Random Access Channel Procedures Commanded by PDCCH for Low-Capacity User Equipment

Abstract

Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques for a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) commanded Random Access Channel (RACH) procedure. The RACH procedure may be associated with a cell-defined synchronization signal block (SSB) or a non-cell-defined SSB. A method for wireless communication by a user equipment (UE) includes transmitting an indication of one or more capabilities of the UE, receiving a PDCCH instructing the UE to perform a RACH procedure on an uplink carrier based on the one or more capabilities of the UE, determining a minimum gap between a last symbol of the PDCCH and a first symbol of a RACH message, the minimum gap including a half-duplex (HD) switching delay, and performing the RACH procedure on the uplink carrier if the gap between the last symbol of the PDCCH and the first symbol of the RACH message is equal to or greater than the minimum gap.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] Cross-referencing of related technologies This application claims the interests and priority of U.S. Nonprovisional Patent Application No. 17 / 809,247, filed on 27 June 2022, which in turn claims the interests and priority of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 229,764, filed on 5 August 2021. These applications are assigned to the assignee of this Specified and are expressly incorporated herein by reference in their entirety for all applicable purposes, as if they were fully described below. [Background technology]

[0002] A part of this disclosure relates to wireless communications, and more particularly to a technique for instructing a low-capacity (RedCap) user device (UE) to perform a Random Access Channel (RACH) procedure.

[0003] Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide a variety of telecommunications services, including telephone, video, data, messaging, broadcast, or other similar types of services. These wireless communication systems can employ multiple access technologies to support communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., bandwidth, transmit power, or other resources) among multiple users. Multiple access technologies can rely on, to name a few, code division, time division, frequency division quadrature, single-carrier frequency division, or time division synchronous code division. These and other multiple access technologies are employed in various telecommunications standards to provide common protocols that enable various wireless devices to communicate at the municipal, national, regional, and even global levels.

[0004] Wireless communication systems have made significant technological advancements over the years, but challenges still remain. For example, in complex and dynamic environments, signals between wireless transmitters and receivers can still be attenuated or blocked, and various established wireless channel measurement and reporting mechanisms used to manage and optimize the use of finite wireless channel resources are compromised. Therefore, wireless communication systems need to be further improved to overcome these various challenges. [Overview of the Initiative]

[0005] In one embodiment, a method for wireless communication by a UE includes transmitting instructions for one or more capabilities of the UE; receiving a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) instructing the UE to perform a RACH procedure on an uplink carrier based on one or more capabilities of the UE; determining a minimum gap between the last symbol of the PDCCH and the first symbol of the RACH message, the minimum gap including half-duplex (HD) switching delays; and performing a RACH procedure on the uplink carrier if the gap between the last symbol of the PDCCH and the first symbol of the RACH message is greater than or equal to the minimum gap.

[0006] In one embodiment, a method for wireless communication by a network entity includes outputting a PDCCH to transmit to at least one UE instructing at least one UE to perform a RACH procedure based on one or more capabilities of at least one UE, and retrieving a RACH message from at least one UE after a minimum gap between the last symbol of the PDCCH and the first symbol of the RACH message, wherein the minimum gap includes a half-duplex (HD) switching delay.

[0007] In one embodiment, a method for wireless communication by a UE includes transmitting instructions for one or more capabilities of the UE to a network entity; transmitting a channel status information report to the network entity; receiving a PDCCH instructing the UE to perform a certain type of RACH procedure on an uplink carrier using at least one of the uplink power control schemes of the type of coverage extension (CE) or RACH procedure, in a manner determined by the indicated capabilities of the UE; and performing a certain type of RACH procedure on an uplink carrier using an uplink power control scheme of the type of CE or RACH procedure, in accordance with the PDCCH.

[0008] In one embodiment, a method for wireless communication by a network entity includes transmitting a PDCCH to at least one UE instructing the UE to perform a certain type of RACH procedure using at least one of CE or power control schemes in a manner determined by the capabilities of the indicated UE, and participating in a type of RACH procedure with the UE in accordance with the PDCCH and the capabilities of the indicated UE.

[0009] Another embodiment provides an apparatus that is operable, configured or otherwise adapted to perform the methods described above and the methods described elsewhere in this specification; a non-temporary computer-readable medium containing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of the apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform the methods described above and the methods described elsewhere in this specification; a computer program product embodied on a computer-readable storage medium containing code for performing the methods described above and the methods described elsewhere in this specification; and means for performing the methods described above and the methods described elsewhere in this specification. As an example, the apparatus may include a processing system, a device comprising a processing system, or processing systems cooperating on one or more networks.

[0010] The following description and attached drawings illustrate specific features for illustrative purposes only. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0011] The accompanying drawings illustrate specific features of various aspects described in this specification and should not be regarded as limiting the scope of the present disclosure. [Figure 1] It is a block diagram conceptually showing an example of a wireless communication network. [Figure 2] It is a block diagram conceptually showing example aspects of a base station and user equipment. [Figure 3A] Shows various example aspects of the data structure of a wireless communication network. [Figure 3B] Shows various example aspects of the data structure of a wireless communication network. [Figure 3C] Shows various example aspects of the data structure of a wireless communication network. [Figure 3D] Shows various example aspects of the data structure of a wireless communication network. [Figure 4] Shows an example of a distributed base station (BS) architecture. [Figure 5] Shows a call flow diagram of an exemplary 4-step RACH procedure that can be commanded by PDCCH according to an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 6] Shows a call flow diagram of a 2-step RACH procedure that can be commanded by PDCCH according to an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 7] Shows a call flow diagram of an example of a RACH procedure commanded by PDCCH according to an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 8] Shows an example of UE operation for a RACH procedure commanded by PDCCH according to an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 9] Shows an example of UE operation for a RACH procedure commanded by PDCCH according to an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 10] Shows an example of network entity operation for a RACH procedure commanded by PDCCH according to an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 11]An example of the operation by a network entity for a RACH procedure commanded by PDCCH according to an aspect of the present disclosure is shown. [Figure 12] An example of a communication device according to an aspect of the present disclosure is shown. [Figure 13] An example of a communication device according to an aspect of the present disclosure is shown.

Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[0012] Aspects of the present disclosure provide an apparatus, method, processing system, and computer-readable medium for instructing a RedCap UE to execute a RACH procedure.

[0013] RACH can be a channel shared by multiple UEs and used by a UE to access the network for communication. The RACH procedure can be triggered by several events. For example, the RACH procedure can be triggered by initial access from the idle mode, connection re-establishment, downlink or uplink data arrival, scheduling request (SR) failure, and / or beam failure recovery (BFR).

[0014] In some examples, the RACH procedure can be commanded (triggered / commanded) by the network via a PDCCH that prompts a physical RACH (PRACH) transmission from the UE. In the case of such a PRACH transmission commanded by a PDCCH, the UE may require a minimum gap between the last symbol of the PDCCH and the first symbol of the PRACH transmission to provide sufficient time for the PRACH transmission. Unfortunately, the minimum gap of a full-capability (normal "legacy") UE may not provide sufficient preparation time for a low-capability UE that executes a 4-step RACH or a 2-step RACH. Furthermore, the minimum gap may not provide sufficient preparation time for a full-capability UE to support CE in a 4-step or 2-step RACH procedure commanded by a PDCCH.

[0015] However, aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques for extending 4-step and 2-step RACH procedures commanded by PDCCH to adapt to RACH having low-capacity UEs and / or CEs. Such extensions may include extending minimum gap time, coverage extension, power control extension, DCI format extension, extending PDCCH transmissions commanded by RACH from unicast to multicast, and extending from 4-step RACH to 2-step RACH.

[0016] The capability enhancements proposed here have several potential benefits. For example, extending the minimum gap may help address the degradation of UE capabilities (e.g., enabling half-duplex communication, relaxing the timeline, and increasing latency for reference signal received power (RSRP) measurements), while expanding power control and coverage may help improve link budgets and reduce intra-cell / inter-cell interference. Furthermore, extending PDCCH transmission from unicast to multicast may help reduce signaling overhead.

[0017] Overview of Wireless Communication Networks Figure 1 shows an example of a wireless communication system 100 in which embodiments described herein may be implemented.

[0018] Generally, the wireless communication system 100 includes one or more core networks such as BS102, UE104, Evolved Packet Core (EPC) 160, and 5G Core (5GC) network 190, which interoperate to provide wireless communication services.

[0019] BS102 can provide access points (APs) to the EPC160 and / or 5GC190 of UE104 and can perform one or more of the following functions: transfer of user data, encryption and decryption of wireless channels, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference adjustment, connection setup and release, load balancing, delivery of non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, radio access network (RAN) sharing, multimedia broadcast / multicast services (MBMS), subscriber and equipment tracing, RAN information management (RIM), paging, positioning, and delivery of warning messages. BS102 may include and / or be referred to as next-generation node B (gNB), node B, eNB, ng-eNB (e.g., an eNB extended to provide connectivity to both EPC160 and 5GC190), access points, base station transceivers, radio base stations, radio transceivers, or transmit / receive functions, or transmit / receive points in various contexts.

[0020] BS102 communicates wirelessly with UE104 via communication link 120. Each BS102 can provide communication coverage to its respective geographical coverage area 110, which may overlap in some cases. For example, a small cell 102' (e.g., a low-power base station) may have a coverage area 110' that overlaps with the coverage area 110 of one or more macrocells (e.g., high-power base stations).

[0021] The communication link 120 between BS102 and UE104 may include uplink (UL) (also called reverse link) transmission from UE104 to BS102, and / or downlink (DL) (also called forward link) transmission from BS102 to UE104. In various embodiments, the communication link 120 may utilize multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and / or transmit diversity.

[0022] Examples of UE104 include cellular phones, smartphones, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phones, laptops, personal digital assistants (PDAs), satellite radios, global positioning systems, multimedia devices, video devices, digital audio players, cameras, game consoles, tablets, smart devices, wearable devices, vehicles, electric meters, gas pumps, large or small kitchen appliances, healthcare devices, implants, sensors / actuators, displays, or other similar devices. Some UE104 may be Internet of Things (IoT) devices (e.g., parking meters, gas pumps, toasters, vehicles, cardiac monitors, or other IoT devices), always-on (AON) devices, or edge processing devices. More commonly, UE104 may also be called base stations, mobile stations, subscriber stations, mobile units, subscriber units, wireless units, remote units, mobile devices, wireless devices, wireless communication devices, remote devices, mobile subscriber stations, access terminals, mobile terminals, wireless terminals, remote terminals, handsets, user agents, mobile clients, or clients.

[0023] Communications using higher frequency bands may have greater path loss and shorter range compared to communications using lower frequencies. Therefore, certain base stations (e.g., BS180 in Figure 1) can improve path loss and range by utilizing beamforming with UE104. For example, BS180 and UE104 may each include multiple antennas, such as antenna elements, antenna panels, and / or antenna arrays, to facilitate beamforming.

[0024] In some examples, BS180 can transmit beamformed signals to UE104 in one or more transmit directions 182'. UE104 can receive beamformed signals from BS180 in one or more receive directions 182''. UE104 can also transmit beamformed signals to BS180 in one or more transmit directions 182''. BS180 can also receive beamformed signals from UE104 in one or more receive directions 182'. BS180 and UE104 can then perform beam training to determine the best receive and transmit directions for BS180 and UE104, respectively. In particular, the transmit and receive directions of BS180 may or may not be the same. Similarly, the transmit and receive directions of UE104 may or may not be the same.

[0025] The wireless communication network 100 includes a PDCCH-commanded RACH component 199 which may be configured to transmit a PDCCH to command a RACH procedure. The wireless communication network 100 further includes a PDCCH-commanded RACH component 198 which may be configured to execute a RACH procedure commanded by a PDCCH.

[0026] Figure 2 shows examples of embodiments of BS102 and UE104.

[0027] Generally, BS102 includes various processors (e.g., 220, 230, 238, and 240), antennas 234a-t (collectively referred to as 234), transceivers 232a-t (collectively referred to as 232) including modulators and demodulators, and other embodiments that enable wireless transmission of data (e.g., data source 212) and wireless reception of data (e.g., data sink 239). For example, BS102 can send and receive data between BS102 and UE104.

[0028] BS102 includes a controller / processor 240 which can be configured to implement various functions related to wireless communication. In the illustrated example, the controller / processor 240 includes a PDCCH-instructed RACH component 241 which can represent the PDCCH-instructed RACH component 199 in Figure 1. In particular, although shown as an embodiment of the controller / processor 240, the PDCCH-instructed RACH component 241 can be implemented as an addition or replacement in various other embodiments of the base station 102 in other implementations.

[0029] Generally, the user equipment 104 includes various processors (e.g., 258, 264, 266, and 280), antennas 252a-t (collectively referred to as 252), transceivers 254a-t (collectively referred to as 254) including modulators and demodulators, and other embodiments that enable wireless transmission of data (e.g., data source 262) and wireless reception of data (e.g., data sink 260).

[0030] The user device 104 includes a controller / processor 280 which can be configured to implement various functions related to wireless communication. In the illustrated example, the controller / processor 280 includes a PDCCH-instructed RACH component 281 which can represent the PDCCH-instructed RACH component 198 in Figure 1. In particular, although shown as an embodiment of the controller / processor 280, the PDCCH-instructed RACH component 281 can be implemented as an addition or replacement in various other embodiments of the user device 104 in other implementations.

[0031] Figures 3A to 3D show the data structure of a wireless communication network, such as the wireless communication network 100 in Figure 1. Specifically, Figure 3A is an example of a first subframe in a 5G (e.g., 5G NR) frame structure, Figure 3B is an example of a DL channel in a 5G subframe, Figure 3C is an example of a second subframe in a 5G frame structure, and Figure 3D is an example of a UL channel in a 5G subframe.

