Random access in wireless communication network

Abstract

The disclosure pertain to a method of operating a wireless device in a wireless communication network, the method comprising transmitting a random access message on an indicated random access resource, the indicated random access resource being indicated 2610 by a random access resource assignment received in an assigning message The disclosure also pertains to related devices and methods.

Description

[0001] Random access in wireless communication network

[0002] Technical field

[0003] This disclosure pertains to wireless communication, in particular for random access.

[0004] Background

[0005] Operating a wireless communication network may need some important procedures to be regularly being available. On the other hand, efficient network operation, in particu- 5 lar, energy efficient operation, is an important topic for wireless communication. There is a need to allow such important procedures as random access to be performed more efficiently.

[0006] Summary

[0007] It is an object of this disclosure to provide approaches for improved signalling for wire- 10 less communication, in particular for random access. The approaches described may be utilised for one or more different frequencies ranges. For example, they may be implemented for frequency ranges (e.g., carrier bandwidth and / or system bandwidth) for communication signalling of 1 GHz or more, 2GHz or more, 5 GHz or more, or 6 GHz or more, or 10 GHz or more, and / or for millimeter wave communication, in particular for 15 radio carrier frequencies around and / or above 52.6 GHz, which may be considered high radio frequencies (high frequency) and / or millimetre waves. The carrier frequency / ies may be between 52.6 and 140 GHz, e.g. with a lower border between 52.6, 55, 60, 71 GHz and / or a higher border between 71, 72, 90, 114, 140 GHz or higher, in particular between

[0008] 55 and 90 GHz, or between 60 and 72 GHz; however, higher frequencies may be consid- 20 ered, in particular frequency of 71GHz or 72GHz or above, and / or 100 GHz or above, and / or 140 GHz or above. The carrier frequency may in particular refer to a center frequency or maximum frequency of the carrier. The radio nodes and / or network described herein may operate in wide-band, e.g. with a carrier bandwidth (or bandwidth or carrier aggregation) of 400MHz or more, in particular 1 GHz or more, or 2 GHz or more, or even 25 larger, e.g. 6 GHz or more, or 8 GHz or more; the scheduled or allocated bandwidth may be the carrier bandwidth, or be smaller, e.g. depending on channel and / or procedure. In some cases, operation may be based on an OFDM wave-form or a SC-FDM wave-form (e.g., downlink and / or uplink), in particular a FDF-SC-FDM-based wave-form. However, operation based on a single carrier wave-form, e.g. SC-FDE (which may be pulse-shaped 30 or Frequency Domain Filtered, e.g. based on modulation scheme and / or MGS), may be considered for downlink and / or uplink. In general, different wave-forms may be used for different communication directions. Communicating using or utilising a carrier and / or beam may correspond to operating using or utilising the carrier and / or beam, and / or may comprise transmitting on the carrier and / or beam and / or receiving on the carrier 35

[0009] P110516W001 1 / 77 and / or beam. Operation may be based on and / or associated to a numerology, which may indicate a subcarrier spacing and / or duration of an allocation unit and / or an equivalent thereof, e.g., in comparison to an OFDM based system. A subcarrier spacing or equivalent frequency interval may for example correspond to 960 kHz, or 1920 kHz, e.g. representing the bandwidth of a subcarrier or equivalent. 40

[0010] The approaches are particularly advantageously implemented in a future 6th Generation (6G) telecommunication network or 6G radio access technology or network (RAT / RAN), in particular according to 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project, a standardisation organization). A suitable RAN may in particular be a RAN according to NR, for example release 18 or later, or LTE Evolution. However, the approaches may also be used with 45 other RAT, for example future 5.5G systems or IEEE based systems.

[0011] There is disclosed a method of operating a wireless device in a wireless communication network. The method comprises transmitting a random access message on an indicated random access resource. The indicated random access resource is indicated by a random access resource assignment received in an assigning message. 50

[0012] Also, a wireless device for a wireless communication network is proposed, the wireless device being adapted for transmitting a random access message on an indicated random access resource. The indicated random access resource is indicated by a random access resource assignment received in an assigning message.

[0013] A method of operating a network node in a wireless communication network is consid- 55 ered. The method comprises monitoring for a random access message on an indicated random access resource. The indicated random access resource is indicated to a wireless device with a random access resource assignment transmitted to the wireless device in an assigning message.

[0014] Furthermore, there is described a network node for a wireless communication network, the 60 network node being adapted for monitoring for a random access message on an indicated random access resource. The indicated random access resource is indicated to a wireless device with a random access resource assignment transmitted to the wireless device in an assigning message.

[0015] The assignling message may be transmitted by the network node, and / or may be received 65 by the wireless device. A random access resource may be a time domain resource and / or frequency domain resource and / or preamble resource (e.g., indicated which preamble to use, e.g., from a set of preconfigured and / or pre-defined preambles) and / or code domain resource, and / or cyclic shift domain resource. Indication may be explicit, or implicit. The

[0016] P110516W001 2 / 77 random access resource may include or represent at least one physical resource, e.g., time 70 domain and / or frequency domain resource. The random access resource may represent a resource structure, in particular in time domain and frequency domain, and / or may comprise a plurality of resource elements (and as such may also be referred to in plural, as resources). The random access resource may be unambigously indicated, e.g., as a specific resource. Alternatively, a set or subset (e.g., a set or subset of configured random access 75 resources of a random access configuration) of random access resources may be indicated, from which the indicated random access resource may be selected, e.g., randomly, and / or based on additional information, e.g., an identity assigned to the wireless device, and / or an additional indication.

[0017] The assigning message may be transmitted and / or received in associated specific re- 80 sources, e.g., a search space configured to the wireless device, and / or resources scheduled for transmission and / or reception of the assigning message.

[0018] In general, the assigning message and / or resource assignment (short for random access resource assignment) may indicate or allocate the random access resource, e.g., by indexing and / or pointing thereto, and / or having a bit held indexing or indicating or identifying the 85 random access resource, and / or at least on of time domain or frequency domain location and / or size (or range) of the random access resource. The bit held may comprise or consist of 3 or more bits, or 4 or more bits, or 8 or more bits, in particular for explicit indication. The assigning message and / or resource assignment may comprise two or more bithelds, e.g. for indicating two or more domains for the resource, e.g., time domain and 90 frequency domain. The bit helds may have the same of different sizes; at least two of the bit helds each may have 3 or more bits, or 4 or more bits, or 8 or more bits. The random access resource may be a physical resource, or a virtual physical resource, which may be mappable to a physical resource, e.g., based on a conhguration. In general, the resource assignment may comprise one or more bit helds, and in same cases may comprise 95 or consist of (in total) 2 bits or more, or 4 bits or more or 8 bits or more, or 16 bits or more (information bits, not including error coding bits). The assignment message may comprise additional information, e.g., pertaining to the same wireless device, and / or to different wireless devices, and / or to a group of devices and / or a cell and / or cell section, and / or a beam or beam pair. Such information may for example pertain to paging, 100 and / or scheduling of information, and / or one or more random access parameters and / or one or more signalling parameters. A random access resource may be referred to as RACH resource, or PRACH resource, the latter in particular if it is a resource in time domain and / or frequency domain and / or code domain.

[0019] Transmitting the random access message may be based on a random access conhgura- 105

[0020] P110516W001 3 / 77 tion, which may configure one or more random access parameters. Such parameters may pertain to one or more of transmission power and / or power ramping, and / or repetition of signalling, and / or preamble or preamble set. The random access configuration may be configured by the network node, e.g. with broadcast signalling (e.g., in a PBCH and / or system information like SIB1), and / or dedicated higher-layer signalling, e.g., utilising 110

[0021] RRC signalling on PDSCH. The random access configuration may indicate and / or configure a specific identiy to the wireless device, e.g., for performing random access and / or receiving the assigning message. The identity may be represented by a RNTI, which may be used to scramble a CRC of a message intended for and / or transmitted using the RNTI.

[0022] The identity may be specific to the device, or to a group of devices including the device. 115

[0023] The random access message may be a message for initiating random access, e.g., from a RRC_idle or not connected state. The random access message may in particular be a msgA or msgl, e.g., in a 2-step or 4-step random access procedure. In some cases, the random access message may be transmitted in response to a triggering message transmitted by the network or network node, e.g., a paging message. This triggering message may be 120 the assigning message, but may be a different message. The random access message may include, and / or correspond to, a preamble.

[0024] Monitoring for a message may in general comprise utilising receiving circuitry at resources corresponding to the resource monitored (e.g., time and / or frequency domain, accomodating for path delay effects if applicable) to determine presence or absence of the message, 125 and / or to receive and / or demodulate and / or decode the message.

[0025] Approaches described herein allow flexible use of random access resources, and / or may comprise dynamically allocating random access resources. This may facilitate more efficient, in particular energy efficient, network operation. For example, monitoring of resources may be limited, lowering energy consumption. 130

[0026] The assigning message may be carried by, and / or represent, (and / or transmitted utilising, and / or received as) control signalling, or data signalling, and / or may be a physical layer message or MAC layer message. As control signalling, it may for example be on PDCCH message, e.g., a DCI message, as data signalling, it may be a PDSCH message. The data signalling and / or associated message may be scheduled by a control signalling message, 135 e.g., a DCI. Signalling structure may thus be adapted and / or re-used, with little required changes of standards and / or procedures.

[0027] The assigning message may in particular be a control information message scheduling a paging message, and / or be a paging message; in some cases, it may be considered that the control information message (e.g., a DCI) includes a first part of the resource indication, 140

[0028] P110516W001 4 / 77 and the paging message a second part. A wireless device known to the network may thus be directed to use an optimised resource for random access.

[0029] It may be considered that the random access message may comprise a random access preamble, and / or may be a msgA or msgl. Which preamble to use may be indicated by the resource assignment and / or the assigning message. The preamble may be one of a 145 set of preambles, e.g., according to a configuration and / or pre-defined. Thus, dedicated signalling may be used, which may help identifying the wireless device, and / or may make a contention procedure unnecessary, as the wireless device may be identified by the resource and / or preamble.

[0030] The assigning message may be single-cast, or multi-cast, or broadcast. Alternatively, 150 or additionally, the resource assignment may be dedicated to one wireless device, e.g., UE-specihc, or to a group of UEs (e.g., sharing a group identity), or unspecified, e.g., cell-specific. For example, a message like a paging message may be addressing a plurality of wireless devices (multi-cast), and comprise one or more resource assignments, each of which may be specific to one device, or to a (different) group of devices). 155

[0031] It may be considered that the indicated random access resource is one of a set of random access resources, or one of a subset of random access resources, wherein the set or subset may be configured to the wireless device with higher- layer signalling (e.g., RRC layer signalling, in particular as a broadcast, or in a dedicated or group-common PDSCH). The resource assignment may point to, and / or index, the configured random access resource 160 to indicate the indicated random access resource. Thus, a present configuration may be used, which may require low signalling overhead.

[0032] In same cases, the random access resource may be a resource separate from resources configured in a random access configuration. In this case, explicit allocation or indication, e.g., of location and / or size in time domain and / or frequency domain, may be particularly 165 useful. This allows great flexibility, and optimises adaption to load conditions.

[0033] The random access resource assignment may explicitly allocate the indicated random access resource. This may allow flexibility, in particular deviation from preconfigured resources, and / or re-use of already defined signalling formats (e.g., for scheduling DCI).

[0034] It may be considered that a (or more than one) second assigning message indicates a 170 second indicated random access resource for transmission of a second random access message. The second assigning message may be transmitted by the network, e.g., network node, e.g., if no random access message has been received on the indicated random access resource. The second assigning message may include a resource assignment, which may

[0035] P110516W001 5 / 77 indicate the indicated resource again, or a different resource for random access (e.g., 175 a second random access resource). There may be more than two of such messages, e.g., NRA messages, wherein NRA may correspond to a configured or configurable and / or predefined maximum. The second assignming message may be monitored for in a search space monitored for a random access response (e.g., a DCI scheduling a corresponding PDSCH), or in a different search space. The search space may be configured or configurable to the 180 wireless device, e.g., with a random access configuration, in particular a dedicated (UE- specific) or group-specific configuration (and / or not a broadcast / unspecific / cell-specific configuration).

[0036] In some variants, the indicated random access resource may be not part of a set of resources configured with a first random access configuration. The first random access 185 configuration may be a configured via broadcast signalling, e.g., utilising system information and / or a PBCH and / or a first PDSCH providing a system information block like SIB1 of other SIB. The indicated random access resource may be separate from such configured resource / s. facilitating separate handling of wireless device after initial configuration.

[0037] The assigning message may in general indicate one or more random access parameters, 190 e.g., a validity period (or interval) and / or (validity) timer for the indicated random access resource. This may indicate how long the indicated random access resource is available.

[0038] The resource may be available periodically withing the validity period or interval, or while the timer is running, e.g., for periodic retransmission of the random access message if no random access response is received, or indicating that only one transmission of a random 195 access message is allocated, and / or indicating when to monitor for a second assigning message (e.g., after the timer has run out and / or the period or interval is over).

[0039] In general, transmitting the random access message may be part of initiating random access, and / or of performing a random access procedure. As such, it may be considered that the procdure or initiating may comprise transmitting a random access message 200 based on a resource assignment in a assigning message a specific number of times (e.g., NRA times), which may be a (e.g., configured or pre-defined) number, which my be a maximum number. If no random access response (e.g., msg2 or msgB) has been received after NRA transmissions, random access based on a random access configuration may be performed, e.g., utilising a random access resource indicated in the configuration, and / or 205 with broadcast signalling.

[0040] A random access response may comprises one or more messages, e.g. on a control channel and / or a data channel, for example as a MsgB, or Msg2. The control channel message may schedule the transmission on the data channel (e.g., for reception by the wireless device).

[0041] The control channel message may be transmitted on a PDCCH, and / or correspond to 210

[0042] P110516W001 6 / 77 a DCI message, and / or may be monitored for in an associated search space, e.g., as indicated in broadcast signalling and / or system information and / or a PBCH and / or a SIB1.

[0043] A radio node, e.g. a transmitting or signalling radio node, and / or a receiving or feedback radio node, may operate in TDD mode, e.g. switching between DL periods and UL 215 periods. A DL period may be a period in which the radio node operates using DL transmissions, an UL period may be a period in which the radio node operates using UL transmissions (e.g., a network node may transmit during DL, and receive during UL, and vice versa for a wireless device). It may be considered that there is a TDD guard period between DL and UL periods and / or between UL and DL periods, which may comprise a 220 number of symbol time intervals, e.g. 10 or more symbols, or 12 or more symbols; there may be the same duration for guard periods for DL / UL and UL / DL, or different ones.

[0044] The guard period may allow switching circuitry between the different communication directions and / or handling of interference (in particular considering that DL signalling tends to much more powerful than (received) UL signalling). An antenna arrangement 225 may comprise one or more antenna elements and / or sub-arrays and / or panels; different antenna arrangements may comprise different antenna elements and / or sub-arrays and / or panels. Different antenna arrangements and / or panels and / or sub-arrays and / or elements may be adapted to be controlled or controllable separately from each other. There may be the same number of DL and UL periods and / or the same duration associated to DL 230 and UL (at least over a certain time interval, e.g. alternating such that one DL period is followed by one UL period, or vice versa, or different numbers or durations, e.g. (roughly)

[0045] 3:1 (e.g., 3 DL periods followed by a TDD guard period and 1 UL period), or (roughly) 2:1, or even (roughly) 1:2 or 1:NU with NU 3 or larger, for UL heavy scenarios. UL period durations may be the same as DL period durations, or different. The distribution 235 and / or duration of DL and UL periods may be referred to as TDD pattern; the TDD pattern may be dynamically controllable (e.g., with DCI signalling), and / or configured or configurable, e.g. with higher layer signalling like RRC signalling or RLC signalling, and / or may be semi-statically configurable or configured. The TDD pattern may describe the smallest time domain distribution of DL period / s and / or UL period / s and / or TDD 240 guard period / s repeated over time, e.g. in one or more frames and / or subframes and / or slots and / or a time duration covering multiple repetitions of the TDD pattern.

[0046] It may be considered that the radio node is adapted for utilising a number NP of antenna sub- arrays and / or panels, wherein NP may be an integer number of 4 or larger. An antenna sub-array may comprise a plurality of antenna elements, e.g. 4 or more, or 10 245 or more, or 50 or more, or 100 or more. An antenna sub-array, and / or the antenna elements associated thereto and / or comprised therein, may be associated and / or connected

[0047] P110516W001 7 / 77 or connectable to one and / or the same antenna circuitry, and / or be jointly controllable for analog and / or digital beam-forming, and / or be operable for joint transmission or reception. A panel may comprise a support structure, e.g. plastics and / or metallic ma- 250 terial and / or wood, supporting one or more antenna sub-arrays, which additionally may support additional circuitry like antenna circuitry and / or interface circuitry. Each antenna sub-array may be associated for one communication direction (e.g., reception or transmission) and / or one functionality, e.g. communication. It may be considered that antenna elements of an antenna sub-array share the same polarisation, e.g. horizontal 255 or vertical. In some cases, NP may be an even number, wherein it may be considered that NP / 2 antenna sub-arrays (and / or their antenna elements) may be associated to a first polarisation (e.g., horizontal or vertical or left-circular or right-circular, or any other suitable polarisation) and the other NP / 2 antenna sub-arrays are associated to a second polarisation, which may be orthogonal to the first polarisation. For example, the first 260 polarisation may be horizontal with the second polarisation being vertical, or the first polarisation may be left-circular and the second polarisation may be right-circular. This allows multiple beams to be operated, with good flexibility and / or large signalling capacity. In general, an antenna arrangement associated to a radio node may comprise one or more antenna sub-arrays, in particular an even number of antenna sub-arrays. In general, 265 at different times, different antenna sub-arrays and / or panels may be used for different functions, e.g. transmission or reception, and / or communication. The polarisation of an antenna element may be associated to a specific operation direction, e.g. for transmission or reception. Depending on signalling direction (transmission or reception), polarisation may be different. For example, an antenna sub-array may be associated to a first polari- 270 sation for transmission, and a second polarisation for reception, or vice versa. This may be achieved, for example, by providing crossed linear antenna elements for the sub-arrays, with associated connections / circuitry according to polarisation.

[0048] A transmitter may generally represent a device adapted for transmission, but it also may be adapted for reception, and / or represent a TRP or radio node or antenna arrangement. 275

[0049] In some cases, a transmitter or TRP may be controlled by a radio node, e.g. a network node or transmitting radio node; such a node may control one or more transmitters, e.g. a first transmitter and second transmitter.

[0050] It may be considered that operating utilising signalling like communication signalling, and / or communicating utilising signalling like communication signalling, may comprise 280 transmitting the signalling, e.g. communication signalling, and / or receiving the signalling, e.g. communication signalling. It may be considered that signalling like communication signalling is based on an OFDM wave-form, e.g. OFDM, or DFT-s-OFDM, or pulseshaped DFT-s-OFDM. Such a wave-form is particularly suitable for wireless communica-

[0051] P110516W001 8 / 77 tion at high frequencies and / or with high communication loads. A cyclic appendix may 285 generally be a cyclic prefix, or a cyclic suffix. The appendix may represent a repetition of a part of signalling carried by a symbol at its start (suffix) or end (prefix), which may be appended at the opposite of the symbol (end or start); e.g. a cyclic prefix may be considered a repetition of the signalling at the end of the symbol it pertains to. The communication signalling may be based on a waveform with cyclic appendix. A cyclic 290 appendix may be associated to a specific symbol, it may have a duration shorter than the symbol duration, e.g. 1 / 4 or less than 1 / 4 of the symbol duration, or 1 / 6 or less than 1 / 6.

[0052] A radio node, like a transmitting radio node or receiving radio node, may be a wireless device or user equipment or terminal. Alternatively, it may be a network node or sig- 295 nailing radio node. A radio node adapted for wireless communication may be a radio node adapted for transmitting and / or receiving communication signalling. Communication signalling may be. and / or comprise, data signalling and / or control signalling and / or reference signalling, e.g. according to a wireless communication standard like a 3GPP standard or IEEE standard (e.g., of WIFI or WLAN). Operating utilising communication 300 signalling may comprise transmitting and / or receiving communication signalling. The radio circuitry and / or processing circuitry and / or antenna circuitry of a radio node may be adapted for handling communication signalling The radio node may be adapted for full-duplex operation, and / or half-duplex operation. Full duplex may refer to transmitting and receiving at the same time, e.g. using the same or different circuitries, and / or 305 using different antenna sub-arrays or separately operable antenna sub-arrays or antenna elements. The communication signalling may be beam-formed.

[0053] A DFT-s-OFDM based wave-form may be a wave-form constructed by performing a DFT- spreading operation on modulation symbols mapped to a frequency interval (e.g., subcarriers), e.g. to provide a time- variable signal. A DFT-s-OFDM based wave-form may 310 also be referred to a SC-FDM wave-form. It may be considered to provide good PAPR characteristics, allowing optimised operation of power amplifiers, in particular for high frequencies. In general, the approaches described herein may also be applicable to SingleCarrier based wave-forms, e.g. FDE-based wave-forms. Communication, e.g. on data channel / s and / or control channel / s, may be based on, and / o utilise, a DFT-s-OFDM 315 based wave-form, or a Single-Carrier based wave-form.

[0054] Communication may in particular on multiple communication links and / or beams and / or with multiple targets (e.g., TRPs or other forms of transmission sources also receiving) and / or multiple layers at the same time; different reference signallings for multiple transmission or reception may be based on different sequence roots and / or combs and / or cyclic 320

[0055] P110516W001 9 / 77 shifts. Thus, high throughput may be achieved, with low interference. In general, different reference signallings (e.g., of the same type) may be associated to different transmission sources and / or beams and / or layers, in particular if transmitted simultaneously and / or overlapping in time (e.g., considering different timing advance values if transmitted in uplink). For example, there may be first reference signalling transmitted using a first 325 transmission source and / or first beam and / or first layer, and second reference signalling transmitted using a first transmission source and / or first beam and / or first layer.

