Uplink (UL) resource allocation for Media Access Control (MAC) control elements (CE)

Abstract

Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques for wireless communication by a user equipment (UE). The UE detects that one or more conditions are met for transmitting a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) that provides assistance information to a network entity for scheduling. In response to the detection, the UE then takes one or more actions to obtain uplink (UL) resources for transmitting the MAC CE.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Cross - reference to Related Applications This application claims the benefit of priority of U.S. Patent Application No. 17 / 392,955, filed on August 3, 2021, which was assigned to the assignee of this application and is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Background Art

[0002] Aspects of the present disclosure relate to wireless communication, and more particularly to techniques for uplink (UL) resource allocation for media access control (MAC) control elements (CEs).

[0003] Wireless communication systems have been widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephone, video, data, messaging, broadcast, or other similar types of services. These wireless communication systems may employ multiple - access techniques that can support communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., bandwidth, transmit power, or other resources). Multiple - access techniques can depend on, for example, code division, time division, frequency division, orthogonal frequency division, single - carrier frequency division, or time - division synchronous code division. These and other multiple - access techniques have been adopted in various telecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enables different wireless devices to communicate at the urban, national, regional, and global levels.

[0004] Although wireless communication systems have made great technological progress over the years, problems still exist. For example, complex and dynamic environments can still attenuate or block signals between wireless transmitters and wireless receivers, impairing various established wireless channel measurement and reporting mechanisms used to manage and optimize the use of finite wireless channel resources. Therefore, further improvements in wireless communication systems are needed to overcome various problems. [Overview of the project]

[0005] One aspect provides a method for wireless communication by a user device (UE), comprising detecting that one or more conditions are met for transmitting a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) that provides support information to a network entity for scheduling, and, in response to the detection, taking one or more actions to obtain an uplink (UL) resource for transmitting the MAC CE.

[0006] Another aspect provides a method for wireless communication by a network entity, comprising: receiving a MAC CE indicating that a UE has detected that one or more conditions are met; the MAC CE providing support information including at least one of the following: a TA report for scheduling or information regarding a possible HARQ problem; and allocating UL resources based on the MAC CE having the support information.

[0007] Other embodiments provide a device that is operable, configured, or otherwise adapted to perform the methods described above and other parts of this specification; a non-temporary computer-readable medium that, when executed by one or more processors of the device, provides instructions causing the device to perform the methods described above and other parts of this specification; a computer program product embodied on a computer-readable storage medium that provides code for performing the methods described above and other parts of this specification; and a device that provides means for performing the methods described above and other parts of this specification. For example, the device may comprise a processing system, a device having a processing system, or a processing system cooperating over one or more networks.

[0008] The following description and attached drawings illustrate some features for illustrative purposes only. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0009] The accompanying drawings illustrate some features of various embodiments described herein and should not be considered to limit the scope of this disclosure. [Figure 1] This is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an exemplary wireless communication network. [Figure 2] This is a block diagram conceptually illustrating exemplary configurations of a base station (BS) and user equipment (UE). [Figure 3A] This document illustrates various exemplary embodiments of data structures for wireless communication networks. [Figure 3B] This document illustrates various exemplary embodiments of data structures for wireless communication networks. [Figure 3C] This document illustrates various exemplary embodiments of data structures for wireless communication networks. [Figure 3D] This document illustrates various exemplary embodiments of data structures for wireless communication networks. [Figure 4] A flowchart illustrating an exemplary operation for wireless communication by the UE is shown. [Figure 5] This flowchart illustrates an exemplary operation for wireless communication by network entities. [Figure 6] (UL) A call flow diagram is shown illustrating exemplary signaling for allocating resources. [Figure 7] An exemplary communication device configuration is shown. [Figure 8] An exemplary communication device configuration is shown. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0010] Aspects of this disclosure provide apparatus, methods, processing systems, and computer-readable media for triggering uplink (UL) resource allocation for a media access control (MAC) control element (CE) in order for a user device (UE) to provide support information to a network entity for UL scheduling.

[0011] For example, a UE may trigger a UL resource allocation to send Timing Advance (TA) reporting MAC CEs and / or Hybrid Automatic Retransmission Request (HARQ) feedback MAC CEs to a network entity. If certain conditions are met, the UE may trigger a Scheduling Request (SR) and / or Two-Step Random Access Channel (RACH) procedure to acquire resources for sending TA reporting MAC CEs and / or HARQ feedback MAC CEs. Based on the SR or RACH procedure, the network entity can then allocate UL resources that enable the UE to send TA reporting MAC CEs and / or HARQ feedback MAC CEs.

[0012] Deployment to wireless communication networks Figure 1 shows an example of a wireless communication network 100 in which embodiments described herein may be implemented.

[0013] For example, the wireless communication network 100 may include a media access control (MAC) control element (CE) component 199, which may be configured to perform operation 500 in Figure 5, or to have a base station (BS) 102 perform it. The wireless communication network 100 may also include a MAC CE component 198, which may be configured to perform operation 400 in Figure 4, or to have a user device (UE) 104 perform it.

[0014] Generally, the wireless communication network 100 includes BS102, UE104, and one or more core networks such as the Advanced Packet Core (EPC) 160 and the 5G Core (5GC) network 190, which interoperate to provide wireless communication services.

[0015] BS102 may provide access points to EPC160 and / or 5GC190 for UE104 and may perform one or more of the following functions, among others: user data transfer, wireless channel encryption and decryption, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection setup and release, load balancing, delivery for non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, radio access network (RAN) sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), subscriber and equipment tracking, RAN information management (RIM), paging, positioning, and warning message delivery. BS102 may include and / or be referred to as gNB, NodeB, eNB, ng-eNB (e.g., an eNB extended to provide connectivity to both EPC160 and 5GC190), access points, base transceiver stations, radio base stations, radio transceivers, or transceiver functions, or transmit / receive points in various contexts.

[0016] BS102 communicates wirelessly with UE104 via communication link 120. Each BS102 may 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 BS) may have a coverage area 110' that overlaps with the coverage area 110 of one or more macrocells (e.g., high-power BS).

[0017] The communication link 120 between the BS102 and the UE104 may include an uplink (UL) (also referred to as a reverse link) transmission from the UE104 to the BS102 and / or a downlink (DL) (also referred to as a forward link) transmission from the BS102 to the UE104. The communication link 120 may use multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and / or transmission diversity in various manners.

