng-eNB.

[0005] The term base station or RAN node is used herein to refer to any such node.

[0006] Next-generation mobile networks will support diverse service requirements, classified into three categories by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU): Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), Ultra-Reliable and Low-Latency Communications (URLLC), and Massive Machine Type Communications (mMTC). eMBB aims to provide enhanced support for traditional mobile broadband and focuses on services requiring high-capacity, guaranteed bandwidth, such as high-definition (HD) video, virtual reality (VR), and augmented reality (AR). URLLC is a requirement for critical applications, such as autonomous driving and factory automation, which require guaranteed access within extremely short timeframes. MMTC must support a huge number of connected devices, such as smart meters and environmental monitoring, but can typically tolerate a certain access delay. It will be understood that some of these applications may have relatively loose Quality of Service / Quality of Experience (QoS / QoE) requirements, while some applications may have relatively strict QoS / QoE requirements (e.g., high bandwidth and / or low latency).

[0007] Communication between a UE and a base station is controlled using the so-called Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol. The base station may optimize power consumption for the UE by configuring so-called Discontinuous Reception (DRX) and / or Discontinuous Transmission (DTX) operation. Both DRX and DTX are based on reducing the UE's transceiver duty cycle during active operation. In DRX mode, the base station configures a cycle during which the UE is operational for a certain period (called the "active time" or "on period"). The base station transmits all scheduling and paging information (for this UE) only during this period. Thus, the UE can turn off its transceiver for the remainder of the DRX cycle (also called the "inactive time" or "off period"). In DTX mode, the UE does not completely turn off its transceiver, but continues to monitor the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) so that it can receive data from the base station without undue delay. The longer the "off" period relative to the duty cycle, the greater the power savings that can be achieved. However, since the UE can only transmit / receive during active times, the UE's data throughput is reduced proportionally to the power savings achieved when operating in DRX and / or DTX modes.

[0008] The term Extended Reality (XR) refers to all real and virtual environments and related human-machine interactions generated by computer technology and wearable devices. It includes representative forms such as Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR), and Virtual Reality (VR), as well as the areas interpolated between them. XR and Cloud Gaming (CG) are among the most important 5G media applications being considered in the industry.

[0009] 3GPP Technical Report (TR) 26.928 V16.1.0 (Non-Patent Document 4) discusses eXtended Reality (XR) in the context of 5G wireless and network services. This document introduces baseline technologies for XR-type services and applications, outlining quality of experience (QoE) / quality of service (QoS) issues for XR-based services, the delivery of XR in 5G systems, and the architectural model for 5G media streaming defined in 3GPP TS 26.501 V16.9.0 (Non-Patent Document 5). In addition to traditional service categories, interactive, streaming, download, and split computation / rendering are identified as new delivery categories for XR. 3GPP TR 38.838 V17.0.0 (Non-Patent Document 6) is a study on XR services, particularly the traffic model and characteristics of XR in Release 17. [Prior art documents] [Non-patent literature]

[0010] [Non-Patent Document 1] “NGMN 5G White Paper”, V1.0, the Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN) Alliance, February 2015, https: / / ngmn.org / wp-content / uploads / NGMN_5G_White_Paper_V1_0.pdf [Non-patent document 2] 3GPP TS 38.300,“NR;NR and NG-RAN Overall Description;Stage 2”,V16.7.0(2021-09) [Non-patent document 3] 3GPP TS 37.340,“Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access(E-UTRA)and NR;Multi-connectivity;Stage 2”,V16.7.0(2021-09) [Non-patent document 4] 3GPP TR 26.928, “Extended Reality (XR) in 5G”, V16.1.0 (2020-12) [Non-Patent Document 5] 3GPP TS 26.501, “5G Media Streaming(5GMS);General description and architecture”,V16.9.0(2021-12) [Non-patent document 6] 3GPP TR 38.838,“Study on XR(Extended Reality)Evaluations for NR”,V17.0.0(2021-12) [Non-Patent Document 7] 3GPP TS 38.213, “NR;Physical layer procedures for control”, V16.8.0(2021-12) [Non-patent document 8] 3GPP TS 38.321, “NR;Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol specification”, V16.7.0 (2021-12) [Non-Patent Document 9] 3GPP TS 38.214, “NR;Physical layer procedures for data”, V16.8.0(2021-12) [Non-Patent Document 10] 3GPP TS 22.368, “Service requirements for Machine-Type Communications (MTC);Stage 1”, V13.1.0 (2014-12) Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0011] For XR and CG, the packet arrival rate is determined by the frame generation rate, e.g., 60 fps or 120 fps. The average packet arrival period is given by the reciprocal of the frame rate, e.g., 16.6667 ms = 1 / 60 fps or 8.3333 ms = 1 / 120 fps. The periodic arrival time at the base station without jitter for a packet with index k (= 1, 2, 3, ...) can be expressed as k / F * 1000 [ms].

[0012] Multi-stream services are modeled based on single-stream services. For example, two related streams (separate video streams for the left and right eyes) may be transmitted at 60 fps using the same jitter model as for a single stream. In the case of a so-called Group-Of-Picture (GOP)-based traffic model, video frames arrive one packet at a time, just like in the single-stream case.

[0013] XR video traffic is similar to MBB services in the sense that its application PDU size varies similarly to FTP or web browsing. However, the arrival times or periodicity of traffic generation are more predictable than those of MBB services (because video has a fixed frame refresh rate). From this perspective, XR traffic characteristics are more similar to periodic traffic such as voice and motion control in industrial applications. Like industrial control applications, XR requires bounded latency and reasonably high reliability. Traditional mechanisms and strategies for performing resource allocation used for MBB or voice / motion control may not be optimal for XR.

[0014] To address the varying frame sizes associated with XR traffic, dynamic scheduling may be used, but this involves overhead control signaling (PDCCH, scheduling requests) and may result in increased latency. Due to the large size of the Protocol Data Unit (PDU), the network typically needs to allocate several slots to deliver all packets associated with a single Application Data Unit (ADU), which can make using dynamic scheduling difficult in some cases.

[0015] In the case of predictable arrival times, so-called configured grants (such as Semi-Persistent Scheduling (SPS)) can be used, however, they may not be suitable for handling widely varying video frame sizes due to their fixed resource allocation.

[0016] Various UE power saving enhancements are being considered in Release 17. One such enhancement is a PDCCH monitoring adaptation indication to inform the UE when it is allowed to skip monitoring a subsequent PDCCH. This indication can consist of 0, 1, or 2 bits, depending on configurations such as the duration and number of search space groups configured for the UE. More specifically, the UE can be provided with a set of durations by PDCCH SkippingDurationList for PDCCH monitoring on the serving cell. If the UE is not provided with searchSpaceGroupIdList-r17, DCI format 0_1, DCI format 1_1, DCI format 0_2, and / or DCI format 1_2 that schedules Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PUSCH) transmission or Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PDSCH) reception can include a 1-bit or 2-bit PDCCH monitoring adaptation field. The bit indicates either not to skip PDCCH monitoring or to skip PDCCH monitoring for the duration provided by the first value / second value / third value in the set of durations (if applicable).