[0032] Figure 4 shows an example of a distributed base station (BS).

[0033] Further explanations regarding Figures 1, 2, 3A-3D, and 4 are provided later in this disclosure.

[0034] Overview of millimeter-wave wireless communication In wireless communications, the electromagnetic spectrum is often subdivided into various classes, bands, channels, or other features. This subdivision is often based on wavelength and frequency, which may also be referred to as carrier, subcarrier, frequency channel, tone, or subband.

[0035] In 5G, two initial operating bands are identified as frequency range designations FR1 (410 MHz to 7.125 GHz) and FR2 (24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz). Frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are often referred to as intermediate band frequencies. Although a portion of FR1 is above 6 GHz, FR1 is often referred to (interchangeably) as the "sub-6 GHz" band in various documents and papers. A similar nomenclature issue can arise with respect to FR2, but because the wavelengths of these frequencies are between 1 and 10 millimeters, it is often referred to (interchangeably) as the "millimeter wave" band in documents and papers, even though it is different from the extremely high frequency (EHF) band (30 GHz to 300 GHz) which is identified by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as the "millimeter wave" ("mmW", or "mmWave") band. Radio waves in this band are sometimes called millimeter waves. Near-mmWave can extend down to frequencies of 3 GHz with wavelengths of 100 millimeters. The super high frequency (SHF) band extends between 3 GHz and 30 GHz and is also known as the centimeter wave.

[0036] With the above aspects in mind, unless otherwise specified, terms such as "sub-6GHz" may broadly refer to frequencies that are below 6GHz, within FR1, or may include intermediate band frequencies when used herein. Furthermore, unless otherwise specified, terms such as "millimeter wave" may broadly refer to frequencies that are within the intermediate band, within FR2, or within the EHF band when used herein.

[0037] Communications using millimeter-wave or near-millimeter-wave radio frequency bands (e.g., 3 GHz to 300 GHz) may have higher path loss and shorter range compared to lower-frequency communications. Therefore, in Figure 1, the millimeter-wave BS180 can improve path loss and range by utilizing beamforming 182 with UE104. To do this, BS180 and UE104 may each include multiple antennas, such as antenna elements, antenna panels, and / or antenna arrays, to facilitate beamforming.

[0038] In some examples, BS180 can transmit beamformed signals to UE104 in one or more transmit directions 182'. UE104 can receive beamformed signals from BS180 in one or more receive directions 182''. UE104 can also transmit beamformed signals to BS180 in one or more transmit directions 182''. BS180 can receive beamformed signals from UE104 in one or more receive directions 182'. BS180 and UE104 can then perform beam training to determine the best receive and transmit directions for BS180 and UE104, respectively. In particular, the transmit and receive directions of BS180 may or may not be the same. Similarly, the transmit and receive directions of UE104 may or may not be the same.

[0039] Overview of Low-Performance (RedCap) Devices Current wireless communication standards may focus on a variety of technologies. For example, 3GPP® Technical Standard Release 15 (Rel-15) and / or Rel-16 may focus on premium smartphones, such as support for Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC), and / or Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2X). Some wireless communication standards (such as 3GPP® TS Rel-17 and later) focus on the efficient and cost-effective scalability and deployment of new radios (NR). Novel low-capacity UEs have been introduced. Such low-capacity UEs may be called RedCap UEs. In particular, RedCap UEs can support relaxed peak throughput (e.g., around 20 MHz), latency, and / or reliability requirements. RedCap UEs may have a compact form factor. RedCap UEs can support all NR frequency division duplex (FDD) and time division duplex (TDD) bands.

[0040] The design goals of an NR RedCap UE may include scalable resource allocation, extended DL and / or UL coverage, power savings in all Radio Resource Control (RRC) states, and coexistence with other UEs. For example, a RedCap UE can coexist with non-RedCap UEs such as an NR Premium UE. As used herein, a Premium UE may refer to a non-RedCap UE. An NR Premium UE may refer to a legacy non-RedCap NR UE.

[0041] NR-RedCap UE can be a smart wearable device, a sensor / camera (such as a smart city device), or any device configured for relaxed Internet of Things (IoT) communication.

[0042] Wearables may include devices such as smartwatches, augmented reality (AR) glasses, virtual reality (VR) glasses, eHealth monitoring devices, and medical monitoring devices. Wearables can use data rates of approximately 5–50 Mbps downlink and 2–5 Mbps uplink. Wearables may have peak rates of approximately 150 Mbps downlink and 50 Mbps uplink. Wearables may have similar latency and reliability targets to eMBB devices. Wearables may have a battery life of up to 1–2 weeks.

[0043] IoT devices may include connected industrial devices such as pressure sensors, humidity sensors, motion sensors, thermal sensors, accelerometers, and actuators. Connected industrial devices can utilize data rates of approximately 2 Mbps on the uplink. Latency targets for connected industrial devices are generally less than 100 milliseconds, and approximately 5-10 milliseconds for safety-related sensors. Connected industrial devices may have high reliability targets, such as approximately 99.99%. Connected industrial devices may have battery life of at least several years.

[0044] Smart city devices may include devices such as video surveillance equipment. Smart city devices can use data rates of approximately 2-4 Mbps for economy devices and approximately 7.5-25 Mbps for high-end devices. Generally, smart city devices may have latency targets of less than 500 milliseconds. Smart city devices may have high reliability targets of approximately 99%-99.99%.

[0045] The features and / or capabilities of RedCap UE may overlap with those of Long-Term Evolution (LTE) and / or fifth-generation (5G) devices (e.g., premium 5G devices). For example, both RedCap IoT devices and premium 5G devices can support URLLC. Furthermore, both RedCap smart wearables and LTE UE can support Low-Power Wide-Area (LPWA) Massive Machine Type Communications (mMTC). Both RedCap sensors / cameras and premium 5G devices can support eMBB.

[0046] Example of RACH procedure RASH is a wireless channel (medium) shared by multiple UEs that can be used by UEs to access the network (randomly) for communication. For example, RACH can be used to access the network for call setup and data transmission. In some examples, RACH can be used by a UE for initial access to the network when a UE switches from RRC-connected idle mode to active mode. In some examples, RACH can be used by a UE for initial access to the network when a UE is handed over in RRC-connected mode. Furthermore, RACH can be used for the arrival of downlink and / or uplink data when a UE is in RRC idle mode or RRC inactive mode and re-establishing a connection with the network.

[0047] RACH can be used in RACH procedures. There are different types of RACH procedures, including the 2-step RACH procedure and the 4-step RACH procedure, as shown in Figures 5 and 6, respectively.

[0048] Figure 5 is a call flow diagram showing an example of a four-step RACH procedure 500 according to a particular aspect of the present disclosure. As shown, in 510, a first message (MSG1) may be transmitted over PRACH from a UE (e.g., UE104 in the wireless communication network 100) to a BS (e.g., BS102 in the wireless communication network 100). In the four-step RACH procedure 500, the first message (MSG1) may consist only of the RACH preamble. In 520, BS102 may respond with a Random Access Response (RAR) message (MSG2). The RAR message may include an identifier (ID), timing advance (TA), uplink grant, cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI), and backoff indicator of the RACH preamble. The RAR message may include PDCCH communication containing control information for subsequent communication over the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH). In 530, in response to the RAR message, UE104 sends a third message (MSG3) to BS102 on the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). The third message (MSG3) may include one or more of the following: an RRC connection request, a tracking area update (TAU) request, a system information request, a positioning determination or positioning signal request, or a scheduling request (SR). BS102 then responds with a fourth message (MSG4), which may include a conflict resolution message.

[0049] In some cases, a two-step RACH procedure can be supported to speed up access. The two-step RACH procedure 600 can effectively "fold" the four messages of the four-step RACH procedure 500 into two messages.

[0050] Figure 6 is a call flow diagram showing an example of a two-step RACH procedure 600 according to a particular aspect of the present disclosure. As shown, in 610, a first extended message (MSG A) may be transmitted from UE 104 to BS 102. In a particular aspect, MSG A includes some or all of the information from MSG1 and MSG3 from a four-step RACH procedure 500, effectively combining MSG1 and MSG3 into a single message. For example, MSG A may include MSG1 and MSG3 multiplexed together using, for example, time-division multiplexing (TDM) or frequency-division multiplexing (FDM). In a particular aspect, MSG A includes a RACH preamble for random access (e.g., MSG1) and a payload (e.g., MSG3). The MSG A payload may include, for example, a UE-ID, a buffer status report (BSR), or an SR. In the 620, BS102 can respond with an extended RAR message (MSG B) which can effectively combine MSG2 and MSG4 of the four-step RACH procedure 500 described above. For example, MSG B may include the ID, TA, backoff indicator, conflict resolution message, uplink grant, downlink grant, and transmit power control (TPC) commands from the RACH preamble.

[0051] Aspects relating to the RACH procedure mandated by PDCCH for RedCap UE Aspects of this disclosure provide techniques for extending RACH procedures commanded by a PDCCH. In some aspects, the RACH procedure commanded by the extended PDCCH is based on the capabilities of the UE. For example, the RACH procedure commanded by the extended PDCCH may be for low-capacity UEs. In certain aspects, the RACH procedure commanded by the PDCCH extends the minimum gap time. In certain aspects, the RACH procedure commanded by the PDCCH includes a power control extension. In certain aspects, the RACH procedure commanded by the PDCCH includes a coverage extension. In certain aspects, the RACH procedure commanded by the PDCCH includes a DCI format extension. In certain aspects, the PDCCH commanding the RACH is multicast. In certain aspects, the RACH procedure commanded by the extended PDCCH is a two-step RACH procedure.

[0052] PRACH transmissions from a UE can be triggered by a higher layer or by a PDCCH order as described above. A PDCCH commanding a PRACH transmission can communicate a DCI in multiple fields. In some embodiments, the DCI within a PDCCH commanding a RACH includes a field indicating the type of RACH procedure, a field with an uplink carrier indicator, a field with PRACH resource mapping information, a field with power control parameters, a field with a coverage extension scheme, and / or other scheduling information. The DCI may be for one or more UEs.

[0053] In some aspects, a contention-based random access (CBRA) procedure or a contention-free random access (CFRA) procedure can be commanded by a DCI format 1_0 scrambled by a C-RNTI. The DCI can include a frequency domain resource allocation (FDRA) field, an uplink / secondary uplink (UL / SUL) indicator field, a synchronization signal block (SSB) index field, a PRACH mask index field, and one or more reserved bit fields. The FDRA field can include bits set to a special value (e.g., all "1") to indicate that the DCI commands a RACH procedure.

[0054] As described above, in the case of PRACH transmission commanded by a PDCCH, the UE may require a minimum gap between the last symbol of the reception commanded by the PDCCH and the first symbol of the PRACH transmission of the 4-step RACH to provide sufficient processing time. The minimum gap can be defined as follows. G 最小 =N T,2 +△ BWPスイッチング +△ 遅延 +T スイッチ

[0055] Where N T,2 is the duration of N2 symbols corresponding to the PUSCH preparation time of the UE processing capability (assuming that the subcarrier spacing (SCS) μ corresponds to the smaller of the SCS configurations commanded by the PDCCH and the SCS configuration of the corresponding PRACH transmission), and △ if the active UL bandwidth part (BWP) does not change (e.g., between the PDCCH commanding the RACH and the PRACH), and can be defined in the standard, △ BWPスイッチング can be set to 0, and the value of △ 遅延 can depend on the operating frequency range (e.g., for FR1, △ 遅延 = 0.5 ms, for FR2, △ 遅延 = 0.25 ms), and T スイッチ is the switching gap period defined in the standard.

[0056] As discussed above, RedCap UEs may have lower capabilities compared to "normal" capable UEs (e.g., non-RedCap UEs). For example, RedCap UEs may have reduced maximum UE bandwidth, fewer transmit / receive (TX / RX) antennas, lower antenna efficiency (e.g., for size-constrained devices such as wearable devices), HD operation in FDD bandwidth, and / or relaxed processing timelines at various layers (L1 / L2 / L3).

[0057] In certain embodiments, this is the minimum gap between the PDCCH commanding RACH and the RACH message (e.g., sending MSG 1 in a 4-step RACH procedure or sending MSG A in a 2-step RACH procedure). In the case of a RACH procedure commanded by a PDCCH for a RedCap UE, the minimum gap between the last symbol of the PDCCH commanding RACH and the first symbol of the RACH message transmission may be extended. In certain embodiments, the extended minimum gap (G 最小,延長 ) can be defined as follows: G 最小,延長 =α·N T,延長 +△ BWPスイッチング,延長 +△ HD-スイッチング +△ 遅延,延長 +T スイッチ,延長

[0058] Parameter α is a multiplier greater than 1 (α≧1), depending on the type of RACH procedure and the CE level (k) of the RACH message transmission. For example, if PDCCH commands a type 1 (4-step) RACH procedure and the CE level of MSG1 commanded by PDCCH is k, then α may be set to k (α=k). On the other hand, if PDCCH commands a type 2 (2-step) RACH procedure and the CE level of MSG A commanded by PDCCH is k, then α may be set to 2k (α=2k). Parameter N T,延長This is the duration of the following symbols corresponding to the PRACH / PUSCH preparation time, which may depend on the capabilities of the UE, as well as the SCS configuration of PDCCH and the minimum value of the reference SCS for PRACH. If the UE does not change the active UL BWP when sending a RACH message (e.g., MSG 1 or MSG A) commanded by PDCCH, the parameter △ BWPスイッチング,延長 This parameter can be set to zero; otherwise, WP switching and extension may depend on the UE's capabilities. HD-スイッチング This is the DL-to-UL (i.e., DL receive to UL transmit) switching time for HD-FDD operation, and depends on the capabilities of the UE. Parameter △ 遅延,延長 This is the delay period, which depends on the UE's capabilities, operating frequency range (FR), and SSB period. Parameter T スイッチ,延長 This is the UL switching gap and may also depend on the UE's capabilities and UL TX switching options.