[0018] Examples of the UE104 include mobile 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 cooking appliances, healthcare devices, implants, sensors / actuators, displays, or other similar devices. Some of the UE104 may be Internet of Things (IoT) devices (e.g., parking meters, gas pumps, toasters, vehicles, heart monitors, or other IoT devices), always-on (AON) devices, or edge processing devices. The UE104 may also more generally be referred to as a station, mobile station, subscriber station, mobile unit, subscriber unit, wireless unit, remote unit, mobile device, wireless device, wireless communication device, remote device, mobile subscriber station, access terminal, mobile terminal, wireless terminal, remote terminal, handset, user agent, mobile client, client, or some other suitable term.

[0019] Communications using higher frequency bands may have higher path loss and shorter range compared to lower frequency communications. Therefore, some BS102s may utilize beamforming 182 with UE104 to improve path loss and range. For example, BS102 and UE104 may each include multiple antennas such as antenna elements, antenna panels, and / or antenna arrays to facilitate beamforming.

[0020] In some cases, BS102 may transmit a beamformed signal to UE104 in one or more transmission directions 182’. UE104 may receive a beamformed signal from BS102 in one or more reception directions 182’’. UE104 may also transmit a beamformed signal to BS102 in one or more transmission directions 182’’. BS102 may also receive a beamformed signal from UE104 in one or more reception directions 182’. Then, BS102 and UE104 may perform beam training to determine the best reception and transmission directions for each of BS102 and UE104. In particular, the transmission and reception directions of BS102 may or may not be the same. Similarly, the transmission and reception directions for UE104 may or may not be the same.

[0021] FIG. 2 shows exemplary aspects of BS102 and UE104.

[0022] Generally, BS102 includes various processors (e.g., 220, 230, 238, and 240), antennas 234a - t (collectively 234), transceivers 232a - t (collectively 232) including modulators and demodulators, and other aspects that enable wireless transmission of data (e.g., source data 212) and wireless reception of data (e.g., data sink 239). For example, BS102 may transmit and receive data between itself and UE104.

[0023] 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 MAC CE component 241 which may represent the MAC CE component 199 in Figure 1. In particular, although shown as an embodiment of the controller / processor 240, the MAC CE component 241 may be implemented as an addition or replacement in various other embodiments of BS102 in other implementation forms.

[0024] In general, the UE104 includes various processors (e.g., 258, 264, 266, and 280), antennas 252a-r (collectively 252), transceivers 254a-r (collectively 254) including modulators and demodulators, and other embodiments enabling wireless transmission of data (e.g., source data 262) and wireless reception of data (e.g., data sink 260).

[0025] The UE104 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 MAC CE component 281 which may represent the MAC CE component 198 in Figure 1. In particular, although shown as an embodiment of the controller / processor 280, the MAC CE component 281 may be implemented as an addition or replacement in various other embodiments of the UE104 in other implementation forms.

[0026] Figures 3A to 3D illustrate various data structures for wireless communication networks, 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.

[0027] Further discussion regarding Figures 1, 2, and 3A–3D will be provided later in this disclosure.

[0028] Overview of Media Access Control (MAC) Control Elements (CE) and Scheduling Requests (SRs) In New Radio (NR) and Long-Term Evolution (LTE), a user device may trigger a Buffer Status Report (BSR) Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE), and a Scheduling Request (SR) may be triggered if an uplink (UL) scheduling resource is not available for a new transmit (or if the UL scheduling resource available for a new transmit does not meet the Logical Channel Prioritization (LCP) mapping constraints). This is because, when a UE triggers a BSR MAC CE, the UE must have UL data in its radio bearer to transmit to a network entity (as the BSR may indicate information about the amount of pending UL data in the UE's buffer). After receiving the SR, the network entity authorizes the UE to use the UL resource to perform the UL transmit. In some cases, the BSR MAC CE may not directly trigger a Two-Step Random Access Channel (RACH) procedure (i.e., without triggering an SR).

[0029] A UE may trigger a Service Response (SR) in several other cases. For example, if a UE can detect consistent Listen Before Talk (LBT) failures (e.g., in the context of NR-Unlicensed (NR-U)), the UE may have to send an LBT failure MAC CE to the network entity to report the consistent LBT failures. If a UL scheduling resource is unavailable, or if a UL scheduling resource is available but the LBT failure MAC CE cannot be accommodated by the UL scheduling resource, the UE may use a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource to trigger an SR and send it to the network entity. The network entity then authorizes the UL resource to the UE based on the SR.

[0030] In another example, if a UE can trigger the reporting of Sidelink (SL) Channel State Information (CSI) (for example, in the context of SL communication), an SR may be triggered, and then the network entity grants the UE UL resources.

[0031] In another example, if a UE can trigger a beam measurement report MAC CE, the UE can also trigger an SR (for example, if there are no UL scheduling resources available for a new transmit or retransmit). The network entity then authorizes UL resources based on the SR.

[0032] Typically, no other MAC CE (other than the MAC CE mentioned above) needs to trigger an SR. This is because the UE can only send a MAC CE to a network entity if the UL scheduling resource is available. In some cases, it may be necessary to specify whether each MAC CE can trigger an SR.

[0033] A UE may use MAC CEs to send different types of information to network entities. For example, if a UE needs to send timing misalignment information to a network entity, it may use a Timing Advance (TA) Report MAC CE to send timing misalignment information to the network entity. In another example, if a UE needs to send Hybrid Automatic Retransmission Request (HARQ) feedback to a network entity, it may use a HARQ Feedback MAC CE to report a HARQ issue (for example, especially if HARQ retransmission can be disabled) to the network entity.

[0034] While TA Report MAC CEs and HARQ Feedback MAC CEs may not be able to request arbitrary UL scheduling resources on their own, they can be useful for UL scheduling by network entities. Therefore, it may be essential for the UE to update the network entity regarding the current timing advance value (e.g., using a TA Report MAC CE) or the status of a HARQ issue (e.g., using a HARQ Feedback MAC CE). Thus, the UE may need to send TA Report MAC CEs and HARQ Feedback MAC CEs to the network entity. In some cases, if there are no UL scheduling resources available for a new transmission or retransmission, the UE may also need to trigger an SR.

[0035] Aspects relating to uplink (UL) resource allocation for media access control (MAC) control elements (CEs). Aspects of this disclosure provide apparatus, methods, processing systems, and computer-readable media for triggering uplink (UL) resource allocation for a media access control (MAC) control element (CE) in order for a user device (UE) to provide support information to the network for UL scheduling.

[0036] For example, as described above, a UE may trigger a Scheduling Request (SR) and / or Two-Step Random Access Channel (RACH) procedure based on MAC CEs (e.g., Timing Advance (TA) reporting MAC CEs and / or Hybrid Automatic Retransmission Request (HARQ) feedback MAC CEs) and Logical Channel Prioritization (LCP) of MAC CEs. Based on the SR or RACH procedure, a network entity may allocate UL resources for the UE to send MAC CEs (TA reporting and / or HARQ feedback).