[0017] Alternatively, if the UE is not provided with a PDCCH SkippingDurationList, the group index of the Type 3-PDCCH CSS set or USS set may be provided to the UE by searchSpaceGroupIdList-r17 for PDCCH monitoring on the serving cell. In this case, DCI format 0_1, DCI format 1_1, DCI format 0_2, or DCI format 1_2 that schedules PUSCH transmission or PDSCH reception may include a 1-bit or 2-bit PDCCH monitoring adaptation field that indicates the group index associated with the search space set for which the UE should start PDCCH monitoring (and stop PDCCH monitoring according to search space sets with any other group index).

[0018] However, currently proposed power-saving enhancements do not consider latency-critical traffic such as XR traffic. Furthermore, because the period of XR traffic is much shorter than that of typical eMBB traffic, signaling resource overhead and PDCCH blocking rates caused by downlink control information (DCI)-based power-saving enhancements proposed for Release 17 cannot be ignored. For example, wake-up indications carried by DCI format 2_6 may not be useful for XR traffic due to its relatively short period (e.g., 8.33 ms, 16.67 ms). Currently proposed power-saving enhancements also do not work well with low-latency traffic and non-integer periods (e.g., 8.33 ms, 16.67 ms).

[0019] SUMMARY Accordingly, the present disclosure seeks to provide methods and related apparatus that address or at least mitigate (at least some of) the problems discussed above. [Means for solving the problem]

[0020] In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a method performed by a user equipment (UE), the method including: receiving configuration information for determining a location of at least one of resources for transmission / reception associated with a data stream, the configuration information including information identifying a first period and information identifying an offset to apply to the first period; and adjusting the offset based on a frame rate or a second period associated with the data stream.

[0021] In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a method performed by a user equipment (UE), the method including receiving configuration information for monitoring a search space associated with a data stream, the configuration information including information identifying a periodicity for monitoring the search space and information identifying a first offset, and adjusting the first offset based on a frame rate or a periodicity associated with the data stream.

[0022] In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a method performed by a user equipment (UE), the method including receiving configuration information for a configured grant associated with a data stream, the configuration information including information identifying a first period of the configured grant and information identifying a slot-level offset; and adjusting the derived symbol-level offset based on a frame rate or a second period associated with the data stream.

[0023] In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a method performed by a base station, the method including: transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), configuration information for determining a location of at least one of resources for transmission / reception associated with a data stream, the configuration information including information identifying a first period and information identifying an offset to apply to the first period; and adjusting the offset on a slot-by-slot or symbol-by-symbol basis based on a frame rate associated with the data stream.

[0024] In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a user equipment (UE) comprising: means (e.g., a memory, a controller, and a transceiver) for receiving configuration information for determining at least one location of resources for transmission / reception associated with a data stream, the configuration information including information identifying a first period and information identifying an offset to apply to the first period; and means for adjusting the offset based on a frame rate or a second period associated with the data stream.

[0025] In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a base station comprising: means (e.g., a memory, a controller, and a transceiver) for transmitting to a user equipment (UE) configuration information for determining a location of at least one of resources for transmission / reception associated with a data stream, the configuration information including information identifying a first period and information identifying an offset to apply to the first period; and means for adjusting the offset on a slot-by-slot or symbol-by-symbol basis based on a frame rate associated with the data stream.

[0026] Aspects of the present disclosure extend to corresponding systems, apparatus, and computer program products, such as computer-readable storage media having stored thereon instructions, the instructions operable to program a programmable processor to perform the methods according to the aspects and possibilities set out above or claimed, and / or to program a computer suitably adapted to provide an apparatus according to any of the claims.

[0027] To facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art, the present disclosure will be described in detail in the context of a 3GPP system (5G network), but the principles of the present disclosure can also be applied to other systems.

[0028] The present disclosure is defined by the appended claims. Aspects of the disclosure are set out in the independent claims. Some optional features are set out in the dependent claims.

[0029] However, each feature disclosed in this specification (which term includes claims) and / or shown in the drawings may be incorporated into the disclosure independently of (or in combination with) any other disclosed and / or shown feature. In particular, but not by way of limitation, any feature of a claim dependent on a particular independent claim may be introduced into that independent claim in any combination or individually. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0030] Embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: [Figure 1] 1 illustrates schematically a mobile (cellular or wireless) telecommunications system in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied. [Figure 2] 2 is a schematic block diagram of a mobile device forming part of the system shown in FIG. 1; [Figure 3] 2 is a schematic block diagram of an access network node (eg, a base station) forming part of the system shown in FIG. 1; [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of a core network node forming part of the system shown in FIG. 1; [Figure 5] FIG. 1 illustrates an example scenario in which the present disclosure can be applied. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0031] overview FIG. 1 illustrates schematically a mobile (cellular or wireless) telecommunications system 1 in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied.

[0032] In this system 1, users of mobile devices 3 (UE) can communicate with each other and other users via base stations 5 (and other access network nodes) and a core network 7 using an appropriate 3GPP radio access technology (RAT), such as, for example, Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) and / or 5G RAT. It will be understood that multiple base stations 5 form a (radio) access network or (R)AN. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, for illustrative purposes, while FIG. 1 shows two mobile devices 3A and 3B and one base station 5, the system, when implemented, will typically include other base stations / (R)AN nodes and mobile devices (UE).

[0033] Each base station 5 controls (directly or via other nodes such as home base stations, relays, remote radio heads, distributed units, etc.) one or more associated cells. Base stations 5 that support next generation / 5G protocols may be referred to as "gNBs." It will be appreciated that some base stations 5 may be configured to support both 4G and 5G protocols, and / or any other 3GPP or non-3GPP communication protocol.

[0034] A mobile device 3 and its serving base station 5 are connected via an appropriate radio interface (e.g., the so-called "NR" radio interface and / or the "Uu" interface). Neighboring base stations 5 are connected to each other via an appropriate inter-base station interface (e.g., the so-called "Xn" interface, the "X2" interface, etc.). The base stations 5 are also connected to core network nodes via appropriate interfaces (e.g., the so-called "NG-U" interface (for the user plane), the so-called "NG-C" interface (for the control plane), etc.).

[0035] The core network 7 (e.g., EPC in the case of LTE or NGC in the case of NR / 5G) typically includes logical nodes (or “functions”) for supporting communications in the telecommunications system 1 and for (among other things) subscriber management, mobility management, charging, security, and call / session management. For example, the core network 7 in a “next generation” / 5G system includes user plane and control plane entities, such as one or more control plane functions (CPFs) 10 and one or more user plane functions (UPFs) 11. For example, the so-called Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) in 5G, or the Mobility Management Entity (MME) in 4G, is responsible for handling attachment and mobility management tasks for mobile devices 3, and the Session Management Function (SMF) is responsible for handling communication sessions for mobile devices 3, such as session establishment, modification, and release. The core network 7 connects (via the UPF 11) to a data network (external (IP) network) 20, such as the Internet or a similar Internet Protocol (IP)-based network.