[0059] Figure 7 shows a call flow diagram of an example of a RACH procedure 700 commanded by PDCCH according to an aspect of this disclosure.

[0060] As shown in the diagram, in 710, a network entity 702 (e.g., BS102 in the wireless communication network 100) can transmit a request (inquiry) about the capabilities of the UE to UE704 (e.g., UE104 in the wireless communication network 100). In 720, in response to the inquiry, UE704 reports its capabilities to the network entity 702. The content of the UE capability report related to the RACH commanded by PDCCH includes an indication of whether the UE supports or does not support Type 2 (2-step) RACH, HD-FDD, SUL, and / or CE, PDCCH, PDSCH, and / or PUSCH as specified in MSG 1 or MSG A, and the UE's radio frequency (RF) retuning capabilities (e.g., BWP switching, carrier switching, etc.).

[0061] If necessary, in 730, network entity 702 transmits one or more downlink reference signals (DL RS) to UE 704. Downlink reference signals may include SSB, channel status information reference signal (CSI-RS), tracking reference signal (TRS), and / or positioning reference signal (PRS). UE 704 can measure the downlink reference signals to generate CSI feedback. If necessary, in 740, UE 704 may transmit a CSI report along with the CSI feedback to network entity 702. The contents of the CSI report related to RACH commanded by PDCCH may include information such as reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement and / or priority beam index associated with the downlink reference signal.

[0062] In 750, the network entity 702 transmits the PDCCH commanded by RACH to the UE 704. In some embodiments, the network entity 702, at least in part, based on the reported capabilities of the UE and the CSI, transmits the DCI payload and minimum gap G of the PDCCH commanded by RACH. 最小,延長 The network entity 702 determines that the timing of the commanded RACH transmission is G 最小,延長 It can be guaranteed that the following conditions are met. In some embodiments, the network entity 702 determines a RACH message resource for UE 704 that satisfies the minimum gap between the PDCCH commanded by RACH and the RACH message. In some embodiments, the network entity 702 determines the downlink reference signal resource configuration, the downlink reference signal period configuration, the association between the downlink reference signal and the RACH message resource, the CBRA or CFRA mode, and / or the type (Type 1 or Type 2) of the RACH procedure(s).

[0063] UE704 can decode the PDCCH commanded by RACH and prepare to send a RACH message (e.g., MSG 1 or MSG A). The UL carrier and / or BWP may be explicitly or implicitly indicated by the DCI payload of the PDCCH commanding RACH. In 760, UE704 sends the RACH message to network entity 702. In 770, network entity 702 transmits a RAR message (e.g., MSG 2 or MSG B) to UE704.

[0064] The duration ΔT between the last symbol (750) of the PDCCH commanding RACH and the first symbol (760) of the RACH message is greater than the minimum gap (ΔT ≥ G 最小,延長 ).

[0065] In certain embodiments, PDCCH signaling can be extended to support PDCCH-instructed RACH procedures for RedCap UE, PDCCH-instructed RACH procedures with uplink power control, and PDCCH-instructed RACH procedures with CE.

[0066] In some embodiments, both a PDCCH commanded by a Type 1 RACH and a PDCCH commanding a Type 2 RACH may include a UL BWP ID (for example, in the NUL / SUL field).

[0067] Additional signaling information may be mapped to the PDCCH that commands RACH. For example, for both a PDCCH that commands type 1 RACH and a PDCCH that commands type 2 RACH, the additional signaling information may include, in addition to the FDRA field, a PRACH preamble index, a PRACH preamble group index, a UL / SUL indicator, a downlink criterion index, and / or a PRACH mask index. In some examples, the instruction for a RACH type can be mapped to the FDRA field (e.g., all "1" or all "0" indicates type 1 RACH, and the opposite values ​​indicate type 2 RACH), or to a PRACH preamble index, a PRACH group index, or a PRACH mask index.

[0068] Furthermore, for both PDCCHs that command a Type 1 RACH and PDCCHs that command a Type 2 RACH, additional signaling information may include a RACH type indicator, one or more power control parameters, and / or one or more CE parameters. The RACH type indicator may indicate a Type 1 RACH or a Type 2 RACH. A PDCCH that commands a RACH may further indicate whether the RACH procedure is a CBRA procedure or a CFRA procedure. One or more CE parameters may include repeat parameters for the RACH message, frequency hopping parameters, etc. The CE parameters of a PDCCH that commands a Type 1 RACH may indicate the CE of MSG 1, and the CE parameters of a PDCCH that commands a Type 2 RACH may indicate the CE of MSG PRACH.

[0069] Power control parameters may depend on at least the type of RACH procedure (Type 1 or Type 2), the power control scheme (closed-loop or open-loop), and the conflict resolution scheme (CFRA or CBRA). In some examples, the PDCCH power control parameters that command RACH include the ul-total power transmit indicator in the PRACH preamble and / or PUSCH, the TPC command in the PRACH preamble and / or PUSCH, the transmit (TX) power ramp-up in the PRACH preamble and / or PUSCH, and / or the TX power offset between the PRACH preamble and PUSCH.

[0070] In some embodiments, a PDCCH commanding a Type 2 RACH further includes additional parameters for MSG A PUSCH. These additional parameters may include one or more power control parameters, Hybrid Automatic Retransmission Request (HARQ) parameters, Modulation Coding Scheme (MCS) parameters, CE parameters (transport block (TB) scaling parameters, repeat parameters, slot aggregation parameters, and / or frequency hopping parameters), and / or demodulated reference signal (DMRS) bundling parameters for MSG A PUSCH.

[0071] In certain embodiments, a PDCCH commanding RACH may be unicast and / or multicast to support UE multiplexing. For example, in the case of a single UE, the DCI of the PDCCH commanding RACH may be scrambled by UE-specific RNTI and unicast. In the case of multiple UEs, the DCI of the PDCCH commanding RACH may be scrambled by group RNTI and multicast to a group of one or more UEs, thereby reducing the signaling overhead when triggering the RACH procedure for a group of UEs.

[0072] Example of method Figure 8 shows an example of method 800 for executing a RACH procedure commanded by PDCCH according to an aspect of this disclosure. In some aspects, a UE such as UE 104 in Figures 1 and 2, or processing system 1205 in Figure 12, can execute method 800.

[0073] In operation 805, the system sends instructions for one or more capabilities of the UE to the network entity. In some examples, the operation of this step may be performed by referencing the UE capability circuit or by the UE function circuit, as illustrated with reference to Figure 12.

[0074] In operation 810, the system sends a channel status information report to the network entity. In some examples, the operation of this step may refer to or be performed by the CSI reporting circuit 1222, as described with reference to Figure 12.

[0075] In operation 815, the system receives a PDCCH instructing the UE to perform a certain type of RACH procedure on the uplink carrier, using at least one of the uplink power control schemes of the type CE or RACH procedure, in a manner determined by the capabilities of the indicated UE. In some examples, the operation of this step may refer to, or be performed by, the PDCCH receiver circuit 1223 described with reference to Figure 12.

[0076] In operation 820, the system performs a type of RACH procedure on the uplink carrier using an uplink power control scheme of the type CE or RACH procedure, according to PDCCH. In some examples, the operation of this step may refer to or be performed by the RACH procedure circuit 1224, as described with reference to Figure 12.

[0077] In some embodiments, PDCCH indicates whether the RACH procedure includes a first type RACH procedure in which the UE sends a first type RACH message containing a PRACH preamble, or a second type RACH procedure in which the UE sends a second type RACH message containing a PRACH preamble and a PUSCH complex, and the first type RACH message or the second type RACH message may be sent on a normal (e.g., normal) uplink carrier or auxiliary uplink carrier signaled by PDCCH.

[0078] In some embodiments, the PDCCH indicates whether the RACH procedure includes a first-type RACH procedure or a second-type RACH procedure by at least a bit in the FDRA field, the DMRS configuration of the PDCCH, an index in the PRACH preamble or preamble group, or an index in the PRACH mask.

[0079] In some embodiments, the capabilities of the UE described include at least one of the following: the UE's ability to support a second type of RACH procedure, the UE's ability to support CE, the UE's ability to support HD FDD, the UE's RF retuning capability, or the UE's processing for handling PDCCH, PUSCH, or PUSCH transmissions.

[0080] In some embodiments, method 800 includes determining a minimum gap based at least in part on the capabilities of the indicated UE. In some embodiments, method 900 further includes performing a RACH procedure only if the time between the last symbol of the PDCCH and the first symbol of a first type RACH message or a second type RACH message is greater than or equal to the minimum gap.

[0081] In some embodiments, the minimum gap is determined based on at least one of the following: the type of RACH procedure, the UE's CE capability, the UE's processing capability for PDCCH, PRACH, or PUSCH, and the minimum SCS configuration for PDCCH, PRACH, or PUSCH. In some embodiments, the minimum gap is determined based on at least one of the following: a BWP switching delay dependent on the UE's capability, or an HD FDD switching delay dependent on the UE's capability. In some embodiments, the minimum gap is determined based on an uplink switching gap dependent on the UE's capability and uplink transmit switching option, or at least one of the following: a delay extension dependent on the UE's capability, the operating FR, QCL, or TCI state, and the serving cell's SSB or downlink reference signal configuration.

[0082] In some embodiments, at least one CE includes at least one of the following: repetition of PRACH, repetition of PUSCH, frequency hopping of PRACH, frequency hopping of PUSCH, or DMRS bundling of PUSCH.

[0083] In some embodiments, PDCCH indicates whether the RACH procedure includes a first type RACH procedure in which the UE sends a first type RACH message containing a PRACH preamble, or a second type RACH procedure in which the UE sends a second type RACH message containing a PRACH preamble and a PUSCH complex. In some embodiments, PDCCH indicates at least one of the following: one or more power control parameters for the first or second type RACH message, or one or more CE schemes for the first or second type RACH message, and at least one set of modulation, coding, and HARQ processing parameters for the PUSCH of the second type RACH message.

[0084] In some embodiments, the power control parameters depend on at least one of the RACH procedure type, power control scheme, TCI or QCL state, or conflict resolution scheme for the RACH procedure type. In some embodiments, the power control parameters include at least one of the uplink total power transmit parameter indicator, TCI or QCL state, TPC command, transmit power ramp-up parameter, or transmit power offset between PRACH and PUSCH.

[0085] In some embodiments, the PDCCH includes a groupcast PDCCH sent in a CSS set, and the payload or the CRC bits of the payload are scrambled by the group RNTI.

[0086] Figure 9 shows an example of method 900 for executing a RACH procedure commanded by PDCCH according to an aspect of this disclosure. In some aspects, a UE such as UE 104 in Figures 1 and 2, or processing system 1205 in Figure 12, can execute method 900.

[0087] In 902, method 900 includes transmitting instructions for one or more capabilities of the UE.

[0088] If necessary, in 904, method 900 may include transmitting a CSI report and receiving a CE configuration of the RACH procedure based on the CSI report.

[0089] In 906, method 900 includes receiving a PDCCH instructing the UE to perform a RACH procedure on an uplink carrier based on one or more capabilities of the UE.

[0090] In 908, method 900 includes determining the minimum gap between the last symbol of the PDCCH and the first symbol of the RACH message. The minimum gap may include the HD switching delay.

[0091] In 910, method 900 includes performing the RACH procedure on the uplink carrier if the gap between the last symbol of the PDCCH and the first symbol of the RACH message is greater than or equal to the minimum gap.

[0092] Figure 10 shows an example of method 1000 for commanding a RACH procedure according to an aspect of this disclosure. In some aspects, a BS such as BS102 in Figures 1 and 2, or processing system 1305 in Figure 13, can perform method 1000.

[0093] In operation 1005, the system sends a PDCCH to at least one UE instructing the UE to perform a certain type of RACH procedure using at least one of CE or power control schemes in a manner determined by the capabilities of the indicated UE. In some examples, the operation of this step may refer to or be performed by the PDCCH circuit 1321 described with reference to Figure 13.

[0094] In operation 1010, the system participates in a type of RACH procedure with the UE according to the capabilities of the PDCCH and the indicated UE. In some examples, the operation of this step may refer to or be performed by the RACH procedure circuit 1322, as described with reference to Figure 13.

[0095] In some embodiments, PDCCH indicates whether the RACH procedure includes a first type RACH procedure in which the UE sends a first type RACH message containing a PRACH preamble, or a second type RACH procedure in which the UE sends a second type RACH message containing a PRACH preamble and a PUSCH complex, and the first type RACH message or the second type RACH message may be sent on a normal (e.g., normal) uplink carrier or auxiliary uplink carrier signaled by PDCCH.

[0096] In some embodiments, the PDCCH indicates whether the RACH procedure includes a first-type RACH procedure or a second-type RACH procedure by means of at least a bit in the FDRA field of the DCI transmitted by the PDCCH, the DMRS configuration of the PDCCH, an index of the PRACH preamble or preamble group, or an index of the PRACH mask.

[0097] In some embodiments, the capabilities of the UE described include at least one of the following: the UE's ability to support a second type of RACH procedure, the UE's ability to support CE, the UE's ability to support HD FDD, the UE's RF retuning capability, or the UE's processing for handling PDCCH, PUSCH, or PUSCH transmissions.

[0098] In some embodiments, method 1000 includes determining a minimum gap based at least in part on the capabilities of the indicated UE. In some embodiments, method 1000 further includes scheduling the UE to perform a RACH procedure via the PDCCH such that the time between the last symbol of the PDCCH and the first symbol of a first type RACH message or a second type RACH message is greater than or equal to the minimum gap.