[0037] Figure 4 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary operation 400 for wireless communication. Operation 400 may be performed, for example, by a UE (e.g., UE 104 in the wireless communication network 100 in Figure 1). Operation 400 may be implemented as a software component that runs and operates on one or more processors (e.g., the controller / processor 280 in Figure 2). Furthermore, the transmission and reception of signals by the UE in operation 400 may be enabled, for example, by one or more antennas (e.g., the antenna 252 in Figure 2). In some embodiments, the transmission and / or reception of signals by the UE may be implemented via a bus interface of one or more processors (e.g., the controller / processor 280) that acquire and / or output signals.

[0038] Operation 400 is initiated by detecting in 410 that one or more conditions are met for transmitting a MAC CE that provides assistance information to a network entity for scheduling. For example, the UE may use the processor, antenna(s) and / or transceiver components of the UE104 shown in Figure 1 or Figure 2 and / or the device shown in Figure 7 to detect that one or more conditions are met for transmitting a MAC CE that provides assistance information.

[0039] In 420, the UE takes one or more actions in response to detection to acquire UL resources for transmitting MAC CE. The UE may take one or more actions to acquire UL resources using the processor, antenna(s) and / or transceiver components of the UE104 shown in Figure 1 or Figure 2 and / or the device shown in Figure 7.

[0040] Figure 5 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary operation 500 for wireless communication. Operation 500 may be performed, for example, by a network entity (e.g., BS102 in the wireless communication network 100 in Figure 1). Operation 500 may be implemented as a software component that runs and operates on one or more processors (e.g., the controller / processor 240 in Figure 2). Furthermore, the transmission and reception of signals by the network entity in operation 500 may be enabled, for example, by one or more antennas (e.g., the antenna 234 in Figure 2). In some embodiments, the transmission and / or reception of signals by the network entity may be implemented via a bus interface of one or more processors (e.g., the controller / processor 240) that acquire and / or output signals.

[0041] Operation 500 is initiated by receiving a MAC CE in 510 indicating that the UE has detected that one or more conditions are met. The MAC CE provides support information for scheduling, including at least one of the following: TA reports or information regarding a possible HARQ problem. For example, a network entity may receive a MAC CE from the UE providing support information for scheduling using the antenna(s) and receiver / transceiver components of the BS102 and / or the equipment shown in Figure 8, as shown in Figure 1 or 2.

[0042] In 520, the network entity allocates UL resources based on MAC CEs that have supporting information. For example, the network entity may allocate UL resources using the processor, antenna(s) and / or transceiver components of the BS102 shown in Figure 1 or Figure 2 and / or the device shown in Figure 8.

[0043] The operations shown in Figures 4 and 5 can be understood by referring to the call flow diagram in Figure 6.

[0044] As shown in Figure 6, in 602, a UE (e.g., UE104 shown in Figure 1 or Figure 2) may detect that one or more conditions are met for sending a MAC CE to the BS (e.g., BS102 shown in Figure 1 or Figure 2) that provides support information for scheduling.

[0045] For example, support information may include TA reports (e.g., timing mismatch information). In another example, support information may include information about the possibility of HARQ issues (e.g., HARQ retransmission being disabled). In yet another example, support information may include measurement reports (e.g., different signal strength measurements).

[0046] In 604, the UE transmits a MAC CE providing support information (e.g., a TA reporting MAC CE and / or a HARQ feedback MAC CE) to the BS. In some embodiments, the transmission of a MAC CE providing support information may be triggered if one or more conditions (e.g., SR conditions) are met, which may trigger an SR.

[0047] For example, an SR condition may be met if a Buffer Status Report (BSR) can be triggered via a logical channel associated with the highest or lowest priority (i.e., the UE meets the same condition for triggering an SR when a normal BSR is triggered).

[0048] In another example, the SR condition may be met if a dynamic UL resource (e.g., a dynamic UL scheduling resource) is unavailable. In other words, if available, a dynamic UL resource can be used to send a MAC CE without requiring additional UL resources to be requested.

[0049] In another example, an SR condition may be met if a configured UL resource (e.g., a configured UL scheduling resource) is unavailable. In other words, if available, the configured UL resource can be used to send a MAC CE without needing to request additional UL resources.

[0050] In another example, the SR condition may be met if a 2-step RACH UL resource (e.g., a 2-step RACH UL scheduling resource) is unavailable.

[0051] In another example, the SR condition may be met when an SR configuration is set for the MAC CE. In some cases, the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) occasion for the SR configuration associated with the MAC CE may be half a round trip time (RTT) earlier than the available UL resources. In some cases, the PUCCH occasion for the SR configuration associated with the MAC CE may be 1 RTT earlier than the available UL resources (UL resources may be considered unavailable if the PUCCH occasion for the SR configuration is 1 RTT earlier than the available UL resources).

[0052] In some embodiments, the UE may trigger a two-step RACH procedure based on the trigger for the transmission of a MAC CE containing supporting information (e.g., a TA reporting MAC CE, a HARQ feedback MAC CE, and / or a measurement reporting MAC CE) if one or more conditions (e.g., RACH conditions) are met.

[0053] In one example, the RACH condition may be met if the 2-step RACH procedure is set to the active bandwidth portion (BWP). In another example, the RACH condition may be met if the 2-step RACH procedure is set to the default BWP. In yet another example, the RACH condition may be met if the available UL resource (e.g., UL scheduling resource) occasion is half a round-trip time (RTT) later than the 2-step RACH physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) occasion. In yet another example, the RACH condition may be met if the available UL resource occasion is one round-trip time (RTT) later than the 2-step RACH PUSCH occasion. In yet another example, the RACH condition may be met if the TA time alignment timer expires before the available UL occasion. In yet another example, the RACH condition may be met if the UE may lose synchronization before the available UL scheduling occasion (e.g., the TA time alignment timer expires before the available UL occasion).

[0054] In another example, the RACH condition may be met if the PUCCH resource for SR configuration is not set to the active BWP, and the two-step RACH procedure is set to the active BWP or the default BWP.

[0055] In another example, the RACH condition may be met if an SR is triggered, a PUCCH resource for SR setup is not set to the active BWP, a 4-step RACH procedure is set to the active BWP or default BWP, a 2-step RACH procedure is set to the active BWP or default BWP, and the 4-step RACH procedure is selected based on selection criteria corresponding to different types of RACH (i.e., the 4-step RACH procedure is selected based on RACH type selection criteria).