[0056] Paging may in general represent a procedure in which a wireless device known to, and / or registered with, a network is in a quiet modus, e.g., with RRC connection and / or in idle mode, but data for the wireless device is available (e.g., due to an incoming call). The 330 network then may send a paging message, which may indicate to the wireless device that it should connect to the network, e.g. go into RRC connection and / or to perform a random access procedure. Paging messages may be sent a specific paging occasions; the occasions may be configured to wireless devices, such that for example not all wireless devices have to monitor all paging occasions. 335

[0057] There is also described a program product comprising instructions causing processing circuitry to control and / or perform a method as described herein. Moreover, a carrier medium arrangement carrying and / or storing a program product as described herein is considered. An information system comprising, and / or connected or connectable, to a radio node is also disclosed. 340

[0058] Brief description of the drawings

[0059] The drawings are provided to illustrate concepts and approaches described herein, and are not intended to limit their scope. The drawings comprise:

[0060] Figure 1, showing an exemplary signalling scenario;

[0061] Figure 2 , showing an exemplary receiving radio node or wireless device; and 345

[0062] Figure 3, showing an exemplary transmitting radio node or network node.

[0063] Detailed description

[0064] Energy consumption is a considerable challenge for 5G systems today, where a major contributor to the energy consumption are the radio units in the RAN. The network power consumption for NR is said to be less than for LTE because of the lean design of 350 NR, for example no CRS (Cell-Specific Reference Signal) are used, and the SSB periodicity is 20ms by default. Even so, current NR systems may consume significant amounts of

[0065] P110516W001 10 / 77 energy, partly due to high system bandwidths, short transmission time intervals, and a massive number of antennas. They may still consume a lot of energy even when cells and beams are lightly loaded, or when they serve no traffic or no users / UE at all. To 355 enable more energy-efficient 5G networks, 3GPP initiated a study item (SI) on network energy savings for NR, which concluded that not only the transmissions are costly, but also the receptions, including monitoring of PRACH, SR, and similar occasions / resources (monitoring performed by the network). In particular, the necessary wakeups from a sleep or low-energy state for both transmissions and receptions may cause a considerable 360 energy consumption. For this reason, new techniques like network discontinuous reception (called cell DRX, similar to UE C-DRX) and Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) adaptation were studied.

[0066] Dynamic PRACH adaptation is considered herein, which may bring network energy saving gains of up to 25%. 365

[0067] Paging enhancements in 3GPP are on example potentially relevant for random access. Paging occasions (PCs) may be configured by the network and advertised to the UEs in a cell via broadcast of SIB1. These PCs may be evenly spread in time. UEs are assigned to PCs based on formulas in the specifications that use UE identity as an input parameter, so that different UEs are assigned to different PCs. However, more than one UE can be 370 assigned to the same PO. Upon paging, the UEs detect a paging message by decoding the P-RNTI scrambled DCI message on the PDCCH and the associated paging message on the PDSCH. If a UE’s identity is present / indicated in the paging message on the PDSCH, the UE (knows it) is being paged.

[0068] Enhancements of network energy savings for NR may include the specification of tech- 375 niques enabling an adaptation of paging occasions including the concentration of paging occasions in the time domain. With evenly spread PCs in time, the network energy efficiency may be reduced, as the opportunities for a gNB to utilize deeper sleep states / modes may be diminished. With spread out paging occasions, the gNB may need to wake up frequently to deliver paging messages, despite that the paged UEs may not even be in 380 the cell coverage area. Note that the network usually does not know the exact location of a UE in RRC Idle / Inactive mode (which may need to be paged). Hence, the paging message typically needs to be broadcasted in all cells of the paging tracking area of the UE. With concentrated / condensed paging occasions, however, the gNB needs to wake up much less often to deliver paging messages, and when it does, it can deliver them directly 385 one after the other. This may bring network energy saving gains of up to 25%.

[0069] In the following, referrence is being made to a random access procedure, and / or associated messages. However, the approaches described may be applicable in other contexts, e.g.

[0070] P110516W001 11 / 77 exchange of messages in high-speed scenarios (e.g., with drones and / or trains and / or vehicles) and / or loT (Internet-of-Things) scenarios and / or for transmission on different 390 carriers and / or different beams, and may for example be applicable for control signalling and / or data signalling also outside of a random access procedure. A UE may be seen as an exemplary receiving radio node or wireless device. The random access may be in a 3GPP-based system, e.g., NR, or a 6G system, or in another system, e.g., based on WiFi and / or WLAN. 395

[0071] Random access (RA) may be performed by a wireless device to access a cell and / or to start communication and / or to synchronise to a network, in particular for uplink synchronisation, and / or for handover or other purposes. A receiving radio node like a wireless device or UE may be considered to be adapted to perform random access, e.g. to perform one or more actions like transmissions and / or reception associated to a random 400 access procedure on the device side; a transmitting radio node like a network node may be considered to be adapted to perform random access, e.g. to perform one or more actions like transmissions and / or reception associated to a random access procedure on the network side. A UE or wireless device may be considered an example of a receiving radio node, and the terms may be interchanged. A network node or gNodeB may be 405 considered an example of a transmitting radio node and the terms may be interchanged.

[0072] In general, a wireless device may receive synchronisation signaling transmitted from the network (e.g., a signaling radio node), e.g. a transmitted SS / PBCH beam SSBO, SSB1,. . . . Reception of the SS / PBCH beam SSBO, . . . may be with a reception beam, which may for example be associated to a random access transmission beam PRACH beam 0, 1, . . . 410 for the wireless device, and / or to the SS / PBCH transmission beam (associated in this context may indicate the inverse / reverse beam, and / or a beam in a specific reception direction). A reception beam may be associated to a SS / PBCH transmission beam, or to a group of such, e.g. comprising two or more SS / PBCH transmission beams, e.g. corresponding to a reception beam like a PRACH Rx beam having twice the width of a 415

[0073] SSB beam. The wireless device may determine the best received SS / PBCH transmission, e.g. based on reception within a FFT window to sample the signaling, and transmit a random access preamble in response to indicate it wants to perform random access.

[0074] A random access preamble may also be referred to as message 1 or Msgl; it may be represented by a sequence of symbols to be transmitted, e.g. selected from a set (or 420 two sets or more sets) of preambles available (e.g., according to configuration and / or indicated by the SS / PBCH received); the selection may be randomised, or in some cases, indicated by the network node, for example configuring a specific set and / or preamble to the wireless device. The Msgl or preamble may be transmitted in a random access resource (also referred to as random access occasion), which may be indicated by and / or 425

[0075] P110516W001 12 / 77 dependent on the SS / PBCH received, and / or be associated to the specific set of preambles the preamble is selected from. It may be considered that the RA preamble is transmitted using a subcarrier spacing or numerology different from the one used for communication; the SCS for RA may be for example be 960 kHz, wherein the communication SCS may be 1920 kHz. The transmission of the RA preamble may comprise a number of repetitions 430 of the preamble and / or a cyclic prefix. When a preamble sequence arrives at the network node, may depend on the distance between the wireless device and the receiving network node. The RA preamble transmission may be received with SSB reception beams, to e.g. determine the best reception. The received SSB may in general be used for cell identification and synchronisation by the wireless device. However, for transmissions to 435 the network node (UL), timing might be off due to signaling traveling time; the wireless device may generally acquire a timing advance (TA) value for UL transmissions, which may be provided by the network node. The maximum delay of RA preamble reception may be indicative of a cell size or communication radius, which may be related to a maximum allowed TA. After receiving the preamble, a network node may transmit a random access 440 response (RAR) or message 2 (Msg2), which may provide a timing advance value (TAI) and schedule resources for uplink transmission, e.g. on a PUSCH, using a message 3 (Msg3). The Msg3 may be transmitted using the provided timing advance value (TAI) and / or according to the communication SCS, which may in general shift the transmission to an earlier point in time in relation to the downlink timing to accommodate the signal 445 traveling time for UL transmission (e.g., so that the network may receive synchronised signaling). Msg3 may be a contention resolution request, e.g. containing details of the identity of the wireless device to enable to network to unambiguously identify wireless devices to finish random access. A Msg4 transmitted by the network node may resolve the contention and / or provide setup for communication, e.g. to perform an RRC setup 450 procedure. In general, multiple wireless device may try to access the network at the same time, e.g. using the same preamble or same set of preambles and / or the same random access resources. The contention resolution may facilitate resolving issues arising with multiple random access attempts. If a wireless device does not receive a RAR, it may retransmit the RA preamble with increased power, e.g. using power ramping, 455 until it receives a response and / or a maximum transmission power has been reached.

[0076] In general, random access messages transmitted by a network node or signaling radio node (e.g., Msg2, Msg4) may be transmitted on a data channel, e.g. PDSCH or PSSCH; such transmission may be scheduled with a control channel message and / or on a PDCCH or PSCCH, e.g. a DCI format message or SCI format message. The control channel 460 message may be associated to a search space or CORESET, which may be configured or configurable with higher layer signaling, e.g. with PBCH signaling and / or RRC layer signaling, e.g. in a SS / PBCH transmission and / or a data channel transmission, e.g. on

[0077] P110516W001 13 / 77 PDSCH (e.g., for specific configuration or as System Information multicast or broadcast, e.g. associated to PBCH signaling). In an alternative approach, instead of Msgl and 3, 465 a single message may be transmitted, e.g. a message A or MsgA. MsgA may comprise a preamble part and / or a part with coded data, similar to a PUSCH transmission. In response to a MsgA, there may be transmitted a MsgB, e.g. instead of a Msg2 and Msg4. MsgB may be similar to a PDSCH transmission. This may be part of a 2-step RA procedure. For some uses cases, e.g. synchronisation, it may be sufficient to exchange 470

[0078] Msgl and Msg2 in a shortened 4-step procedure. A MsgB, and / or Msg2 or Msg4 may comprise one or more message parts, e.g. a scheduling assignment (e.g., DCI and / or PDCCH) and / or a scheduled data channel transmission. A MsgB or Msg2 may in general schedule a transmission by the receiving radio node or UE.

[0079] A UE in RRC Idle / Inactive mode may use the Random Access procedure to initiate a 475 connection establishment towards a gNB. UEs in RRC Connected mode may also use Random Access. To initiate the Random Access procedure, the UE transmits a Random Access preamble on the Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH). PRACH time and frequency resources may be configured by the gNB RRC layer via the broadcast of System Information Block 1 (SIB1) in which a PRACH configuration index may be provided. This 480 index may point to an entry in one of the tables provided in the specifications (3GPP TS 38.211, Tables 6.3.3.2-2. . . 4) from which details about timing, frequency resources, preamble format, etc. can be derived. After sending the preamble on the PRACH, the UE monitors for a Random Access Response (RAR) in a certain search space (e.g., ra-searchSpace, indicated in SIB1). If it does not receive a RAR within a configured 485 time period (ra-ResponseWindow, also indicated in SIB1), the UE repeats the preamble transmission on the PRACH, potentially with a different preamble, and with an increased transmit power (which may refer to power-ramp up).

[0080] As listed in Section 9.2.6 ’’Random Access Procedure” in 3GPP TS 38.300 V17.3.0

[0081] ”NR; NR and NG-RAN Overall Description; Stage 2” , the random access procedure 490 may be triggered by one or more of a number of events including: Initial access from RRC-IDLE; RRC Connection Re-establishment procedure; DL or UL data arrival, during RRC_CONNECTED or during RRCJNACTIVE while SDT procedure (see clause 18.0) is ongoing, when UL synchronisation status is ” non-synchronised” ; UL data arrival, during RRC_CONNECTED or during RRCJNACTIVE while SDT procedure is ongoing, 495 when there are no PUCCH resources for SR available; SR failure; Request by RRC upon synchronous reconfiguration (e.g. handover); RRC Connection Resume procedure from RRCJNACTIVE; to establish time alignment for a secondary TAG (Timing Advance Group); Request for Other SI (see clause 7.3); Beam failure recovery; Consistent UL LBT failure on SpCell; SDT in RRC -INACTIVE (see clause 18); Positioning purpose during 500

[0082] P110516W001 14 / 77 RRC .CONNECTED requiring random access procedure, e.g., when timing advance is needed for UE positioning.

[0083] The PRACH resources for UEs in RRC Idle / Inactive mode according to this are configured semi-statically and / or via broadcast. In particular, the network relies on System Information (SI) updates to change the PRACH resources, e.g., to make the PRACH 505 occasions sparser or denser in time, which is slow, expensive, and very limited in terms of how often it can be done, e.g., within a three- hour time period. As a result, adapting to changing PRACH load / demand as a consequence of rapidly changing traffic load / demand is limited and / or unflexible.

[0084] There are disclosed approaches allowing a network node like a gNB to allocate (e.g., ad- 510 ditional) PRACH resources to a wireless device or UE, or a group of UEs, in a dynamic and and flexible way. More specifically, one or more of the following may be facilitated and / or considered: indicating a different (and / or indicating one of a plurality of different) PRACH conhguration / s and / or PRACH resources, for example at potentially at each signaling instance, e.g., each paging cycle, therefore allowing adjusting the PRACH 515 capacity to the momentary PRACH load; a particular PRACH configuration, or multiple PRACH configurations, may be indicated as part of the paging message, which may carry paging record(s) and can be assigned to (and used by) a particular UE, or a particular group / subset of UEs, or similar; indicating, e.g., unlocking, a subset (which may be a true subset, thus not the complete set and / or smaller than the set) of PRACH resources 520 defined by a PRACH configuration, wherein this indicating or unlocking may for example for a limited time, and / or wherein the PRACH configuration may be preconfigured or indicated to the UE at the same time and / or one time; (implicitly and / or explicitly) indicating that additional PRACH resources are available for a certain time, and / or potentially indicating which PRACH resources are available, e.g., which subset of PRACH 525 resources is available for certain UEs by paging UEs in the legacy paging occasions; and / or a new paging occasion, and / or specific paging occasions such that UEs paged in different paging occasions may be referred to different PRACH resources or a different subset of PRACH resources; indicating a PRACH configuration, or simply PRACH resources, with a new format (e.g., DCI or message format, e.g., paging message format), which may en- 530 ables the network node or gNB to flexibly allocate / schedule PRACH resources in the time, frequency and / or preamble / code domain, in particular without being limited to PRACH configurations explicitly defined in specifications (in this way, PRACH resources can be flexibly allocated in time and / or frequency, e.g., in a consecutive manner (back-to-back)).

[0085] In general, PRACH resources may be resources for transmission of a random access mes- 535 sage, and / or transmission of a physical layer message. The message may be a random

[0086] P110516W001 15 / 77 access initiation message, and / or comprise a preamble, and / or may be a msgA or msgl. In same cases, RACH will be used synomously with PRACH, in particular in respect to resources, and / or preambles. The term gNB may be used to indicate a network node, a UE may indicate a wireless device; these terms may be used interchangeably in this 540 detailed description, unless stated otherwise.

[0087] There may generally be considered, for a method of operating a wireless device like a UE (any of the features / action below may be included in a method of operating a wireless device, individually, or in any combination): The method may be for using PRACH resources, which may be assigned / indicated by a gNB and may be valid only for a certain 545 time after indication (e..g, for a specific time interval, and / or one or a specific number of occasions of th PRACH resources (which may assume the resources are periodic). The method may comprise receiving, e.g., from a gNB or network node or signaling radio node, a PRACH resource assignment, which which may be indicating / identifying one or more PRACH resources. The method may comprise initiating Random Access and / or 550 transmitting a PRACH preamble using at least one of the said PRACH resources. The PRACH resources may derived from a PRACH configuration with a legacy format, or a new format. A PRACH configuration, or an index of, or a reference to, a PRACH configuration, may be conhgured / indicated to the UE in advance (e.g., via higher-layer signalling and / or broadcast) and / or comprised in the PRACH resource assignment. It 555 may be considered that a PRACH configuration may be provided to the UE via RRC sig- naling / conhguration, e.g., upon releasing a UE to RRC Inactive mode or RRC Idle mode.

[0088] Such a PRACH configuration may overwrite, or coexist with, a PRACH configuration broadcasted, for example, by the gNB in SIB1, e.g., depending on NW configuration, or as per specifications. If a dedicated PRACH configuration is provided to the UE, e.g., via 560

[0089] RRC signaling / conhguration, the dedicated PRACH configuration may be valid only for a certain time, e.g., specified via NW configuration (a timer), and / or a number of RACH occasions. Upon expiry, the UE may discard the dedicated PRACH configuration. The PRACH resource assignment, and optionally a PRACH resource assignment cancellation (also referred to as PRACH resource cancellation indication) may be comprised in, 565 and / or transmitted in a DCI message (e.g., sent by the gNB on the PDCCH), for example with with a new DCI format, and / or with a CRC scrambled with a new RNTI. It may be considered that the PRACH resource assignment may be comprised in a message sent by the network node, e.g., gNB, on a data channel like a PDSCH, which may be scheduled / indicated by a DCI message (which may be sent by the network node on a con- 570 trol channel, e.g., gNB on the PDCCH); the DCI message may have a new DCI format and / or be have a CRC scrambled with a new and / or specific RNTI. In case of paging, the PRACH resource assignment may be comprised in a DCI message sent by a network

[0090] P110516W001 16 / 77 node, like the gNB on the PDCCH, scheduling the paging message, or in the paging message, e.g., sent by the gNB on the PDSCH. It may be noted that the DCI message may 575 have a new specific DCI format and / or a CRC scrambled with a new specific RNTI. In some variants, the PRACH resource assignment may be comprised in a paging message, e.g., sent by the gNB on the PDSCH. The PRACH resources, which may be identified by the PRACH resource assignment, may be a subset of PRACH resources defined by a PRACH configuration, e.g., a subset (not all) of the PRACH resources defined by the 580

[0091] PRACH configuration is activated (made available) for the UE(s) that received, or were addressed by, the PRACH resource assignment. It may be considered that the PRACH resource assignment may be UE-individual or UE-specihc (e.g., addressed directly to the UE, e.g., using a UE-specihc ID like a RNTI scrambling the associated CRC of the message including the assignment), e.g., only applicable to a single UE identity, or it may be 585 applicable to a group or subset (e.g., multi-cast, potentially with a group RNTI) of UEs that are paged in a paging occasion, or applicable to all UEs that are paged in a paging occasion, or applicable to all UEs that are associated to a paging occasion. In some cases, the PRACH resource assignment may be implicit, e.g., the PRACH resources may be activated (made available) for UE(s) that were paged in a paging occasion, only for 590 new paging occasions (e.g.,., additional paging occasions compared to the legacy paging occasions), or only for the legacy paging occasions, or for both, e.g., based on definition in the specifications. It may be considered that the PRACH resource assignment may indicate whether the UE can use only legacy (or common) PRACH resources, or only assigned / indicated (or dedicated) PRACH resources, or both, while assigned / indicated 595 or dedicated PRACH resources are available / valid. The PRACH configuration may have a new format and / or the PRACH resource assignment, or the PRACH configuration indicated therein, may identify at least one PRACH transmission occasion in the time domain by indicating at least one time instance, e.g., a time offset with respect to at least one of: the time of reception of the PRACH resource assignment, and / or a predetermined 600 signaling occasion (e.g., occasion for signaling by the network) such as a paging occasion, and / or a reference time such as the beginning of a system frame number, SFN, cycle or an SFN boundary, i.e., SFN = 0, and / or a time offset indicated as, e.g., a certain number of subframes / slots and start symbol, or milliseconds, and / or block symbols and / or allocation units. It may be considered that a PRACH configuration may have a new 605 format, and / or the PRACH resource assignment, or the PRACH configuration indicated therein, may identify a (temporarily) reoccurring PRACH transmission occasion (e.g, periodic over one or more subframes or slots) in the time domain by indicating at least one of: a PRACH period / periodicity (the time between PRACH occasions / occurrences), e.g., a certain number of subframes / slots or milliseconds, and / or a certain number of occur- 610 rences (e.g., in the time domain); and / or a PRACH period / periodicity and / or a validity

[0092] P110516W001 17 / 77 period / timer, e.g., a certain number of subframes / slots or milliseconds; and / or a certain number of occurrences evenly distributed for / over an indicated time duration / interval (that starts at the reference time). In some cases, the PRACH configuration may have a new format, and / or the PRACH resource assignment, and / or the PRACH configuration 615 indicated therein, may identify a continuous PRACH transmission occasion pattern, which may be is valid until further notice, e.g., to be stopped by a PRACH resource cancellation indication in the time domain, for example by indicating a PRACH period / periodicity, e.g., a certain number of subframes / slots or milliseconds. The method may in general comprise receiving, e.g., from a network node, for example from the gNB, a PRACH 620 resource cancellation indication, where the cancellation indication may be provided via similar PDCCH signaling. A PRACH configuration may have a new format, wherein the PRACH configuration may identify at least one PRACH transmission occasion in the frequency domain, e.g., by indicating at least one frequency instance, e.g., a frequency offset with respect to PRB 0, or with respect to SSB frequency location, or with respect to some 625 other defined frequency reference point, e.g., AbsoluteFrequencyPointA, etc. In general, the PRACH resource assignment may identify multiple PRACH transmission occasions from which the UE may choose when performing Random Access. The UE may choose according to at least one strategy of at random; and / or following a certain SSB beam to

[0093] PRACH occasion mapping rule which may be defined by at least one parameter in at least 630 one of a parameter of the PRACH resource assignment and a parameter of the RACH configuration broadcasted by the gNB in SIB1. The PRACH resource assignment may in general identify a certain PRACH preamble the UE may use (or have to use) for Random Access, or a set of PRACH preambles the UE may choose from, e.g., at random, and optionally may additionally identy one or more cyclic shifts the UE may select from. It 635 may be considered that at least one parameter that defines how the UE performs Random Access may not be specified in the PRACH resource assignment, wherein the UE may perform Random Access (transmit the preamble) according to at least one corresponding parameter of the RACH configuration broadcasted by the gNB in SIB1, e.g., a parameter comprised in the RACH-ConhgCommon IE, or the RACH-ConhgGeneric IE comprised 640 therein. In some cases, after transmitting a PRACH preamble on an assigned / indicated PRACH resource, the UE may monitor a certain or specified or associated or configured (e.g., with broadcast signalling or higher layer signalling, e.g., RRC signaling, and / or with dedicated signalling, e.g., intended only for the UE) search space for a Random Access

[0094] Response, RAR, or a second PRACH resource assignment. Potentially, based on NW 645 configuration, a separate ra-ResponseWindow (compared to the legacy) may be used for RAR reception monitoring, or monitoring of the resouce assignment. In case of receiving a second PRACH resource assignment, the UE may stop monitoring the certain search space for a RAR (e.g., even before the ra-ResponseWindow has expired) and reinitiate Random

[0095] P110516W001 18 / 77 Access by transmitting a PRACH preamble (possibly a different a PRACH preamble) 650 according to the second PRACH resource assignment. The PRACH resource assignment may indicate a validity period / timer of the assigned / indicated PRACH resource(s), for example, the UE does not need to be configured with the validity period / timer in advance, and the validity timer may be different in each of PRACH resource assignment.