[0036] It will be understood that each mobile device 3 may support one or more services that fall into one of the above-defined categories (URLLC / eMBB / mMTC). Each service typically has associated requirements (e.g., latency / data rate / packet loss requirements, etc.), which may differ for different services. Each mobile device may be configured with appropriate power saving operations, such as DRX, DTX, etc. The power saving operations may depend on the category of service used, the UE capabilities, and other factors (e.g., QoE / QoS, throughput, serving cell, network load, etc.).

[0037] In this system, PDCCH monitoring and transmission may be adapted to support XR traffic (or CG traffic, etc.) without sacrificing power savings in the UE 3.

[0038] In this system, PDCCH monitoring is adapted for XR (or CG) services. Specifically, the PDCCH monitoring period and offset are adjusted to support a specific period for XR traffic, such as 8.33 ms or 16.67 ms, or any other such "non-integer" period. Because it is not an integer value, the PDCCH search space configuration is adjusted as necessary.

[0039] The UE 3 is configured with the applicable search space set and / or adjustments to the search space set via appropriate control signaling, e.g., RRC signaling including appropriately formatted information elements. The search space set configuration includes information regarding an additional offset that indicates the difference between multiple PDCCH periods and the XR packet arrival timing. The additional offset is applied by the UE 3 to determine whether the current slot is included in the search space configured for that UE 3.

[0040] More specifically, the UE 3 and the network may employ one or more of the following options to configure the UE 3 with the appropriate XR-specific offsets: Option 1: The XR-specific offset may be activated / deactivated via an appropriate DCI field, in which case the field may be set to an appropriate value, e.g., "1" (or "11" if 2 bits are used), to activate or deactivate the XR-specific offset (if already activated). Option 2: XR-specific PDCCH monitoring may be supported by a specific (new) value of the "monitoringSlotPeriodicityAndOffset" information element. For example, one of the following values ​​may be used: "sl8", "sl17", "sl32", "sl33", "sl64", "sl66", "sl128", "sl133", "sl256", and "sl266". Option 3: An appropriate DCI field (such as a PDCCH monitoring adaptation field) may be used to set an appropriate jitter offset as needed. Such a jitter offset may be used to shift the start offset of the PDCCH monitoring (by + / - the "jitter offset" value) for at least one of the periodic PDCCH monitoring occasions. The jitter offset value may be given, for example, in number of slots. Option 4: A symbol level offset may be used to adjust the starting offset of the configured uplink grant. For example, such a symbol level offset ("kOffsetSymbols") may be calculated using the following formula:

number

[0041] To provide improved support for XR traffic, this symbol level offset may be taken into account when determining the location of the configured uplink grant.

[0042] Once the start (symbol / slot) of the configured uplink grant is determined (e.g., based on "kOffsetSymbols"), the UE 3 can transmit uplink data for several consecutive slots of the configured grant burst. The number of consecutive slots may be indicated using an appropriate DCI field (e.g., the "cg-nrofSlot" field).

[0043] In summary, the UE 3 receives configuration information for determining at least one location of resources for transmission / reception associated with a data stream, the configuration information including information identifying a period and information identifying an offset, and calculates / adjusts the offset at the slot and / or symbol level based on a frame rate (e.g., 60 fps or 120 fps) associated with the data stream.

[0044] User Equipment (UE) FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the main components of the mobile device (UE) 3 shown in FIG. 1. As shown, the UE 3 includes transceiver circuitry 31 operable to transmit signals to and receive signals from connected nodes via one or more antennas 33. While not necessarily shown in FIG. 2, the UE 3 naturally has all the usual functionality of a conventional mobile device (such as a user interface 35), which may be provided by any one or any combination of hardware, software, and firmware, as appropriate. A controller 37 controls the operation of the UE 3 according to software stored in memory 39. The software may be pre-installed in memory 39 and / or downloaded, for example, via the telecommunications network 1 or from a removable data storage device (RMD). The software includes, among other things, an operating system 41, a communication control module 43, and a power saving module 45 (such as a DRX module).

[0045] The communications control module 43 is responsible for processing (generating / sending / receiving) signaling messages and uplink / downlink data packets between the UE 3 and other nodes, including the (R)AN node 5 and core network nodes. The signaling may include control signaling (e.g., via RRC / MAC / PHY / DCI) related to power saving operations and / or configured grants. It will be understood that the communications control module 43 may include several sub-modules (“layers” or “entities”) to support specific functions. For example, the communications control module 43 may include a PHY sub-module, a MAC sub-module, an RLC sub-module, a PDCP sub-module, an SDAP sub-module, an IP sub-module, an RRC sub-module, etc.

[0046] The power save / DRX module 45 is responsible for obtaining the appropriate configuration for power save operation (e.g., via the communication control module 43). Power save is typically achieved by turning off certain components (e.g., the transceiver circuitry 31) for a period of time and monitoring the PDCCH discontinuously (only during certain slots / symbols). If discontinuous reception (DRX) is used, the power save module 45 includes DRX control functionality.

[0047] Access network node (base station) FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the main components of the base station 5 (or a similar access network node) shown in FIG. 1. As shown, the base station 5 includes transceiver circuitry 51 operable to transmit signals to and receive signals from connected UEs 3 via one or more antennas 53, and to transmit signals to and receive signals from other network nodes (directly or indirectly) via a network interface 55. The network interface 55 typically includes an appropriate base station-to-base station interface (e.g., X2 / Xn) and an appropriate base station-to-core network interface (e.g., S1 / N1 / N2 / N3). A controller 57 controls the operation of the base station 5 according to software stored in memory 59. The software may be pre-installed in memory 59 and / or downloaded, for example, via the telecommunications network 1 or from a removable data storage device (RMD). The software includes, among other things, an operating system 61, a communication control module 63, and a power saving control module 65.

[0048] The communication control module 63 is responsible for processing (generating / transmitting / receiving) signaling between the base station 5 and other nodes, such as the UE 3 and core network nodes. The signaling may include control signaling (e.g., via RRC / MAC / PHY / DCI) related to power saving operations and / or configured grants. It will be understood that the communication control module 63 may include several sub-modules (“layers” or “entities”) to support specific functions. For example, the communication control module 63 may include a PHY sub-module, a MAC sub-module, an RLC sub-module, a PDCP sub-module, an SDAP sub-module, an IP sub-module, an RRC sub-module, etc.

[0049] The power saving control module 65 is responsible for providing the UE 3 (e.g., via the communication control module 63) with appropriate configurations for power saving operation applicable to the UE 3. If power saving is achieved using discontinuous reception (DRX), the power saving control module 65 includes a DRX control function.

[0050] Core Network Functions Figure 4 is a block diagram illustrating the main components of a typical core network function, such as the CPF 10 or UPF 11 shown in Figure 1. As shown, the core network function includes transceiver circuitry 71 operable to transmit signals to and receive signals from other nodes (including UEs 3, base stations 5, and other core network nodes) via a network interface 75. A controller 77 controls the operation of the core network function in accordance with software stored in memory 79. The software may be pre-installed in memory 79 and / or may be downloaded, for example, via the telecommunications network 1 or from a removable data storage device (RMD). The software includes, among other things, an operating system 81 and a communications control module 83.