[0099] In some embodiments, the minimum gap is determined based on at least one of the following: the type of RACH procedure, the UE's CE capability, the UE's processing capability for PDCCH, PRACH, or PUSCH, or the minimum SCS configuration for PDCCH, PRACH, or PUSCH. In some embodiments, the minimum gap is determined based on at least one of the following: a BWP switching delay dependent on the UE's capability, or an HD FDD switching delay dependent on the UE's capability. In some embodiments, the minimum gap is determined based on an uplink switching gap dependent on the UE's capability and uplink transmit switching option, or at least one of the following: a delay extension dependent on the UE's capability, the operating FR, QCL, or TCI state, and the serving cell's SSB or downlink reference signal configuration.

[0100] In some embodiments, at least one UE includes a group of UEs, PDCCH includes a groupcast PDCCH sent in a CSS set, and the payload or the CRC bits of the payload are scrambled by the group RNTI.

[0101] In some embodiments, CE includes at least one of the following: repetition of PRACH, repetition of PUSCH, frequency hopping of PRACH, frequency hopping of PUSCH, or DMRS bundling of PUSCH.

[0102] In some embodiments, PDCCH indicates whether the RACH procedure includes a first type RACH procedure in which the UE sends a first type RACH message containing a PRACH preamble, or a second type RACH procedure in which the UE sends a second type RACH message containing a PRACH preamble and a PUSCH complex, and PDCCH indicates at least one of the following: one or more power control parameters for the first type RACH message or the second type RACH message, or one or more CE schemes for the first type RACH message or the second type RACH message, or at least one of the set of modulation, encoding, and HARQ processing parameters for msgA PUSCH.

[0103] In some embodiments, the power control parameters depend on at least one of the following: the type of RACH procedure, the QCI or TCI status, the CSI report, the power control scheme, or the conflict resolution scheme for the type of RACH procedure. In some embodiments, the power control parameters include at least one of the following: an indicator of the uplink total power transmit parameter, the QCL or TCI, the TPC command, the transmit power ramp-up parameter, or the transmit power offset between PRACH and PUSCH.

[0104] Figure 11 shows an example of method 1100 for commanding a RACH procedure according to an aspect of this disclosure. In some aspects, a BS such as BS102 in Figures 1 and 2, or processing system 1305 in Figure 13, can perform method 1100.

[0105] If necessary, 1102 includes obtaining instructions for one or more capabilities of at least one UE from at least one UE. Instructions for one or more capabilities include instructions that at least one UE is a RedCap UE, or at least one capability of at least one UE that supports HD.

[0106] If necessary, method 1100 includes determining a minimum gap based at least in part on the capabilities of one or more of at least one UE, and scheduling at least one UE to perform the RACH procedure via the PDCCH such that the time between the last symbol of the PDCCH and the first symbol of the RACH message is greater than or equal to the minimum gap.

[0107] In 1106, method 1100 includes outputting a PDCCH to send to at least one UE, instructing at least one UE to perform a RACH procedure based on one or more capabilities of at least one UE.

[0108] In 1108, method 1100 includes retrieving a RACH message from at least one UE after a minimum gap between the last symbol of the PDCCH and the first symbol of the RACH message. The minimum gap includes the HD switching delay.

[0109] Examples of wireless communication devices Figure 12 shows an example of a communication device 1200 including various components that are operable, configured, or adapted to perform operations for the technologies disclosed herein, such as the operations illustrated and described with respect to Figures 8 and 9. In some examples, the communication device 1200 may be a UE 104, for example, as described with respect to Figures 1 and 2.

[0110] The communication device 1200 includes a processing system 1202 coupled to a transceiver 1208 (e.g., a transmitter and / or receiver). The transceiver 1208 is configured to transmit and receive various signals, such as those described herein, to and from the communication device 1200 via an antenna 1210. The processing system 1202 may be configured to perform processing functions for the communication device 1200, including processing signals received and / or transmitted by the communication device 1200.

[0111] The processing system 1202 includes one or more processors 1220 coupled to a computer-readable medium / memory 1230 via a bus 1206. In certain embodiments, the computer-readable medium / memory 1230 is configured to store instructions (e.g., computer-executable code) that, when executed by one or more processors 1220, cause one or more processors 1220 to perform the operations shown in Figures 8 and 9, or other operations for performing various techniques discussed herein.

[0112] Various components of the communication device 1200, including those relating to Figures 8 and 9, can provide means for carrying out the methods described herein.

[0113] In some examples, the means for transmitting or transmitting (or for outputting for transmission) may include the transceiver 254 and / or antenna 252 of the UE104 shown in Figure 2, and / or the transceiver 1208 and antenna 1210 of the communication device shown in Figure 12.

[0114] In some examples, the means for receiving (or acquiring) may include the transceiver 254 and / or antenna 252 of the UE104 shown in Figure 2, and / or the transceiver 1208 and antenna 1210 of the communication device shown in Figure 12.

[0115] In some examples, the means for execution and / or participation may include various processing system 1202 components, such as one or more processors 1220 in Figure 12, or an embodiment of UE 104 in Figure 12, which includes a receiving processor 258, a transmitting processor 264, a TX MIMO processor 266, and / or a controller / processor 280.

[0116] In one embodiment, one or more processors 1220 include a UE capability circuit 1221, a CSI reporting circuit 1222, a PDCCH receiver circuit 1223, and a RACH procedure circuit 1224.

[0117] In some embodiments, the UE capability circuit 1221 transmits instructions for one or more capabilities of the UE to a network entity. In some examples, the indicated UE capability includes at least one of the following: the UE's capability to support a second type of RACH procedure, the UE's capability to support CE, the UE's capability to support HD FDD, the UE's RF retuning capability, or the UE's processing for handling PDCCH, PUSCH, or PUSCH transmissions. In some examples, the UE capability circuit 1221 determines a minimum gap based at least in part on the indicated UE capability. In some examples, the minimum gap is determined based on at least one of the type of RACH procedure, the UE's CE capability, the UE's processing capability for PDCCH, PRACH, or PUSCH, and the minimum SCS configuration for PDCCH, PRACH, or PUSCH. In some examples, the minimum gap is determined based on at least one of the following: a BWP switching delay dependent on the UE capability, or an HD FDD switching delay dependent on the UE capability. In some examples, the minimum gap is determined based on at least one of the following: an uplink switching gap, which depends on the UE's capabilities and uplink transmit switching options; or a delay extension, which depends on the UE's capabilities, the operating FR, QCL, or TCI status, and the serving cell's SSB or downlink reference signal configuration.

[0118] According to some embodiments, the CSI reporting circuit 1222 transmits a channel status information report to the network entity.

[0119] In some embodiments, the PDCCH receiver circuit 1223 receives a PDCCH instructing the UE to execute a certain type of RACH procedure on the uplink carrier, using at least one of the uplink power control schemes of type CE or RACH procedure, in a manner determined by the capabilities of the indicated UE. In some examples, the PDCCH indicates whether the RACH procedure includes a first type RACH procedure in which the UE transmits a first type RACH message containing a PRACH preamble, or a second type RACH procedure in which the UE transmits a second type RACH message containing a PRACH preamble and a PUSCH composite, and the first type RACH message or the second type RACH message can be transmitted on a normal (e.g., normal) uplink carrier or auxiliary uplink carrier signaled by the PDCCH. In some examples, the PDCCH indicates whether the RACH procedure includes a first type RACH procedure or a second type RACH procedure by at least a bit in the FDRA field, the DMRS configuration of the PDCCH, an index of the PRACH preamble or preamble group, or an index of the PRACH mask. In some examples, at least one CE includes at least one of the following: a repetition of PRACH, a repetition of PUSCH, frequency hopping of PRACH, frequency hopping of PUSCH, or DMRS bundling of PUSCH.

[0120] In some examples, PDCCH indicates whether the RACH procedure includes a Type 1 RACH procedure in which the UE sends a Type 1 RACH message containing a PRACH preamble, or a Type 2 RACH procedure in which the UE sends a Type 2 RACH message containing a PRACH preamble and a PUSCH complex; PDCCH indicates at least one of the following: one or more power control parameters for the Type 1 or Type 2 RACH message, or one or more CE schemes for the Type 1 or Type 2 RACH message, or a set of modulation, encoding, and HARQ processing parameters for the PUSCH of the Type 2 RACH message. In some examples, the power control parameters depend on at least one of the following: the type of RACH procedure, the power control scheme, the TCI or QCL state, or the conflict resolution scheme for the RACH procedure type. In some examples, the power control parameters include at least one of the following: an indicator of the uplink total power transmit parameter, the TCI or QCL state, a TPC command, a transmit power ramp-up parameter, or a transmit power offset between PRACH and PUSCH. In some examples, the PDCCH includes a groupcast PDCCH sent in a CSS set, and the payload or the CRC bits of the payload are scrambled by the group RNTI.

[0121] In some embodiments, the RACH procedure circuit 1224 executes a certain type of RACH procedure on the uplink carrier using an uplink power control scheme of the type CE or RACH procedure, according to PDCCH. In some examples, the RACH procedure circuit 1224 executes the RACH procedure only if the time between the last symbol of PDCCH and the first symbol of a first type RACH message or a second type RACH message is greater than or equal to a minimum gap.

[0122] In one embodiment, the computer-readable medium / memory 1230 includes (for example, stores) the UE capability code 1231, the CSI reporting code 1232, the PDCCH receiver code 1233, and the RACH procedure code 1234.

[0123] Note that Figure 12 is merely one example, and many other examples and configurations of communication devices are possible.

[0124] Figure 13 shows an example of a communication device 1300 including various components that are operable, configured, or adapted to perform operations for the techniques disclosed herein, such as the operations illustrated and described with respect to Figure 13. In some examples, the communication device may be a BS102, for example, as described with respect to Figures 1 and 2.

[0125] The communication device 1300 includes a processing system 1302 coupled to a transceiver 1308 (e.g., a transmitter and / or receiver). The transceiver 1308 is configured to transmit and receive various signals, such as those described herein, to and from the communication device 1300 via an antenna 1310. The processing system 1302 may be configured to perform processing functions for the communication device 1300, including processing the signals received and / or transmitted by the communication device 1300.

[0126] As described above, the transceiver 1308 can communicate bidirectionally via the antenna 1310, a wired or wireless link. For example, the transceiver 1308 can represent a wireless transceiver 1308 and communicate bidirectionally with another wireless transceiver 1308. The transceiver 1308 may include or be connected to a modem to modulate packets, provide the modulated packets for transmission, and demodulate the received packets. In some examples, the transceiver 1308 may be tuned to operate at a specified frequency. For example, the modem may configure the transceiver 1308 to operate at a specified frequency and power level based on the communication protocol used by the modem.

[0127] The processing system 1302 includes one or more processors 1320 coupled to a computer-readable medium / memory 1330 via a bus 1306. In certain embodiments, the computer-readable medium / memory 1330 is configured to store instructions (e.g., computer-executable code) that, when executed by one or more processors 1320, cause one or more processors 1320 to perform the operations shown in Figure 13, or other operations for performing various techniques discussed herein.

[0128] Various components of the communication device 1300, including those relating to Figure 13, can provide means for carrying out the methods described herein.

[0129] In some examples, the means for transmitting or transmitting (or for outputting for transmission) may include the transceiver 232 and / or antenna 1260(or more)234 of BS102 shown in Figure 2, and / or the transceiver 1308 and antenna 1310 of the communication device shown in Figure 13.

[0130] In some examples, the means for receiving (or acquiring) may include the transceiver 232 and / or antenna 234 of the base station shown in Figure 2, and / or the transceiver 1308 and antenna 1310 of the communication device shown in Figure 13.

[0131] In some examples, the means for execution and / or participation may include one or more processors 1320 in Figure 13, or various processing system 1302 components such as the base station 102 in Figure 2, which includes a receiving processor 238, a transmitting processor 220, a TX MIMO processor 230, and / or a controller / processor 240.

[0132] In some examples, one or more processors 1320 may include one or more intelligent hardware devices (e.g., general-purpose processing components, digital signal processors (DSPs), central processing units (CPUs), graphics processing units (GPUs), microcontrollers, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic components, discrete hardware components, or combinations thereof). In some examples, one or more processors 1320 are configured to operate a memory array using a memory controller. In other examples, the memory controller is integrated into one or more processors 1320. In some examples, one or more processors 1320 are configured to perform various functions by executing computer-readable instructions stored in memory. In some embodiments, one or more processors 1320 include dedicated components for modem processing, baseband processing, digital signal processing, or transmission processing.

[0133] In one embodiment, one or more processors 1320 include a PDCCH circuit 1321, a RACH procedure circuit 1322, and a UE capability management circuit 1323.

[0134] In some embodiments, the PDCCH circuit 1321 transmits a PDCCH to at least one UE instructing the UE to perform a certain type of RACH procedure using at least one of CE or power control schemes in a manner determined by the capabilities of the indicated UE. In some examples, the PDCCH indicates whether the RACH procedure includes a first type of RACH procedure in which the UE transmits a first type of RACH message containing a PRACH preamble, or a second type of RACH procedure in which the UE transmits a second type of RACH message containing a PRACH preamble and a PUSCH composite, and the first type of RACH message or the second type of RACH message can be transmitted on a normal (e.g., normal) uplink carrier or auxiliary uplink carrier signaled by the PDCCH. In some examples, the PDCCH indicates whether the RACH procedure includes a first type of RACH procedure or a second type of RACH procedure by bit in at least one FDRA field of the DCI transmitted by the PDCCH, the DMRS configuration of the PDCCH, an index of the PRACH preamble or preamble group, or an index of the PRACH mask.

[0135] In some examples, PDCCH1321 schedules the UE to perform the RACH procedure via PDCCH such that the time between the last symbol of PDCCH and the first symbol of a first-type RACH message or a second-type RACH message is greater than or equal to a minimum gap. In some examples, at least one UE includes a group of UEs, the PDCCH includes a groupcast PDCCH sent in a CSS set, and the payload or the CRC bits of the payload are scrambled by the group RNTI. In some examples, the CE includes at least one of the following: PRACH repetition, PUSCH repetition, PRACH frequency hopping, PUSCH frequency hopping, or PUSCH DMRS bundling.