[0096] The validity period / timer of the assigned / indicated PRACH resource(s) may be defined 655 in the specifications, e.g., only valid for a certain number of paging cycles (e.g., only valid until the next paging occasion), or only valid for a certain number of subframes / slots, or PRACH occasions / occurrences, or milliseconds. In case the UE does not detect a RAR and the validity period / timer of the said PRACH resource (s) has (have) expired, or there are no more or longer any assigned / indicated PRACH resource(s) for the UE to use, the 660

[0097] UE may revert to using legacy PRACH resources and / or a legacy PRACH procedure. It may be considered that in case the UE does not detect a RAR, and while the said PRACH resource(s) is(are) valid, the UE may use a separate set of optionally configured or indicated parameters for the PRACH retransmission procedures, e.g., a separate optionally configured or indicated powerRampingStep, preambleTransMax, etc. In case the UE 665 has transmitted the maximum number of PRACH preambles on the assigned / indicated PRACH resource(s), e.g., according to a parameter of the PRACH configuration associated to the random access, e.g., a parameter preambleTransMax, which may be different for the assigned / indicated PRACH resources compared to legacy PRACH resources, the

[0098] UE may revert to using legacy PRACH resources. In case there is a specific PRACH 670 resource (in the time, frequency and / or preamble / code domain) assigned to a single UE, a contention resolution associated procedure may be omitted either based on the specifications or NW configuration.

[0099] There may generally be considered, for a method of operating a network node like a gNB (any of the features / action below may be included in a method of operating a net- 675 work node, individually, or in any combination): The method may comprise sending a (PRACH) resource assignment as discussed herein to a wireless device, and / or monitoring associated resources for a random access message like a msgA or msgl. The method may comprise sending to the UE a PRACH resource assignment, which may be indicating / identifying one or more PRACH resources, and / or monitoring the PRACH 680

[0100] (according to the PRACH resource assignment) and / or receiving / detecting a PRACH preamble (transmission) or random access message from the UE on one or more of the assigned / indicated PRACH resources. It may be considered that if the network node or gNB did not receive / detect a PRACH preamble (transmission or random access message) from the wireless device or UE, the network node or gNB may send, to the UE, a second 685

[0101] PRACH resource assignment indicating / identifying one or more PRACH resources, and

[0102] P110516W001 19 / 77 may monitor the PRACH resources (according to the second PRACH resource assignment).

[0103] The method may comprise, and / or facilitate, the network node or gNB minimizing semi- statically allocated PRACH resources and, thus, effectively reduce the network energy con- 690 sumption, while still being able to address / react to spiking PRACH load / demand when needed. The method may enable the network node or gNB to assign additional PRACH resources concentrated / condensed in time, e.g. if needed, which may avoid frequent wakeups to monitor the PRACH without knowing if some UE will transmit a preamble or not.

[0104] Moreover, the gNB may significantly limit or, depending on the specific / chosen PRACH 695 resource assignment, completely prevent contention on the additional PRACH resources.

[0105] In the case of the latter, an additional advantage may be that the gNB does not need to perform contention resolution as part of Random Access.

[0106] A resouce assignment like a PRACH resource assignment is considered. The UE may be enabled to receive from a gNB a (dynamic) PRACH resource assignment for one or more 700

[0107] PRACH resources that the UE can use to transmit a PRACH preamble, e.g., to initiate Random Access. In some variants, the PRACH resource assignment may activate (make available) one or more PRACH resources derived from a PRACH configuration, which may be conhgured / indicated to the UE in advance (pre-configured and / or pre-defined), or may be indicated as part of the PRACH resource assignment. In some cases, the one 705 or more PRACH resources may be assigned / indicated to a specific UE, in some other cases, they may be assigned / indicated to a group of UEs. A PRACH configuration may be conhgured / indicated to the UE in advance, e.g., in form of an index of, or a reference to, a PRACH configuration defined in the specifications, and optionally in conjunction with other Random Access parameters, e.g., as part of a Random Access configuration. 710

[0108] In this case, the PRACH resource assignment may comprise a reference to the PRACH configuration (explicit indication), or Random Access configuration, e.g., in case the UE has multiple such configurations, or may not explicitly indicate a PRACH configuration (implicit indication), or Random Access configuration, e.g., in case the UE has only one such configuration, or in case only one such configuration is, as per configuration or 715 the specifications, intended for dynamic activation via PRACH resource assignment. In other embodiments, the PRACH resource assignment as such may comprise a PRACH configuration, or an index of, or a reference to, a PRACH configuration, which was not conhgured / indicated to the UE in advance. In this case, the PRACH configuration may have a legacy format, e.g., as defined in 3GPP TS 38.211 Tables 6.3.3.2-2. . .4, or a new 720 format. In the case of a new format, the PRACH configuration may explicitly specify one or more time and / or frequency PRACH transmission occasions, and / or a PRACH preamble (index).

[0109] P110516W001 20 / 77 The PRACH resource assignment may identify or indicate (e.g., as resources) one or more

[0110] PRACH transmission occasions in the time and / or frequency domain. In some cases, the 725

[0111] PRACH resource assignment may identify and / or indicate, multiple PRACH transmission occasions, wherein the multiple PRACH transmission occasions may be batched (e.g., time and / or frequency multiplexed) such that the UE may choose one of them to transmit a PRACH preamble. This choice may be taken randomly, or it may follow a certain rule / logic, e.g., an SSB beam to PRACH occasion mapping rule / logic to allow for initial 730 beam establishment upon Random Access. Alternatively or additionally, the multiple PRACH transmission occasions may be spaced / spread, e.g., in time, such that the UE can use multiple of them to transmit a PRACH preamble, e.g., if it did not receive a Random Access Response (RAR). Note that the said rule / logic may also apply in the case of spaced / spread PRACH transmission occasions. In addition, the PRACH resource 735 assignment may identify or indicate one or more PRACH preambles. In some cases, the PRACH resource assignment may indicate or identify multiple PRACH preambles, and / or the UE may choose one of them to transmit on the PRACH.

[0112] After transmitting a PRACH preamble (random access message, in particular msgA or msgl), the UE may monitors a certain search space for a RAR. The UE may also monitor 740 that search space, or a different search space, for a second PRACH resource assignment.

[0113] Subsequent PRACH resource assignments can be used to retransmit the PRACH preamble (potentially a different PRACH preamble each time). The gNB may transmit to the UE a second PRACH resource assignment granting the UE a second set of one or more PRACH resources if it did not receive a PRACH preamble on the first set of one or more PRACH 745 resources. In the case of the reception of further PRACH resource assignments, the UE may assume the former PRACH preamble transmissions were not received (or not correctly decoded) by the gNB. It may thus stop monitoring the search space for a RAR and instead restart Random Access.

[0114] Figure 1 depicts an examplary signalling scenario. In Figure la), additional PRACH re- 750 sources are assigned / indicated to the UE. The resources are consecutive in time. In the second example, Figure lb), the resources are spaced / spread in time. Note that Figure 1 displays signaling occasions in the time domain, i.e., in chronological order. Moreover, the rectangles (representing signaling occasions) may represent a subframe / slot or block symbol or allocation unit, or a frame, or another unit of time; the individual signaling oc- 755 casions such as PRACH transmission occasions may be comprised somewhere therein and may only span a fraction of that time. An example use case is for the case of condensed paging occasions, in which it may be assumed that the gNB sends a PRACH resource assignment to the UE when paging the UE to provide / indicate additional PRACH resources for the paging response. 760

[0115] P110516W001 21 / 77 The PRACH resource assignment may indicate and / or identify a certain subset of (one or more) PRACH resources from a (potentially larger) set of PRACH resources, e.g., from the set of PRACH resources defined by a certain PRACH configuration. Thus, in one non-limiting example, to prevent or at least limit / reduce PRACH contention in the case of condensed paging occasions, the gNB may send a different PRACH resource assignment to 765 different UEs, or a different group of UEs. Alternatively or additionally, in the case where a gNB sends a certain PRACH resource assignment in a certain message to multiple UEs, i.e., multiple UEs receive the certain message with the same PRACH resource assignment, the PRACH resource assignment may still comprise at least one indication that assigns different PRACH resources (based on a certain set of PRACH resources) to different UEs. 770

[0116] For example, if the PRACH resource assignment is comprised in a paging message that includes multiple UE identities, i.e., addressed to multiple UEs, the PRACH resource assignment may comprise an indication that maps those UEs to one or more PRACH resources from the certain set of PRACH resources such that different UEs use different

[0117] PRACH resources for Random Access. Note that it is, however, still not precluded that 775 such indication assigns / identihes the same PRACH resource(s) to / for two or more UEs.

[0118] Generally, as defined in 3GPP TS 38.311, a RACH configuration for a UE, common or dedicated, may comprise cell-specific parameters that define how the UE must perform Random Access, i.e., that the UE must consider and apply when performing Random Access. Those cell-specific parameters define more than just the PRACH resources the 780

[0119] UE can use for Random Access. In other words, to perform Random Access, the UE must know more than more than just the PRACH resources the UE can use for Random Access. It may be considered that in one approach proposed herein, if the PRACH resource assignment does not define all the necessary Random-Access parameters, the UE may perform Random Access according to one or more corresponding parameters of a 785

[0120] RACH configuration provided to the UE at an earlier time, e.g., the RACH configuration broadcasted by the gNB in SIB1. In some cases, the PRACH resource assignment may only define additional PRACH transmission occasions in the time domain. Then the UE may perform Random Access using those PRACH transmission occasions and otherwise follow / apply the RACH configuration. In some other cases, the PRACH resource assign- 790 ment may overwr it e / re- define multiple parameters defined by the RACH configuration.

[0121] Then the UE may perform Random Access according to the PRACH resource assignment applied on top of the RACH configuration.

[0122] Additionally, or alternativly, the set of Random- Access procedure related parameters used for the newly defined PRACH resources (the resources indicated by the resource assign- 795 ment) may be different and separately configured or indicated by the NW, e.g., network node or gNB. Examples of such parameters may comprise one or more of powerRamp-

[0123] P110516W001 22 / 77 ingStep, ra-ResponseWindowSize, ra-ContentionResolutionTimer and alike. A validity period / timer may be introduced (either a fixed value defined in the specifications or an configurable value given by NW configuration / indication, e.g., in the PRACH resource 800 assignment), which may be associated to the PRACH resources indicated by the resource assignment. This may imply that the (new set of) PRACH resources may only be used during such validity period. In case the UE does not detect RAR, and the validity period / timer for the indicated PRACH resources has expired, the UE may revert to using legacy or common PRACH resources. 805

[0124] Means to convey the PRACH resource assignment are considered. In one variant, the PRACH resource assignment may be comprised in, and / or included in and / or carried or represented by, a DCI message. The DCI message may have a new DCI format, and / or may be sent by the gNB on the PDCCH. The PRACH resource assignment may be comprised in a message, e.g., in the paging message, in case of paging, sent by the 810 gNB on the PDSCH. The PRACH resource(s) in the PDSCH can either be contained in a separate IE and generic in the PDSCH, potentially used by several UEs paged in the message, or alternately only be associated with a specific UE identity in the paging message.

[0125] A stepwise paging procedure may be implemented. In some situations, a straightforward 815 use of the proposed solution to dynamically provide additional PRACH resources could be associated with an unnecessarily high resource overhead. Consider e.g. the case where additional PRACH resources are assigned together with paging transmissions. If one or more paging message is transmitted in the cell and one or more additional PRACH resources are dynamically assigned to be used by the UEs that are paged, then a high 820 probability that the dynamically assigned PRACH resources are actually used is desirable. Thus, a high hit rate on the paging for the additional PRACH resource allocation is desirable. In an extreme case, where we page only one UE in a large area covering many cells, there could be dynamically assigned and reserved PRACH resources in all these cells, but only in one of them will the dynamically assigned PRACH resource be used. 825

[0126] Therefore, when paging a UE, the (first) paging may be performed in the last cell the UE was registered and / or seen. To achieve a high paging hit probability (, e.g., above a threshold like 90%), a PRACH resource may be provcided in the first paging attempt, where the UE is only paged in one small area (typically one cell), but not in subsequent attempts the UE is paged in subsequent larger areas. In variants, the number of dynam- 830 ically assigned PRACH resources may depend on the expected number of UEs that will respond to a paging message. Assuming paging messages are transmitted to N UEs in a cell, and it is expected that (e.g., based on predicted paging hit-rates for each of the

[0127] P110516W001 23 / 77 UEs) K UEs will respond to the paging messages in this cell, then the number of PRACH resources P that are dynamically assigned in that cell may be a function of K, for example 835

[0128] P = a x K + [3 (e.g., where a and (3 are some constant values).

[0129] The above description mainly focuses on paging as a use case, namely, that PRACH resource (s) can be assigned / indicated to a UE or a group of UEs in the context of paging. However, other use cases exist, including use cases where a UE is in RRC Connected mode, such as: Restoring UL synchronization: If a gNB detects or suspects that a UE 840 has lost UL synchronization, the gNB can send a PRACH resource assignment to the UE to enable faster reestablishment of UL synchronization; and / or handover: In case of handover, the target gNB can include a PRACH resource assignment in the HANDOVER REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE message to the source gNB. In one example, the

[0130] PRACH resource assignment is comprised in the HandoverCommand message that is in- 845 eluded in the HANDOVER REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE message and is subsequently sent / configured to the UE (by the source gNB). In another example, the PRACH resource assignment is comprised in the HANDOVER REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE message as such (outside of the HandoverCommand message) and is subsequently indicated to the

[0131] UE by other means described above, e.g., a DCI with a new DCI format. 850

[0132] It may be generally considered that a random access configuration and / or preamble configuration, or more generally, a signalling configuration is broadcast and / or provided with system information signalling, e.g. transmitted with a first transmitter and / or with synchronisation signalling, and / or indicated thereby (e.g., with scheduling or indicating broadcast or system information signalling providing configuration information). 855

[0133] Figure 2 schematically shows a radio node, in particular a wireless device or terminal 10 or a UE (User Equipment). Radio node 10 comprises processing circuitry (which may also be referred to as control circuitry) 20, which may comprise a controller connected to a memory. Any module of the radio node 10, e.g. a communicating module or determining module, may be implemented in and / or executable by, the processing circuitry 20, in 860 particular as module in the controller. Radio node 10 also comprises radio circuitry 22 providing receiving and transmitting or transceiving functionality (e.g., one or more transmitters and / or receivers and / or transceivers), the radio circuitry 22 being connected or connectable to the processing circuitry. An antenna circuitry 24 of the radio node 10 is connected or connectable to the radio circuitry 22 to collect or send and / or amplify 865 signals. Radio circuitry 22 and the processing circuitry 20 controlling it are configured for cellular communication with a network, e.g. a RAN as described herein, and / or for sidelink communication (which may be within coverage of the cellular network, or out of coverage; and / or may be considered non-cellular communication and / or be associated

[0134] P110516W001 24 / 77 to a non-cellular wireless communication network). Radio node 10 may generally be 870 adapted to carry out any of the methods of operating a radio node like terminal or UE disclosed herein; in particular, it may comprise corresponding circuitry, e.g. processing circuitry, and / or modules, e.g. software modules. It may be considered that the radio node 10 comprises, and / or is connected or connectable, to a power supply. A DFE may be considered part of radio circuitry; an analog frontend may be associated to radio circuitry 875 and / or antenna circuitry.

[0135] Figure 3 schematically shows a radio node 100, which may in particular be implemented as a network node 100, for example an eNB or gNB or similar for NR. Radio node 100 comprises processing circuitry (which may also be referred to as control circuitry) 120, which may comprise a controller connected to a memory. Any module, e.g. transmitting 880 module and / or receiving module and / or configuring module of the node 100 may be implemented in and / or executable by the processing circuitry 120. The processing circuitry 120 is connected to control radio circuitry 122 of the node 100, which provides receiver and transmitter and / or transceiver functionality (e.g., comprising one or more transmitters and / or receivers and / or transceivers). An antenna circuitry 124 may be connected or con- 885 nectable to radio circuitry 122 for signal reception or transmittance and / or amplification.

[0136] Node 100 may be adapted to carry out any of the methods for operating a radio node or network node disclosed herein; in particular, it may comprise corresponding circuitry, e.g. processing circuitry, and / or modules. The antenna circuitry 124 may be connected to and / or comprise an antenna array. The node 100, respectively its circuitry, may be 890 adapted to perform any of the methods of operating a network node or a radio node as described herein; in particular, it may comprise corresponding circuitry, e.g. processing circuitry, and / or modules. The radio node 100 may generally comprise communication circuitry, e.g. for communication with another network node, like a radio node, and / or with a core network and / or an internet or local net, in particular with an information sys- 895 tem, which may provide information and / or data to be transmitted to a user equipment.

[0137] A DFE may be considered part of radio circuitry; an analog frontend may be associated to radio circuitry and / or antenna circuitry.

[0138] In general, the wireless device and / or network node may operate in, and / or the communication signalling may be in TDD operation. It should be noted that the transmission 900 of signalling from transmission sources may be synchronised and simultaneous; a shift in time may occur due to different propagation times, e.g. due to different beams and / or source locations.

[0139] A data block may refer to a transport block, or a code block or a code block bundle. A code block may comprise and / or represent a number of (information) bits representing 905

[0140] P110516W001 25 / 77 information (e.g., data or control information), to which there may be associated, and / or which may further include, bits for error detection coding, e.g. CRC. The bits for error detection coding may be determined based on the (information) bits, and / or may be error detection bits for the (information) bits. A code block bundle may comprise one or more code blocks; wherein each code block may have associated to it, and / or comprise, error 910 correction bits. The error correction bits in a code block bundle may each pertain to an associated code block; error correction bits may be specific to only one code block, e.g. determined based on bits of only one code block. Different bits and / or groups of bits may be associated to different code blocks. Error correction bit / s associated to a code block may be associated to a single code block; this may refer to the error correction bits 915 indicating correctness / incorrectness of the single code block, and / or calculated and / or determined based only on (information) bits of the single code block. Information bits may represent data and / or control information, e.g. associated to a data channel (data in- formation / bits) and / or control channel (control information / bits) code block bundle may be a data block without error correction coding pertaining to more than one code block. 920

[0141] A transport block may comprise error detection coding pertaining to a plurality of code blocks, e.g. covering the code blocks it consists of. A transport block may comprise one or more code blocks. It may be considered that a data block may be associated to, and or subject to, and / or correspond to, a, one and / or a single acknowledgement process, e.g. a specific HARQ process, which may correspond to and / or be represented by a HARQ 925 identifier. A code block may correspond to a subpattern of an acknowledgement information bit pattern. In some cases, a data block may correspond and / or pertain and / or be subject to a plurality of acknowledgement processes, e.g. if there is one acknowledgement process per code block of the data block.

[0142] A data block may comprise and / or represent information bits, which may be data bits 930

[0143] (e.,g., user data) and / or control information bits; the information bits may be associated to one or more data or control channels, e.g. transport channels and / or logical channels, and / or may be mapped to a specific and / or single physical channel, in particular a physical data channel, or in some cases, a physical control channel (in which case it may or may not be associated to a higher layer channel like a transport channel or logical channel). A 935 data block may represent bits intended for transmission, e.g. encapsulating one or more higher layer data packets, e.g. one or more MAC layer data packets, e.g. one or more PDUs (Protocol Data Unit) and / or SDUs (Service Data Unit); error correction bits, e.g. CRC; may be added in physical layer processing. It may be considered that bits of a data block are subject to physical layer processing like coding (e.g., forward error coding 940 and / or adding error correction coding) and / or rate matching and / or scrambling, and / or modulation. Modulation may correspond to mapping of bits of the processed data block

[0144] P110516W001 26 / 77 to modulation symbols, e.g. according to a modulation scheme and / or to a modulation space. The modulation symbols may be represented as a bit sequence until they are subject to analog conversion (or vice versa for reception). 945

[0145] A wireless device may in general comprise processing circuitry and / or radio circuitry, in particular a receiver and / or transceiver and / or transmitter, for performing measurement and / or to control beam switch and / or control beam-forming and / or receive and / or transmit signalling like communication signalling. The wireless device may in particular be implemented as terminal or a user equipment. However, in some cases, e.g. relay and / or 950 back-link and / or IAB scenarios, it may be implemented as network node or network radio node. A network node may in general comprise processing circuitry and / or radio circuitry, in particular a receiver and / or transceiver and / or transmitter, for transmitting reference signalling and / or a beam switch indication and / or for beam switching and / or to control beam switch and / or control beam-forming and / or receive and / or transmit signalling like 955 communication signalling. The radio node may in particular be implemented as a network node, e.g. a network radio node and / or base station or a relay node or IAB node. However, in some cases, e.g. sidelink scenarios, the second radio node may be implemented as a wireless device or terminal, e.g. a user equipment.