[0056] In another example, the RACH condition may be met if an SR is triggered, a PUCCH resource for SR configuration is available, a two-step RACH procedure is set to the active BWP or default BWP, a PUCCH resource for SR configuration associated with the lowest priority logical channel is not available, a PUCCH resource for SR configuration associated with the highest priority logical channel is not available, a MAC entity is configured with SR configuration for MAC CE, and a PUCCH resource for SR configuration associated with MAC CE is not available.

[0057] In 606, the BS can allocate UL resources for UL transmission by the UE in response to an SR triggered based on a MAC CE providing support information.

[0058] In some embodiments, MAC CEs providing support information (e.g., TA reporting MAC CE, HARQ feedback MAC CE, or measurement reporting MAC CE) may be configured using LCP. In some cases, a UE may need to send multiple MAC CEs, and if limited UL resources are available, the UE may send MAC CEs based on their corresponding LCPs.

[0059] For example, a MAC CE with support information may have a lower priority than a Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) MAC CE based on the MAC CE's LCP (i.e., the highest priority may be given to the C-RNTI MAC CE). In some cases, a UE may need to transmit both a C-RNTI MAC CE and a MAC CE with support information, but may transmit only the C-RNTI MAC CE if limited UL resources are available.

[0060] In another example, a MAC CE with support information may have a lower priority than data from the UL Common Control Channel (UL-CCCH) based on the MAC CE's LCP (i.e., the highest priority may be given to data from the UL-CCCH). In some cases, the UE may need to transmit both data from the UL-CCCH and a MAC CE with support information, but may transmit data from the UL-CCCH if limited UL resources are available.

[0061] In another example, a MAC CE with supporting information may have a priority one step lower than data from UL-CCCH based on the MAC CE's LCP.

[0062] In another example, a MAC CE with support information may have a higher priority than all other MAC CEs except C-RNTI MAC CEs, based on the MAC CE's LCP. In some cases, a UE may need to send a MAC CE with support information and some other MAC CEs, but if limited UL resources are available, the UE may send a MAC CE with support information.

[0063] In another example, a MAC CE with support information may have a higher priority than data from all other logical channels except data from the UL-CCCH, based on the MAC CE's LCP. In some cases, the UE may need to send a MAC CE with support information and data from another logical channel, but if limited UL resources are available, the UE may send a MAC CE with support information (and at least temporarily drop the data).

[0064] In another example, a MAC CE with support information may have the lowest priority among all MAC CEs and logical channels. In this case, the UE may attempt to adapt the MAC CE to the support information within the available transport block size (TBS) based on the MAC CE's LCP.

[0065] Example Wireless Communication Devices Figure 7 shows an exemplary communication device 700, which includes various configured or adapted components capable of performing operations for the techniques disclosed herein, such as the operations illustrated and described with respect to Figure 4. In some examples, the communication device 700 may be a user equipment (UE) 104, as described with respect to Figures 1 and 2, for example.

[0066] The communication device 700 includes a processing system 702 coupled to a transceiver 708 (e.g., a transmitter and / or receiver). The transceiver 708 is configured to transmit and receive signals for the communication device 700 via an antenna 710, such as various signals as described herein. The processing system 702 may be configured to perform processing functions for the communication device 700, including processing signals that will be received and / or transmitted by the communication device 700.

[0067] The processing system 702 includes one or more processors 720 coupled to a computer-readable medium / memory 730 via a bus 706. In some embodiments, the computer-readable medium / memory 730 is configured to store a set of instructions (e.g., computer-executable code) that, when executed by one or more processors 720, cause one or more processors 720 to perform the operations illustrated in Figure 4 or other operations for performing the various techniques described herein.

[0068] In the illustrated example, the computer-readable medium / memory 730 stores a code 731 for detecting that one or more conditions are met for sending a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) that provides assistive information to a network entity for scheduling, and a code 732 for taking one or more actions to obtain an uplink (UL) resource to send the MAC CE in response to the detection.

[0069] In the illustrated example, one or more processors 720 include circuits configured to implement code stored in a computer-readable medium / memory 730, which include a circuit 721 for detecting that one or more conditions are met for sending a MAC CE that provides support information to a network entity for scheduling, and a circuit 722 for taking one or more actions to obtain UL resources to send the MAC CE in response to the detection.

[0070] Various components of the communication device 700 may provide means for carrying out the methods described herein, including those relating to Figure 4.

[0071] In some examples, the means for transmitting or transmitting (or for outputting for transmission) may include the transceiver 254 and / or antenna 252 (one or more) of the UE104 illustrated in Figure 2, and / or the transceiver 708 and antenna 710 of the communication device 700 in Figure 7.

[0072] In some examples, the means for receiving (or acquiring) may include the transceiver 254 and / or antenna 252 (one or more) of the UE104 illustrated in Figure 2, and / or the transceiver 708 and antenna 710 of the communication device 700 in Figure 7.

[0073] In some examples, means for detecting that one or more conditions are met for sending a MAC CE that provides support information to a network entity for scheduling, and means for taking one or more actions to obtain UL resources to send the MAC CE in response to the detection, may include one or more processors 720 in Figure 7, including a receiving processor 258, a transmitting processor 264, a TX MIMO processor 266, and / or a controller / processor 280 (including the MAC CE component 281), or an embodiment of the UE 104 shown in Figure 2.

[0074] In particular, Figure 7 is merely an example of use, and many other examples and configurations of the communication device 700 are possible.

[0075] Figure 8 shows an exemplary communication device 800, which includes various configured or adapted components capable of performing operations for the techniques disclosed herein, such as the operations illustrated and described with respect to Figure 5. In some examples, the communication device 800 may be a base station (BS) 102, as described with respect to Figures 1 and 2, for example.

[0076] The communication device 800 includes a processing system 802 coupled to a transceiver 808 (e.g., a transmitter and / or receiver). The transceiver 808 is configured to transmit and receive signals for the communication device 800 via an antenna 810, such as various signals as described herein. The processing system 802 may be configured to perform processing functions for the communication device 800, including processing signals that will be received and / or transmitted by the communication device 800.

[0077] The processing system 802 includes one or more processors 820 coupled to a computer-readable medium / memory 830 via a bus 806. In some embodiments, the computer-readable medium / memory 830 is configured to store a set of instructions (e.g., computer-executable code) that, when executed by one or more processors 820, cause one or more processors 820 to perform the operations illustrated in Figure 5, or other operations for performing the various techniques described herein.

[0078] In the illustrated example, computer-readable medium / memory 830 stores a code 831 in which it receives a MAC CE indicating that the UE has detected that one or more conditions have been met, where the MAC CE provides supporting information including at least one of the following: a TA report for scheduling or information regarding a possible HARQ problem, and code 832 stores a code for allocating UL resources based on the MAC CE having the supporting information.