[0051] The communication control module 83 is responsible for handling (generating / sending / receiving) signaling between the core network functions and other nodes such as the UE 3, base stations 5 and other core network nodes.

[0052] Detailed Description XR traffic is often characterized by multiple data flows (e.g., separate flows for the left and right eyes, separate audio data). In a so-called dual-eye buffer model of data, left and right eye frames arrive separately. In a specific two-stream model, the XR video and audio streams may have different periodicities (e.g., 16.6667 and 10 ms, respectively), different packet delay budgets (e.g., 10 ms vs. 30 ms), and different packet sizes. Therefore, configuring suitable PDCCH monitoring for XR / CG traffic using existing technologies while also benefiting from optimal power savings can be challenging.

[0053] To allow the UE 3 to achieve some power savings, the UE 3 does not need to continuously monitor the PDCCH even if it has an ongoing communication session related to one or more services. In DRX / connected mode DRX (C-DRX), data transmissions for the UE 3 may be scheduled (performed) during the active time of the UE 3. For XR traffic and certain types of CG traffic, the active time of the UE 3 may be aligned with the packet arrival period, at least at the slot level.

[0054] To address potential timing misalignment and jitter for certain data streams, such as XR / CG data streams, several solutions are described below, with it being understood that certain aspects of the various solutions may be applicable to all solutions (or may be combined), even if not explicitly stated in the associated description.

[0055] Solution 1 In this solution, PDCCH monitoring is adapted for XR (or CG) services. Specifically, the periodicity and offset of PDCCH monitoring are adjusted to support a specific periodicity of XR traffic, such as 8.33 ms or 16.67 ms. Since this is not an integer value, the PDCCH search space configuration may need to be adjusted periodically using one of the following methods:

[0056] For XR, the DL / UL traffic characteristics can be known at the time of arrival of the first packet, so the necessary adjustments to the applicable search space configuration can be determined in advance.

[0057] The UE 3 may be configured with the applicable search space set and / or adjustments to the search space set via appropriate control signaling, e.g., RRC signaling including an appropriately formatted information element. The signaling (information element) may carry the search space set configuration for the UE 3, including information regarding an additional offset indicating the difference between the multiple PDCCH periodicity and the XR packet arrival timing. The additional offset may be referred to as an “XR-specific offset,” “fps-specific offset,” “search space adjustment offset,” etc., and may be defined, for example, as part of a slot. The additional offset is applied by the UE 3 to determine whether the current slot is included in the search space configured for that UE 3. Effectively, using such an XR-specific offset, the UE 3 can determine (after how many periodic occurrences of the search space set) it needs to adjust the search space set to align with the PDCCH corresponding to the arrival of XR traffic. This approach is more power-efficient and requires less control signaling than switching search spaces via dynamic scheduling / DCI, since the search space set configuration needs to be provided to the UE 3 only once (when the XR stream starts). Alternatively, UE 3 may implicitly derive the search space set configuration based on characteristics of the received stream or from information contained in the stream (eg, frame rate information).

[0058] It will be appreciated that when configuring UE3 with XR specific offsets, the following options may be followed: Option 1: The XR-specific offset may be activated / deactivated by an appropriate DCI field, for example, the PDCCH monitoring adaptation field of DCI format 0_1, DCI format 1_1, DCI format 0_2, and / or DCI format 1_2 that schedules PUSCH transmission or PDSCH reception (e.g., when searchSpaceGroupIdList-r17 is not provided to UE 3), or the PDCCH monitoring adaptation field of DCI format 0_1, DCI format 1_1, DCI format 0_2, or DCI format 1_2 that schedules PUSCH transmission or PDSCH reception (e.g., when PDCCH SkippingDurationList is not provided to UE 3). In this case, the XR-specific offset may be indicated by setting the field to the value “11” (if two bits are present) or by adding at least one new bit (e.g., a third bit). It will be understood that a dedicated (XR) offset activation field may be used instead of the PDCCH monitoring adaptation field of the appropriate DCI format. Option 2: XR-specific PDCCH monitoring may be supported by a specific (new) value of the "monitoringSlotPeriodicityAndOffset" information element. For example, one of the following values ​​may be used: "sl8", "sl17", "sl32", "sl33", "sl64", "sl66", "sl128", "sl133", "sl256", and "sl266". This option is described in detail with reference to "Solution 2". Option 3: An appropriate DCI field (such as the PDCCH monitoring adaptation field) may be used to set an appropriate jitter offset as needed. Such jitter offset may be used to shift the start offset of the PDCCH monitoring (by + / - the "jitter offset" value) for at least one of the periodic PDCCH monitoring occasions. In this case, one bit may be used to select one of two configuration values ​​of the offset (e.g., -1 / +1), two bits may be used to select one of four configuration values ​​of the offset (e.g., -2 / -1 / +1 / +2), and so on. This value may represent, for example, the number of slots.

[0059] Beneficially, since the UE 3 knows exactly which slots carry the search space for a given XR stream (or CG stream, if applicable), it can optimize power saving (and minimize the number of failed or missed PDCCH receptions) by defining one or more of the above PDCCH monitoring parameters.

[0060] New definition of the search space set parameter The monitoringSlotPeriodicityAndOffset information element configures the timing of the search space set based on the formula: For a 30 KHz subcarrier spacing (SCS), there are 20 slots per frame. The search space set is determined by the following formula: (frame(f) x 20 + slot(μ,s,f) - offset - k(μ) + jitter) mod period = 0 occurs during slot (μ,s,f) in frame (f) where is true, where "μ" is a value associated with the SCS configuration of the cell (see Table 1) and "s,f" represent slot indices. Jitter is optional or may default to "0" unless a different value is indicated. The value of "k(μ)" is calculated using the following formula:

number

[0061] Effectively, k(μ) represents an additional offset applied on top of the offset configured via the monitoringSlotPeriodicityAndOffset information element, where this additional offset depends on the value of 'μ' and the periodic index. As a result, the total offset includes two parts: a static part given by the value of 'offset' in the first equation, and a variable part given by 'k(μ)'. [Table 1]

[0062] Figure 5 shows schematically an example XR search space configuration for an 8.33 ms stream (corresponding to a 120 fps frame rate) to which the above formula may be applicable. For the 30 kHz SCS used in this example, there are 20 slots per frame. The following parameters are used: offset = 0; period = 8 ms; μ = 1; fps = 120. The offset and period are configured using an appropriately formatted monitoringSlotPeriodicityAndOffset information element.

[0063] In FIG. 5, the black slots indicate slots where the search space is generated based on a period of 8 slots (ie, 8 ms), and the arrows indicate slots where the period does not match the actual arrival time of the data packets.