[0146] In general, an allocation unit or block symbol may represent and / or correspond to an ex- 960 tension in time domain, e.g. a time interval. An allocation unit or block symbol duration (the length of the time interval) may correspond to the duration of an OFDM symbol or a corresponding duration, and / or may be based and / or defined by a subcarrier spacing used (e.g., based on the numerology) or equivalent, and / or may correspond to the duration of a modulation symbol (e.g., for OFDM or similar frequency domain multiplexed 965 types of signalling). It may be considered that a block symbol comprises a plurality of modulation symbols, e.g. based on a subcarrier spacing and / or numerology or equivalent, in particular for time domain multiplexed types (on the symbol level for a single transmitter) of signalling like single-carrier based signalling, e.g. SC-FDE or SC-FDMA (in particular, FDF-SC-FDMA or pulse-shaped SC-FDMA). The number of symbols may be 970 based on and / or defined by the number of subcarrier to be DFTS-spread (for SC-FDMA) and / or be based on a number of FFT samples, e.g. for spreading and / or mapping, and / or equivalent, and / or may be predefined and / or configured or configurable. A block symbol in this context may comprise and / or contain a plurality of individual modulation symbols, which may be for example 1000 or more, or 3000 or more, or 3300 or more. The 975 number of modulation symbols in a block symbol may be based and / or be dependent on a bandwidth scheduled for transmission of signalling in the block symbol. A block symbol and / or a number of block symbols (an integer smaller than 20, e.g. equal to or smaller than 14 or 7 or 4 or 2 or a flexible number) may be a unit (e.g., allocation unit) used

[0147] P110516W001 27 / 77 for scheduling and / or allocation of resources, in particular in time domain. To a block 980 symbol (e.g., scheduled or allocated) and / or block symbol group and / or allocation unit, there may be associated a frequency range and / or frequency domain allocation and / or bandwidth allocated for transmission.

[0148] An allocation unit, and / or a block symbol, may be associated to a specific (e.g., physical) channel and / or specific type of signalling, for example reference signalling. In some cases, 985 there may be a block symbol associated to a channel that also is associated to a form of reference signalling and / or pilot signalling and / or tracking signalling associated to the channel, for example for timing purposes and / or decoding purposes (such signalling may comprise a low number of modulation symbols and / or resource elements of a block symbol, e.g. less than 10% or less than 5% or less than 1% of the modulation symbols and / or 990 resource elements in a block symbol). To a block symbol, there may be associated resource elements; a resource element may be represented in time / frequency domain, e.g. by the smallest frequency unit carrying or mapped to (e.g., a subcarrier) in frequency domain and the duration of a modulation symbol in time domain. A block symbol may comprise, and / or to a block symbol may be associated, a structure allowing and / or comprising 995 a number of modulation symbols, and / or association to one or more channels (and / or the structure may dependent on the channel the block symbol is associated to and / or is allocated or used for), and / or reference signalling (e.g., as discussed above), and / or one or more guard periods and / or transient periods, and / or one or more affixes (e.g., a prefix and / or suffix and / or one or more infixes (entered inside the block symbol)), 1000 in particular a cyclic prefix and / or suffix and / or infix. A cyclic affix may represent a repetition of signalling and / or modulation symbol / s used in the block symbol, with possible slight amendments to the signalling structure of the affix to provide a smooth and / or continuous and / or differentiable connection between affix signalling and signalling of modulation symbols associated to the content of the block symbol (e.g., channel and / or 1005 reference signalling structure). In some cases, in particular some OFDM-based waveforms, an affix may be included into a modulation symbol. In other cases, e.g. some single carrier-based wave-forms, an affix may be represented by a sequence of modulation symbols within the block symbol. It may be considered that in some cases a block symbol is defined and / or used in the context of the associated structure. 1010

[0149] Communicating may comprise transmitting or receiving. It may be considered that communicating like transmitting signalling is based on a SC-FDM based wave- form, and / or corresponds to a Frequency Domain Filtered (FDF) DFTS-OFDM wave-form. However, the approaches may be applied to a Single Carrier based wave-form, e.g. a SC-FDM or SC-FDE- wave-form, which may be pulse-shaped / FDF-based. It should be noted that SC- 1015 FDM may be considered DFT-spread OFDM, such that SC-FDM and DFTS-OFDM may

[0150] P110516W001 28 / 77 be used interchangeably. Alternatively, or additionally, the signalling (e.g., first signalling and / or second signalling) and / or beam / s (in particular, the first received beam and / or second received beam) may be based on a wave-form with CP or comparable guard time.

[0151] The received beam and the transmission beam of the first beam pair may have the same 1020

[0152] (or similar) or different angular and / or spatial extensions; the received beam and the transmission beam of the second beam pair may have the same (or similar) or different angular and / or spatial extensions. It may be considered that the received beam and / or transmission beam of the first and / or second beam pair have angular extension of 20 degrees or less, or 15 degrees or less, or 10 or 5 degrees or less, at least in one of horizontal or 1025 vertical direction, or both; different beams may have different angular extensions. An extended guard interval or switching protection interval may have a duration corresponding to essentially or at least N CP (cyclic prefix) durations or equivalent duration, wherein N may be 2, or 3 or 4. An equivalent to a CP duration may represent the CP duration associated to signalling with CP (e.g., SC-FDM-based or OFDM-based) for a wave-form 1030 without CP with the same or similar symbol time duration as the signalling with CP. Pulse-shaping (and / or performing FDF for) a modulation symbol and / or signalling, e.g. associated to a first subcarrier or bandwidth, may comprise mapping the modulation symbol (and / or the sample associated to it after FFT) to an associated second subcarrier or part of the bandwidth, and / or applying a shaping operation regarding the power 1035 and / or amplitude and / or phase of the modulation symbol on the first subcarrier and the second subcarrier, wherein the shaping operation may be according to a shaping function. Pulse-shaping signalling may comprise pulse-shaping one or more symbols; pulse-shaped signalling may in general comprise at least one pulse-shaped symbol. Pulse-shaping may be performed based on a Nyquist-hlter. It may be considered that pulse-shaping is per- 1040 formed based on periodically extending a frequency distribution of modulation symbols (and / or associated samples after FFT) over a first number of subcarrier to a larger, second number of subcarriers, wherein a subset of the first number of subcarriers from one end of the frequency distribution is appended at the other end of the first number of subcarriers.

[0153] In some variants, communicating may be based on a numerology (which may, e.g., be 1045 represented by and / or correspond to and / or indicate a subcarrier spacing and / or symbol time length) and / or an SC-FDM based wave-form (including a FDF-DFTS-FDM based wave-form) or a single-carrier based wave-form. Whether to use pulse-shaping or FDF on a SC-FDM or SC-based wave-form may depend on the modulation scheme (e.g., MCS) used. Such wave- forms may utilise a cyclic prefix and / or benefit particularly from the 1050 described approaches. Communicating may comprise and / or be based on beamforming, e.g. transmission beamforming and / or reception beamforming, respectively. It may be considered that a beam is produced by performing analog beamforming to provide the

[0154] P110516W001 29 / 77 beam, e.g. a beam corresponding to a reference beam. Thus, signalling may be adapted, e.g. based on movement of the communication partner. A beam may for example be pro- 1055 duced by performing analog beamforming to provide a beam corresponding to a reference beam. This allows efficient postprocessing of a digitally formed beam, without requiring changes to a digital beamforming chain and / or without requiring changes to a standard defining beam forming precoders. In general, a beam may be produced by hybrid beamforming, and / or by digital beamforming, e.g. based on a precoder. This facilitates easy 1060 processing of beams, and / or limits the number of power amplifiers / ADC / DC A required for antenna arrangements. It may be considered that a beam is produced by hybrid beamforming, e.g. by analog beamforming performed on a beam representation or beam formed based on digital beamforming. Monitoring and / or performing cell search may be based on reception beamforming, e.g. analog or digital or hybrid reception beamforming. 1065

[0155] The numerology may determine the length of a symbol time interval and / or the duration of a cyclic prefix. The approaches described herein are particularly suitable to SC-FDM, to ensure orthogonality, in particular subcarrier orthogonality, in corresponding systems, but may be used for other wave-forms. Communicating may comprise utilising a waveform with cyclic prefix. The cyclic prefix may be based on a numerology, and may help 1070 keeping signalling orthogonal. Communicating may comprise, and / or be based on performing cell search, e.g. for a wireless device or terminal, or may comprise transmitting cell identifying signalling and / or a selection indication, based on which a radio node receiving the selection indication may select a signalling bandwidth from a set of signalling bandwidths for performing cell search. 1075

[0156] A beam or beam pair may in general be targeted at one radio node, or a group of radio nodes and / or an area including one or more radio nodes. In many cases, a beam or beam pair may be receiver-specific (e.g., UE-specffic), such that only one radio node is served per beam / beam pair. A beam pair switch or switch of received beam (e.g., by using a different reception beam) and / or transmission beam may be performed at a border of a 1080 transmission timing structure, e.g. a slot border, or within a slot, for example between symbols. Some tuning of radio circuitry, e.g. for receiving and / or transmitting, may be performed. Beam pair switching may comprise switching from a second received beam to a first received beam, and / or from a second transmission beam to a first transmission beam. Switching may comprise inserting a guard period to cover retuning time; however, 1085 circuitry may be adapted to switch sufficiently quickly to essentially be instantaneous; this may in particular be the case when digital reception beamforming is used to switch reception beams for switching received beams.

[0157] A reference beam (or reference signalling beam) may be a beam comprising reference signalling, based on which for example a of beam signalling characteristics may be deter- 1090

[0158] P110516W001 30 / 77 mined, e.g. measured and / or estimated. A signalling beam may comprise signalling like control signalling and / or data signalling and / or reference signalling. A reference beam may be transmitted by a source or transmitting radio node, in which case one or more beam signalling characteristics may be reported to it from a receiver, e.g. a wireless device. However, in some cases it may be received by the radio node from another radio 1095 node or wireless device. In this case, one or more beam signalling characteristics may be determined by the radio node. A signalling beam may be a transmission beam, or a reception beam. A set of signalling characteristics may comprise a plurality of subsets of beam signalling characteristics, each subset pertaining to a different reference beam.

[0159] Thus, a reference beam may be associated to different beam signalling characteristics. 1100

[0160] A beam signalling characteristic, respectively a set of such characteristics, may represent and / or indicate a signal strength and / or signal quality of a beam and / or a delay characteristic and / or be associated with received and / or measured signalling carried on a beam. Beam signalling characteristics and / or delay characteristics may in particular pertain to, and / or indicate, a number and / or list and / or order of beams with best (e.g., lowest mean 1105 delay and / or lowest spread / range) timing or delay spread, and / or of strongest and / or best quality beams, e.g. with associated delay spread. A beam signalling characteristic may be based on measurement / s performed on reference signalling carried on the reference beam it pertains to. The measurement / s may be performed by the radio node, or another node or wireless device. The use of reference signalling allows improved accuracy 1110 and / or gauging of the measurements. In some cases, a beam and / or beam pair may be represented by a beam identity indication, e.g. a beam or beam pair number. Such an indication may be represented by one or more signalling sequences (e.g., a specific reference signalling sequences or sequences), which may be transmitted on the beam and / or beam pair, and / or a signalling characteristic and / or a resource / s used (e.g., time / frequency 1115 and / or code) and / or a specific RNTI (e.g., used for scrambling a CRC for some messages or transmissions) and / or by information provided in signalling, e.g. control signalling and / or system signalling, on the beam and / or beam pair, e.g. encoded and / or provided in an information held or as information element in some form of message of signalling, e.g. DCI and / or MAC and / or RRC signalling. 1120

[0161] A reference beam may in general be one of a set of reference beams, the second set of reference beams being associated to the set of signalling beams. The sets being associated may refer to at least one beam of the first set being associated and / or corresponding to the second set (or vice versa), e.g. being based on it, for example by having the same analog or digital beamforming parameters and / or precoder and / or the same shape before analog 1125 beamforming, and / or being a modified form thereof, e.g. by performing additional analog beamforming. The set of signalling beams may be referred to as a first set of beams, a

[0162] P110516W001 31 / 77 set of corresponding reference beams may be referred to as second set of beams.

[0163] In some variants, a reference beam and / or reference beams and / or reference signalling may correspond to and / or carry random access signalling, e.g. a random access preamble. Such 1130 a reference beam or signalling may be transmitted by another radio node. The signalling may indicate which beam is used for transmitting. Alternatively, the reference beams may be beams receiving the random access signalling. Random access signalling may be used for initial connection to the radio node and / or a cell provided by the radio node, and / or for reconnection. Utilising random access signalling facilitates quick and early beam selection. 1135

[0164] The random access signalling may be on a random access channel, e.g. based on broadcast information provided by the radio node (the radio node performing the beam selection), e.g. with synchronisation signalling (e.g., SSB block and / or associated thereto). The reference signalling may correspond to synchronisation signalling, e.g. transmitted by the radio node in a plurality of beams. The characteristics may be reported on by a node 1140 receiving the synchronisation signalling, e.g. in a random access process, e.g. a Msg3 for contention resolution, which may be transmitted on a physical uplink shared channel based on a resource allocation provided by the radio node.

[0165] A delay characteristic (which may correspond to delay spread information) and / or a measurement report may represent and / or indicate at least one of mean delay, and / or 1145 delay spread, and / or delay distribution, and / or delay spread distribution, and / or delay spread range, and / or relative delay spread, and / or energy (or power) distribution, and / or impulse response to received signalling, and / or the power delay profile of the received signals, and / or power delay profile related parameters of the received signal. A mean delay may represent the mean value and / or an averaged value of the delay spread, which 1150 may be weighted or unweighted. A distribution may be distribution over time / delay, e.g. of received power and / or energy of a signal. A range may indicate an interval of the delay spread distribution over time / delay, which may cover a predetermined percentage of the delay spread respective received energy or power, e.g. 50% or more, 75% or more, 90% or more, or 100%. A relative delay spread may indicate a relation to a threshold delay, e.g. 1155 of the mean delay, and / or a shift relative to an expected and / or configured timing, e.g. a timing at which the signalling would have been expected based on the scheduling, and / or a relation to a cyclic prefix duration (which may be considered on form of a threshold).

[0166] Energy distribution or power distribution may pertain to the energy or power received over the time interval of the delay spread. A power delay profile may pertain to representations 1160 of the received signals, or the received signals energy / power, across time / delay. Power delay profile related parameters may pertain to metrics computed from the power delay profile. Different values and forms of delay spread information and / or report may be used, allowing a wide range of capabilities. The kind of information represented by a

[0167] P110516W001 32 / 77 measurement report may be predefined, or be configured or configurable, e.g. with a 1165 measurement configuration and / or reference signalling configuration, in particular with higher layer signalling like RRC or MAC signalling and / or physical layer signalling like DCI signalling.

[0168] In general, different beam pair may differ in at least one beam; for example, a beam pair using a first received beam and a first transmission beam may be considered to be 1170 different from a second beam pair using the first received beam and a second transmission beam. A transmission beam using no precoding and / or beamforming, for example using the natural antenna profile, may be considered as a special form of transmission beam of a transmission beam pair. A beam may be indicated to a radio node by a transmitter with a beam indication and / or a configuration, which for example may indicate beam 1175 parameters and / or time / frequency resources associated to the beam and / or a transmission mode and / or antenna profile and / or antenna port and / or precoder associated to the beam. Different beams may be provided with different content, for example different received beams may carry different signalling; however, there may be considered cases in which different beams carry the same signalling, for example the same data signalling 1180 and / or reference signalling. The beams may be transmitted by the same node and / or transmission point and / or antenna arrangement, or by different nodes and / or transmission points and / or antenna arrangements.

[0169] Communicating utilising a beam pair or a beam may comprise receiving signalling on a received beam (which may be a beam of a beam pair), and / or transmitting signalling on 1185 a beam, e.g. a beam of a beam pair. The following terms are to be interpreted from the point of view of the referred radio node: a received beam may be a beam carrying signalling received by the radio node (for reception, the radio node may use a reception beam, e.g. directed to the received beam, or be non-beamformed). A transmission beam may be a beam used by the radio node to transmit signalling. A beam pair may consist 1190 of a received beam and a transmission beam. The transmission beam and the received beam of a beam pair may be associated to each and / or correspond to each other, e.g. such that signalling on the received beam and signalling on a transmission beam travel essentially the same path (but in opposite directions), e.g. at least in a stationary or almost stationary condition. It should be noted that the terms “first” and “second” 1195 do not necessarily denote an order in time; a second signalling may be received and / or transmitted before, or in some cases simultaneous to, first signalling, or vice versa. The received beam and transmission beam of a beam pair may be on the same carrier or frequency range or bandwidth part, e.g. in a TDD operation; however, variants with

[0170] FDD may be considered as well. Different beam pairs may operate on the same frequency 1200 ranges or carriers or bandwidth parts (e.g., such that transmission beams operate on

[0171] P110516W001 33 / 77 the same frequency range or carriers or bandwidth part, and received beams on the same frequency range or carriers or bandwidth part (the transmission beam and received beams may be on the same or different ranges or carriers or BWPs). Communicating utilizing a first beam pair and / or first beam may be based on, and / or comprise, switching from the 1205 second beam pair or second beam to the first beam pair or first beam for communicating.

[0172] The switching may be controlled by the network, for example a network node (which may be the source or transmitter of the received beam of the first beam pair and / or second beam pair, or be associated thereto, for example associated transmission points or nodes in dual connectivity). Such controlling may comprise transmitting control signalling, e.g. 1210 physical layer signalling and / or higher layer signalling. In some cases, the switching may be performed by the radio node without additional control signalling, for example based on measurements on signal quality and / or signal strength of beam pairs (e.g., of first and second received beams), in particular the first beam pair and / or the second beam pair.

[0173] For example, it may be switched to the first beam pair (or first beam) if the signal quality 1215 or signal strength measured on the second beam pair (or second beam) is considered to be insufficient, and / or worse than corresponding measurements on the first beam pair indicate. Measurements performed on a beam pair (or beam) may in particular comprise measurements performed on a received beam of the beam pair. It may be considered that the timing indication may be determined before switching from the second beam pair to 1220 the first beam pair for communicating. Thus, the synchronization may be in place and / or the timing indication may be available for synchronising) when starting communication utilizing the first beam pair or first beam. However, in some cases the timing indication may be determined after switching to the first beam pair or first beam. This may be in particular useful if first signalling is expected to be received after the switching only, 1225 for example based on a periodicity or scheduled timing of suitable reference signalling on the first beam pair, e.g. first received beam. In general, a reception beam of a node may be associated to and / or correspond to a transmission beam of the node, e.g. such that the (spatial) angle of reception of the reception beam and the (spatial) angle of transmission of the transmission beam at least partially, or essentially or fully, overlap 1230 and / or coincide, in particular for TDD operation and / or independent of frequency. Spatial correspondence between beams may be considered in some cases, e.g. such that a beam pair (e.g., transmission beam of a transmitting node and reception beam of a receiving node) may be considered to comprise corresponding beams (e.g., the reception beam is suitable and / or the best beam to receive transmissions on the transmission beam, e.g. 1235 based on a threshold signal quality and / or signal strength and / or measurements); to each of such beams, there may be an associated or corresponding complementary beam of the respective node (e.g., to a transmission beam of a beam pair, there may be associated a reception beam of the transmitting node, and / or to the reception beam of a beam pair,

[0174] P110516W001 34 / 77 there may be associated a transmitting beam of the receiving node; if the beams (e.g., 1240 at least essentially or substantially) overlap (e.g., in spatial angle), in some cases a beam pair may be considered to indicate four beams (or actually, two beam pairs).