[0136] In some examples, PDCCH indicates whether the RACH procedure includes a Type 1 RACH procedure in which the UE sends a Type 1 RACH message containing a PRACH preamble, or a Type 2 RACH procedure in which the UE sends a Type 2 RACH message containing a PRACH preamble and a PUSCH complex; PDCCH indicates at least one of the following: one or more power control parameters for the Type 1 or Type 2 RACH message, or one or more CE schemes for the Type 1 or Type 2 RACH message, or a set of modulation, encoding, and HARQ processing parameters for msgA PUSCH. In some examples, the power control parameters depend on at least one of the following: the type of RACH procedure, QCI or TCI status, CSI reporting, power control scheme, or conflict resolution scheme for the type of RACH procedure. In some examples, the power control parameters include at least one of the following: an indicator of uplink total power transmit parameters, QCL or TCI, TPC command, transmit power ramp-up parameter, or transmit power offset between PRACH and PUSCH.

[0137] In some embodiments, the RACH procedure circuit 1322 participates in the type of RACH procedure with the UE according to the capabilities of the PDCCH and the indicated UE. In some examples, the capabilities of the indicated UE include at least one of the following: the UE's ability to support a second type of RACH procedure, the UE's ability to support CE, the UE's ability to support HD FDD, the UE's RF retuning ability, or the UE's processing for handling PDCCH, PUSCH, or PUSCH transmissions. In some examples, the UE capability management circuit 1323 determines the minimum gap based at least in part on the indicated UE capabilities. In some examples, the minimum gap is determined based on at least one of the type of RACH procedure, the UE's CE capability, the UE's processing capability for PDCCH, PRACH, or PUSCH, or the minimum SCS configuration for PDCCH, PRACH, or PUSCH. In some examples, the minimum gap is determined based on at least one of the following: a BWP switching delay dependent on the UE's capabilities, or an HD FDD switching delay dependent on the UE's capabilities. In some examples, the minimum gap is determined based on at least one of the following: an uplink switching gap, which depends on the UE's capabilities and uplink transmit switching options; or a delay extension, which depends on the UE's capabilities, the operating FR, QCL, or TCI status, and the serving cell's SSB or downlink reference signal configuration.

[0138] In one embodiment, the computer-readable medium / memory 1330 includes (for example, stores) the PDCCH code 1331, the RACH procedure code 1332, and the UE capability control code 1333.

[0139] Examples of computer-readable media / memory 1330 include random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), or hard disks. Examples of memory devices include solid-state memory and hard disk drives. In some examples, computer-readable media / memory 1330 is used to store computer-readable computer executable software, which, when executed, causes a processor to perform various functions described herein. In some examples, memory includes a basic input / output system (BIOS) that controls the operation of basic hardware or software, in particular, interaction with peripheral components or devices. In some examples, a memory controller operates memory cells. For example, a memory controller may include row decoders, column decoders, or both. In some examples, memory cells in memory store information in a logic state format.

[0140] Note that Figure 13 is merely an example of use, and many other examples and configurations of communication devices are possible.

[0141] Examples of Implementation Implementation examples are described in the following numbered clauses. Clause 1: A method for wireless communication by a UE, comprising: transmitting instructions of one or more capabilities of the UE to a network entity; transmitting a channel status information report to the network entity; receiving a PDCCH instructing the UE to perform a certain type of RACH procedure on an uplink carrier using at least one of the uplink power control schemes of the type of CE or RACH procedure, in a manner determined by the indicated capabilities of the UE; and performing a certain type of RACH procedure on an uplink carrier using an uplink power control scheme of the type of CE or RACH procedure, in accordance with the PDCCH.

[0142] Clause 2: The method described in Clause 1, wherein PDCCH indicates whether the RACH procedure includes a first type RACH procedure in which the UE transmits a first type RACH message including a PRACH preamble, or a second type RACH procedure in which the UE transmits a second type RACH message including a PRACH preamble and a PUSCH composite, the first type RACH message or the second type RACH message may be transmitted on a normal uplink carrier or auxiliary uplink carrier signaled by PDCCH.

[0143] Clause 3: A method described in any one of Clauses 1 and 2, wherein at least one CE comprises at least one of the following: repetition of PRACH, repetition of PUSCH, frequency hopping of PRACH, frequency hopping of PUSCH, or DMRS bundling of PUSCH.

[0144] Clause 4: The method described in Clause 2, wherein the PDCCH indicates whether the RACH procedure includes a first-type RACH procedure or a second-type RACH procedure by at least a bit in the FDRA field, the DMRS configuration of the PDCCH, an index in the PRACH preamble or preamble group, or an index in the PRACH mask.

[0145] Clause 5: The method described in Clause 2, wherein the PDCCH indicates whether the RACH procedure includes a first-type RACH procedure or a second-type RACH procedure by at least a bit in the FDRA field, the DMRS configuration of the PDCCH, an index in the PRACH preamble or preamble group, or an index in the PRACH mask.

[0146] Clause 6: A method of Clause 5, further comprising determining a minimum gap based at least in part on the capabilities of the indicated UE, and performing the RACH procedure only if the time between the last symbol of the PDCCH and the first symbol of a first-type RACH message or a second-type RACH message is greater than or equal to the minimum gap.

[0147] Clause 7: The method described in Clause 6, wherein the minimum gap is determined based on at least one of the type of RACH procedure, the CE capability of the UE, the UE processing capability of PDCCH, PRACH, or PUSCH, and the minimum SCS configuration of PDCCH, PRACH, or PUSCH.

[0148] Clause 8: The method described in Clause 6, wherein the minimum gap is determined based on at least one of a BWP switching delay dependent on the capabilities of the UE, or an HD FDD switching delay dependent on the capabilities of the UE.

[0149] Clause 9: The method described in Clause 6, wherein the minimum gap is determined based on at least one of the following: an uplink switching gap depending on the capabilities of the UE and the uplink transmit switching option, or a delay extension depending on the capabilities of the UE, the operating FR, QCL or TCI status, and the serving cell's SSB or downlink reference signal configuration.

[0150] Clause 10: A method described in any one of Clauses 1 to 9, wherein PDCCH indicates whether the RACH procedure includes a first type RACH procedure in which the UE transmits a first type RACH message including a PRACH preamble, or a second type RACH procedure in which the UE transmits a second type RACH message including a PRACH preamble and a PUSCH composite, and at least one of the following: one or more power control parameters for the first or second type RACH message, or one or more CE schemes for the first or second type RACH message, or a set of modulation, encoding, and HARQ processing parameters for the PUSCH of the second type RACH message.

[0151] Clause 11: The method described in Clause 10, wherein the power control parameters depend on at least one of the following: the type of RACH procedure, the power control scheme, the TCI or QCL state, or the conflict resolution scheme for the RACH procedure type.

[0152] Clause 12: The method described in Clause 11, wherein the power control parameter includes at least one of the following: an indicator of the uplink total power transmit parameter, a TCI or QCL state, a TPC command, a transmit power ramp-up parameter, or a transmit power offset between PRACH and PUSCH.

[0153] Clause 13: The method described in any one of Clauses 1 to 12, wherein the PDCCH includes a groupcast PDCCH transmitted in a CSS set, and the payload or the CRC bits of the payload are scrambled by group RNTI.

[0154] Clause 14: A method for wireless communication by a network entity, comprising transmitting a PDCCH to at least one UE instructing the UE to perform a certain type of RACH procedure using at least one of CE or power control schemes in a manner determined by the capabilities of the indicated UE, and participating in a certain type of RACH procedure with the UE in accordance with the PDCCH and the capabilities of the indicated UE.

[0155] Clause 15: A method as described in Clause 14, wherein PDCCH indicates whether the RACH procedure includes a first type RACH procedure in which the UE transmits a first type RACH message including a PRACH preamble, or a second type RACH procedure in which the UE transmits a second type RACH message including a PRACH preamble and a PUSCH composite, the first type RACH message or the second type RACH message may be transmitted on a normal uplink carrier or auxiliary uplink carrier signaled by PDCCH.

[0156] Clause 16: A method of Clause 14, wherein CE includes at least one of the following: repetition of PRACH, repetition of PUSCH, frequency hopping of PRACH, frequency hopping of PUSCH, or DMRS bundling of PUSCH.

[0157] Clause 17: The method described in Clause 15, wherein the PDCCH indicates whether the RACH procedure includes a first-type RACH procedure or a second-type RACH procedure by means of at least a bit in the FDRA field of the DCI transmitted by the PDCCH, the DMRS configuration of the PDCCH, the index of the PRACH preamble or preamble group, or the index of the PRACH mask.

[0158] Clause 18: A method of Clause 15, wherein the capabilities of the UE indicated include at least one of the following: the UE's ability to support a second type of RACH procedure, the UE's ability to support CE, the UE's ability to support HD FDD, the UE's RF recalibration capability, or the UE's processing for handling PDCCH, PUSCH, or PUSCH transmissions.

[0159] Clause 19: A method of Clause 15, comprising determining a minimum gap based at least in part on the capabilities of the indicated UE, and scheduling the UE to perform a RACH procedure via the PDCCH such that the time between the last symbol of the PDCCH and the first symbol of a first-type RACH message or a second-type RACH message is greater than or equal to the minimum gap.

[0160] Clause 20: The method described in Clause 19, wherein the minimum gap is determined based on at least one of the following: the type of RACH procedure, the CE capability of the UE, the UE processing capability of PDCCH, PRACH, or PUSCH, or the minimum SCS configuration of PDCCH, PRACH, or PUSCH.

[0161] Clause 21: The method described in Clause 19, wherein the minimum gap is determined based on at least one of a BWP switching delay dependent on the capabilities of the UE, or an HD FDD switching delay dependent on the capabilities of the UE.

[0162] Clause 22: The method described in Clause 19, wherein the minimum gap is determined based on at least one of the following: an uplink switching gap depending on the capabilities of the UE and the uplink transmit switching option, or a delay extension depending on the capabilities of the UE, the operating FR, QCL or TCI state, and the serving cell's SSB or downlink reference signal configuration.

[0163] Clause 23: A method described in any one of Clauses 14 to 22, wherein PDCCH indicates whether the RACH procedure includes a first type RACH procedure in which the UE transmits a first type RACH message including a PRACH preamble, or a second type RACH procedure in which the UE transmits a second type RACH message including a PRACH preamble and a PUSCH composite, one or more power control parameters for the first type RACH message or the second type RACH message, or one or more CE schemes for the first type RACH message or the second type RACH message, or at least one of a set of modulation, encoding, and HARQ processing parameters for msgA PUSCH.

[0164] Clause 24: The method described in Clause 23, wherein the power control parameters depend on at least one of the following: the type of RACH procedure, the QCI or TCI status, the CSI report, the power control scheme, or the conflict resolution scheme for the type of RACH procedure.

[0165] Clause 25: The method described in Clause 24, wherein the power control parameter includes at least one of the following: an indicator of the uplink total power transmit parameter, QCL or TCI, a TPC command, a transmit power ramp-up parameter, or a transmit power offset between PRACH and PUSCH.

[0166] Clause 26: The method described in Clause 15, wherein at least one UE comprises a group of UEs, the PDCCH comprises a groupcast PDCCH sent in a CSS set, and the payload or the CRC bits of the payload are scrambled by the group RNTI.

[0167] Clause 27: A method for wireless communication by a UE, comprising: transmitting instructions to a network entity of one or more capabilities of a user device (UE); receiving a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) instructing the UE to perform a random access channel (RACH) procedure on an uplink carrier based on one or more capabilities of the UE; determining a minimum gap between the last symbol of the PDCCH and the first symbol of the RACH message, the minimum gap including half-duplex (HD) switching delays; and performing the RACH procedure on the uplink carrier if the gap between the last symbol of the PDCCH and the first symbol of the RACH message is greater than or equal to the minimum gap.

[0168] Clause 28: The method described in Clause 27, wherein the RACH procedure includes a first type RACH procedure in which the UE sends a first type RACH message containing a physical RACH (PRACH) preamble, or a second type RACH procedure in which the UE sends a second type RACH message containing a composite of a PRACH preamble and a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH).

[0169] Clause 29: The method described in Clause 28, wherein PDCCH indicates an uplink carrier, and the uplink carrier is a normal uplink carrier or an auxiliary uplink (SUL) carrier within an uplink bandwidth portion (BWP) less than or equal to the UE's maximum uplink BWP capacity.

[0170] Clause 30: A method described in any one of Clauses 28-29, wherein the RACH procedure is performed using coverage extensions (CEs) based on one or more capabilities of the UE, the CEs comprising at least one of the following: repetition of the PRACH preamble, repetition of the PUSCH, frequency hopping of the PRACH preamble, frequency hopping of the PUSCH, or bundled demodulated reference signals (DMRS) of the PUSCH.

[0171] Clause 31: A method described in any one of Clauses 28-30, wherein PDCCH indicates a type of RACH procedure and a synchronous signal block (SSB) index, the uplink bandwidth portion (BWP) of the RACH procedure is associated with a downlink BWP containing an SSB, and the SSB includes a cell-defined SSB (CD-SSB) or a non-cell-defined SSB (NCD-SSB).

[0172] Clause 32: A method according to Clause 31, wherein the PDCCH indicates the type of RACH procedure via at least one bit of the following: the Frequency Domain Resource Allocation (FDRA) field, the DMRS configuration of the PDCCH, the index of the PRACH preamble, the index of the PRACH preamble group, or the index of the PRACH mask.