[0079] In the illustrated example, one or more processors 820 include circuitry configured to implement code stored in a computer-readable medium / memory 830, the circuitry including circuitry 821 for receiving MAC CEs indicating that the UE has detected that one or more conditions are met, such that the MAC CE provides support information including at least one of the following: information regarding a TA report for scheduling or information regarding a possible HARQ problem; and circuitry 822 for allocating UL resources based on the MAC CEs having the support information.

[0080] Various components of the communication device 800 may provide means for carrying out the methods described herein, including those relating to Figure 5.

[0081] In some examples, the means for transmitting or transmitting (or for outputting for transmission) may include the transceiver 232 and / or antenna 234 (one or more) of BS102 illustrated in Figure 2, and / or the transceiver 808 and antenna 810 of the communication device 800 in Figure 8.

[0082] In some examples, the means for receiving (or acquiring) may include the transceiver 232 and / or antenna 234 (one or more) of BS102 as illustrated in Figure 2, and / or the transceiver 808 and antenna 810 of the communication device 800 in Figure 8.

[0083] In some examples, means for receiving a MAC CE indicating that the UE has detected that one or more conditions are met, that the MAC CE provides supporting information including at least one of the following: information regarding a TA report for scheduling or a possible HARQ problem; and means for allocating UL resources based on the MAC CE having the supporting information; may include various processing system components, such as one or more processors 820 in Figure 8, or an embodiment of BS102 shown in Figure 2, including a receiving processor 238, a transmitting processor 220, a TX MIMO processor 230, and / or a controller / processor 240 (including the MAC CE component 241).

[0084] In particular, Figure 8 is merely an example of use, and many other examples and configurations of the communication device 800 are possible.

[0085] Examples of Implementation Implementation examples are described in the following numbered clauses. Clause 1: A method for wireless communication by user equipment (UE), comprising detecting that one or more conditions are met for transmitting a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) that provides support information to a network entity for scheduling, and, in response to the detection, taking one or more actions to obtain an uplink (UL) resource for transmitting the MAC CE.

[0086] Clause 2: Support information, either alone or in combination with the first clause, includes at least one of the following: timing advance (TA) reports or information regarding potential hybrid automatic retransmission request (HARQ) issues.

[0087] Clause 3: A method, either alone or in combination with one or more of Clauses 1 and 2, that includes triggering a scheduling request (SR) on the basis of at least one of the following: one or more actions triggering the transmission of a MAC CE containing supporting information if one or more conditions are met.

[0088] Clause 4: One or more conditions, either alone or in combination with one or more of Clauses 1-3, include at least one of the following: the UE satisfies the same conditions for a Buffer Status Report (BSR) via a logical channel associated with the highest or lowest priority that triggers an SR; dynamic UL resources are unavailable; configured UL resources are unavailable; two-step random access channel (RACH) UL resources are unavailable; or an SR setting is configured for MAC CE.

[0089] Clause 5: A physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) occasion for SR configuration associated with a MAC CE, either alone or in combination with one or more of Clauses 1-4, that is one round-trip time (RTT) earlier than the available UL resources.

[0090] Clause 6: One or more actions, either alone or in combination with one or more of Clauses 1-5, include triggering a two-step random access channel (RACH) procedure based at least on the transmission of a MAC CE containing supporting information, if one or more conditions are met.

[0091] Clause 7: One or more conditions, either alone or in combination with one or more of Clauses 1-6, include at least one of the following: the 2-step RACH procedure is set to the active bandwidth portion (BWP), the 2-step RACH procedure is set to the default BWP, the available UL resource occasion is one round-trip time (RTT) later than the 2-step RACH physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) occasion, or the TA time matching timer expires before the available UL occasion.

[0092] Clause 8: One or more conditions are met, either alone or in combination with one or more of Clauses 1-7, if the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource for scheduling request (SR) setting is not set to the active bandwidth portion (BWP) and the two-step RACH procedure is set to the active BWP or default BWP.

[0093] Clause 9: One or more conditions are met, either alone or in combination with one or more of Clauses 1-8, when a scheduling request (SR) is triggered, a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource for SR configuration for MAC CE is not set to the active bandwidth portion (BWP), and a two-step RACH procedure is set to the active BWP or default BWP.

[0094] Clause 10: One or more conditions are met when a scheduling request (SR) is triggered, a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource for SR configuration is available, and a two-step RACH procedure is set for the active bandwidth portion (BWP) or default BWP, and one or more conditions include: a PUCCH resource for SR configuration associated with the lowest priority logical channel is unavailable; a PUCCH resource for SR configuration associated with the highest priority logical channel is unavailable; and a MAC entity is configured with SR configuration for MAC CE and a PUCCH resource for SR configuration associated with MAC CE is unavailable, either alone or in combination with one or more of Clauses 1-9.

[0095] Clause 11: A MAC CE with support information has a lower priority than a Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) MAC CE, either alone or in combination with one or more of Clauses 1-10.

[0096] Clause 12: MAC CEs with supporting information shall have a lower priority than data from the UL Common Control Channel (UL-CCCH), either alone or in combination with one or more of Clauses 1-11.

[0097] Clause 13: A MAC CE with support information has a higher MAC CE value than all other MAC CEs except for the Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) MAC CE, either alone or in combination with one or more of Clauses 1-12.

[0098] Clause 14: A MAC CE with supporting information has higher data than data from all logical channels except the UL Common Control Channel (UL-CCCH), either alone or in combination with one or more of Clauses 1-13.

[0099] Clause 15: If a MAC CE with support information can conform to the available transport block size (TBS), the MAC CE with support information shall have the lowest priority among all MAC CEs and logical channels, either alone or in combination with one or more of Clauses 1-14.

[0100] Clause 16: A method for wireless communication by a network entity, comprising receiving a media access control (MAC) control element (CE) that indicates that a user device (UE) has detected that one or more conditions have been met, and that the MAC CE provides support information including at least one of the following: a timing advance (TA) report for scheduling or information regarding a possible hybrid automatic retransmission request (HARQ) problem; and allocating an uplink (UL) resource based on the MAC CE having the support information.

[0101] Clause 17: A MAC CE providing support information may trigger a scheduling request (SR) either alone or in combination with Clause 16 if one or more conditions are met.

[0102] Clause 18: One or more conditions, either alone or in combination with one or more of Clauses 16 and 17, include at least one of the following: the UE satisfies the same conditions for a buffer status report (BSR) via a logical channel associated with the highest or lowest priority that triggers an SR; dynamic UL resources are unavailable; configured UL resources are unavailable; two-step random access channel (RACH) UL resources are unavailable; or an SR setting is configured for MAC CE.