[0175] In some cases, to one or more beams or signals or signallings may be associated a Quasi- CoLocation (QCL) characteristic or set of characteristics, or QCL class (also referred to as QCL type) or QCL identity; beams or signal or signallings sharing such may be con- 1245 sidered to be Quasi-Colocated. Quasi-Colocated beams or signals or signallings may be considered (e.g., by a receiver) as the same beam or originating from the same transmitter or transmission source, at least in regard to the QCL characteristic or set or class or identity, and / or to share the characteristic / s. QCL characteristics may pertain to propagation of signalling, and / or one or more delay characteristics, and / or pathloss, and / or 1250 signal quality, and / or signal strength, and / or beam direction, and / or beam shape (in particular, angle or area, e.g. area of coverage), and / or Doppler shift, and / or Doppler spread, and / or delay spread, and / or time synchronisation, and / or frequency synchronisation, and / or one or more other parameters, e.g. pertaining to a propagation channel and / or spatial RX parameter / s (which may refer to reception beam and / or transmission 1255 beam, e.g. shape or coverage or direction). A QCL characteristic may pertain to a specific channel (e.g., physical layer channel like a control channel or data channel) and / or reference signalling type and / or antenna port. Different QCL classes or types may pertain to different QCL characteristics or sets of characteristics; a QCL class may define and / or pertain to one or more criteria and / or thresholds and / or ranges for one or more 1260

[0176] QCL characteristics beams have to fulfill to be considered Quasi-Colocated according to this class; a QCL identity may refer to and / or represent all beams being quasi-colocated, according to a QCL class. Different classes may pertain to one or more of the same characteristics (e.g., different classes may have different criteria and / or thresholds and / or ranges for one or more characteristics) and / or to different characteristics. A QCL indi- 1265 cation may be seen as a form of beam indication, e.g. pertaining to all beams belonging to one QCL class and / or QCL identity and / or quasi-colocated beams. A QCL identity may be indicated by a QCL indication. In some cases, a beam, and / or a beam indication, may be considered to refer and / or represent a to a QCL identity, and / or to represent quasi-colocated beams or signals or signallings. 1270

[0177] Transmission on multiple layers (multi-layer transmission) may refer to transmission of communication signalling and / or reference signalling simultaneously in one or more beams and / or using a plurality of transmission sources, e.g. controlled by one network node or one wireless device. The layers may refer to layers of transmission; a layer may be considered to represent one data or signalling stream. Different layers may carry different 1275 data and / or data streams, e.g., to increase data throughput. In some cases, the same

[0178] P110516W001 35 / 77 data or data stream may be transported on different layers, e.g. to increase reliability. Multi-layer transmission may provide diversity, e.g. transmission diversity and / or spatial diversity. It may be considered that multi-layer transmission comprises 2, or more than 2 layers; the number of layers of transmission may be represented by a rank or rank 1280 indication.

[0179] A transmission source may in particular comprise, and / or be represented by, and / or associated to, an antenna or group of antenna elements or antenna sub-array or antenna array or transmission point or TRP or TP (Transmission Point) or access point. In some cases, a transmission source may be represented or representable, and / or correspond 1285 to, and / or associated to, an antenna port or layer of transmission, e.g. for multi-layer transmission. Different transmission sources may in particular comprise different and / or separately controllable antenna element / s or (sub-)arrays and / or be associated to different antenna ports. In particular, analog beamforming may be used, with separate analog control of the different transmission sources. An antenna port may indicate a transmission 1290 source, and / or a one or more transmission parameter, in particular of reference signalling associated to the antenna port. In particular, transmission parameters pertaining to, and / or indicating a frequency domain distribution or mapping (e.g., which comb to use and / or which subcarrier or frequency offset to use, or similar) of modulation symbols of the reference signalling, and / or to which cyclic shift to use (e.g., to shift elements of a 1295 modulation symbol sequence, or a root sequence, or a sequence based on or derived from the root sequence) and / or to which cover code to use (e.g., (e.g., to shift elements of a modulation symbol sequence, or a root sequence, or a sequence based on or derived from the root sequence). In some cases, a transmission source may represent a target for reception, e.g. if it is implemented as a TRP or AP (Access Point). 1300

[0180] In some variants, reference signalling may be and / or comprise CSI-RS and / or PT-RS and / or DMRS, e.g. transmitted by the network node. In other variants, the reference signalling may be transmitted by a UE, e.g. to a network node or other UE, in which case it may comprise and / or be Sounding Reference signalling. Other, e.g. new, forms of reference signalling may be considered and / or used. In general, a modulation symbol 1305 of reference signalling respectively a resource element carrying it may be associated to a cyclic prefix.

[0181] Data signalling may be on a data channel, for example on a PDSCH or PSSCH, or on a dedicated data channel, e.g. for low latency and / or high reliability, e.g. a URLLC channel.

[0182] Control signalling may be on a control channel, for example on a common control channel 1310 or a PDCCH or PSCCH, and / or comprise one or more DCI messages or SCI messages.

[0183] Reference signalling may be associated to control signalling and / or data signalling, e.g.

[0184] P110516W001 36 / 77 DM-RS and / or PT-RS.

[0185] Reference signalling, for example, may comprise DM-RS and / or pilot signalling and / or discovery signalling and / or synchronisation signalling and / or sounding signalling and / or 1315 phase tracking signalling and / or cell-specific reference signalling and / or user-specific signalling, in particular CSI-RS. Reference signalling in general may be signalling with one or more signalling characteristics, in particular transmission power and / or sequence of modulation symbols and / or resource distribution and / or phase distribution known to the receiver. Thus, the receiver can use the reference signalling as a reference and / or for train- 1320 ing and / or for compensation. The receiver can be informed about the reference signalling by the transmitter, e.g. being configured and / or signalling with control signalling, in particular physical layer signalling and / or higher layer signalling (e.g., DCI and / or RRC signalling), and / or may determine the corresponding information itself, e.g. a network node configuring a UE to transmit reference signalling. Reference signalling may be signalling 1325 comprising one or more reference symbols and / or structures. Reference signalling may be adapted for gauging and / or estimating and / or representing transmission conditions, e.g. channel conditions and / or transmission path conditions and / or channel (or signal or transmission) quality. It may be considered that the transmission characteristics (e.g., signal strength and / or form and / or modulation and / or timing) of reference signalling are 1330 available for both transmitter and receiver of the signalling (e.g., due to being predefined and / or configured or configurable and / or being communicated). Different types of reference signalling may be considered, e.g. pertaining to uplink, downlink or sidelink, cell-specific (in particular, cell- wide, e.g., CRS) or device or user specific (addressed to a specific target or user equipment, e.g., CSI-RS), demodulation-related (e.g., DMRS) 1335 and / or signal strength related, e.g. power-related or energy- related or amplitude-related (e.g., SRS or pilot signalling) and / or phase-related, etc.

[0186] References to specific resource structures like an allocation unit and / or block symbol and / or block symbol group and / or transmission timing structure and / or symbol and / or slot and / or mini-slot and / or subcarrier and / or carrier may pertain to a specific numerol- 1340 ogy, which may be predefined and / or configured or configurable. A transmission timing structure may represent a time interval, which may cover one or more symbols. Some examples of a transmission timing structure are transmission time interval (TTI), subframe, slot and mini-slot. A slot may comprise a predetermined, e.g. predefined and / or configured or configurable, number of symbols, e.g. 6 or 7, or 12 or 14. A mini-slot may 1345 comprise a number of symbols (which may in particular be configurable or configured) smaller than the number of symbols of a slot, in particular 1, 2, 3 or 4, or more symbols, e.g. less symbols than symbols in a slot. A transmission timing structure may cover a time interval of a specific length, which may be dependent on symbol time length and / or

[0187] P110516W001 37 / 77 cyclic prefix used. A transmission timing structure may pertain to, and / or cover, a specific 1350 time interval in a time stream, e.g. synchronized for communication. Timing structures used and / or scheduled for transmission, e.g. slot and / or mini-slots, may be scheduled in relation to, and / or synchronized to, a timing structure provided and / or defined by other transmission timing structures. Such transmission timing structures may define a timing grid, e.g., with symbol time intervals within individual structures representing the small- 1355 est timing units. Such a timing grid may for example be defined by slots or subframes (wherein in some cases, subframes may be considered specific variants of slots). A transmission timing structure may have a duration (length in time) determined based on the durations of its symbols, possibly in addition to cyclic prefix / es used. The symbols of a transmission timing structure may have the same duration, or may in some variants have 1360 different duration. The number of symbols in a transmission timing structure may be predefined and / or configured or configurable, and / or be dependent on numerology. The timing of a mini-slot may generally be configured or configurable, in particular by the network and / or a network node. The timing may be configurable to start and / or end at any symbol of the transmission timing structure, in particular one or more slots. 1365

[0188] A transmission quality parameter may in general correspond to the number R of retransmissions and / or number T of total transmissions, and / or coding (e.g., number of coding bits, e.g. for error detection coding and / or error correction coding like FEC coding) and / or code rate and / or BLER and / or BER requirements and / or transmission power level (e.g., minimum level and / or target level and / or base power level P0 and / or trans- 1370 mission power control command, TPC, step size) and / or signal quality, e.g. SNR and / or SIR and / or SINR and / or power density and / or energy density.

[0189] A signalling sequence or sequence (e.g. of an allocation unit or block symbol or symbol time interval, and / or carried or transmitted on an allocation unit or block symbol or symbol time interval) may be based on a sequence root, e.g. a root sequence and / or a 1375 root parameter and / or root index and / or seed. A sequence root in general may represent or indicate a base for deriving or determining a signalling sequence; the root may be associated to, and / or represent a sequence directly, and / or indicate or represent a base sequence and / or seed. Examples of sequence roots may comprise a Zadoff Chu root sequence, a sequence seed, e.g. a seed for a Gold sequence, or a Golay complimentary 1380 sequence. A signalling sequence may be derived or derivable from, and / or be based on, a sequency root, e.g. based on a code, which may represent a shift or operation or processing on the root sequence or a sequence indicated by the sequence root, e.g. to provide the signalling sequence; the signalling sequence may be based on such shifted or processed or operated on root sequence. The code may in particular represent a cyclic shift and / or 1385 phase shift and / or phase ramp (e.g., an amount for such). The code may assign one

[0190] P110516W001 38 / 77 operation or shift for each allocation unit.

[0191] In general, a signalling sequence associated to an allocation unit (and / or the allocation units) associated to control signalling (and / or reference signalling) may be based on a root sequence which may be a M-sequence or Zadoff-Chu sequence, or a Gold or Golay 1390 sequence, or another sequence with suitable characteristics regarding correlation and / or interference (e.g., self- interference and / or interference with other or neighboring transmitters). Different sequences may be used as root sequences for different signalling sequences, or the same sequence may be used. If different sequences are used, they may be of the same type (Gold, Golay, M- or Zadoff-Chu, for example). The (signalling and / or root) 1395 sequences may correspond to or be time-domain sequences, e.g. time domain Zadoff-Chu and / or time-domain M sequences.

[0192] In some cases, a shifted object like a signalling or signals or sequences or information may be shifted, e.g. relative to a predecessor (e.g., one is subject to a shift, and the shifted version is used), or relative to another (e.g., one associated to one signalling or 1400 allocation unit may be shifted to another associated to a second signalling or allocation unit, both may be used). One possible way of shifting is operating a code on it, e.g. to multiply each element of a shifting object with a factor. A ramping (e.g. multiplying with a monotonously increasing or periodic factor) may be considered an example of shifting.

[0193] Another is a cyclic shift in a domain or interval. A cyclic shift (or circular shift) may 1405 correspond to a rearrangement of the elements in the shifting object, corresponding to moving the final element or elements to the first position, while shifting all other entries to the next position, or by performing the inverse operation (such that the shifted object as the result will have the same elements as the shifting object, in a shifted but similar order). Shifting in general may be specific to an interval in a domain, e.g. an allocation 1410 unit in time domain, or a bandwidth in frequency domain. For example, it may be considered that signals or modulation symbols in an allocation unit are shifted, such that the order of the modulation symbols or signals is shifted in the allocation unit. In another example, allocation units may be shifted, e.g. in a larger time interval - this may leave signals in the allocation units unshifted with reference to the individual allocation unit, 1415 but may change the order of the allocation units. Domains for shifting may for example be time domain and / or phase domain and / or frequency domain. Multiple shifts in the same domain or different domains, and / or the same interval or different intervals (differently sized intervals, for example) may be performed.

[0194] Reference signalling may have a type. Types of reference signalling may include synchro- 1420 nisation signalling, and / or DM-RS (used to facilitate demodulation of associated data signalling and / or control signalling), and / or PT-RS (used to facilitate phase tracking of

[0195] P110516W001 39 / 77 associated data signalling and / or control signalling, e.g. within a time interval or symbol or allocation unit carrying such signalling), and / or CSI-RS (e.g., used for channel estimation and / or reporting). It may be considered that PT-RS are inserted into a bit sequence, 1425 or a modulation symbol sequence, which may represent data. For example, PT-RS may be mapped onto subcarriers of a symbol also carrying data symbols. Accordingly, PT-RS insertion may be optimised for hardware implementations. In some cases, PT-RS may be modulated differently and / or independently of the modulation symbols representing data (or data bits). 1430

[0196] A comb structure, or shorter comb, may indicate a distribution, or periodic arrangement of reference signalling, in particular in frequency space, e.g. between an upper and lower frequency. A comb may pertain to one OFDMA symbol and / or SC-FDMA symbol and / or one (the same) symbol time interval and / or one allocation unit. A comb may have width or size N and / or may pertain to, and / or be associated to, specific signalling and / or a 1435 type of signalling, e.g. a type of reference signalling. The width N may indicate how many empty subcarriers are between (e.g., non-neighbouring) subcarriers carrying an element or signal or symbol of the signalling (e.g., this number may be N-l), or how many empty subcarriers and non-empty subcarriers form a pattern that is repeated in frequency domain. In general, each comb may indicate that at least one empty subcarrier is to be 1440 between non-empty subcarriers. In this context, empty may refer to empty regarding the pattern or distribution of the signalling associated to the comb (and non-empty may refer to a subcarrier carrying an element or symbol of the associated signalling); in some cases, other signallings (which may have a comb structure as well) may be carried on empty subcarriers, e.g. transmitted using other transmission sources and / or other devices, 1445 and / or mapped into the comb (e.g., for a DMRS comb, data signalling may be mapped on subcarriers not carrying DMRS).

[0197] A comb structure may generally describe a structure in which for every N-th (N may be an integer) resource element and / or subcarrier a reference signal or an element of a sequence of the reference signalling, and / or representing the reference signalling, and / or 1450 on which the reference signalling is based, is mapped to, and / or represented by signalling the resource element and / or subcarrier, in particular an element (symbol) of a modulation symbol sequence, or an element of a sequence. N may be called the width of the comb. Generally, the comb may indicate the periodicity of the pattern inside the frequency range of the reference signalling. The pattern may in particular pertain to one reference signal 1455 and / or resource element or subcarrier for transmitting a reference signal, such that the comb may be considered to indicate that on every Nth resource element (in particular, only there) and / or subcarrier there is to be a reference signal or element of an associated sequence, and / or how many resource elements and / or subcarriers are between resource

[0198] P110516W001 40 / 77 elements and / or subcarriers with reference signals. However, there may be considered 1460 variants, in which the pattern represents more than one reference signals. The pattern may also generally represent and / or indicate one or more empty signals and / or one or more data signals (respectively associated resource elements and / or subcarriers). For each comb or comb structure with a width or size of N, there may be N or f(N) different available individual combs. For example, for N=2, there may be two combs shifted in frequency 1465 space by one, or an odd number, of subcarriers or PRBs (e.g., based on a frequency domain offset, or a subcarrier offset). A comb structure or comb of width or size of N may be indicated as N-comb. Specific combs of this width may be numbered within N.

[0199] For example, for a 2-comb, there may be a comb 1 (or Cl) and a comb 2 (or C2), which may be shifted relative to each other, e.g. to dovetail such that all subcarrier covered by 1470 both combs carry signalling (associated to Cl and C2 alternatingly in frequency domain).

[0200] A comb may comprise two or more, for example at least three or at least four, repetitions of the pattern. The comb may indicate a reference and / or indication, e.g. a resource element and / or subcarner, which may be related to the upper and / or lower boundary in frequency, regarding the arrangement and / or location in frequency of a first pattern, 1475 and / or the relative shift of the pattern and / or comb in frequency. Generally, a comb structure may cover at least part, and / or at least the majority, and / or essentially all or all resource elements and / or subcarriers of the plurality of resource elements and / or subcarriers, and / or the symbol. A comb structure may result from combining two comb structures, which may in particular comb structures with pattern comprising only one 1480 reference signal. A comb structure may be determined and / or amended before transmission, e.g. based on other reference signalling to be transmitted, e.g. on a different antenna port. In this context, reference signals may be replaced by empty signals to avoid overlap and / or interference. Generally, if the other reference signalling utilises a comb structure as well, a different / new comb (as a combination of combs) may be considered to 1485 be determined, e.g. with less dense reference signal distribution and / or a different / wider pattern. Alternatively, or additionally, combs may be combined to increase the reference signal density, e.g. by combining combs with different widths, and / or with shifted offsets.

[0201] Generally, a comb structure may represent and / or comprise and / or be comprised of any of the combs / comb structures described herein. 1490

[0202] A buffer state report (or buffer status report, BSR) may comprise information representing the presence and / or size of data to be transmitted (e.g., available in one or more buffers, for example provided by higher layers). The size may be indicated explicitly, and / or indexed to range / s of sizes, and / or may pertain to one or more different channel / s and / or acknowledgement processes and / or higher layers and / or channel groups / s, e.g, 1495

[0203] P110516W001 41 / 77 one or more logical channel / s and / or transport channel / s and / or groups thereof: The structure of a BSR may be predefined and / or configurable of configured, e.g. to override and / or amend a predefined structure, for example with higher layer signalling, e.g. RRC signalling. There may be different forms of BSR with different levels of resolution and / or information, e.g. a more detailed long BSR and a less detailed short BSR. A short BSR 1500 may concatenate and / or combine information of a long BSR, e.g. providing sums for data available for one or more channels and / or or channels groups and / or buffers, which might be represented individually in a long BSR; and / or may index a less-detailed range scheme for data available or buffered. A BSR may be used in lieu of a scheduling request, e.g. by a network node scheduling or allocating (uplink) resources for the transmitting radio 1505 node like a wireless device or UE or IAB node.

[0204] There is generally considered a program product comprising instructions adapted for causing processing and / or control circuitry to carry out and / or control any method described herein, in particular when executed on the processing and / or control circuitry. Also, there is considered a carrier medium arrangement carrying and / or storing a program product 1510 as described herein.

[0205] A carrier medium arrangement may comprise one or more carrier media. Generally, a carrier medium may be accessible and / or readable and / or receivable by processing or control circuitry. Storing data and / or a program product and / or code may be seen as part of carrying data and / or a program product and / or code. A carrier medium 1515 generally may comprise a guiding / transporting medium and / or a storage medium. A guiding / transporting medium may be adapted to carry and / or carry and / or store signals, in particular electromagnetic signals and / or electrical signals and / or magnetic signals and / or optical signals. A carrier medium, in particular a guiding / transporting medium, may be adapted to guide such signals to carry them. A carrier medium, in particular a 1520 guiding / transporting medium, may comprise the electromagnetic held, e.g. radio waves or microwaves, and / or optically transmissive material, e.g. glass fiber, and / or cable. A storage medium may comprise at least one of a memory, which may be volatile or nonvolatile, a buffer, a cache, an optical disc, magnetic memory, Hash memory, etc.

[0206] A system comprising one or more radio nodes as described herein, in particular a network 1525 node and a user equipment, is described. The system may be a wireless communication system, and / or provide and / or represent a radio access network.

[0207] Moreover, there may be generally considered a method of operating an information system, the method comprising providing information. Alternatively, or additionally, an information system adapted for providing information may be considered. Providing in- 1530 formation may comprise providing information for, and / or to, a target system, which

[0208] P110516W001 42 / 77 may comprise and / or be implemented as radio access network and / or a radio node, in particular a network node or user equipment or terminal. Providing information may comprise transferring and / or streaming and / or sending and / or passing on the information, and / or offering the information for such and / or for download, and / or triggering such 1535 providing, e.g. by triggering a different system or node to stream and / or transfer and / or send and / or pass on the information. The information system may comprise, and / or be connected or connectable to, a target, for example via one or more intermediate systems, e.g. a core network and / or internet and / or private or local network. Information may be provided utilising and / or via such intermediate system / s. Providing information may be 1540 for radio transmission and / or for transmission via an air interface and / or utilising a RAN or radio node as described herein. Connecting the information system to a target, and / or providing information, may be based on a target indication, and / or adaptive to a target indication. A target indication may indicate the target, and / or one or more parameters of transmission pertaining to the target and / or the paths or connections over which the in- 1545 formation is provided to the target. Such parameter / s may in particular pertain to the air interface and / or radio access network and / or radio node and / or network node. Example parameters may indicate for example type and / or nature of the target, and / or transmission capacity (e.g., data rate) and / or latency and / or reliability and / or cost, respectively one or more estimates thereof. The target indication may be provided by the target, or 1550 determined by the information system, e.g. based on information received from the target and / or historical information, and / or be provided by a user, for example a user operating the target or a device in communication with the target, e.g. via the RAN and / or air interface. For example, a user may indicate on a user equipment communicating with the information system that information is to be provided via a RAN, e.g. by selecting 1555 from a selection provided by the information system, for example on a user application or user interface, which may be a web interface. An information system may comprise one or more information nodes. An information node may generally comprise processing circuitry and / or communication circuitry. In particular, an information system and / or an information node may be implemented as a computer and / or a computer arrangement, 1560 e.g. a host computer or host computer arrangement and / or server or server arrangement.