[0173] Clause 33: A method of any one of Clauses 27-32, wherein the determination of the minimum gap is based on at least one of the following: reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement, the processing capability of the UE for a PDCCH, physical RACH (PRACH), or physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), minimum subcarrier spacing (SCS) configuration of the PDCCH, PRACH, or PUSCH, bandwidth portion (BWP) switching delay, delay extension based on operating frequency range (FR), or the switching gap between downlink reception and uplink transmission.

[0174] Clause 34: The method described in Clause 33, wherein the BWP switching delay depends on the capabilities of the UE and the switching gap depends on the capabilities of the UE.

[0175] Clause 35: A method of any one of Clauses 27-34, wherein the determination of the minimum gap is based on at least one of the following: an uplink switching gap dependent on the capabilities of the preceding UE, an uplink transmit switching option, a quasi-collocation (QCL), a transmit configuration indicator (TCI) state, a synchronous signal block (SSB), or a serving cell's downlink reference signal configuration.

[0176] Clause 36: A method of any one of Clauses 27-35, wherein the indication of one or more capabilities of the UE includes at least one indication that the UE is a low-capacity (RedCap) UE or a UE with half-duplex (HD) capabilities.

[0177] Clause 37: A method described in any one of Clauses 27-36, wherein one or more capabilities of the UE include at least one of the following: the UE's ability to support a certain type of RACH procedure, the UE's ability to support coverage extension (CE), the UE's ability to support half-duplex (HD) frequency division duplex (FDD), the UE's radio frequency (RF) retuning capability, or the UE's ability to handle PDCCH, physical RACH (PRACH), or physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH).

[0178] Clause 38: A method of any one of Clauses 27-37, wherein the determination of the minimum gap is based on at least one of the types of RACH procedures or the coverage extension (CE) of the RACH procedures.

[0179] Clause 39: A method described in any one of Clauses 27-38, which provides a set of modulation, encoding, and hybrid automatic retransmission request (HARQ) processing parameters for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)RACH message.

[0180] Clause 39: A method described in any one of Clauses 27 to 39, wherein PDCCH indicates one or more power control parameters of a physical RACH (PRACH) message based on one or more of the aforementioned capabilities of the UE.

[0181] Clause 41: A method according to Clause 40, wherein one or more power control parameters depend on at least one of the following: the type of RACH procedure, the power control scheme, the transmit configuration indicator (TCI) state, the quasi-collocation (QCL) state, or the RACH procedure conflict resolution scheme.

[0182] Clause 42: A method according to Clause 41, wherein one or more power control parameters include at least one of the following: an indicator for uplink full power transmit parameters, a TCI state, a QCL state, a transmit power control (TPC) command, a transmit power ramp-up parameter, or a transmit power offset between physical RACH (PRACH) transmits and physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmits.

[0183] Clause 43: A method described in any one of Clauses 27-42, wherein the PDCCH includes a groupcast PDCCH transmitted in a Common Search Space (CSS) set, and the payload or cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits of the payload are scrambled by a group radio network temporary identifier (RNTI).

[0184] Clause 44: A method of any one of Clauses 27-43, comprising transmitting a Channel Status Information (CSI) report and receiving a Coverage Extension (CE) configuration of a RACH procedure based on the CSI report.

[0185] Clause 45: A method described in any one of Clauses 27-44, wherein the half-duplex (HD) switching delay includes a first delay in which the UE switches from uplink transmit to downlink receive, or a second delay in which the UE switches from downlink receive to uplink transmit.

[0186] Clause 46: A method for wireless communication by a network entity includes outputting a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) to transmit to at least one user equipment (UE) a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) instructing at least one UE to perform a random access channel (RACH) procedure based on one or more capabilities of at least one UE, and retrieving a RACH message from at least one UE after a minimum gap between the last symbol of the PDCCH and the first symbol of the RACH message, wherein the minimum gap includes half-duplex (HD) switching delays.

[0187] Clause 47: A method of Clause 46, wherein the RACH procedure includes a first type RACH procedure in which the UE sends a first type RACH message containing a physical RACH (PRACH) preamble, or a second type RACH procedure in which the UE sends a second type RACH message containing a composite of a PRACH preamble and a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH).

[0188] Clause 48: The method described in Clause 47, wherein the RACH procedure is performed using coverage extension (CE), and the CE includes at least one of the following: repetition of the PRACH preamble, repetition of PUSCH, frequency hopping of the PRACH preamble, frequency hopping of PUSCH, or bundled demodulated reference signals (DMRS) of PUSCH.

[0189] Clause 49: A method of any one of Clauses 47-48, further comprising obtaining from at least one UE an indication of one or more capabilities of at least one UE, wherein the indication of one or more capabilities includes at least one of the following: an indication that at least one UE is a low-capacity (RedCap) UE, or an ability of at least one UE that supports half-duplex (HD).

[0190] Clause 49: A method of any one of Clauses 47 to 49, comprising determining a minimum gap based at least in part on one or more capabilities of at least one UE, and scheduling at least one UE to perform a RACH procedure via the PDCCH such that the time between the last symbol of the PDCCH and the first symbol of the RACH message is greater than or equal to the minimum gap.

[0191] Clause 49: A method of any one of Clauses 46-49, wherein the determination of the minimum gap is based on at least one of the following: reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement, the processing capability of the UE for a PDCCH, physical RACH (PRACH), or physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), minimum subcarrier spacing (SCS) configuration of the PDCCH, PRACH, or PUSCH, bandwidth portion (BWP) switching delay, delay extension based on operating frequency range (FR), or the switching gap between downlink reception and uplink transmission.

[0192] Clause 50: A method described in any one of Clauses 46 to 49, wherein PDCCH indicates one or more power control parameters of a physical RACH (PRACH) message based on one or more capabilities of the device.

[0193] Clause 51: A method described in any one of Clauses 46-50, wherein the half-duplex (HD) switching delay includes a first delay in which the UE switches from uplink transmit to downlink receive, or a second delay in which at least one UE switches from downlink receive to uplink transmit.

[0194] Clause 52: A method described in any one of Clauses 46-51, wherein at least one UE comprises a group of UEs, the PDCCH comprises a groupcast PDCCH transmitted in a Common Search Space (CSS) set, and the payload of the PDCCH or the cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits of the PDCCH payload are scrambled by a group radio network temporary identifier (RNTI).

[0195] Clause 53: A processing system comprising memory containing computer executable instructions and one or more processors configured to execute computer executable instructions and cause the processing system to perform the methods described in any one of Clauses 1 to 52.

[0196] Article 54: A processing system including means for carrying out the method described in any one of the paragraphs 1 to 52.

[0197] Article 55: A non-temporary computer-readable medium containing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a processing system, cause the processing system to perform the actions described in any one of the paragraphs 1 to 52.

[0198] Article 56: A computer program product embodied on a computer-readable storage medium, which includes code for performing the method described in any one of the paragraphs 1 to 52.

[0199] Additional considerations regarding wireless communication networks The techniques and methods described herein may be used in a variety of wireless communication networks (or wireless wide area networks (WWANs)) and radio access technologies (RATs). While embodiments may be described using terms commonly associated with 3G, 4G, and / or 5G (e.g., 5G New Radio (NR)) wireless technologies, embodiments of this disclosure may also be applicable to other communication systems and standards not expressly mentioned herein.

[0200] 5G wireless communication networks can support a variety of advanced wireless communication services, including eMBB, millimeter wave, MTC, and / or mission-critical target URLLC. These services and others may have latency and reliability requirements.

[0201] Returning to Figure 1, various aspects of this disclosure can be implemented within an exemplary wireless communication network 100.

[0202] In 3GPP®, the term “cell” can refer to the service area of ​​a NodeB and / or the narrowband subsystem that provides this service area, depending on the context in which the term is used. In NR systems, the term “cell” may be used synonymously with BS, gNB, AP, distributed unit (DU), carrier, or transmit / receive point. A BS may provide communication coverage to macrocells, picocells, femtocells, and / or other types of cells.

[0203] Macrocells can generally cover relatively large geographical areas (e.g., a radius of several kilometers) and allow unlimited access by subscriber UEs. Picocells can cover relatively small geographical areas (e.g., a sports stadium) and allow unlimited access by subscriber UEs. Femtocells can cover relatively small geographical areas (e.g., a home) and allow limited access by UEs associated with the femtocell (e.g., use in a specific subscriber group (CSG) and use for users within a home). Base stations for macrocells are sometimes called macro base stations. Base stations for picocells are sometimes called pico base stations. Base stations for femtocells are sometimes called femto base stations, home base stations, or home node base stations.

[0204] A BS102 configured for 4G LTE (collectively referred to as Evolutionary Universal Mobile Communications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN)) can interface with an EPC160 via a first backhaul link 132 (e.g., S1 interface). A BS102 configured for 5G (e.g., 5G NR or Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN)) can interface with a 5GC190 via a second backhaul link 184. Base stations 102 can communicate with each other directly or indirectly (e.g., via an EPC160 or 5GC190) via a third backhaul link 134 (e.g., X2 interface). The third backhaul link 134 may generally be wired or wireless.

[0205] Small cell 102' can operate in licensed and / or unlicensed frequency spectra. When operating in the unlicensed frequency spectrum, small cell 102' may employ NR and use the same 5GHz unlicensed frequency spectrum used by Wi-Fi AP150. Small cell 102' can employ NR in the unlicensed frequency spectrum to expand access network coverage and / or increase access network capacity.

[0206] Some BSs, such as the gNB180, can operate in the conventional sub-6GHz spectrum, millimeter-wave frequencies, and / or frequencies close to millimeter-wave frequencies when communicating with the UE104. When a BS180 operates in millimeter-wave or near-millimeter-wave frequencies, it may be called a millimeter-wave BS.

[0207] The communication link 120 between BS102 and, for example, UE104, can be via one or more carriers. For example, BS102 and UE104 can use a spectrum with a maximum Y MHz (e.g., 5, 10, 15, 20, 100, 400, or other MHz) bandwidth per carrier allocated in carrier aggregation up to a total of Yx MHz (x component carriers) used for transmission in each direction. The carriers may or may not be adjacent to each other. The carrier allocation may be asymmetric with respect to DL and UL (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated to DL than to UL). Component carriers may include primary component carriers and one or more secondary component carriers. Primary component carriers may be called primary cells (PCells), and secondary component carriers may be called secondary cells (SCells).

[0208] The wireless communication system 100 further includes a Wi-Fi AP 150 that communicates with a Wi-Fi station (STA) 152 via a communication link 154 in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, for example, 2.4 GHz and / or 5 GHz. When communicating in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, the STA 152 / AP 150 may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) before communication to determine whether a channel is available.

[0209] Some UE104s may communicate with each other using a device-to-device (D2D) communication link 158. The D2D communication link 158 may use the DL / UL WWAN spectrum. The D2D communication link 158 may use one or more sidelink channels, such as the physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH), physical sidelink discovery channel (PSDCH), physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), and physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH). D2D communication can be performed through various wireless D2D communication systems, such as FlashLinQ, WiMedia, Bluetooth, ZigBee, Wi-Fi based on the IEEE 802.11 standard, 4G (e.g., LTE), or 5G (e.g., NR), to name a few options.

[0210] EPC160 may include a Mobility Management Entity (MME) 162, another MME 164, a Serving Gateway 166, a Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) Gateway 168, a Broadcast Multicast Service Center (BM-SC) 170, and a Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway 172. MME 162 can communicate with the Home Subscriber Server (HSS) 174. MME 162 is a control node that handles signaling between UE 104 and EPC160. Generally, MME 162 provides bearer and connectivity management.

[0211] Generally, user Internet Protocol (IP) packets are forwarded via a serving gateway 166 connected to a PDN gateway 172. The PDN gateway 172 provides UE IP address assignment and other functions. The PDN gateway 172 and BM-SC170 are connected to an IP service 176 which may include, for example, the Internet, an intranet, an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS), PS streaming services, and / or other IP services.

[0212] The BM-SC170 can provide functionality for provisioning and delivering MBMS user services. The BM-SC170 can function as an entry point for MBMS transmissions from content providers, can be used to authorize and initiate MBMS bearer services within a public land mobile network (PLMN), and can be used to schedule MBMS transmissions. The MBMS gateway 168 can be used to allocate MBMS traffic to base stations 102 belonging to a multicast broadcast single frequency network (MBSFN) area broadcasting specific services, and can be responsible for session management (start / stop) and collecting eMBMS-related billing information.

[0213] The 5GC190 may include Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF)192, other AMF193, Session Management Function (SMF)194, and User Plane Function (UPF)195. The AMF192 can communicate with Unified Data Management (UDM)196.

[0214] The AMF192 is generally a control node that handles signaling between the UE104 and 5GC190. Typically, the AMF192 provides QoS flow and session management.

[0215] All user IP packets are connected to IP service 197 and forwarded via UPF 195, which provides UE IP address assignment and other functions of 5GC 190. IP service 197 may include, for example, the Internet, intranet, IP multimedia subsystem (IMS), PS streaming service, and / or other IP services.

[0216] Returning to Figure 2, examples of various components of BS102 and UE104 (e.g., wireless communication network 100 in Figure 1) that may be used to implement aspects of this disclosure are shown.

[0217] In BS102, the transmitting processor 220 can receive data from the data source 212 and control information from the controller / processor 240. This control information may relate to the Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH), Physical Control Format Indicator Channel (PCFICH), Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel (PHICH), Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), Group Common PDCCH (GC PDCCH), etc. In some examples, the data may be for the PDCCH.

[0218] A Media Access Control (MAC) Control Element (MAC-CE) is a MAC layer communication structure that can be used to control command exchange between wireless nodes. MAC-CEs can be carried over a shared channel such as a PDSCH, Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), or PSSCH.