[0064] The difference between a data packet's actual arrival slot (given in multiples of 8.33 ms) and the nearest slot (given in multiples of the 8 ms period) gradually increases, resulting in failure or delay in receiving a particular data packet. In this example, the search space set occurs between slot #0 and slot #17 (in the first frame), slot #34 (which is slot #14 in the second frame), slot #50 (slot #10 in the third frame), slot #67 (slot #7 in the fourth frame), etc. As can be seen, this difference increases to approximately one slot in the first frame (the frame with index f=0 in this example), further increases to two slots in the second and third frames (f=1 and f=2, respectively), and to three slots in the fourth frame (f=3).

[0065] Beneficially, for each slot μ, UE 3 can derive k(μ) using the above equation. In this example, k=0 for slot #0, k=1 for slot #17, k=2 for slot #34, k=2 for slot #50, k=3 for slot #67, etc. Effectively, UE 3 (and the network) can use the current value of k as an additional offset (in the above equation) to find the actual slot in which the search space occurs, and UE 3 can monitor the PDCCH accordingly.

[0066] It will be appreciated that the above formula may be used when the XR-specific offset (k) is activated according to Option 1 above. If the XR-specific offset is deactivated, the search space set may be determined using the following formula: (frame(f) x 20 + slot(μ,s,f) - offset) mod period = 0

[0067] Alternatively, if a jitter offset value is provided, for example as described in option 3) above, the search space set may be determined using the following formula: (frame (f) x 20 + slot (μ, s, f) - offset + jitter) mod period = 0

[0068] Solution 2 The so-called monitoringSlotPeriodicityAndOffset information element indicates to the UE 3 the slots for PDCCH monitoring. The slots for PDCCH monitoring are configured using a periodicity and an offset. For example, Clause 10 of 3GPP TS 38.213 V16.8.0 (Non-Patent Document 7) specifies that if the UE is configured to monitor DCI format 2_1, only the values ​​"sl1", "sl2", or "sl4" are applicable; if the UE is configured to monitor DCI format 2_0, only the values ​​"sl1", "sl2", "sl4", "sl5", "sl8", "sl10", "sl16", and "sl20" are applicable; and if the UE is configured to monitor DCI format 2_4, only the values ​​"sl1", "sl2", "sl4", "sl5", "sl8", and "sl10" are applicable.

[0069] Beneficially, in this system, if a UE 3 is configured to monitor a particular stream (e.g., an XR stream) with a periodicity of 8.33 ms or 16.66 ms, then the values ​​"sl8", "sl16", "sl32", "sl64", "sl128", or "sl256" are applicable to that UE 3 (depending on the SCS). In summary, the SearchSpace information element defines how / where to search for PDCCH candidates. Each search space is associated with a control resource set. Further details of search space configuration using the SearchSpace information element and the monitoringSlotPeriodicityAndOffset information element are provided below, including the values ​​discussed herein. [Table 2]

[0070] These values ​​are not closely aligned with the periods of other SCSs or CSI-RSs, but it will be appreciated that values ​​of "sl17", "sl33", "sl66", "sl133", or "sl266" may also be used (which are closer to the periods of 8.33 ms and 16.66 ms).

[0071] It will be appreciated that this scheme may be extended to 480 and 960 kHz SCSs (by adding relevant values ​​to the information elements as necessary). However, the UE blind decoding capability for 480 and 960 kHz SCSs is based on groups of 4 and 8 slots, respectively. This means that the UE decodes the PDCCH as a group rather than individual slots. Therefore, for 480 and 960 kHz SCSs, the skip period may be based on the group size as a step function. The step functions are 4 and 8 slots for 480 and 960 kHz SCSs, respectively.

[0072] Solution 3 In the DL, a single DCI may schedule multiple slots to deliver an XR packet. In the UL, a burst of the configured grant over several consecutive slots may be required to deliver an XR packet. In this case, the starting offset of the configured grant is adjusted as described in Solution 1 to encompass the configured grant-specific period (given in number of symbols) indicated via the "periodicity" field of the ConfiguredGrantConfig information element.

[0073] The "Period" field is defined as the period of UL transmission without UL grant for Type 1 and Type 2. Table 2 shows the currently supported periods for each subcarrier spacing. [Table 3]

[0074] A symbol level offset is used to adjust the starting offset of the configured grant. In this example, this symbol level offset, called "kOffsetSymbols", is calculated using the following formula:

number

[0075] Section 5.8.2 of 3GPP TS 38.321 V16.7.0 (Non-Patent Document 8) includes a formula for determining the position of an uplink grant configured based on several parameters. In this case, for improved support for XR traffic, a symbol-level offset is achieved by adapting the formula to include the value of "kOffsetSymbols" derived using the approach described above.

[0076] More specifically, after an uplink grant has been configured for configured grant type 1, the MAC entity shall sequentially consider the Nth (N≧0) uplink grant occurring in that symbol: Here, [(SFN × numberOfSlotsPerFrame × numberOfSymbolsPerSlot) + (slot number in frame × numberOfSymbolsPerSlot) + symbol number in slot] = (timeReferenceSFN × numberOfSlotsPerFrame × numberOfSymbolsPerSlot + timeDomainOffset × numberOfSymbolsPerSlot + startSymbol + N × period + kOffsetSymbols) modulo (1024 × numberOfSlotsPerFrame × numberOfSymbolsPerSlot).

[0077] After the configured grant type 2 uplink grant has been configured, the MAC entity shall sequentially consider the Nth (N ≥ 0) uplink grant occurring in that symbol: Here, [(SFN × numberOfSlotsPerFrame × numberOfSymbolsPerSlot) + (slot number in frame × numberOfSymbolsPerSlot) + symbol number in slot] = [(SFN start time ×numberOfSlotsPerFrame×numberOfSymbolsPerSlot+slot start time ×numberOfSymbolsPerSlot+symbol start time ) + N × period + kOffsetSymbols] modulo (1024 × numberOfSlotsPerFrame × numberOfSymbolsPerSlot). Here, SFN start time , slot start time , and symbol start time are the SFN, slot, and symbol, respectively, of the first transmission opportunity of the PUSCH for which the configured uplink grant is (re)initialized.

[0078] Once the start (symbol / slot) of the configured uplink grant is determined (e.g., based on "kOffsetSymbols"), the UE 3 may transmit uplink data for a given duration. The duration refers to the number of consecutive slots of the configured grant burst, which may be indicated using an appropriate DCI field (either a new one, such as the "cg-nrofSlot" field, or by reusing an existing one). Resource allocation may be based on the average / median packet size or 90% tile packet size, which may be appropriate in most cases where packet size variation is relatively small. In the few time instances where the configured grant resources are insufficient, additional resources may be requested using dynamic scheduling.

[0079] Currently, if cg-nrofSlot is configured for configured grant type 1 or grant type 2, the MAC entity shall consider the uplink grant to occur in an additional PUSCH allocation as specified in clause 6.1.2.3 of 3GPP TS 38.214 V16.8.0. If the higher layer parameter pusch-RepTypeIndicator in rrc-ConfiguredUplinkGrant is configured and set to determine the PUSCH repetition type, then for both Type 1 and Type 2 PUSCH transmissions with the configured grant, if K>1, the UE shall repeat a Transport Block (TB) over K consecutive slots applying the same symbol allocation in each slot, unless the UE is provided with higher layer parameters cg-nrofSlots and cg-nrofPUSCH-InSlot, in which case the UE shall repeat a TB in the repK earliest consecutive transmission opportunity candidates within the same configuration.