[0209] In some variants, an interaction server (e.g., web server) of the information system may provide a user interface, and based on user input may trigger transmitting and / or streaming information provision to the user (and / or the target) from another server, which may be connected or connectable to the interaction server and / or be part of the information 1565 system or be connected or connectable thereto. The information may be any kind of data, in particular data intended for a user of for use at a terminal, e.g. video data and / or audio data and / or location data and / or interactive data and / or game-related data and / or environmental data and / or technical data and / or traffic data and / or vehicular data and / or

[0210] P110516W001 43 / 77 circumstantial data and / or operational data. The information provided by the informa- 1570 tion system may be mapped to, and / or mappable to, and / or be intended for mapping to, communication or data signalling and / or one or more data channels as described herein (which may be signalling or channel / s of an air interface and / or used within a RAN and / or for radio transmission). It may be considered that the information is formatted based on the target indication and / or target, e.g. regarding data amount and / or data 1575 rate and / or data structure and / or timing, which in particular may be pertaining to a mapping to communication or data signalling and / or a data channel. Mapping information to data signalling and / or data channel / s may be considered to refer to using the signalling / channel / s to carry the data, e.g. on higher layers of communication, with the signalling / channel / s underlying the transmission. A target indication generally may com- 1580 prise different components, which may have different sources, and / or which may indicate different characteristics of the target and / or communication path / s thereto. A format of information may be specifically selected, e.g. from a set of different formats, for information to be transmitted on an air interface and / or by a RAN as described herein. This may be particularly pertinent since an air interface may be limited in terms of capacity and / or 1585 of predictability, and / or potentially be cost sensitive. The format may be selected to be adapted to the transmission indication, which may in particular indicate that a RAN or radio node as described herein is in the path (which may be the indicated and / or planned and / or expected path) of information between the target and the information system. A (communication) path of information may represent the interface / s (e.g., air and / or ca- 1590 ble interfaces) and / or the intermediate system / s (if any), between the information system and / or the node providing or transferring the information, and the target, over which the information is, or is to be, passed on. A path may be (at least partly) undetermined when a target indication is provided, and / or the information is provided / transferred by the information system, e.g. if an internet is involved, which may comprise multiple, 1595 dynamically chosen paths. Information and / or a format used for information may be packet-based, and / or be mapped, and / or be mappable and / or be intended for mapping, to packets. Alternatively, or additionally, there may be considered a method for operating a target device comprising providing a target indicating to an information system.

[0211] More alternatively, or additionally, a target device may be considered, the target device 1600 being adapted for providing a target indication to an information system. In another approach, there may be considered a target indication tool adapted for, and / or comprising an indication module for, providing a target indication to an information system. The target device may generally be a target as described above. A target indication tool may comprise, and / or be implemented as, software and / or application or app, and / or web 1605 interface or user interface, and / or may comprise one or more modules for implementing actions performed and / or controlled by the tool. The tool and / or target device may be

[0212] P110516W001 44 / 77 adapted for, and / or the method may comprise, receiving a user input, based on which a target indicating may be determined and / or provided. Alternatively, or additionally, the tool and / or target device may be adapted for, and / or the method may comprise, receiving 1610 information and / or communication signalling carrying information, and / or operating on, and / or presenting (e.g., on a screen and / or as audio or as other form of indication), information. The information may be based on received information and / or communication signalling carrying information. Presenting information may comprise processing received information, e.g. decoding and / or transforming, in particular between different formats, 1615 and / or for hardware used for presenting. Operating on information may be independent of or without presenting, and / or proceed or succeed presenting, and / or may be without user interaction or even user reception, for example for automatic processes, or target devices without (e.g., regular) user interaction like MTC devices, of for automotive or transport or industrial use. The information or communication signalling may be expected and / or 1620 received based on the target indication. Presenting and / or operating on information may generally comprise one or more processing steps, in particular decoding and / or executing and / or interpreting and / or transforming information. Operating on information may generally comprise relaying and / or transmitting the information, e.g. on an air interface, which may include mapping the information onto signalling (such mapping may generally 1625 pertain to one or more layers, e.g. one or more layers of an air interface, e.g. RLC (Radio Link Control) layer and / or MAC layer and / or physical layer / s). The information may be imprinted (or mapped) on communication signalling based on the target indication, which may make it particularly suitable for use in a RAN (e.g., for a target device like a network node or in particular a UE or terminal). The tool may generally be adapted for use on a 1630 target device, like a UE or terminal. Generally, the tool may provide multiple functionalities, e.g. for providing and / or selecting the target indication, and / or presenting, e.g. video and / or audio, and / or operating on and / or storing received information. Providing a target indication may comprise transmitting or transferring the indication as signalling, and / or carried on signalling, in a RAN, for example if the target device is a UE, or the 1635 tool for a UE. It should be noted that such provided information may be transferred to the information system via one or more additionally communication interfaces and / or paths and / or connections. The target indication may be a higher-layer indication and / or the information provided by the information system may be higher-layer information, e.g. application layer or user-layer, in particular above radio layers like transport layer and 1640 physical layer. The target indication may be mapped on physical layer radio signalling, e.g. related to or on the user-plane, and / or the information may be mapped on physical layer radio communication signalling, e.g. related to or on the user-plane (in particular, in reverse communication directions). The described approaches allow a target indication to be provided, facilitating information to be provided in a specific format particularly 1645

[0213] P110516W001 45 / 77 suitable and / or adapted to efficiently use an air interface. A user input may for example represent a selection from a plurality of possible transmission modes or formats, and / or paths, e.g. in terms of data rate and / or packaging and / or size of information to be provided by the information system.

[0214] In general, a numerology and / or subcarrier spacing may indicate the bandwidth (in fre- 1650 quency domain) of a subcarrier of a carrier, and / or the number of subcarriers in a carrier and / or the numbering of the subcarriers in a carrier, and / or the symbol time length. Different numerologies may in particular be different in the bandwidth of a subcarrier.

[0215] In some variants, all the subcarriers in a carrier have the same bandwidth associated to them. The numerology and / or subcarrier spacing may be different between carriers 1655 in particular regarding the subcarrier bandwidth. A symbol time length, and / or a time length of a timing structure pertaining to a carrier may be dependent on the carrier frequency, and / or the subcarrier spacing and / or the numerology. In particular, different numerologies may have different symbol time lengths, even on the same carrier.

[0216] Signalling may generally comprise one or more (e.g., modulation) symbols and / or signals 1660 and / or messages. A signal may comprise or represent one or more bits. An indication may represent signalling, and / or be implemented as a signal, or as a plurality of signals. One or more signals may be included in and / or represented by a message, signalling, in particular control signalling, may comprise a plurality of signals and / or messages, which may be transmitted on different carriers and / or be associated to different signalling processes, 1665 e.g. representing and / or pertaining to one or more such processes and / or corresponding information. An indication may comprise signalling, and / or a plurality of signals and / or messages and / or may be comprised therein, which may be transmitted on different carriers and / or be associated to different acknowledgement signalling processes, e.g. representing and / or pertaining to one or more such processes, signalling associated to a channel 1670 may be transmitted such that represents signalling and / or information for that channel, and / or that the signalling is interpreted by the transmitter and / or receiver to belong to that channel. Such signalling may generally comply with transmission parameters and / or format / s for the channel.

[0217] An antenna arrangement may comprise one or more antenna elements (radiating ele- 1675 ments), which may be combined in antenna arrays. An antenna array or sub-array may comprise one antenna element, or a plurality of antenna elements, which may be arranged e.g. two dimensionally (for example, a panel) or three dimensionally. It may be considered that each antenna array or sub-array or element is separately controllable, respectively that different antenna arrays are controllable separately from each other. A single an- 1680 tenna element / radiator may be considered the smallest example of a sub-array. Examples

[0218] P110516W001 46 / 77 of antenna arrays comprise one or more multi-antenna panels or one or more individually controllable antenna elements. An antenna arrangement may comprise a plurality of antenna arrays. It may be considered that an antenna arrangement is associated to a (specific and / or single) radio node, e.g. a configuring or informing or scheduling radio 1685 node, e.g. to be controlled or controllable by the radio node. An antenna arrangement associated to a UE or terminal may be smaller (e.g., in size and / or number of antenna elements or arrays) than the antenna arrangement associated to a network node. Antenna elements of an antenna arrangement may be configurable for different arrays, e.g. to change the beamforming characteristics. In particular, antenna arrays may be formed 1690 by combining one or more independently or separately controllable antenna elements or sub-arrays. The beams may be provided by analog beamforming, or in some variants by digital beamforming, or by hybrid beamforming combing analog and digital beamforming.

[0219] The informing radio nodes may be configured with the manner of beam transmission, e.g. by transmitting a corresponding indicator or indication, for example as beam identify in- 1695 dication. However, there may be considered cases in which the informing radio node / s are not configured with such information, and / or operate transparently, not knowing the way of beamforming used. An antenna arrangement may be considered separately controllable in regard to the phase and / or amplitude / power and / or gain of a signal feed to it for transmission, and / or separately controllable antenna arrangements may comprise an inde- 1700 pendent or separate transmit and / or receive unit and / or ADC (analog-Digital- Converter, alternatively an ADC chain) or DCA (Digital-to-analog Converter, alternatively a DCA chain) to convert digital control information into an analog antenna feed for the whole antenna arrangement (the ADC / DCA may be considered part of, and / or connected or connectable to, antenna circuitry) or vice versa. A scenario in which an ADC or DCA is 1705 controlled directly for beamforming may be considered an analog beamforming scenario; such controlling may be performed after encoding / decoding and7or after modulation symbols have been mapped to resource elements. This may be on the level of antenna arrangements using the same ADC / DCA, e.g. one antenna element or a group of antenna elements associated to the same ADC / DCA. Digital beamforming may correspond to a 1710 scenario in which processing for beamforming is provided before feeding signalling to the ADC / DCA, e.g. by using one or more precoder / s and / or by precoding information, for example before and / or when mapping modulation symbols to resource elements. Such a precoder for beamforming may provide weights, e.g. for amplitude and / or phase, and / or may be based on a (precoder) codebook, e.g. selected from a codebook. A precoder may 1715 pertain to one beam or more beams, e.g. defining the beam or beams. The codebook may be configured or configurable, and / or be predefined. DFT beamforming may be considered a form of digital beamforming, wherein a DFT procedure is used to form one or more beams. Hybrid forms of beamforming may be considered.

[0220] P110516W001 47 / 77 A beam may be defined by a spatial and / or angular and / or spatial angular distribution 1720 of radiation and / or a spatial angle (also referred to as solid angle) or spatial (solid) angle distribution into which radiation is transmitted (for transmission beamforming) or from which it is received (for reception beamforming). Reception beamforming may comprise only accepting signals coming in from a reception beam (e.g., using analog beamforming to not receive outside reception beam / s), and / or sorting out signals that do not come 1725 in in a reception beam, e.g. in digital postprocessing, e.g. digital beamforming. A beam may have a solid angle equal to or smaller than 4*pi sr (4*pi correspond to a beam covering all directions), in particular smaller than 2* pi, or pi, or pi / 2, or pi / 4 or pi / 8 or pi / 16. In particular for high frequencies, smaller beams may be used. Different beams may have different directions and / or sizes (e.g., solid angle and / or reach). A beam 1730 may have a main direction, which may be defined by a main lobe (e.g., center of the main lobe, e.g. pertaining to signal strength and / or solid angle, which may be averaged and / or weighted to determine the direction), and may have one or more sidelobes. A lobe may generally be defined to have a continuous or contiguous distribution of energy and / or power transmitted and / or received, e.g. bounded by one or more contiguous or contiguous 1735 regions of zero energy (or practically zero energy). A main lobe may comprise the lobe with the largest signal strength and / or energy and / or power content. However, sidelobes usually appear due to limitations of beamforming, some of which may carry signals with significant strength, and may cause multi-path effects. A sidelobe may generally have a different direction than a main lobe and / or other side lobes, however, due to reflections 1740 a sidelobe still may contribute to transmitted and / or received energy or power. A beam may be swept and / or switched over time, e.g., such that its (main) direction is changed, but its shape (angular / solid angle distribution) around the main direction is not changed, e.g. from the transmitter’s views for a transmission beam, or the receiver’s view for a reception beam, respectively. Sweeping may correspond to continuous or near continuous 1745 change of main direction (e.g., such that after each change, the main lobe from before the change covers at least partly the main lobe after the change, e.g. at least to 50 or 75 or 90 percent). Switching may correspond to switching direction non-continuously, e.g. such that after each change, the main lobe from before the change does not cover the main lobe after the change, e.g. at most to 50 or 25 or 10 percent. 1750

[0221] Signal strength may be a representation of signal power and / or signal energy, e.g. as seen from a transmitting node or a receiving node. A beam with larger strength at transmission (e.g., according to the beamforming used) than another beam does may not necessarily have larger strength at the receiver, and vice versa, for example due to interference and / or obstruction and / or dispersion and / or absorption and / or reflection 1755 and / or attrition or other effects influencing a beam or the signalling it carries. Signal

[0222] P110516W001 48 / 77 quality may in general be a representation of how well a signal may be received over noise and / or interference. A beam with better signal quality than another beam does not necessarily have a larger beam strength than the other beam. Signal quality may be represented for example by SIR, SNR, SINR, BER, BLER, Energy per resource element 1760 over noise / interference or another corresponding quality measure. Signal quality and / or signal strength may pertain to, and / or may be measured with respect to, a beam, and / or specific signalling carried by the beam, e.g. reference signalling and / or a specific channel, e.g. a data channel or control channel. Signal strength may be represented by received signal strength, and / or relative signal strength, e.g. in comparison to a reference signal 1765

[0223] (strength).

[0224] Uplink or sidelink signalling may be OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) or SC-FDMA (Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access) signalling. Downlink signalling may in particular be OFDMA signalling. However, signalling like communication signalling is not limited thereto (Filter-Bank based signalling and / or 1770

[0225] Single-Carrier based signalling, e.g. SC-FDE signalling, may be considered alternatives).

[0226] A radio node may generally be considered a device or node adapted for wireless and / or radio (and / or millimeter wave) frequency communication, and / or for communication utilising an air interface, e.g. according to a communication standard.

[0227] A radio node may be a network node, or a user equipment or terminal. A network node 1775 may be any radio node of a wireless communication network, e.g. a base station and / or gNodeB (gNB) and / or eNodeB (eNB) and / or relay node and / or micro / nano / pico / femto node and / or transmission point (TP) and / or access point (AP) and / or other node, in particular for a RAN or other wireless communication network as described herein.

[0228] The terms user equipment (UE) and terminal may be considered to be interchangeable 1780 in the context of this disclosure. A wireless device, user equipment or terminal may represent an end device for communication utilising the wireless communication network, and / or be implemented as a user equipment according to a standard. Examples of user equipments may comprise a phone like a smartphone, a personal communication device, a mobile phone or terminal, a computer, in particular laptop, a sensor or machine with radio 1785 capability (and / or adapted for the air interface), in particular for MTC (Machine-Type- Communication, sometimes also referred to M2M, Machine- To-Machine), or a vehicle adapted for wireless communication. A user equipment or terminal may be mobile or stationary. A wireless device generally may comprise, and / or be implemented as, processing circuitry and / or radio circuitry, which may comprise one or more chips or sets of chips. 1790

[0229] The circuitry and / or circuitries may be packaged, e.g. in a chip housing, and / or may have one or more physical interfaces to interact with other circuitry and / or for power supply.

[0230] P110516W001 49 / 77 Such a wireless device may be intended for use in a user equipment or terminal.

[0231] A radio node may generally comprise processing circuitry and / or radio circuitry. A radio node, in particular a network node, may in some cases comprise cable circuitry and / or 1795 communication circuitry, with which it may be connected or connectable to another radio node and / or a core network.

[0232] Circuitry may comprise integrated circuitry. Processing circuitry may comprise one or more processors and / or controllers (e.g., microcontrollers), and / or ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuitry) and / or FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Array), or sim- 1800 ilar. It may be considered that processing circuitry comprises, and / or is (operatively) connected or connectable to one or more memories or memory arrangements. A memory arrangement may comprise one or more memories. A memory may be adapted to store digital information. Examples for memories comprise volatile and non-volatile memory, and / or Random Access Memory (RAM), and / or Read-Only-Memory (ROM), 1805 and / or magnetic and / or optical memory, and / or flash memory, and / or hard disk memory, and / or EPROM or EEPROM (Erasable Programmable ROM or Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM).

[0233] Radio circuitry may comprise one or more transmitters and / or receivers and / or transceivers

[0234] (a transceiver may operate or be operable as transmitter and receiver, and / or may com- 1810 prise joint or separated circuitry for receiving and transmitting, e.g. in one package or housing), and / or may comprise one or more amplifiers and / or oscillators and / or filters, and / or may comprise, and / or be connected or connectable to antenna circuitry and / or one or more antennas and / or antenna arrays. An antenna array may comprise one or more antennas, which may be arranged in a dimensional array, e.g. 2D or 3D array, 1815 and / or antenna panels. A remote radio head (RRH) may be considered as an example of an antenna array. However, in some variants, an RRH may be also be implemented as a network node, depending on the kind of circuitry and / or functionality implemented therein.

[0235] Communication circuitry may comprise radio circuitry and / or cable circuitry. Commu- 1820 nication circuitry generally may comprise one or more interfaces, which may be air inter- face / s and / or cable interface / s and / or optical interface / s, e.g. laser-based. Interface / s may be in particular packet-based. Cable circuitry and / or a cable interfaces may comprise, and / or be connected or connectable to, one or more cables (e.g., optical fiber-based and / or wire-based), which may be directly or indirectly (e.g., via one or more intermedi- 1825 ate systems and / or interfaces) be connected or connectable to a target, e.g. controlled by communication circuitry and / or processing circuitry.

[0236] P110516W001 50 / 77 Any one or all of the modules disclosed herein may be implemented in software and / or firmware and / or hardware. Different modules may be associated to different components of a radio node, e.g. different circuitries or different parts of a circuitry. It may be consid- 1830 ered that a module is distributed over different components and / or circuitries. A program product as described herein may comprise the modules related to a device on which the program product is intended (e.g., a user equipment or network node) to be executed (the execution may be performed on, and / or controlled by the associated circuitry).

[0237] A wireless communication network may be or comprise a radio access network and / or 1835 a backhaul network (e.g. a relay or backhaul network or an IAB network), and / or a Radio Access Network (RAN) in particular according to a communication standard. A communication standard may in particular a standard according to 3GPP and / or 5G, e.g. according to NR or LTE, in particular LTE Evolution.

[0238] A wireless communication network may be and / or comprise a Radio Access Network 1840

[0239] (RAN), which may be and / or comprise any kind of cellular and / or wireless radio network, which may be connected or connectable to a core network. The approaches described herein are particularly suitable for a 5G network, e.g. LTE Evolution and / or NR (New Radio), respectively successors thereof. A RAN may comprise one or more network nodes, and / or one or more terminals, and / or one or more radio nodes. A network 1845 node may in particular be a radio node adapted for radio and / or wireless and / or cellular communication with one or more terminals. A terminal may be any device adapted for radio and / or wireless and / or cellular communication with or within a RAN, e.g. a user equipment (UE) or mobile phone or smartphone or computing device or vehicular communication device or device for machine- type-communication (MTC), etc. A terminal 1850 may be mobile, or in some cases stationary. A RAN or a wireless communication network may comprise at least one network node and a UE, or at least two radio nodes. There may be generally considered a wireless communication network or system, e.g. a RAN or RAN system, comprising at least one radio node, and / or at least one network node and at least one terminal. 1855

[0240] Transmitting in downlink may pertain to transmission from the network or network node to the terminal. Transmitting in uplink may pertain to transmission from the terminal to the network or network node. Transmitting in sidelink may pertain to (direct) transmission from one terminal to another. Uplink, downlink and sidelink (e.g., sidelink transmission and reception) may be considered communication directions. In some vari- 1860 ants, uplink and downlink may also be used to described wireless communication between network nodes, e.g. for wireless backhaul and / or relay communication and / or (wireless) network communication for example between base stations or similar network nodes, in

[0241] P110516W001 51 / 77 particular communication terminating at such. It may be considered that backhaul and / or relay communication and / or network communication is implemented as a form of sidelink 1865 or uplink communication or similar thereto.

[0242] Control information or a control information message or corresponding signalling (control signalling) may be transmitted on a control channel, e.g. a physical control channel, which may be a downlink channel or (or a sidelink channel in some cases, e.g. one UE scheduling another UE). For example, control information / allocation information may be 1870 signaled by a network node on PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel) and / or a PDSCH (Physical Downlink Shared Channel) and / or a HARQ-specihc channel. Acknowledgement signalling, e.g. as a form of control information or signalling like uplink control information / signalling, may be transmitted by a terminal on a PUCCH (Physical

[0243] Uplink Control Channel) and / or PUSCH (Physical Uplink Shared Channel) and / or a 1875 HARQ-specihc channel. Multiple channels may apply for multi-component / multi-carrier indication or signalling.

[0244] Transmitting acknowledgement signalling may in general be based on and / or in response to subject transmission, and / or to control signalling scheduling subject transmission.

[0245] Such control signalling and / or subject signalling may be transmitted by a signalling ra- 1880 dio node (which may be a network node, and / or a node associated to it, e.g. in a dual connectivity scenario. Subject transmission and / or subject signalling may be transmission or signalling to which ACK / NACK or acknowledgement information pertains, e.g. indicating correct or incorrect reception and / or decoding of the subject transmission or signalling. Subject signalling or transmission may in particular comprise and / or be repre- 1885 sented by data signalling, e.g. on a PDSCH or PSSCH, or some forms of control signalling, e.g. on a PDCCH or PSSCH, for example for specific formats.

[0246] A signalling characteristic may be based on a type or format of a scheduling grant and / or scheduling assignment, and / or type of allocation, and / or timing of acknowledgement signalling and / or the scheduling grant and / or scheduling assignment, and / or resources 1890 associated to acknowledgement signalling and / or the scheduling grant and / or scheduling assignment. For example, if a specific format for a scheduling grant (scheduling or allocating the allocated resources) or scheduling assignment (scheduling the subject transmission for acknowledgement signalling) is used or detected, the first or second communication resource may be used. Type of allocation may pertain to dynamic allocation 1895

[0247] (e.g., using DCI / PDCCH) or semi-static allocation (e.g., for a configured grant). Timing of acknowledgement signalling may pertain to a slot and / or symbol / s the signalling is to be transmitted. Resources used for acknowledgement signalling may pertain to the allocated resources. Timing and / or resources associated to a scheduling grant or assignment

[0248] P110516W001 52 / 77 may represent a search space or CORESET (a set of resources configured for reception of 1900

[0249] PDCCH transmissions) in which the grant or assignment is received. Thus, which transmission resource to be used may be based on implicit conditions, requiring low signalling overhead.