[0219] The processor 220 can process data and control information (e.g., encoding and symbol mapping) to obtain data symbols and control symbols, respectively. The transmitting processor 220 can also generate reference symbols such as the primary synchronization signal (PSS), SSS, PBCH demodulated reference signal (DMRS), and CSI-RS.

[0220] The transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 230 can, where applicable, perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on ​​data symbols, control symbols, and / or reference symbols, and provide output symbol streams to the modulators (MODs) in the transceivers 232a-232t. Each modulator in transceivers 232a-232t can process its respective output symbol stream (e.g., for OFDM) to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator can further process the output sample stream (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, and upconvert) to obtain a downlink signal. The downlink signals from the modulators in transceivers 232a-232t can be transmitted via antennas 234a-234t, respectively.

[0221] In UE104, antennas 252a-252r receive downlink signals from BS102 and provide the received signals to the demodulators (DEMODs) in transceivers 254a-254r, respectively. Each demodulator in transceivers 254a-254r can adjust its respective received signal (e.g., filter, amplify, downconvert, and digitize) to obtain an input sample. Each demodulator can further process the input sample (e.g., for OFDM) to obtain a received symbol.

[0222] The MIMO detector 256 can acquire received symbols from all demodulators in the transceivers 254a to 254r, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols where applicable, and provide the detected symbols. The receiving processor 258 can process the detected symbols (e.g., demodulate, deinterleave, and decode), provide the decoded data for the UE 104 to the data sink 260, and provide the decoded control information to the controller / processor 280.

[0223] On the uplink, in UE104, the transmit processor 264 can receive and process data from data source 262 (e.g., for PUSCH) and control information from controller / processor 280 (e.g., for physical uplink control channel (PUCCH)). The transmit processor 264 can also generate reference symbols for reference signals (e.g., sounding reference signals (SRS)). The symbols from the transmit processor 264 can be precoded by the TX MIMO processor 266, where applicable, further processed by modulators in transceivers 254a-254r (e.g., for SC-FDM) and transmitted to BS102.

[0224] In BS102, the uplink signal from UE104 is received by antennas 234a-t, processed by demodulators in transceivers 232a-232t, detected by MIMO detector 236 if applicable, and further processed by receiving processor 238 to obtain decoded data and control information transmitted by UE104. The receiving processor 238 can provide the decoded data to data sink 239 and the decoded control information to controller / processor 240.

[0225] Memories 242 and 282 can store data and program code for BS102 and UE104, respectively.

[0226] Scheduler 244 may schedule UEs for data transmission on the downlink and / or uplink.

[0227] 5G can utilize orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) with cyclic prefixes (CP) on the uplink and downlink. 5G can also support half-duplex operation using TDD. OFDM and single-carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) divide the system bandwidth into multiple orthogonal subcarriers, commonly known as tones and bins. Each subcarrier can be modulated with data. The modulation symbol can be transmitted using OFDM in the frequency domain and using SC-FDM in the time domain. The spacing between adjacent subcarriers may be fixed, and the total number of subcarriers may depend on the system bandwidth. A minimum resource allocation, called a resource block (RB), may be 12 consecutive subcarriers in some examples. The system bandwidth may also be divided into subbands. For example, a subband may encompass multiple RBs. NR can support a base subcarrier spacing (SCS) of 15 kHz, and other SCSs can be defined with respect to the base SCS (e.g., 30 kHz, 60 kHz, 120 kHz, 240 kHz, etc.).

[0228] As described above, Figures 3A to 3D show various examples of data structures for wireless communication networks, such as the wireless communication network 100 in Figure 1.

[0229] In various embodiments, the 5G frame structure may be FDD, where for a given set of subcarriers (carrier system bandwidth), the subframes within that set of subcarriers are dedicated to either DL or UL. The 5G frame structure may also be TDD, where for a given set of subcarriers (carrier system bandwidth), the subframes within that set are dedicated to both DL and UL. In the example provided by Figures 3A and 3C, the 5G frame structure is assumed to be TDD, with subframe 4 consisting of slot format 28 (mostly DL), where D is DL, U is UL, and X is flexible for use between DL and UL, and subframe 3 consisting of slot format 34 (mostly UL). Subframes 3 and 4 are shown in slot formats 34 and 28, respectively, but a given subframe may consist of any of the various available slot formats 0 to 61. Slot formats 0 and 1 are all DL and UL, respectively. The other slot formats 2 to 61 include a mixture of DL, UL, and flexible symbols. The UE is configured in slot format (dynamically via DCI, or semi-statically / statically via RRC signaling through received slot format indicators (SFIs)). The following description also applies to the 5G frame structure, which is TDD.

[0230] Other wireless communication technologies may have different frame structures and / or different channels. A frame (10 ms) may be divided into 10 subframes (1 ms) of equal size. Each subframe may contain one or more time slots. Subframes may also contain minislots that may contain 7, 4, or 2 symbols. In some examples, each slot may contain 7 or 14 symbols, depending on the slot configuration.

[0231] For example, in slot configuration 0, each slot may contain 14 symbols, and in slot configuration 1, each slot may contain 7 symbols. Symbols on DL may be cyclic prefix (CP) OFDM (CP-OFDM) symbols. Symbols on UL may be CP-OFDM symbols (for high-throughput scenarios) or discrete Fourier transform (DFT) spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) symbols (also called single-carrier frequency-division multiple access (SC-FDMA) symbols) (for power-limited scenarios, limited to single-stream transmission).

[0232] The number of slots within a subframe depends on the slot configuration and numerology. For slot configuration 0, different numerologies (μ) 0-5 allow 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, and 32 slots per subframe, respectively. For slot configuration 1, different numerologies 0-2 allow 2, 4, and 8 slots per subframe, respectively. Therefore, for slot configuration 0 and numerology μ, there are 14 symbols / slot and 2 μ slots / subframe. Subcarrier spacing and symbol length / duration are features of the numerology. Subcarrier spacing is 2 μ It may be equal to ×15kHz, and μ is a value between 0 and 5. Therefore, numerology μ=0 has a subcarrier interval of 15kHz, and numerology μ=5 has a subcarrier interval of 480kHz. The symbol length / duration is inversely proportional to the subcarrier interval. Figures 3A-3D provide examples of slot configuration 0, which has 14 symbols per slot, and numerology μ=2, which has 4 slots per subframe. The slot duration is 0.25ms, the subcarrier interval is 60kHz, and the symbol duration is approximately 16.67μs.

[0233] A resource grid may be used to represent the frame structure. Each time slot contains a RB (also called a physical RB (PRB)) that extends 12 consecutive subcarriers. The resource grid is divided into multiple resource elements (REs). The number of bits carried by each RE depends on the modulation scheme.

[0234] As shown in Figure 3A, a portion of the RE carries a reference (pilot) signal (RS) for the UE (e.g., UE104 in Figures 1 and 2). The RS may include DMRS for channel estimation in the UE (where 100x is the port number, but other DMRS configurations are possible, indicated as Rx for certain configurations) and CSI-RS. The RS may also include beam measurement RS (BRS), beam improvement RS (BRRS), and phase tracking RS (PT-RS).

[0235] Figure 3B shows examples of various DL channels within a subframe of a frame. A PDCCH carries DCI within one or more control channel elements (CCEs), each CCE containing nine RE groups (REGs), and each REG containing four consecutive REs in an OFDM symbol.

[0236] PSS can be located within symbol 2 of a specific subframe of a frame. PSS is used by the UE (e.g., 104 in Figures 1 and 2) to determine the timing and physical layer identification of the subframe / symbol.

[0237] SSS can be found within Symbol 4 of a specific subframe of a frame. SSS is used by the UE to determine the physical layer cell identification group number and radio frame timing.

[0238] Based on the physical layer identification information and physical layer cell identification information group number, the UE can determine the physical cell identifier (PCI). Based on the PCI, the UE can determine the location of the aforementioned DMRS. The PBCH carrying the Master Information Block (MIB) can be logically grouped with the PSS and SSS to form a synchronization signal (SS) / PBCH block. The MIB provides the number of RBs and the system frame number (SFN) within the system bandwidth. The PDSCH carries user data, broadcast system information not transmitted through the PBCH such as the System Information Block (SIB), and paging messages.

[0239] As shown in Figure 3C, a portion of the RE carries DMRS (indicated as R for certain configurations, but other DMRS configurations are also possible) for channel estimation at the BS. The UE can transmit DMRS for PUCCH and DM-RS for PUSCH. PUSCH DMRS may be transmitted in the first one or two symbols of the PUSCH. PUCCH DMRS may be transmitted in different configurations depending on whether a short or long PUCCH is transmitted and depending on the specific PUCCH format used. The UE may transmit a sounding reference signal (SRS). The SRS may be transmitted in the last symbol of a subframe. The SRS may have a comb structure, and the UE may transmit the SRS on one of the combs. The SRS may be used by the BS for channel quality estimation, enabling frequency-dependent scheduling at the UL.

[0240] Figure 3D shows examples of various UL channels within a frame subframe. In one configuration, the PUCCH may be located as shown. The PUCCH carries uplink control information (UCI), such as scheduling requests, channel quality indicators (CQI), precoding matrix indicators (PMI), rank indicators (RI), and HARQ ACK / NACK feedback. The PUCCH carries data and may additionally carry buffer status reports (BSR), power headroom reports (PHR), and / or UCI.

[0241] Figure 4 shows an example of a distributed base station architecture 400. The distributed base station architecture 400 may include one or more central units (CUs) 410 that can communicate directly with the core network 420 via a backhaul link, or indirectly with the core network 420 via one or more distributed base station units (such as a near-real-time (Near-RT) RAN intelligent controller (RIC) 425 via an E2 link, or a non-real-time (Non-RT) RIC 415 associated with a service management and orchestration (SMO) framework 405, or both). The CUs 410 can communicate with one or more DUs 430 via their respective midhaul links, such as an F1 interface. The DUs 430 can communicate with one or more radio units (RUs) 440 via their respective fronthaul links. The RUs 440 can communicate with their respective UEs 104 via one or more radio frequency (RF) access links. In some implementations, the UEs 104 can be serviced simultaneously by multiple RUs 440.

[0242] Each of the units, for example, CU410, DU430, RU440, and the N-type RT RIC425, non-RT RIC415, and SMO framework 405, may include or be coupled to one or more interfaces configured to send and receive signals, data, or information (collectively referred to as signals) over a wired or wireless transmission medium. Each unit, or any associated processor or controller that provides instructions to a unit's communication interface, may be configured to communicate with one or more other units over a transmission medium. For example, a unit may include a wired interface configured to receive or transmit signals to one or more other units over a wired transmission medium. In addition, or instead, a unit may include a wireless interface, which may include a receiver, transmitter, or transceiver (such as an RF transceiver) configured to receive or transmit signals to or both to one or more other units over a wireless transmission medium.

[0243] In some embodiments, the CU410 can host one or more higher-layer control functions. Such control functions may include RRC, Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP), Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP), etc. Each control function can be implemented using an interface configured to communicate signals with other control functions hosted by the CU410. The CU410 may be configured to handle user plane functions (e.g., central device-user plane (CU-UP)), control plane functions (e.g., central device-control plane (CU-CP)), or a combination thereof. In some implementations, the CU410 can be logically divided into one or more CU-UP units and one or more CU-CP units. When implemented in an O-RAN configuration, the CU-UP units can communicate bidirectionally with the CU-CP units via an interface such as the E1 interface. The CU410 may be implemented to communicate with the DU430 for network control and signaling, as needed.

[0244] The DU430 can accommodate a logic unit containing one or more base station functions for controlling the operation of one or more RU440s. In some embodiments, the DU430 can host one or more of the following, at least in part, a functional decomposition, such as that defined by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP®): a radio link control (RLC) layer, a MAC layer, and one or more higher physical (PHY) layers (such as modules for forward error correction (FEC) coding and decoding, scrambling, modulation and demodulation). In some embodiments, the DU430 can further host one or more lower PHY layers. Each layer (or module) may be implemented using an interface configured to communicate signals with other layers (and modules) hosted by the DU430, or with control functions hosted by the CU410.

[0245] Lower-layer functions can be implemented by one or more RU440s. In some deployments, RU440s controlled by DU430s may correspond to logic nodes hosting RF processing functions, or low-PHY layer functions (such as performing fast Fourier transform (FFT), inverse FFT (iFFT), digital beamforming, PRACH extraction and filtering, etc.), or both, at least partially based on functional partitioning such as lower-layer functional partitioning. In such architectures, RU440s may be implemented to handle over-the-air (OTA) communication with one or more UE104s. In some implementations, real-time and non-real-time aspects of control and user-plane communication with the RU440s may be controlled by the corresponding DU430s. In some scenarios, this configuration allows the DU430s and CU410s to be implemented in cloud-based RAN architectures such as vRAN architectures.

[0246] The SMO framework 405 can be configured to support RAN deployment and provisioning of non-virtualized and virtualized network elements. For non-virtualized network elements, the SMO framework 405 can be configured to support the deployment of dedicated physical resources for RAN coverage requirements that can be managed via an operational management interface (such as the O1 interface). For virtualized network elements, the SMO framework 405 can be configured to interact with a cloud computing platform (such as the Open Cloud (O-Cloud) 490) and perform network element lifecycle management (such as instantiating virtualized network elements) via a cloud computing platform interface (such as the O2 interface). Such virtualized network elements include, but are not limited to, the CU410, DU430, RU440, and the quasi-RT RIC425. In some implementations, the SMO framework 405 can communicate with hardware embodiments of the 4G RAN, such as the Open eNB (O-eNB) 411, via the O1 interface. Furthermore, in some implementations, the SMO framework 405 can communicate directly with one or more RU440s via the O1 interface. The SMO framework 405 may include a non-RT RIC 415 configured to support the functionality of the SMO framework 405.