[0103] Clause 19: If one or more conditions are met, a MAC CE providing support information may trigger a two-step random access channel (RACH) procedure, either alone or in combination with one or more of Clauses 16-18.

[0104] Clause 20: One or more conditions, either alone or in combination with one or more of Clauses 16-19, include at least one of the following: the 2-step RACH procedure is set to the active bandwidth portion (BWP), the 2-step RACH procedure is set to the default BWP, the available UL resource occasion is one round-trip time (RTT) later than the 2-step RACH physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) occasion, or the TA time matching timer expires before the available UL occasion.

[0105] Clause 21: One or more conditions are met, either alone or in combination with one or more of Clauses 16-20, when a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource for scheduling request (SR) setting is not set to the active bandwidth portion (BWP) and a two-step RACH procedure is set to the active BWP or default BWP.

[0106] Clause 22: One or more conditions are met, either alone or in combination with one or more of Clauses 16-21, when a scheduling request (SR) is triggered, a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource for SR configuration for MAC CE is not set to the active bandwidth portion (BWP), and a two-step RACH procedure is set to the active BWP or default BWP.

[0107] Clause 23: One or more conditions are met when a scheduling request (SR) is triggered, a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource for SR configuration is available, and a two-step RACH procedure is set for the active bandwidth portion (BWP) or default BWP, and one or more conditions include: a PUCCH resource for SR configuration associated with the lowest priority logical channel is unavailable; a PUCCH resource for SR configuration associated with the highest priority logical channel is unavailable; and a MAC entity is configured with SR configuration for MAC CE and a PUCCH resource for SR configuration associated with MAC CE is unavailable, either alone or in combination with one or more of Clauses 16-22.

[0108] Clause 24: A Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) MAC CE has a higher priority than a MAC CE with supporting information, either alone or in combination with one or more of Clauses 16-23.

[0109] Clause 25: Data from the UL Common Control Channel (UL-CCCH) shall have a higher priority than MAC CEs with supporting information, either alone or in combination with one or more of Clauses 16-24.

[0110] Clause 26: A MAC CE with supporting information has a higher MAC CE value than all other MAC CEs except for the Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) MAC CE, either alone or in combination with one or more of the methods specified in Clauses 16-25.

[0111] Clause 27: A device comprising: a memory having executable instructions; and one or more processors configured to execute executable instructions and cause the device to perform the method described in any one of Clauses 1 to 26.

[0112] Clause 28: An apparatus comprising means for carrying out the method described in any one of Clauses 1 to 26.

[0113] Clause 29: A non-temporary computer-readable medium comprising executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of the device, cause the device to perform the method described in any one of Clauses 1 to 26.

[0114] Clause 30: A computer program product embodied on a computer-readable storage medium that includes code performing the method described in any one of Clauses 1 through 26.

[0115] Additional wireless communication network considerations The techniques and methods described herein may be used for various wireless communication networks (or wireless wide area networks (WWANs)) and radio access technologies (RATs). While embodiments may be described herein using terms generally associated with 3G, 4G, and / or 5G (e.g., 5G nu-radio (NR)) wireless technologies, embodiments of this disclosure may also be applicable to other communication systems and standards not expressly mentioned herein.

[0116] 5G wireless communication networks can support a variety of advanced wireless communication services, including enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), millimeter wave (mmWave), machine-type communications (MTC), and / or mission-critical targeted ultra-high reliability low-latency communications (URLLC). These services may include latency and reliability requirements.

[0117] Returning to Figure 1, various aspects of this disclosure can be implemented within an exemplary wireless communication network 100.

[0118] In 3GPP®, the term “cell” can refer to the coverage area of ​​a NodeB and / or narrowband subsystem providing services to this effective communication range area, depending on the context in which the term is used. In NR systems, the term “cell” can be used interchangeably with BS, next-generation NodeB (gNB or gNodeB), access point (AP), distributed unit (DU), carrier, or transmit / receive point (TRP). A BS may provide communication coverage to macrocells, picocells, femtocells, and / or other types of cells.

[0119] Macrocells can cover relatively large geographical areas (e.g., a radius of several kilometers) and may enable unlimited access by UEs (User Entities) subscribed to the service. Picocells may cover relatively small geographical areas (e.g., a sports stadium) and may enable unlimited access by UEs subscribed to the service. Femtocells can cover relatively small geographical areas (e.g., a home) and may enable limited access by UEs associated with the femtocell (e.g., UEs within a limited subscriber group (CSG), UEs for users in a home, etc.). A BS (Base Station) for a macrocell is sometimes called a macroBS. A BS for a picocell is sometimes called a picoBS. A BS for a femtocell is sometimes called a femtoBS, homeBS, or homeNodeB.

[0120] A BS102 configured for 4G LTE (collectively referred to as Advanced Universal Mobile Communications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN)) may 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)) may interface with a 5GC190 via a second backhaul link 184. Base stations 102 may 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 be wired or wireless.

[0121] Small cell 102' may operate in the licensed frequency spectrum and / or the unlicensed frequency spectrum. 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' employing NR in the unlicensed frequency spectrum may enhance coverage to the access network and / or increase the capacity of the access network.

[0122] Some base stations, such as the gNB180, may operate in the conventional sub-6GHz spectrum, millimeter-wave (mmWave) frequencies, and / or near-mmWave frequencies to communicate with the UE104. When the gNB180 operates at or near-mmWave frequencies, it may be referred to as an mmWave base station.

[0123] The communication link 120 between BS102 and, for example, UE104, may be via one or more carriers. BS102 / UE104 may use a spectrum with bandwidths of up to Y MHz per carrier (e.g., 5, 10, 15, 20, 100, 400 MHz, etc.) allocated in carrier aggregation up to a total of Yx MHz (x component carriers) used for transmission in each direction. Carriers may or may not be adjacent to one another. Carrier allocation may be asymmetric with respect to DL and UL (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated for DL ​​than for 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).

[0124] The wireless communication network 100 further includes, for example, a Wi-Fi access point (AP) 150 communicating with a Wi-Fi station (STA) 152 via a communication link 154 within the 2.4 GHz and / or 5 GHz unlicensed frequency spectrum. When communicating within the unlicensed frequency spectrum, the STA 152 / AP 150 may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) before communication to determine whether a channel is available.

[0125] Several 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 may also be conducted 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.

[0126] EPC160 may include Mobility Management Entity (MME) 162, other MMEs 164, Serving Gateway 166, Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) Gateway 168, Broadcast Multicast Mobility Management Entity (BM-SC) 170, and Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway 172. MME 162 may communicate with 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 connection management.