[0250] Scheduling may comprise indicating, e.g. with control signalling like DCI or SCI signalling and / or signalling on a control channel like PDCCH or PSCCH, one or more scheduling 1905 opportunities of a configuration intended to carry data signalling or subject signalling.

[0251] The configuration may be represented or representable by, and / or correspond to, a table. A scheduling assignment may for example point to an opportunity of the reception allocation configuration, e.g. indexing a table of scheduling opportunities. In some cases, a reception allocation configuration may comprise 15 or 16 scheduling opportunities. The 1910 configuration may in particular represent allocation in time. It may be considered that the reception allocation configuration pertains to data signalling, in particular on a physical data channel like PDSCH or PSSCH. In general, the reception allocation configuration may pertain to downlink signalling, or in some scenarios to sidelink signalling. Control signalling scheduling subject transmission like data signalling may point and / or index 1915 and / or refer to and / or indicate a scheduling opportunity of the reception allocation configuration. It may be considered that the reception allocation configuration is configured or configurable with higher-layer signalling, e.g. RRC or MAC layer signalling. The reception allocation configuration may be applied and / or applicable and / or valid for a plurality of transmission timing intervals, e.g. such that for each interval, one or more opportu- 1920 nities may be indicated or allocated for data signalling. These approaches allow efficient and flexible scheduling, which may be semi-static, but may updated or reconfigured on useful timescales in response to changes of operation conditions.

[0252] Control information, e.g., in a control information message, in this context may in particular be implemented as and / or represented by a scheduling assignment, which may 1925 indicate subject transmission for feedback (transmission of acknowledgement signalling), and / or reporting timing and / or frequency resources and / or code resources. Reporting timing may indicate a timing for scheduled acknowledgement signalling, e.g. slot and / or symbol and / or resource set. Control information may be carried by control signalling.

[0253] Subject transmissions may comprise one or more individual transmissions. Scheduling as- 1930 signments may comprise one or more scheduling assignments. It should generally be noted that in a distributed system, subject transmissions, configuration and / or scheduling may be provided by different nodes or devices or transmission points. Different subject transmissions may be on the same carrier or different carriers (e.g., in a carrier aggregation), and / or same or different bandwidth parts, and / or on the same or different layers or beams, 1935

[0254] P110516W001 53 / 77 e.g. in a MIMO scenario, and / or to same or different ports. Generally, subject transmissions may pertain to different HARQ or ARQ processes (or different sub-processes, e.g. in MIMO with different beams / layers associated to the same process identifier, but different sub-process-identifiers like swap bits). A scheduling assignment and / or a HARQ codebook may indicate a target HARQ structure. A target HARQ structure may for example 1940 indicate an intended HARQ response to a subject transmission, e.g. the number of bits and / or whether to provide code block group level response or not. However, it should be noted that the actual structure used may differ from the target structure, e.g. due to the total size of target structures for a subpattern being larger than the predetermined size.

[0255] Transmitting acknowledgement signalling, also referred to as transmitting acknowledge- 1945 ment information or feedback information or simply as ARQ or HARQ feedback or feedback or reporting feedback, may comprise, and / or be based on determining correct or incorrect reception of subject transmission / s, e.g. based on error coding and / or based on scheduling assignment / s scheduling the subject transmissions. Transmitting acknowledgement information may be based on, and / or comprise, a structure for acknowledgement 1950 information to transmit, e.g. the structure of one or more subpatterns, e.g. based on which subject transmission is scheduled for an associated subdivision. Transmitting acknowledgement information may comprise transmitting corresponding signalling, e.g. at one instance and / or in one message and / or one channel, in particular a physical channel, which may be a control channel. In some cases, the channel may be a shared channel 1955 or data channel, e.g. utilising rate-matching of the acknowledgment information. The acknowledgement information may generally pertain to a plurality of subject transmissions, which may be on different channels and / or carriers, and / or may comprise data signalling and / or control signalling. The acknowledgment information may be based on a codebook, which may be based on one or more size indications and / or assignment 1960 indications (representing HARQ structures), which may be received with a plurality of control signallings and / or control messages, e.g. in the same or different transmission timing structures, and / or in the same or different (target) sets of resources. Transmitting acknowledgement information may comprise determining the codebook, e.g. based on control information in one or more control information messages and / or a configuration. 1965

[0256] A codebook may pertain to transmitting acknowledgement information at a single and / or specific instant, e.g. a single PUCCH or PUSCH transmission, and / or in one message or with jointly encoded and / or modulated acknowledgement information. Generally, acknowledgment information may be transmitted together with other control information, e.g. a scheduling request and / or measurement information. 1970

[0257] Acknowledgement signalling may in some cases comprise, next to acknowledgement information, other information, e.g. control information, in particular, uplink or sidelink

[0258] P110516W001 54 / 77 control information, like a scheduling request and / or measurement information, or similar, and / or error detection and / or correction information, respectively associated bits.

[0259] The payload size of acknowledgement signalling may represent the number of bits of ac- 1975 knowledgement information, and / or in some cases the total number of bits carried by the acknowledgement signalling, and / or the number of resource elements needed. Acknowledgement signalling and / or information may pertain to ARQ and / or HARQ processes; an ARQ process may provide ACK / NACK (and perhaps additional feedback) feedback, and decoding may be performed on each (re-)transmission separately, with- 1980 out soft-buffering / soft-combining intermediate data, whereas HARQ may comprise soft- buffering / soft-combining of intermediate data of decoding for one or more (re-)transmissions.

[0260] Subject transmission may be data signalling or control signalling. The transmission may be on a shared or dedicated channel. Data signalling may be on a data channel, for example on a PDSCH or PSSCH, or on a dedicated data channel, e.g. for low latency and / or 1985 high reliability, e.g. a URLLC channel. Control signalling may be on a control channel, for example on a common control channel or a PDCCH or PSCCH, and / or comprise one or more DCI messages or SCI messages. In some cases, the subject transmission may comprise, or represent, reference signalling. For example, it may comprise DM-RS and / or pilot signalling and / or discovery signalling and / or sounding signalling and / or phase tracking 1990 signalling and / or cell-specific reference signalling and / or user-specific signalling, in particular CSI-RS. A subject transmission may pertain to one scheduling assignment and / or one acknowledgement signalling process (e.g., according to identifier or subidentifier), and / or one subdivision. In some cases, a subject transmission may cross the borders of subdivisions in time, e.g. due to being scheduled to start in one subdivision and extending 1995 into another, or even crossing over more than one subdivision. In this case, it may be considered that the subject transmission is associated to the subdivision it ends in.

[0261] It may be considered that transmitting acknowledgement information, in particular of acknowledgement information, is based on determining whether the subject transmission / s has or have been received correctly, e.g. based on error coding and / or reception quality. 2000

[0262] Reception quality may for example be based on a determined signal quality. Acknowledgement information may generally be transmitted to a signalling radio node and / or node arrangement and / or to a network and / or network node.

[0263] Acknowledgement information, or bit / s of a subpattern structure of such information (e.g., an acknowledgement information structure, may represent and / or comprise one or 2005 more bits, in particular a pattern of bits. Multiple bits pertaining to a data structure or substructure or message like a control message may be considered a subpattern. The structure or arrangement of acknowledgement information may indicate the order, and / or

[0264] P110516W001 55 / 77 meaning, and / or mapping, and / or pattern of bits (or subpatterns of bits) of the information. The structure or mapping may in particular indicate one or more data block 2010 structures, e.g. code blocks and / or code block groups and / or transport blocks and / or messages, e.g. command messages, the acknowledgement information pertains to, and / or which bits or subpattern of bits are associated to which data block structure. In some cases, the mapping may pertain to one or more acknowledgement signalling processes, e.g. processes with different identifiers, and / or one or more different data streams. The config- 2015 uration or structure or codebook may indicate to which process / es and / or data stream / s the information pertains. Generally, the acknowledgement information may comprise one or more subpatterns, each of which may pertain to a data block structure, e.g. a code block or code block group or transport block. A subpattern may be arranged to indicate acknowledgement or non-acknowledgement, or another retransmission state like 2020 non-scheduling or non-reception, of the associated data block structure. It may be considered that a subpattern comprises one bit, or in some cases more than one bit. It should be noted that acknowledgement information may be subjected to significant processing before being transmitted with acknowledgement signalling. Different configurations may indicate different sizes and / or mapping and / or structures and / or pattern. 2025

[0265] An acknowledgment signalling process (providing acknowledgment information) may be a HARQ process, and / or be identified by a process identifier, e.g. a HARQ process identifier or sub-identifier. Acknowledgement signalling and / or associated acknowledgement information may be referred to as feedback or acknowledgement feedback. It should be noted that data blocks or structures to which subpatterns may pertain may be intended 2030 to carry data (e.g., information and / or systemic and / or coding bits). However, depending on transmission conditions, such data may be received or not received (or not received correctly), which may be indicated correspondingly in the feedback. In some cases, a subpattern of acknowledgement signalling may comprise padding bits, e.g. if the acknowledgement information for a data block requires fewer bits than indicated as size of 2035 the subpattern. Such may for example happen if the size is indicated by a unit size larger than required for the feedback.

[0266] Acknowledgment information may generally indicate at least ACK or NACK, e.g. pertaining to an acknowledgment signalling process, or an element of a data block structure like a data block, subblock group or subblock, or a message, in particular a control mes- 2040 sage. Generally, to an acknowledgment signalling process there may be associated one specific subpattern and / or a data block structure, for which acknowledgment information may be provided. Acknowledgement information may comprise a plurality of pieces of information, represented in a plurality of ARQ and / or HARQ structures.

[0267] P110516W001 56 / 77 An acknowledgment signalling process may determine correct or incorrect reception, 2045 and / or corresponding acknowledgement information, of a data block like a transport block, and / or substructures thereof, based on coding bits associated to the data block, and / or based on coding bits associated to one or more data block and / or subblocks and / or subblock group / s. Acknowledgement information (determined by an acknowledgement signalling process) may pertain to the data block as a whole, and / or to one 2050 or more subblocks or subblock groups. A code block may be considered an example of a subblock, whereas a code block group may be considered an example of a subblock group. Accordingly, the associated subpattern may comprise one or more bits indicating reception status or feedback of the data block, and / or one or more bits indicating reception status or feedback of one or more subblocks or subblock groups. Each subpattern 2055 or bit of the subpattern may be associated and / or mapped to a specific data block or subblock or subblock group. In some variants, correct reception for a data block may be indicated if all subblocks or subblock groups are correctly identified. In such a case, the subpattern may represent acknowledgement information for the data block as a whole, reducing overhead in comparison to provide acknowledgement information for the sub- 2060 blocks or subblock groups. The smallest structure (e.g. subblock / subblock group / data block) the subpattern provides acknowledgement information for and / or is associated to may be considered its (highest) resolution. In some variants, a subpattern may provide acknowledgment information regarding several elements of a data block structure and / or at different resolution, e.g. to allow more specific error detection. For example, even if 2065 a subpattern indicates acknowledgment signalling pertaining to a data block as a whole, in some variants higher resolution (e.g., subblock or subblock group resolution) may be provided by the subpattern. A subpattern may generally comprise one or more bits indicating ACK / NACK for a data block, and / or one or more bits for indicating ACK / NACK for a subblock or subblock group, or for more than one subblock or subblock group. 2070

[0268] A subblock and / or subblock group may comprise information bits (representing the data to be transmitted, e.g. user data and / or downlink / sidelink data or uplink data). It may be considered that a data block and / or subblock and / or subblock group also comprises error one or more error detection bits, which may pertain to, and / or be determined based on, the information bits (for a subblock group, the error detection bit / s may be determined 2075 based on the information bits and / or error detection bits and / or error correction bits of the subblock / s of the subblock group). A data block or substructure like subblock or subblock group may comprise error correction bits, which may in particular be determined based on the information bits and error detection bits of the block or substructure, e.g. utilising an error correction coding scheme, in particular for forward error correction (FEC), e.g. 2080

[0269] LDPC or polar coding and / or turbo coding. Generally, the error correction coding of a

[0270] P110516W001 57 / 77 data block structure (and / or associated bits) may cover and / or pertain to information bits and error detection bits of the structure. A subblock group may represent a combination of one or more code blocks, respectively the corresponding bits. A data block may represent a code block or code block group, or a combination of more than one code block groups. 2085

[0271] A transport block may be split up in code blocks and / or code block groups, for example based on the bit size of the information bits of a higher layer data structure provided for error coding and / or size requirements or preferences for error coding, in particular error correction coding. Such a higher layer data structure is sometimes also referred to as transport block, which in this context represents information bits without the error 2090 coding bits described herein, although higher layer error handling information may be included, e.g. for an internet protocol like TCP. However, such error handling information represents information bits in the context of this disclosure, as the acknowledgement signalling procedures described treat it accordingly.

[0272] In some variants, a subblock like a code block may comprise error correction bits, which 2095 may be determined based on the information bit / s and / or error detection bit / s of the subblock. An error correction coding scheme may be used for determining the error correction bits, e.g. based on LDPC or polar coding or Reed-Mueller coding. In some cases, a subblock or code block may be considered to be defined as a block or pattern of bits comprising information bits, error detection bit / s determined based on the information 2100 bits, and error correction bit / s determined based on the information bits and / or error detection bit / s. It may be considered that in a subblock, e.g. code block, the information bits (and possibly the error correction bit / s) are protected and / or covered by the error correction scheme or corresponding error correction bit / s. A code block group may comprise one or more code blocks. In some variants, no additional error detection bits and / or 2105 error correction bits are applied, however, it may be considered to apply either or both. A transport block may comprise one or more code block groups. It may be considered that no additional error detection bits and / or error correction bits are applied to a transport block, however, it may be considered to apply either or both. In some specific variants, the code block group / s comprise no additional layers of error detection or correction cod- 2110 ing, and the transport block may comprise only additional error detection coding bits, but no additional error correction coding. This may particularly be true if the transport block size is larger than the code block size and / or the maximum size for error correction coding. A subpattern of acknowledgement signalling (in particular indicating ACK or

[0273] NACK) may pertain to a code block, e.g. indicating whether the code block has been 2115 correctly received. It may be considered that a subpattern pertains to a subgroup like a code block group or a data block like a transport block. In such cases, it may indicate ACK, if all subblocks or code blocks of the group or data / transport block are received

[0274] P110516W001 58 / 77 correctly (e.g. based on a logical AND operation), and NACK or another state of noncorrect reception if at least one subblock or code block has not been correctly received. It 2120 should be noted that a code block may be considered to be correctly received not only if it actually has been correctly received, but also if it can be correctly reconstructed based on soft-combining and / or the error correction coding.

[0275] A subpattern / HARQ structure may pertain to one acknowledgement signalling process and / or one carrier like a component carrier and / or data block structure or data block. It 2125 may in particular be considered that one (e.g. specific and / or single) subpattern pertains, e.g. is mapped by the codebook, to one (e.g., specific and / or single) acknowledgement signalling process, e.g. a specific and / or single HARQ process. It may be considered that in the bit pattern, subpatterns are mapped to acknowledgement signalling processes and / or data blocks or data block structures on a one-to-one basis. In some variants, there 2130 may be multiple subpatterns (and / or associated acknowledgment signalling processes) associated to the same component carrier, e.g. if multiple data streams transmitted on the carrier are subject to acknowledgement signalling processes. A subpattern may comprise one or more bits, the number of which may be considered to represent its size or bit size. Different bit n-tupels (n being 1 or larger) of a subpattern may be associated 2135 to different elements of a data block structure (e.g., data block or subblock or subblock group), and / or represent different resolutions. There may be considered variants in which only one resolution is represented by a bit pattern, e.g. a data block. A bit n-tupel may represent acknowledgement information (also referred to a feedback), in particular

[0276] ACK or NACK, and optionally, (if n^,l), may represent DTX / DRX or other reception 2140 states. ACK / NACK may be represented by one bit, or by more than one bit, e.g. to improve disambiguity of bit sequences representing ACK or NACK, and / or to improve transmission reliability.

[0277] The acknowledgement information or feedback information may pertain to a plurality of different transmissions, which may be associated to and / or represented by data block 2145 structures, respectively the associated data blocks or data signalling. The data block structures, and / or the corresponding blocks and / or signalling, may be scheduled for simultaneous transmission, e.g. for the same transmission timing structure, in particular within the same slot or subframe, and / or on the same symbol / s. However, alternatives with scheduling for non-simultaneous transmission may be considered. For example, the 2150 acknowledgment information may pertain to data blocks scheduled for different transmission timing structures, e.g. different slots (or mini-slots, or slots and mini-slots) or similar, which may correspondingly be received (or not or wrongly received). Scheduling signalling may generally comprise indicating resources, e.g. time and / or frequency resources, for example for receiving or transmitting the scheduled signalling. 2155

[0278] P110516W001 59 / 77 signalling may generally be considered to represent an electromagnetic wave structure (e.g., over a time interval and frequency interval), which is intended to convey information to at least one specific or generic (e.g., anyone who might pick up the signalling) target. A process of signalling may comprise transmitting the signalling. Transmitting signalling, in particular control signalling or communication signalling, e.g. comprising 2160 or representing acknowledgement signalling and / or resource requesting information, may comprise encoding and / or modulating. Encoding and / or modulating may comprise error detection coding and / or forward error correction encoding and / or scrambling. Receiving control signalling may comprise corresponding decoding and / or demodulation. Error detection coding may comprise, and / or be based on, parity or checksum approaches, e.g. 2165

[0279] CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check). Forward error correction coding may comprise and / or be based on for example turbo coding and / or Reed-Muller coding, and / or polar coding and / or LDPC coding (Low Density Parity Check). The type of coding used may be based on the channel (e.g., physical channel) the coded signal is associated to. A code rate may represent the ratio of the number of information bits before encoding to the number of 2170 encoded bits after encoding, considering that encoding adds coding bits for error detection coding and forward error correction. Coded bits may refer to information bits (also called systematic bits) plus coding bits.

[0280] Communication signalling may comprise, and / or represent, and / or be implemented as, data signalling, and / or user plane signalling. Communication signalling may be associated 2175 to a data channel, e.g. a physical downlink channel or physical uplink channel or physical sidelink channel, in particular a PDSCH (Physical Downlink Shared Channel) or PSSCH (Physical Sidelink Shared Channel). Generally, a data channel may be a shared channel or a dedicated channel. Data signalling may be signalling associated to and / or on a data channel. 2180

[0281] An indication generally may explicitly and / or implicitly indicate the information it represents and / or indicates. Implicit indication may for example be based on position and / or resource used for transmission. Explicit indication may for example be based on a parametrisation with one or more parameters, and / or one or more index or indices, and / or one or more bit patterns representing the information. It may in particular be con- 2185 sidered that control signalling as described herein, based on the utilised resource sequence, implicitly indicates the control signalling type.

[0282] A resource element may generally describe the smallest individually usable and / or encodable and / or decodable and / or modulatable and / or demodulatable time-frequency resource, and / or may describe a time-frequency resource covering a symbol time length in 2190 time and a subcarrier in frequency. A signal may be allocatable and / or allocated to a

[0283] P110516W001 60 / 77 resource element. A subcarrier may be a subband of a carrier, e.g. as defined by a standard. A carrier may define a frequency and / or frequency band for transmission and / or reception. In some variants, a signal (jointly encoded / modulated) may cover more than one resource elements. A resource element may generally be as defined by a correspond- 2195 ing standard, e.g. NR or LTE. As symbol time length and / or subcarrier spacing (and / or numerology) may be different between different symbols and / or subcarriers, different resource elements may have different extension (length / width) in time and / or frequency domain, in particular resource elements pertaining to different carriers.

[0284] A resource generally may represent a time-frequency and / or code resource, on which 2200 signalling, e.g. according to a specific format, may be communicated, for example transmitted and / or received, and / or be intended for transmission and / or reception.

[0285] A border symbol may generally represent a starting symbol or an ending symbol for transmitting and / or receiving. A starting symbol may in particular be a starting symbol of uplink or sidelink signalling, for example control signalling or data signalling. Such 2205 signalling may be on a data channel or control channel, e.g. a physical channel, in particular a physical uplink shared channel (like PUSCH) or a sidelink data or shared channel, or a physical uplink control channel (like PUCCH) or a sidelink control channel.

[0286] If the starting symbol is associated to control signalling (e.g., on a control channel), the control signalling may be in response to received signalling (in sidelink or downlink), e.g. 2210 representing acknowledgement signalling associated thereto, which may be HARQ or ARQ signalling. An ending symbol may represent an ending symbol (in time) of downlink or sidelink transmission or signalling, which may be intended or scheduled for the radio node or user equipment. Such downlink signalling may in particular be data signalling, e.g. on a physical downlink channel like a shared channel, e.g. a PDSCH (Physical Downlink 2215 Shared Channel). A starting symbol may be determined based on, and / or in relation to, such an ending symbol.

[0287] Configuring a radio node, in particular a terminal or user equipment, may refer to the radio node being adapted or caused or set and / or instructed to operate according to the configuration. Configuring may be done by another device, e.g., a network node (for 2220 example, a radio node of the network like a base station or eNodeB) or network, in which case it may comprise transmitting configuration data to the radio node to be configured.