[0247] Non-RT RIC 415 may be configured to include logic functions that enable non-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources, artificial intelligence / machine learning (AI / ML) workflows including model training and updating, or policy-based guidance for applications / functions of quasi-RT RIC 425. Non-RT RIC 415 can connect to or communicate with quasi-RT RIC 425 (e.g., via the A1 interface). Quasi-RT RIC 425 may be configured to include logic functions that enable quasi-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources through data acquisition and operation on one or more CU410s, one or more DU430s, or both, and an interface connecting the O-eNB and quasi-RT RIC 425 (e.g., via the E2 interface).

[0248] In some implementations, a non-RT RIC415 can receive parameter or external enrichment information from an external server to generate an AI / ML model deployed to a quasi-RT RIC425. Such information can be utilized by the quasi-RT RIC425 and may be received by the SMO framework 405 or non-RT RIC415 from a non-network data source or network function. In some examples, the non-RT RIC415 or quasi-RT RIC425 may be configured to adjust the operation or performance of the RAN. For example, the non-RT RIC415 can monitor long-term trends and patterns in performance and employ an AI / ML model to take corrective action through the creation of an SMO framework 405 (such as reconfiguration via O1) or a RAN management policy (such as an A1 policy).

[0249] Additional considerations The preceding description provides an example of a RACH procedure mandated by PDCCH for low-capacity UEs. The preceding description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various embodiments described herein. The embodiments described herein do not limit the scope, applicability, or embodiments described in the claims. Various modifications of these embodiments will be readily apparent to a person skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein can be applied to other embodiments. For example, changes can be made to the function and configuration of the elements described without departing from the scope of this disclosure. Various embodiments may omit, replace, or add various procedures or components as needed. For example, the methods described may be performed in an order different from the order described, and various steps may be added, omitted, or combined. Also, features described in some embodiments may be combined in some other embodiments. For example, an apparatus may be implemented or a method may be practiced using any number of embodiments described herein. In addition, the scope of this disclosure is intended to encompass such apparatus or methods practiced using other structures, functions, or structures and functions in addition to, or other than, the various embodiments of this disclosure described herein. It should be understood that any aspect of the disclosure disclosed herein may be embodied by one or more elements of the claims.

[0250] The technologies described herein may be used in a variety of wireless communication technologies, including 5G (e.g., 5G NR), 3GPP® Long-Term Evolution (LTE), LTE Advanced (LTE-A), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA), Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA), and other networks. The terms “Network” and “System” are often used interchangeably. CDMA networks can implement wireless technologies such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA) and cdma2000. UTRA includes Broadband CDMA (WCDMA®) and other variations of CDMA. cdma2000 covers the IS-2000, IS-95, and IS-856 standards. TDMA networks may implement wireless technologies such as the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). OFDMA networks can implement wireless technologies such as NR (e.g., 5G RA), Next Generation UTRA (E-UTRA), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, and Flash-OFDMA. UTRA and E-UTRA are part of the Universal Mobile Communications System (UMTS). LTE and LTE-A are UMTS releases that use E-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE, LTE-A, and GSM are documented in documents from an organization called the "Third Generation Partnership Project" (3GPP®). cdma2000 and UMB are documented in documents from an organization called the "Third Generation Partnership Project II" (3GPP2). NR is an emerging wireless communications technology under development.

[0251] The various exemplary logic blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with this disclosure may be implemented or run using general-purpose processors, DSPs, ASICs, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or other programmable logic devices (PLDs), discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but alternatively, the processor may be any commercially available processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. The processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors working in conjunction with a DSP core, a system-on-a-chip (SoC), or any other such configuration.

[0252] When implemented in hardware, an exemplary hardware configuration may include a processing system within a wireless node. The processing system may be implemented using a bus architecture. The bus may include any number of interconnecting buses and bridges, depending on the specific application of the processing system and the overall design constraints. The bus may link various circuits, including processors, machine-readable media, and bus interfaces. The bus interface may be used, among other things, to connect a network adapter to the processing system via the bus. The network adapter may be used to implement the signal processing functions of the PHY layer. In the case of user equipment (see Figure 1), a user interface (e.g., keypad, display, mouse, joystick, touchscreen, biosensor, proximity sensor, light-emitting element, etc.) may also be connected to the bus. The bus can also link various other circuits, such as timing sources, peripherals, voltage regulators, and power management circuits, but these are well known in the art and will not be described further. The processor may be implemented using one or more general-purpose processors and / or dedicated processors. Examples include microprocessors, microcontrollers, DSP processors, and other circuits capable of running software. Those skilled in the art will recognize the best way to implement the described functions of the processing system, depending on the specific application and the overall design constraints imposed on the entire system.

[0253] When implemented in software, functions may be stored on or transmitted via computer-readable media as one or more instructions or code. Software, whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or by any other name, is broadly interpreted to mean instructions, data, or any combination thereof. Computer-readable media include both computer storage media and communication media, including any medium that facilitates the transfer of computer programs from one location to another. A processor may be responsible for general operations, including managing buses and executing software modules stored on machine-readable storage media. Computer-readable storage media may be coupled to a processor so that the processor can read information from and write information to the storage media. Alternatively, the storage media may be integrated with the processor. For example, machine-readable media may include computer-readable storage media with stored instructions separate from transmission lines, data-modulated carriers, and / or wireless nodes, all of which may be accessed by the processor through a bus interface. As an alternative or addition, machine-readable media or any part thereof may be integrated into the processor, such as caches and / or general-purpose register files. Examples of machine-readable storage media may include, for example, random access memory (RAM), flash memory, read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), registers, magnetic disks, optical disks, hard drives, or any other suitable storage media, or any combination thereof. Machine-readable media may be embodied in computer program products.

[0254] A software module may consist of a single instruction or a number of instructions, and may be distributed across several different code segments, between different programs, and across multiple storage media. A computer-readable medium may contain several software modules. A software module contains instructions that cause a processing system to perform various functions when executed by a device such as a processor. A software module may include transmit modules and receive modules. Each software module may reside in a single storage device or be distributed across multiple storage devices. For example, a software module may be loaded from a hard drive into RAM when a trigger event occurs. While a software module is executing, the processor may load some of the instructions into a cache to increase access speed. One or more cache lines may then be loaded into a general-purpose register file for execution by the processor. When the functions of a software module are referred to below, it will be understood that such functions are implemented by the processor when instructions from that software module are executed.

[0255] When used herein, the phrase “at least one of” an enumeration of items refers to any combination of those items, including a single member. For example, “at least one of a, b, or c” includes a, b, c, ab, ac, bc, and abc, as well as any combination having multiple identical elements (e.g., aa, aaa, aab, aac, abb, acc, bb, bbb, bbc, cc, and ccc, or any other order of a, b, and c).

[0256] As used herein, the term “determining” encompasses a wide range of actions. For example, “determining” may include calculating, calculating, processing, deriving, investigating, looking up (e.g., looking up in a table, database, or other data structure), and verifying. It may also include receiving (e.g., receiving information), accessing (e.g., accessing data in memory), and resolving, selecting, electing, and establishing.

[0257] The methods disclosed herein include one or more steps or actions to achieve the method. The method steps and / or actions may be interchanged with one another without departing from the claims. In other words, unless a specific order of steps or actions is specified, the specific order and / or use of the steps and / or actions may be modified without departing from the claims. Furthermore, the various operations of the methods described above may be performed by any suitable means capable of performing the corresponding functions. The means may include, but are not limited to, various hardware and / or software components and / or modules, including circuits, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or processors. Generally, where there are operations shown in the figures, those operations may have corresponding relative means-plus-function components with similar numbering.

[0258] The following claims are not limited to the embodiments shown herein, but should be given the full scope consistent with the language of the claims. In the claims, a singular reference to an element means "one or more" unless it is explicitly stated as "one or more". Unless otherwise explicitly stated, the term "several" means one or more. The elements of the claims should not be construed under Section 112(f) of the U.S. Patent Act unless the element is expressly described using the phrase "means of" or, in the case of a method claim, the element is described using the phrase "steps of". All structural and functional equivalents of the elements of various embodiments described throughout this disclosure, which are known to those skilled in the art or will be known thereafter, are expressly incorporated by reference herein and are intended to be encompassed by the claims. Furthermore, nothing disclosed herein is intended to be made public, whether such disclosure is expressly enumerated in the claims or not.

Claims

1. A method for wireless communication using user equipment (UE), Transmitting instructions for one or more capabilities of the aforementioned UE, Receiving a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) that instructs the UE to execute a random access channel (RACH) procedure on an uplink carrier based on one or more capabilities of the UE, wherein the PDCCH indicates the type of the RACH procedure, A method comprising performing the RACH procedure of the type on the uplink carrier if the gap between the last symbol of the PDCCH and the first symbol of the RACH message is greater than or equal to a minimum gap determined based on the half-duplex switching delay and the type of the RACH procedure.

2. The type of the RACH procedure is The UE sends a first type RACH message including a physical RACH (PRACH) preamble, or The method according to claim 1, wherein the UE includes a second type of RACH procedure in which the UE transmits a second type of RACH message comprising a composite of the PRACH preamble and a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH).

3. The PDCCH indicates the uplink carrier, and the uplink carrier is either a normal uplink carrier or an auxiliary uplink (SUL) carrier within the uplink bandwidth portion (BWP) below the maximum uplink BWP capacity of the UE, or The method according to claim 2, wherein the PDCCH further indicates a synchronization signal block (SSB) index, the uplink bandwidth portion (BWP) of the RACH procedure is associated with a downlink BWP including the SSB, and the SSB includes a cell-defined SSB (CD-SSB) or a non-cell-defined SSB (NCD-SSB).

4. The RACH procedure is performed using coverage extensions (CEs) based on one or more capabilities of the UE. The method according to claim 2, wherein the CE includes at least one of the following: repetition of the PRACH preamble, repetition of the PUSCH, frequency hopping of the PRACH preamble, frequency hopping of the PUSCH, or bundled demodulated reference signal (DMRS) of the PUSCH.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising determining the minimum gap before performing the RACH procedure, wherein the minimum gap includes half-duplex (HD) switching delays.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the minimum gap is based on reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement, the processing capability of the UE for the PDCCH, physical RACH (PRACH), or physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), the minimum subcarrier spacing (SCS) configuration of the PDCCH, PRACH, or PUSCH, the bandwidth portion (BWP) switching delay, the delay extension based on the operating frequency range (FR), or the switching gap between downlink reception and uplink transmission.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the minimum gap is based on at least one of the following: an uplink switching gap dependent on the capabilities of the UE, an uplink transmit switching option, a quasi-collocation (QCL), a transmit configuration indicator (TCI) state, a synchronous signal block (SSB), or a downlink reference signal configuration of the serving cell.

8. The indication of one or more capabilities of the UE includes at least one indication of the UE being a low-capacity (RedCap) UE, or the UE's capability to support half-duplex (HD), The method according to claim 1, wherein the one or more capabilities of the UE include at least one of the following: the UE's ability to support a certain type of RACH procedure, the UE's ability to support coverage extension (CE), the UE's ability to support half-duplex (HD) frequency division duplex (FDD), the UE's radio frequency (RF) retuning capability, or the UE's ability to process the PDCCH, physical RACH (PRACH), or physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH).

9. The minimum gap is further based on the coverage extension (CE) of the RACH procedure, or The PDCCH represents a set of modulation, encoding, and hybrid automatic retransmission request (HARQ) processing parameters for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) RACH message, or, The method according to claim 1, wherein the PDCCH indicates one or more power control parameters of a physical RACH (PRACH) message based on one or more capabilities of the UE.

10. The PDCCH includes a group cast PDCCH transmitted in the Common Search Space (CSS) set. The method according to claim 1, wherein the payload or cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits of the payload are scrambled by a group radio network temporary identifier (RNTI).

11. Transmitting Channel Status Information (CSI) reports, The method according to claim 1, further comprising receiving a coverage extension (CE) configuration of the RACH procedure based on the CSI report.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the half-duplex (HD) switching delay includes a first delay in which the UE switches from uplink transmission to downlink reception, or a second delay in which the UE switches from downlink reception to uplink transmission.

13. A method for wireless communication by network entities, Outputting a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) to transmit to the at least one user device (UE) a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) that instructs the at least one UE to execute a random access channel (RACH) procedure based on one or more capabilities of the at least one UE, wherein the PDCCH indicates the type of the RACH procedure, A method comprising obtaining a RACH message in the RACH procedure of the type from the at least one UE after a minimum gap between the last symbol of the PDCCH and the first symbol of the RACH message, wherein the minimum gap is based on half-duplex (HD) switching delay and the type of the RACH procedure.

14. It is a device, Memory equipped with computer executable instructions, The computer executes the aforementioned computer executable instruction, and the device, The device is instructed to send a command to the network entity indicating one or more of its capabilities. The device receives a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) that instructs the device to execute a random access channel (RACH) procedure on the uplink carrier based on one or more of the capabilities of the device, and the PDCCH indicates the type of the RACH procedure. An apparatus including one or more processors configured to cause the RACH procedure of the type described above to run on the uplink carrier if the gap between the last symbol of the PDCCH and the first symbol of the RACH message is greater than or equal to a minimum gap determined based on the half-duplex switching delay and the type described above of the RACH procedure.

15. A processing system, Memory equipped with computer executable instructions, The computer executes the aforementioned computer executable instruction and the processing system, A physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) is output to transmit to the at least one user device (UE) which instructs the at least one UE to execute a random access channel (RACH) procedure based on one or more capabilities of the UE, the PDCCH indicating the type of the RACH procedure, A processing system comprising one or more processors configured to cause the acquisition of a RACH message of the type of RACH procedure from at least one UE after a minimum gap of half-duplex (HD) switching delay and the minimum gap based on the type of the RACH procedure, between the last symbol of the PDCCH and the first symbol of the RACH message.

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