[0080] Currently, only the same transport block may be transmitted in K consecutive slots of the configured grant allocation. However, in this system, if the PUSCH repetition type is not configured, the parameter "cg-nrofSlot" may be reused to transmit different transport blocks. Therefore, in this case, the parameter "cg-nrofSlot" is configured to indicate the duration (i.e., the number of consecutive slots) of the uplink transmission within the currently configured grant burst.

[0081] Modifications and Substitutions

[0033] Detailed embodiments have been described above. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, several modifications and alternatives may be made to the above embodiments while still benefiting from the teachings embodied therein. By way of example, only some of these alternatives and modifications are described herein.

[0082] It will be appreciated that a higher frame rate layer parameter may be used to configure the "frames per second" for XR. This parameter may be used by the UE to calculate kOffsetSymbols and k(μ) and may be part of the Data Radio Bearer (DRB) or MAC configuration.

[0083] It will be understood that the above embodiments may be applied to both the 5G new radio system and the LTE system (E-UTRAN), and may also be applied to future systems (beyond 5G, 6G, etc.).

[0084] In the above description, for ease of understanding, the UE, the access network node (base station), and the core network node are described as having several separate modules (e.g., a communication control module). While these modules may be provided as described above in certain applications, for example, where an existing system is modified to implement the present disclosure, in other applications, for example, in systems designed from the beginning with the features of the present invention in mind, these modules may be incorporated into an overall operating system or code, and therefore may not be identifiable as separate entities. These modules may be implemented in software, hardware, firmware, or a combination thereof.

[0085] The software module or program includes instructions (or software code) that, when loaded into a computer, cause the computer to perform one or more of the functions described in the embodiments. The program may be stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium or a tangible storage medium. By way of example and not limitation, the non-transitory computer-readable medium or tangible storage medium may include random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, solid-state drive (SSD) or other types of memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disc (DVD), Blu-ray disc or other types of optical disk storage, and magnetic cassette, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other types of magnetic storage. The program may be transmitted on a transient computer-readable medium or communication medium. By way of example and not limitation, the transient computer-readable medium or communication medium may include an electrical, optical, acoustic or other form of propagated signal.

[0086] Each controller may comprise any suitable form of processing circuitry including (but not limited to) one or more hardware-implemented computer processors, microprocessors, central processing units (CPUs), arithmetic logic units (ALUs), input / output (IO) circuitry, internal memory / cache (program and / or data), processing registers, communication buses (e.g., control buses, data buses and / or address buses), direct memory access (DMA) functionality, hardware or software-implemented counters, pointers and / or timers, etc. In the above embodiments, several software modules have been described. As will be understood by those skilled in the art, the software modules may be provided in compiled or uncompiled form and may be supplied to the UE, the access network node (base station), and the core network node via a computer network or as a signal on a recording medium. Furthermore, the functions implemented by some or all of this software may be performed using one or more dedicated hardware circuits. However, it is preferable to use software modules to facilitate updating the functions of the UE, the access network node, and the core network node.

[0087] It will be appreciated that the functionality of a base station (referred to as a "distributed" base station or gNB) may be divided between one or more distributed units (DUs) and a central unit (CU), with the CU typically performing high-level functions and communication with the next-generation core, and the DU performing lower-level functions and communication over the air interface with nearby UEs (i.e., in the cell operated by the gNB). A distributed gNB includes the following functional units: gNB Central Unit (gNB-CU): A logical node that hosts the Radio Resource Control (RRC), Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP), and Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layers of a gNB (or the RRC and PDCP layers of an en-gNB) that controls the operation of one or more gNB-DUs. The gNB-CU terminates the so-called F1 interface connected to the gNB-DU. gNB Distributed Unit (gNB-DU): A logical node that hosts the Radio Link Control (RLC), Medium Access Control (MAC), and Physical (PHY) layers of a gNB or en-gNB, and its operation is partially controlled by the gNB-CU. One gNB-DU supports one or more cells. One cell is supported by only one gNB-DU. The gNB-DU terminates the F1 interface connected to the gNB-CU. gNB-CU-Control Plane (gNB-CU-CP): A logical node that hosts the control plane part of the RRC and PDCP protocols of the gNB-CU for an en-gNB or gNB. The gNB-CU-CP terminates the so-called E1 interface connected to the gNB-CU-UP and the F1-C (F1 control plane) interface connected to the gNB-DU. gNB-CU-User Plane (gNB-CU-UP): A logical node that hosts the user plane portion of the PDCP protocol of the gNB-CU for the en-gNB, as well as the user plane portions of the PDCP protocol and SDAP protocol of the gNB-CU for the gNB. The gNB-CU-UP terminates the E1 interface connected to the gNB-CU-CP and the F1-U (F1 user plane) interface connected to the gNB-DU.

[0088] It will be understood that when a distributed base station or similar control plane-user plane (CP-UP) division is employed, the base station may be divided into separate control plane and user plane entities, each of which may include associated transceiver circuitry, antennas, network interfaces, controllers, memory, operating systems, and communication control modules. When the base station constitutes a distributed base station, the network interface (reference numeral 55 in FIG. 3) also includes an E1 interface and an F1 interface (F1-C for the control plane and F1-U for the user plane) to communicate signals between the respective functions of the distributed base station. In this case, the communication control module is also responsible for communication (generating, transmitting, and receiving signaling messages) between the control plane and user plane portions of the base station. It will be understood that when a distributed base station is used, it is not necessary to include both a control plane portion and a user plane portion for preemption of communication resources, as described in the above embodiment. It will be understood that preemption may be handled by the user plane portion of the base station without involving the control plane portion (or vice versa).

[0089] The above embodiments are also applicable to "non-mobile" or generally stationary user equipment. The mobile devices mentioned above may comprise MTC / IoT devices, etc.

[0090] User equipment (or "UE," "mobile station," "mobile device," or "wireless device") in this disclosure is an entity that connects to a network via an air interface.

[0091] It should be noted that the present disclosure is not limited to dedicated communication devices, but may be applied to any device having communication capabilities as described in the following paragraphs.

[0092] The terms "user equipment" or "UE" (as the term is used in 3GPP), "mobile station," "mobile device," and "wireless device" are generally intended to be synonymous with each other and include standalone mobile stations such as terminals, cell phones, smartphones, tablets, cellular IoT devices, IoT devices, and machines. It will be understood that the terms "mobile station" and "mobile device" also encompass devices that remain stationary for extended periods of time.