[0127] All user Internet Protocol (IP) packets are forwarded through the serving gateway 166, which itself is connected to the 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 IP service 176, which may include, for example, the Internet, intranet, IP multimedia subsystem (IMS), PS streaming service, and / or other IP services.

[0128] The BM-SC170 may provide functionality for MBMS user service provisioning and distribution. The BM-SC170 may act as an entry point for content provider MBMS transmissions, may be used to authorize and initiate MBMS bearer services within a public land mobile network (PLMN), and may be used to schedule MBMS transmissions. The MBMS gateway 168 may be used to distribute MBMS traffic to BS102 belonging to a Multicast Broadcast Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) area broadcasting specific services, and may be responsible for session management (start / stop) and collecting eMBMS-related billing information.

[0129] 5GC190 may include Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF)192, other AMF193, Session Management Function (SMF)194, and User Plane Function (UPF)195. AMF192 may communicate with Unified Data Management (UDM)196.

[0130] The AMF192 is generally a control node that handles signaling between the UE104 and 5GC190. Generally, the AMF192 provides QoS flow and session management.

[0131] All user Internet Protocol (IP) packets are connected to IP service 197 and forwarded through UPF195, which provides UE IP address assignment, as well as other functions for 5GC190. IP service 197 may include, for example, the Internet, intranet, IP multimedia subsystem (IMS), PS streaming service, and / or other IP services.

[0132] Returning to Figure 2, various exemplary components of BS102 and UE104 (e.g., the wireless communication network 100 in Figure 1) that may be used to implement aspects of this disclosure are shown.

[0133] In BS102, the transmitting processor 220 may receive data from the data source 212 and control information from the controller / processor 240. This control information may be for 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 Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), etc.

[0134] 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 within a shared channel, such as a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), or a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH).

[0135] 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 for the primary synchronization signal (PSS), secondary synchronization signal (SSS), PBCH demodulation reference signal (DMRS), and channel status information reference signal (CSI-RS).

[0136] The transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 230 may, where applicable, perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on ​​data symbols, control symbols, and / or reference symbols, and provide output symbol streams to modulators (MODs) in transceivers 232a-232t. Each modulator in transceivers 232a-232t may process its respective output symbol stream (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator may 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 may be transmitted via antennas 234a-234t, respectively.

[0137] In UE104, antennas 252a to 252r may receive downlink signals from BS102 and provide the received signals to demodulators (DEMODs) 254a to 254r in the transceivers, respectively. Each demodulator in transceivers 254a to 254r may adjust its respective received signal (e.g., by filtering, amplifying, downconverting, and digitizing) to obtain an input sample. Each demodulator may further process the input sample (e.g., for OFDM) to obtain a received symbol.

[0138] The MIMO detector 256 may acquire received symbols from all demodulators in transceivers 254a-254r, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols where applicable, and provide the detected symbols. The receiving processor 258 may process the detected symbols (e.g., demodulate, deinterleave, and decode), provide the decoded data for UE104 to the data sink 260, and provide the decoded control information to the controller / processor 280.

[0139] On the uplink, in UE104, the transmit processor 264 may receive and process data from data source 262 (e.g., for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)) and control information from controller / processor 280 (e.g., for a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH)). The transmit processor 264 may also generate reference symbols for reference signals (e.g., for a sounding reference signal (SRS)). The symbols from the transmit processor 264 may, if applicable, be precoded by the TX MIMO processor 266, further processed by modulators in transceivers 254a-254r (e.g., for SC-FDM), and transmitted to BS102.

[0140] 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 where 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.

[0141] Memories 242 and 282 may store data and program code for BS102 and UE104, respectively.

[0142] The scheduler 244 may schedule UEs for data transmission on the downlink and / or uplink.

[0143] 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 time-division duplexing (TDD). OFDM and single-carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) divide the system bandwidth into multiple orthogonal subcarriers, also commonly called tones or bins. Each subcarrier can be modulated with data. Modulation symbols 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 may support a base subcarrier spacing (SCS) of 15 kHz, and other SCSs (e.g., 30 kHz, 60 kHz, 120 kHz, 240 kHz, etc.) may be defined with respect to the base SCS.

[0144] As described above, Figures 3A to 3D show various exemplary embodiments of data structures for wireless communication networks, such as the wireless communication network 100 in Figure 1.

[0145] In various embodiments, the 5G frame structure may be frequency-division duplexing (FDD) where, for a given set of subcarriers (carrier system bandwidth), subframes within that set of subcarriers are dedicated to either DL or UL. The 5G frame structure may also be time-division duplexing (TDD) where, for a given set of subcarriers (carrier system bandwidth), subframes within that set of subcarriers 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 configured using 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 configured using slot format 34 (mostly UL). Subframes 3 and 4 are shown in slot formats 34 and 28, respectively, but any particular subframe may be configured in any of the various available slot formats 0 to 61. Slot formats 0 and 1 are all DL and all UL, respectively. Other slot formats 2-61 include a mixture of DL, UL, and flexible symbols. The UE is configured with the slot format (dynamically via DL Control Information (DCI) or semi-statically / statically via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling) through the received Slot Format Indicator (SFI). Note that the following description also applies to the 5G frame structure, which is TDD.

[0146] 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.

[0147] For example, in slot configuration 0, each slot may contain 14 symbols, while 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).

[0148] The number of slots within a subframe depends on the slot configuration and numerology. For slot configuration 0, different numerology μ=0-5 allow 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, and 32 slots per subframe, respectively. For slot configuration 1, different numerology 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. The subcarrier spacing is 2 μ It may be equal to ×15kHz, where μ is numerology 0 to 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 to 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.

[0149] A resource grid may be used to represent the frame structure. Each time slot contains a resource block (RB) (also called a physical RB (PRB)) spanning 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.

[0150] As shown in Figure 3A, some of the REs carry reference (pilot) signals (RS) for the UE (e.g., UE104 in Figures 1 and 2). The RS may include demodulated RS (DM-RS) (shown as Rx for one particular configuration where 100x is the port number, but other DM-RS configurations are possible) and channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS) for channel estimation in the UE. The RS may also include beam measurement RS (BRS), beam improvement RS (BRRS), and phase tracking RS (PT-RS).

[0151] Figure 3B shows an example of various DL channels within a frame subframe. A physical downlink control channel (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 within an OFDM symbol.

[0152] The primary synchronization signal (PSS) may be located within symbol 2 of a specific subframe of the frame. The PSS is used by the UE (e.g., 104 in Figures 1 and 2) to determine subframe / symbol timing and physical layer identification information.

[0153] The secondary synchronization signal (SSS) may be located within symbol 4 of a specific subframe of the frame. The SSS is used by the UE to determine the physical layer cell identification group number and the radio frame timing.

[0154] Based on the physical layer identification information and the 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 DM-RS described above. The physical broadcast channel (PBCH) carrying the master information block (MIB) may 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 physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) carries user data, broadcast system information not transmitted through the PBCH such as the system information block (SIB), and paging messages.

[0155] As shown in Figure 3C, some of the REs carry DM-RS for channel estimation at the base station (shown as R for one particular configuration, but other DM-RS configurations are possible). The UE may transmit DM-RS for the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) and DM-RS for the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). PUSCH DM-RS may be transmitted in the first one or two symbols of the PUSCH. PUCCH DM-RS 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 over one of the combs. The SRS may be used by the base station for channel quality estimation to enable frequency-dependent scheduling on the UL.

[0156] Figure 3D shows an example 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.

[0157] Additional considerations The above description provides an example of UL resource allocation for MAC CE in a communication system. 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 may be applied to other embodiments. For example, changes may 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, in addition to or in addition to the various embodiments of this disclosure described herein, such apparatus or methods practiced using other structures, functions, or structures and functions. It should be understood that any aspect of the disclosure disclosed herein may be embodied by one or more elements of the claims.

[0158] The techniques described herein can be used for 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 may 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 may implement wireless technologies such as NR (e.g., 5G RA), Advanced 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 2" (3GPP® 2). NR is an emerging wireless communication technology under development.

[0159] 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.

[0160] 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, biometric sensor, proximity sensor, light-emitting element, etc.) may also be connected to the bus. The bus may also link various other circuits, such as timing sources, peripherals, voltage regulators, and power management circuits, which are well known in the art and therefore 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.

[0161] When implemented in software, functionality may be stored on or transmitted via computer-readable media as one or more instructions or codes. 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 includes 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 via a bus interface. Alternatively or as an addition, machine-readable media or any portion thereof may be integrated into the processor, such as a cache and / or general-purpose register file. Examples of machine-readable storage media 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.

[0162] 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.

[0163] As used herein, the phrase “at least one of” in an enumeration of items refers to any combination of those items that contains a single member. For example, “at least one of a, b, or c” is intended to include 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).

[0164] 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.

[0165] 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.

[0166] 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), Detecting that one or more conditions are met for transmitting a Media Access Control (MAC) control element (CE) that provides support information to a network entity for scheduling, wherein the support information includes a Timing Advance (TA) report. In response to the detection, taking one or more actions to acquire an uplink (UL) resource for transmitting the MAC CE, wherein the one or more actions include triggering a scheduling request (SR) or a two-step random access channel (RACH) procedure. Methods that include...

2. The method according to claim 1, comprising triggering the SR on at least the basis that one or more of the actions trigger the transmission of the MAC CE having the support information when one or more of the conditions are met.

3. The aforementioned one condition is, The UE satisfies the same conditions for a buffer status report (BSR) via a logical channel associated with the highest or lowest priority that triggers the SR. Dynamic UL resources are not available. The configured UL resource is unavailable. The two-step random access channel (RACH) UL resource is unavailable, or The SR setting for the MAC CE is configured. Includes at least one of the following: The method according to claim 2, wherein the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) occasion for the SR setting associated with the MAC CE is one round-trip time (RTT) earlier than the available UL resources.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the one or more actions trigger the two-step RACH procedure at least on the basis of a trigger for the transmission of the MAC CE having the support information if the one or more conditions are met.

5. The aforementioned one condition is, The aforementioned two-step RACH procedure is set to the active bandwidth portion (BWP). The aforementioned two-step RACH procedure is set to default BWP. The available UL resource occasion is one round-trip time (RTT) slower than the 2-step RACH physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) occasion, or If the TA time alignment timer expires before an available UL occasion Including at least one of the following: The method according to claim 4.

6. The aforementioned one condition is, The physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource for SR configuration is not set in the active bandwidth portion (BWP), and The two-step RACH procedure is set to the active BWP or default BWP. This is satisfied in the following cases: The method according to claim 4.

7. The aforementioned one condition is, The aforementioned SR is triggered, The physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource for SR settings for the MAC CE is not set in the active bandwidth portion (BWP), and The two-step RACH procedure is set to the active BWP or default BWP. This is satisfied in the following cases: The method according to claim 4.

8. The aforementioned one condition is, The aforementioned SR is triggered, A physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource for SR configuration is available, and The two-step RACH procedure is set to the active bandwidth portion (BWP) or the default BWP. If the conditions are met, The aforementioned one condition is, The PUCCH resource for the SR setting associated with the logical channel having the lowest priority is unavailable, The PUCCH resource for the SR setting associated with the logical channel having the highest priority is unavailable, The MAC entity is configured using the SR settings for the MAC CE, and the PUCCH resource for the SR settings associated with the MAC CE is unavailable. including, The method according to claim 4.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the MAC CE having the support information has a lower priority than the Cell Wireless Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) MAC CE.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the MAC CE having the support information has a lower priority than the data from the UL Common Control Channel (UL-CCCH).

11. The MAC CE having the aforementioned support information, Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) MAC CE, all other MAC CEs except MAC CE, or Data from all logical channels except for data from the UL Common Control Channel (UL-CCCH) The method according to claim 1, which has a higher priority than the method according to claim 1.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein if the MAC CE having the support information can be adapted to an available transport block size (TBS), the MAC CE having the support information has the lowest priority among all MAC CEs and logical channels.

13. A method for wireless communication by network entities, A media access control (MAC) control element (CE) that indicates that a user device (UE) has detected that one or more conditions are met, and which provides support information including a timing advance (TA) report, receives a MAC CE, Based on the MAC CE having the aforementioned support information, uplink (UL) resources are allocated, Methods that include...

14. A device for wireless communication using user equipment (UE), At least one processor, and memory, The at least one processor and the memory are provided, It detects that one or more conditions are met for transmitting a Media Access Control (MAC) control element (CE) that provides support information to a network entity for scheduling, and that the support information includes a Timing Advance (TA) report. In response to the detection, one or more actions are taken to acquire an uplink (UL) resource for transmitting the MAC CE, and these one or more actions include triggering a scheduling request (SR) or a two-step random access channel (RACH) procedure. It is set up as follows: Device.

15. A computer-readable recording medium storing instructions, wherein the instructions are, The detection by a user device (UE) that one or more conditions are met for transmitting a media access control (MAC) control element (CE) that provides support information to a network entity for scheduling, wherein the support information includes a timing advance (TA) report. The UE, in response to the detection, takes one or more actions to acquire an uplink (UL) resource for transmitting the MAC CE, wherein the one or more actions include triggering a scheduling request (SR) or a two-step random access channel (RACH) procedure. Computer-readable recording media, including [specific data / information].

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