[0093] The UE may be, for example, an item of equipment for production or manufacturing and / or energy-related machinery (e.g., equipment or machinery such as boilers; engines; turbines; solar panels; wind turbines; hydroelectric generators; thermal power plants; nuclear generators; batteries; nuclear systems and / or related equipment; heavy electrical machinery; pumps including vacuum pumps; compressors; fans; blowers; hydraulic equipment; pneumatic equipment; metalworking machinery; manipulators; robots and / or application systems thereof; tools; molds or dies; rolls; conveying equipment; lifting equipment; material handling equipment; textile machinery; sewing equipment; printing and / or related machinery; paper converting machinery; chemical machinery; mining machinery and / or construction machinery and / or related equipment; machinery and / or implements for the agricultural, forestry and / or fisheries industries; safety and / or environmental protection equipment; tractors; precision bearings; chains; gears; power transmission equipment; lubrication equipment; valves; pipe fittings; and / or application systems for any of the foregoing equipment or machinery, etc.).

[0094] A UE may be, for example, an item of transportation equipment (e.g., transportation equipment such as rolled materials; automobiles; motorcycles; bicycles; trains; buses; carts; human-powered vehicles; ships and other watercraft; aircraft; rockets; satellites; drones; balloons, etc.).

[0095] A UE may be, for example, an item of information and communications equipment (e.g., information and communications equipment such as electronic computers and related equipment; communications and related equipment; electronic components; etc.).

[0096] The UE may be, for example, a refrigeration machine, a refrigeration machine application product, an item of goods and / or service industry equipment, a vending machine, an automated service machine, an office machine or appliance, a consumer electronic device and an electronic appliance (e.g., consumer electronic devices such as audio equipment; video equipment; speakers; radios; televisions; microwave ovens; rice cookers; coffee machines; dishwashers; washing machines; dryers; electronic fans or related equipment; vacuum cleaners, etc.).

[0097] The UE may be, for example, an electrical application system or equipment (eg, an electrical application system or equipment such as an x-ray system; a particle accelerator; a radioisotope equipment; a sonic equipment; an electromagnetic application equipment; an electronic power application equipment, etc.).

[0098] The UE may be, for example, an electronic lamp, a lighting fixture, a measuring instrument, an analyzer, a tester, or a surveying or sensing device (e.g., a smoke alarm, a motion sensor, a radio tag, or other surveying or sensing device), a wristwatch or watch, an inspection device, an optical device, a medical device and / or system, a weapon, an item of cutlery, a hand tool, etc.

[0099] The UE may be, for example, a wireless-equipped personal digital assistant or related equipment (e.g., a wireless card or module designed to be attached to or inserted into another electronic device (e.g., a personal computer, electrical measuring machine)). The UE may be part of a device or system that uses various wired and / or wireless communication technologies to provide the applications, services, and solutions described below with respect to the "Internet of Things" (IoT).

[0100] Internet of Things devices (or "Things") may be equipped with appropriate electronics, software, sensors, network connectivity, etc. that enable these devices to collect and exchange data with each other and other communicating devices. IoT devices may include automated equipment that follows software instructions stored in internal memory. IoT devices may operate without the need for human supervision or interaction. IoT devices may also remain stationary and / or inactive for extended periods of time. IoT devices may also be implemented as part of (generally) stationary equipment. IoT devices may also be embedded in non-stationary equipment (e.g., vehicles) or attached to animals or people being monitored / tracked.

[0101] It will be appreciated that IoT technology can be implemented in any communication device that can connect to a communication network and send / receive data, whether such communication device is controlled by human input or by software instructions stored in a memory.

[0102] It will be understood that IoT devices may also be referred to as Machine-Type Communication (MTC) devices or Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication devices. It will be understood that a UE may support one or more IoT or MTC applications. Some examples of MTC applications are listed in the table below (Source: 3GPP TS 22.368 V13.1.0 (Non-Patent Document 10), Annex B, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference). This list is not exhaustive and is intended to illustrate some examples of machine-type communication applications. [Table 4]

[0103] The applications, services, and solutions may be Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) services, emergency wireless communication systems, Private Branch eXchange (PBX) systems, PHS / digital cordless telecommunications systems, Point of sale (POS) systems, announcement call systems, Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Service (MBMS), Vehicle to Everything (V2X) systems, train radio systems, location-related services, disaster / emergency wireless communication services, community services, video streaming services, femtocell application services, Voice over LTE (VoLTE) services, billing services, wireless on-demand services, roaming services, activity monitoring services, telecommunications carrier / communication network selection services, function restriction services, Proof of Concept (PoC) services, personal information management services, ad hoc networks / Delay Tolerant Networking (DTN) services, and the like.

[0104] Furthermore, the above-mentioned UE categories are merely examples of applications of the technical concepts and embodiments described herein, and of course, these technical concepts and embodiments are not limited to the above-mentioned UEs and various modifications are possible.

[0105] Adjusting the value of the first offset may include calculating an offset adjustment value using at least one formula. The offset adjustment value may be calculated using the following formula:

number

[0106] The method performed by the UE is based on the following equation: (frame(f) × 20 + slot(μ,s,f) - offset - k(μ)) mod period = 0 determining that the search space occurs in slot (μ,s,f) in frame (f) if where "offset" is the first offset, "k(μ)" is the offset adjustment value, "μ" is a value associated with the subcarrier spacing, and "period" is the search space period in slots.

[0107] The method performed by the UE is based on the following equation: (frame(f) x 20 + slot(μ,s,f) - offset - k(μ) + jitter) mod period = 0 determining that the search space occurs in a particular slot (μ,s,f) within frame (f) if where "offset" is the first offset, "k(μ)" is the offset adjustment value, "jitter" is the jitter value associated with the data stream, "μ" is a value indicating the subcarrier spacing, and "period" is the search space period in slots.

[0108] The configuration information may be included in the monitoringSlotPeriodicityAndOffset information element.

[0109] The method performed by the UE may further include activating or deactivating the adjustment of the first offset for the data stream based on a field of a Downlink Control Information (DCI) format. The method performed by the UE may include activating or deactivating the adjustment of the first offset when a "PDCCH Monitoring Adaptation" field of the DCI format is set to a value of "11."

[0110] The method performed by the UE may further include receiving information identifying a further offset related to jitter associated with the data stream, and adjusting the first offset based on the further offset. The information identifying the further offset may be included in a field of the DCI format.

[0111] The first period may be defined as the number of slots between consecutive search spaces, and the value of the first period may be set to one of 8 slots, 17 slots, 32 slots, 33 slots, 64 slots, 66 slots, 128 slots, 133 slots, 256 slots, and 266 slots. The first period may be set to one of "sl8", "sl17", "sl32", "sl33", "sl64", "sl66", "sl128", "sl133", "sl256", and "sl266" in the monitoringSlotPeriodicityAndOffset information element.

[0112] The method performed by the UE may further include monitoring a search space for a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) associated with the data stream.

[0113] The data stream may be associated with at least one of an augmented reality service and a cloud gaming service.

[0114] The configuration information may be for a configured grant associated with the data stream, the first period may be for the configured grant, and the offset may be a slot-level offset, and the method may include adjusting the slot-level offset using a symbol-level offset derived based on a frame rate or a period associated with the data stream.

[0115] The symbol level offset may be derived using an equation. For example, the symbol level offset may be derived using the following equation:

number

[0116] The method performed by the UE may further include determining that the search space occurs at a particular symbol if: After an uplink grant is configured for grant type 1, the Nth (N≧0) uplink grant occurs within a symbol: Here, [(SFN × numberOfSlotsPerFrame × numberOfSymbolsPerSlot) + (slot number in frame × numberOfSymbolsPerSlot) + symbol number in slot] = (timeReferenceSFN × numberOfSlotsPerFrame × numberOfSymbolsPerSlot + timeDomainOffset × numberOfSymbolsPerSlot + startSymbol + N × period + kOffsetSymbols) modulo (1024 × numberOfSlotsPerFrame × numberOfSymbolsPerSlot), After an uplink grant is configured for grant type 2, the Nth (N≧0) uplink grant occurs within a symbol: Here, [(SFN × numberOfSlotsPerFrame × numberOfSymbolsPerSlot) + (slot number in frame × numberOfSymbolsPerSlot) + symbol number in slot] = [(SFN start time ×numberOfSlotsPerFrame×numberOfSymbolsPerSlot+slot start time ×numberOfSymbolsPerSlot+symbol start time ) + N × period + kOffsetSymbols] modulo (1024 × numberOfSlotsPerFrame × numberOfSymbolsPerSlot), Here, SFN start time , slot start time , and symbol start time are the system frame number (SFN), slot, and symbol, respectively, of the first transmission opportunity of the Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PUSCH) at which the configured uplink grant is (re)initialized, "period" is the configured grant period in symbols, "N" is for the Nth grant, and "kOffsetSymbols" is the symbol-level offset.

[0117] The method performed by the UE may further include determining the number of consecutive slots of the configured uplink grant burst based on information included in a field of a Downlink Control Information (DCI) format or a field of a Radio Resource Control (RRC) information element.

[0118] The RRC information element may include a 'cg-nrofSlot' field adapted to control transmission of different transport blocks if the PUSCH repetition type is not configured, and the method performed by the UE may include determining the number of consecutive slots of the configured uplink grant burst based on the 'cg-nrofSlot' field.

[0119] The method performed by the UE may further include receiving a Data Radio Bearer (DRB) or Medium Access Control (MAC) configuration associated with the data stream, the DRB configuration or MAC configuration including information identifying a frame rate associated with the data stream.

[0120] Various other modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art and will not be described in further detail here.

[0121] The previous description of the disclosed examples is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the present disclosure. Various modifications to these examples will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other examples without departing from the spirit or scope of the present disclosure. Thus, the present disclosure is not intended to be limited to the examples shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

[0122] This application claims the benefit of priority from UK Patent Application No. 2205935.6, filed April 22, 2022, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

[0123] All or part of the above-described embodiments may also be described as, but not limited to, the following supplementary notes. (Appendix 1) 1. A method performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: receiving configuration information for determining a location of at least one of resources for transmission / reception associated with a data stream, the configuration information including information identifying a first period and information identifying an offset; adjusting the offset based on a frame rate or a second period associated with the data stream; A method comprising: (Appendix 2) The configuration information is for monitoring a search space associated with the data stream; The first cycle is for monitoring the search space, The offset is the first offset, The method described in Appendix 1. (Appendix 3) adjusting the value of the first offset includes calculating an offset adjustment value using at least one equation; The method described in Appendix 2. (Appendix 4) The offset adjustment value is calculated using the following formula:

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[0124] 1. Telecommunications Systems 3,3A,3B Mobile Device, UE 5 Base Station, (R)AN Node 7 Core Network 10 Control Plane Function (CPF) 11 User Plane Function (UPF) 20 Data Network 31 Transceiver Circuit 33 Antenna 35 User Interface 37 Controller 39 Memory 41 Operating Systems 43 Communication Control Module 45 Power Saving Module 51 Transceiver circuit 53 Antenna 55 Network Interface 57 Controller 59 Memory 61 Operating Systems 63 Communication Control Module 65 Power saving control module 71 Transceiver Circuit 75 network interfaces 77 Controller 79 Memory 81 Operating Systems 83 Communication Control Module

Claims

1. A means for receiving configuration information for determining at least one location of resources for transmission of different transport blocks corresponding to a data stream when repeated transmission of the same transport block is not supported, the configuration information including a first parameter indicating the number of slots of at least one consecutive slot of a transmission opportunity for said data stream within a period within the configuration of a currently configured grant; means for performing the transmission of the different transport blocks corresponding to the data stream in the at least one consecutive slot using the first parameters adapted for the transmission of the different transport blocks in the configured grant without using second parameters used for repeated transmission of the same transport block in the configured grant; A user equipment (UE) comprising:

2. the means for performing performs the transmission of the different transport blocks corresponding to the data stream for each slot. The user equipment of claim 1 .

3. the configuration information is for monitoring a search space corresponding to the data stream; the number of slots for the monitoring of the search space.

3. A user equipment according to claim 1 or 2.

4. means for adjusting the performance of the transmission of the different transport blocks by calculating adjustment values ​​for the transmission of the different transport blocks. The user equipment of claim 3 .

5. and means for activating or deactivating the adjusting means from performing the adjustment based on information included in Downlink Control Information (DCI).

5. The user equipment of claim 4.

6. means for receiving information indicating an offset corresponding to jitter corresponding to the data stream; the adjusting means performs the adjustment based on the offset.

5. The user equipment of claim 4.

7. said adjusting means being performed at a symbol level based on a frame rate or period corresponding to said data stream; 5. The user equipment of claim 4.

8. Means for transmitting to a user equipment (UE) configuration information for determining at least one location of resources for reception of different transport blocks corresponding to a data stream when repeated reception of the same transport block is not supported, the configuration information including a first parameter indicating a slot number of at least one consecutive slot of a reception opportunity for said data stream within a period within the configuration of a currently configured grant; means for performing the reception of the different transport blocks corresponding to the data stream in the at least one consecutive slot using the first parameters adapted for reception of different transport blocks in a configured grant, without using second parameters used for repeated reception of the same transport block in a configured grant; A base station comprising:

9. Receiving configuration information for determining at least one location of resources for transmission of different transport blocks corresponding to a data stream when repeated transmission of the same transport block is not supported, the configuration information including a first parameter indicating a slot number of at least one consecutive slot of a transmission opportunity for said data stream within a period within the configuration of a currently configured grant; performing the transmission of the different transport blocks corresponding to the data stream in the at least one consecutive slot using the first parameters adapted for transmission of the different transport blocks in a configured grant, without using second parameters used for repeated transmission of the same transport block in a configured grant; A method in a user equipment (UE), comprising:

10. transmitting to a user equipment (UE) configuration information for determining at least one location of resources for reception of different transport blocks corresponding to a data stream when repeated reception of the same transport block is not supported, the configuration information including a first parameter indicating a slot number of at least one consecutive slot of a reception opportunity for said data stream within a time period within the configuration of a currently configured grant; performing the reception of the different transport blocks corresponding to the data stream in the at least one consecutive slot using the first parameters adapted for reception of different transport blocks in a configured grant without using second parameters used for repeated reception of the same transport block in a configured grant; A method in a base station, comprising:

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