[0288] Such configuration data may represent the configuration to be configured and / or comprise one or more instruction pertaining to a configuration, e.g. a configuration for transmitting and / or receiving on allocated resources, in particular frequency resources. A radio node 2225 may configure itself, e.g., based on configuration data received from a network or network node. A network node may utilise, and / or be adapted to utilise, its circuitry / ies for

[0289] P110516W001 61 / 77 configuring. Allocation information may be considered a form of configuration data. Configuration data may comprise and / or be represented by configuration information, and / or one or more corresponding indications and / or message / s 2230

[0290] Generally, configuring may include determining configuration data representing the configuration and providing, e.g. transmitting, it to one or more other nodes (parallel and / or sequentially), which may transmit it further to the radio node (or another node, which may be repeated until it reaches the wireless device). Alternatively, or additionally, configuring a radio node, e.g., by a network node or other device, may include receiving 2235 configuration data and / or data pertaining to configuration data, e.g., from another node like a network node, which may be a higher-level node of the network, and / or transmitting received configuration data to the radio node. Accordingly, determining a configuration and transmitting the configuration data to the radio node may be performed by different network nodes or entities, which may be able to communicate via a suitable interface, e.g., 2240 an X2 interface in the case of LTE or a corresponding interface for NR. Configuring a terminal may comprise scheduling downlink and / or uplink transmissions for the terminal, e.g. downlink data and / or downlink control signalling and / or DCI and / or uplink control or data or communication signalling, in particular acknowledgement signalling, and / or configuring resources and / or a resource pool therefor. 2245

[0291] A resource structure may be considered to be neighboured in frequency domain by another resource structure, if they share a common border frequency, e.g. one as an upper frequency border and the other as a lower frequency border. Such a border may for example be represented by the upper end of a bandwidth assigned to a subcarrier n, which also represents the lower end of a bandwidth assigned to a subcarrier n+1. A resource 2250 structure may be considered to be neighboured in time domain by another resource structure, if they share a common border time, e.g. one as an upper (or right in the figures) border and the other as a lower (or left in the figures) border. Such a border may for example be represented by the end of the symbol time interval assigned to a symbol n, which also represents the beginning of a symbol time interval assigned to a symbol n+1. 2255

[0292] Generally, a resource structure being neighboured by another resource structure in a domain may also be referred to as abutting and / or bordering the other resource structure in the domain.

[0293] A resource structure may general represent a structure in time and / or frequency domain, in particular representing a time interval and a frequency interval. A resource structure 2260 may comprise and / or be comprised of resource elements, and / or the time interval of a resource structure may comprise and / or be comprised of symbol time interval / s, and / or the frequency interval of a resource structure may comprise and / or be comprised of sub-

[0294] P110516W001 62 / 77 carrier / s. A resource element may be considered an example for a resource structure, a slot or mini-slot or a Physical Resource Block (PRB) or parts thereof may be considered 2265 others. A resource structure may be associated to a specific channel, e.g. a PUSCH or PUCCH, in particular resource structure smaller than a slot or PRB.

[0295] Examples of a resource structure in frequency domain comprise a bandwidth or band, or a bandwidth part. A bandwidth part may be a part of a bandwidth available for a radio node for communicating, e.g. due to circuitry and / or configuration and / or regulations 2270 and / or a standard. A bandwidth part may be configured or configurable to a radio node. In some variants, a bandwidth part may be the part of a bandwidth used for communicating, e.g. transmitting and / or receiving, by a radio node. The bandwidth part may be smaller than the bandwidth (which may be a device bandwidth defined by the circuitry / conhguration of a device, and / or a system bandwidth, e.g. available for a 2275

[0296] RAN). It may be considered that a bandwidth part comprises one or more resource blocks or resource block groups, in particular one or more PRBs or PRB groups. A bandwidth part may pertain to, and / or comprise, one or more carriers.

[0297] A carrier may generally represent a frequency range or band and / or pertain to a central frequency and an associated frequency interval. It may be considered that a carrier com- 2280 prises a plurality of subcarriers. A carrier may have assigned to it a central frequency or center frequency interval, e.g. represented by one or more subcarriers (to each subcarrier there may be generally assigned a frequency bandwidth or interval). Different carriers may be non-overlapping, and / or may be neighbouring in frequency domain.

[0298] It should be noted that the term “radio” in this disclosure may be considered to pertain to 2285 wireless communication in general, and may also include wireless communication utilising millimeter waves, in particular above one of the thresholds 10 GHz or 20 GHz or 50 GHz or 52 GHz or 52.6 GHz or 60 GHz or 72 GHz or 100 GHz or 114 GHz. Such communication may utilise one or more carriers, e.g. in FDD and / or carrier aggregation. Upper frequency boundaries may correspond to 300 GHz or 200 GHz or 120 GHz or any of the thresholds 2290 larger than the one representing the lower frequency boundary.

[0299] A radio node, in particular a network node or a terminal, may generally be any device adapted for transmitting and / or receiving radio and / or wireless signals and / or data, in particular communication data, in particular on at least one carrier. The at least one carrier may comprise a carrier accessed based on an LBT procedure (which may be called 2295

[0300] LBT carrier), e.g., an unlicensed carrier. It may be considered that the carrier is part of a carrier aggregate.

[0301] Receiving or transmitting on a cell or carrier may refer to receiving or transmitting utiliz-

[0302] P110516W001 63 / 77 ing a frequency (band) or spectrum associated to the cell or carrier. A cell may generally comprise and / or be defined by or for one or more carriers, in particular at least one car- 2300 rier for UL communication / transmission (called UL carrier) and at least one carrier for DL communication / transmission (called DL carrier). It may be considered that a cell comprises different numbers of UL carriers and DL carriers. Alternatively, or additionally, a cell may comprise at least one carrier for UL communication / transmission and DL communication / transmission, e.g., in TDD-based approaches. 2305

[0303] A channel may generally be a logical, transport or physical channel. A channel may comprise and / or be arranged on one or more carriers, in particular a plurality of subcarriers. A channel carrying and / or for carrying control signalling / control information may be considered a control channel, in particular if it is a physical layer channel and / or if it carries control plane information. Analogously, a channel carrying and / or for carrying data sig- 2310 nailing / user information may be considered a data channel, in particular if it is a physical layer channel and / or if it carries user plane information. A channel may be defined for a specific communication direction, or for two complementary communication directions (e.g., UL and DL, or sidelink in two directions), in which case it may be considered to have two component channels, one for each direction. Examples of channels comprise a 2315 channel for low latency and / or high reliability transmission, in particular a channel for Ultra- Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC), which may be for control and / or data.

[0304] In general, a symbol may represent and / or be associated to a symbol time length, which may be dependent on the carrier and / or subcarrier spacing and / or numerology of the 2320 associated carrier. Accordingly, a symbol may be considered to indicate a time interval having a symbol time length in relation to frequency domain. A symbol time length may be dependent on a carrier frequency and / or bandwidth and / or numerology and / or subcarrier spacing of, or associated to, a symbol. Accordingly, different symbols may have different symbol time lengths. In particular, numerologies with different subcarrier 2325 spacings may have different symbol time length. Generally, a symbol time length may be based on, and / or include, a guard time interval or cyclic extension, e.g. prefix or postfix.

[0305] A sidelink may generally represent a communication channel (or channel structure) between two UEs and / or terminals, in which data is transmitted between the participants (UEs and / or terminals) via the communication channel, e.g. directly and / or without 2330 being relayed via a network node. A sidelink may be established only and / or directly via air interface / s of the participant, which may be directly linked via the sidelink communication channel. In some variants, sidelink communication may be performed without interaction by a network node, e.g. on fixedly defined resources and / or on resources ne-

[0306] P110516W001 64 / 77 gotiated between the participants. Alternatively, or additionally, it may be considered 2335 that a network node provides some control functionality, e.g. by configuring resources, in particular one or more resource pool / s, for sidelink communication, and / or monitoring a sidelink, e.g. for charging purposes.

[0307] Sidelink communication may also be referred to as device- to-device (D2D) communication, and / or in some cases as ProSe (Proximity Services) communication, e.g. in the context 2340 of LTE. A sidelink may be implemented in the context of V2x communication (Vehicular communication), e.g. V2V (Vehicle-to- Vehicle), V2I (Vehicle-to-Infrastructure) and / or V2P (Vehicle-to- Person). Any device adapted for sidelink communication may be considered a user equipment or terminal.

[0308] A sidelink communication channel (or structure) may comprise one or more (e.g., physical 2345 or logical) channels, e.g. a PSCCH (Physical Sidelink Control CHannel, which may for example carry control information like an acknowledgement position indication, and / or a PSSCH (Physical Sidelink Shared CHannel, which for example may carry data and / or acknowledgement signalling). It may be considered that a sidelink communication channel (or structure) pertains to and / or used one or more carrier / s and / or frequency range / s 2350 associated to, and / or being used by, cellular communication, e.g. according to a specific license and / or standard. Participants may share a (physical) channel and / or resources, in particular in frequency domain and / or related to a frequency resource like a carrier) of a sidelink, such that two or more participants transmit thereon, e.g. simultaneously, and / or time-shifted, and / or there may be associated specific channels and / or resources 2355 to specific participants, so that for example only one participant transmits on a specific channel or on a specific resource or specific re sources, e. g., in fr equency do main and / or related to one or more carriers or subcarriers.

[0309] A sidelink may comply with, and / or be implemented according to, a specific standard, e.g. an LTE-based standard and / or NR. A sidelink may utilise TDD (Time Division 2360

[0310] Duplex) and / or FDD (Frequency Division Duplex) technology, e.g. as configured b y a network node, and / or preconfigured and / or negotiated between the p articipants. A user equipment may be considered to be adapted for sidelink communication if it, and / or its radio circuitry and / or processing circuitry, is adapted for utilising a sidelink, e.g. on one or more frequency ranges and / or carriers and / or in one or more formats, in particular 2365 according to a specific s tandard. 11 m ay b e g enerally c onsidered t hat a R adio Access Network is defined b y t wo p articipants o f a s idelink c ommunication. A Iternatively, or additionally, a Radio Access Network may be represented, and / or defined w ith, and / or be related to a network node and / or communication with such a node.

[0311] Communication or communicating may generally comprise transmitting and / or receiv- 2370

[0312] P110516W001 65 / 77 ing signalling. Communication on a sidelink (or sidelink signalling) may comprise utilising the sidelink for communication (respectively, for signalling). Sidelink transmission and / or transmitting on a sidelink may be considered to comprise transmission utilising the sidelink, e.g. associated resources and / or transmission formats and / or circuitry and / or the air interface. Sidelink reception and / or receiving on a sidelink may be considered 2375 to comprise reception utilising the sidelink, e.g. associated resources and / or transmission formats and / or circuitry and / or the air interface. Sidelink control information (e.g., SCI) may generally be considered to comprise control information transmitted utilising a sidelink.

[0313] Generally, carrier aggregation (CA) may refer to the concept of a radio connection and / or 2380 communication link between a wireless and / or cellular communication network and / or network node and a terminal or on a sidelink comprising a plurality of carriers for at least one direction of transmission (e.g. DL and / or UL), as well as to the aggregate of carriers.

[0314] A corresponding communication link may be referred to as carrier aggregated communication link or CA communication link; carriers in a carrier aggregate may be referred to 2385 as component carriers (CC). In such a link, data may be transmitted over more than one of the carriers and / or all the carriers of the carrier aggregation (the aggregate of carriers). A carrier aggregation may comprise one (or more) dedicated control carriers and / or primary carriers (which may e.g. be referred to as primary component carrier or PCC), over which control information may be transmitted, wherein the control information may 2390 refer to the primary carrier and other carriers, which may be referred to as secondary carriers (or secondary component carrier, SCC). However, in some approaches, control information may be sent over more than one carrier of an aggregate, e.g. one or more PCCs and one PCC and one or more SCCs.

[0315] A transmission may generally pertain to a specific channel and / or specific resources, 2395 in particular with a starting symbol and ending symbol in time, covering the interval therebetween. A scheduled transmission may be a transmission scheduled and / or expected and / or for which resources are scheduled or provided or reserved. However, not every scheduled transmission has to be realized. For example, a scheduled downlink transmission may not be received, or a scheduled uplink transmission may not be transmitted due to 2400 power limitations, or other influences (e.g., a channel on an unlicensed carrier being occupied). A transmission may be scheduled for a transmission timing substructure (e.g., a mini-slot, and / or covering only a part of a transmission timing structure) within a transmission timing structure like a slot. A border symbol may be indicative of a symbol in the transmission timing structure at which the transmission starts or ends. 2405

[0316] Predefined in the context of this disclosure may refer to the related information being

[0317] P110516W001 66 / 77 defined for example in a standard, and / or being available without specific configuration from a network or network node, e.g. stored in memory, for example independent of being configured. Configured or configurable may be considered to pertain to the corresponding information being set / configured, e.g. by the network or a network node. 2410

[0318] A configuration or schedule, like a mini-slot configuration and / or structure configuration, may schedule transmissions, e.g. for the time / transmissions it is valid, and / or transmissions may be scheduled by separate signalling or separate configuration, e.g. separate RRC signalling and / or downlink control information signalling. The transmission / s scheduled may represent signalling to be transmitted by the device for which it is scheduled, or 2415 signalling to be received by the device for which it is scheduled, depending on which side of a communication the device is. It should be noted that downlink control information or specifically DCI signalling may be considered physical layer signalling, in contrast to higher layer signalling like MAC (Medium Access Control) signalling or RRC layer signalling. The higher the layer of signalling is, the less frequent / the more time / resource 2420 consuming it may be considered, at least partially due to the information contained in such signalling having to be passed on through several layers, each layer requiring processing and handling.

[0319] A scheduled transmission, and / or transmission timing structure like a mini-slot or slot, may pertain to a specific channel, in particular a physical uplink shared channel, a physical 2425 uplink control channel, or a physical downlink shared channel, e.g. PUSCH, PUCCH or PDSCH, and / or may pertain to a specific cell and / or carrier aggregation. A corresponding configuration, e.g. scheduling configuration or symbol configuration may pertain to such channel, cell and / or carrier aggregation. It may be considered that the scheduled transmission represents transmission on a physical channel, in particular a shared phys- 2430 ical channel, for example a physical uplink shared channel or physical downlink shared channel. For such channels, semi-persistent configuring may be particularly suitable.

[0320] Generally, a configuration may be a configuration indicating timing, and / or be represented or configured with corresponding configuration data. A configuration may be embedded in, and / or comprised in, a message or configuration or corresponding data, which may 2435 indicate and / or schedule resources, in particular semi-persistently and / or semi-statically.

[0321] A control region of a transmission timing structure may be an interval in time and / or frequency domain for intended or scheduled or reserved for control signalling, in particular downlink control signalling, and / or for a specific control channel, e.g. a physical downlink control channel like PDCCH. The interval may comprise, and / or consist of, a number of 2440 symbols in time, which may be configured or configurable, e.g. by (UE-specific) dedicated signalling (which may be single-cast, for example addressed to or intended for a specific

[0322] P110516W001 67 / 77 UE), e.g. on a PDCCH, or RRC signalling, or on a multicast or broadcast channel. In general, the transmission timing structure may comprise a control region covering a configurable number of symbols. It may be considered that in general the border symbol is 2445 configured to be after the control region in time. A control region may be associated, e.g. via configuration and / or determination, to one or more specific UEs and / or formats of PDCCH and / or DCI and / or identifiers, e.g. UE identifiers and / or RNTIs or carrier / cell identifiers, and / or be represented and / or associated to a CORESET and / or a search space. 2450

[0323] The duration of a symbol (symbol time length or interval) of the transmission timing structure may generally be dependent on a numerology and / or carrier, wherein the numerology and / or carrier may be configurable. The numerology may be the numerology to be used for the scheduled transmission.

[0324] System information signalling may comprise and / or represent signalling indicating one or 2455 more system parameters, in particular timing and / or synchronisation, and / or numerology and / or a system identity (e.g. beam identity and / or cell ID and / or node ID and / or network ID). System information signalling may comprise broadcast signalling or multicast signalling; it may be beam-formed signalling, or non-beam-formed. In some cases, system information signalling may comprise synchronisation signalling, e.g. PSS and / or 2460

[0325] SSS, and / or reference signalling, e.g. DM-RS, and / or data signalling, e.g. on a broadcast channel like PBCH, or on a data channel like PDSCH, e.g. suitable for broadcast or multicast, or scrambled with an ID provided in earlier signalling or predefined in a standard. Such data signalling may comprise encoded information, e.g. with error detection coding and / or error correction coding. System information signalling may comprise 2465

[0326] System Information, e.g. a Master Information Block (MIB) and / or one or more System Information Blocks (SIB). System information signalling may be carried on a SSB beam.

[0327] A transmission timing structure may comprise a plurality of symbols, and / or define an interval comprising several symbols (respectively their associated time intervals). In the context of this disclosure, it should be noted that a reference to a symbol for ease of ref- 2470 erence may be interpreted to refer to the time domain projection or time interval or time component or duration or length in time of the symbol, unless it is clear from the context that the frequency domain component also has to be considered. Examples of transmission timing structures include slot, subframe, mini-slot (which also may be considered a substructure of a slot), slot aggregation (which may comprise a plurality of slots and may 2475 be considered a superstructure of a slot), respectively their time domain component. A transmission timing structure may generally comprise a plurality of symbols defining the time domain extension (e.g., interval or length or duration) of the transmission timing

[0328] P110516W001 68 / 77 structure, and arranged neighboring to each other in a numbered sequence. A timing structure (which may also be considered or implemented as synchronisation structure) 2480 may be defined by a succession of such transmission timing structures, which may for example define a timing grid with symbols representing the smallest grid structures. A transmission timing structure, and / or a border symbol or a scheduled transmission may be determined or scheduled in relation to such a timing grid. A transmission timing structure of reception may be the transmission timing structure in which the scheduling 2485 control signalling is received, e.g. in relation to the timing grid. A transmission timing structure may in particular be a slot or subframe or in some cases, a mini-slot.

[0329] Feedback signalling may be considered a form or control signalling, e.g. uplink or sidelink control signalling, like UCI (Uplink Control Information) signalling or SCI (Sidelink Control Information) signalling. Feedback signalling may in particular comprise and / or rep- 2490 resent acknowledgement signalling and / or acknowledgement information and / or measurement reporting.

[0330] Signalling utilising, and / or on and / or associated to, resources or a resource structure may be signalling covering the resources or structure, signalling on the associated frequency / ies and / or in the associated time interval / s. It may be considered that a signalling resource 2495 structure comprises and / or encompasses one or more substructures, which may be associated to one or more different channels and / or types of signalling and / or comprise one or more holes (resource element / s not scheduled for transmissions or reception of transmissions). A resource substructure, e.g. a feedback resource structure, may generally be continuous in time and / or frequency, within the associated intervals. It may be 2500 considered that a substructure, in particular a feedback resource structure, represents a rectangle filled with one or more resource elements in time / frequency space. However, in some cases, a resource structure or substructure, in particular a frequency resource range, may represent a non-continuous pattern of resources in one or more domains, e.g. time and / or frequency. The resource elements of a substructure may be scheduled for 2505 associated signalling.

[0331] Example types of signalling comprise signalling of a specific communication direction, in particular, uplink signalling, downlink signalling, sidelink signalling, as well as reference signalling (e.g., SRS or CRS or CSI-RS), communication signalling, control signalling, and / or signalling associated to a specific channel like PUSCH, PDSCH, PUCCH, PDCCH, 2510 PSCCH, PSSCH, etc.).

[0332] In the context of this disclosure, there may be distinguished between dynamically scheduled or aperiodic transmission and / or configuration, and semi-static or semi-persistent or periodic transmission and / or configuration. The term “dynamic” or similar terms may

[0333] P110516W001 69 / 77 generally pertain to configuration / transmission valid and / or scheduled and / or configured 2515 for (relatively) short timescales and / or a (e.g., predefined and / or configured and / or limited and / or definite) number of occurrences and / or transmission timing structures, e.g. one or more transmission timing structures like slots or slot aggregations, and / or for one or more (e.g., specific number) of transmission / occurrences. Dynamic configuration may be based on low-level signalling, e.g. control signalling on the physical layer and / or MAC 2520 layer, in particular in the form of DCI or SCI. Periodic / semi-static may pertain to longer timescales, e.g. several slots and / or more than one frame, and / or a non-defined number of occurrences, e.g., until a dynamic configuration contradicts, or until a new periodic configuration arrives. A periodic or semi-static configuration may be based on, and / or be configured with, higher-layer signalling, in particular RCL layer signalling and / or RRC 2525 signalling and / or MAC signalling.

[0334] In this disclosure, for purposes of explanation and not limitation, specific details are set forth (such as particular network functions, processes and signalling steps) in order to provide a thorough understanding of the technique presented herein. It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the present concepts and aspects may be practised in other 2530 variants and variants that depart from these specific details.

[0335] For example, the concepts and variants are partially described in the context of Long Term Evolution (LTE) or LTE- Advanced (LTE-A) or New Radio mobile or wireless communications technologies; however, this does not rule out the use of the present concepts and aspects in connection with additional or alternative mobile communication technolo- 2535 gies such as the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) or IEEE standards as IEEE 802. Had or IEEE 802.11 ay. While described variants may pertain to certain Technical Specifications (TSs) of the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), it will be appreciated that the present approaches, concepts and aspects could also be realized in connection with different Performance Management (PM) specifications. 2540

[0336] Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the services, functions and steps explained herein may be implemented using software functioning in conjunction with a programmed microprocessor, or using an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or general purpose computer. It will also be appreciated that while the variants described herein 2545 are elucidated in the context of methods and devices, the concepts and aspects presented herein may also be embodied in a program product as well as in a system comprising control circuitry, e.g. a computer processor and a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory is encoded with one or more programs or program products that execute the services, functions and steps disclosed herein. 2550

[0337] P110516W001 70 / 77 It is believed that the advantages of the aspects and variants presented herein will be fully understood from the foregoing description, and it will be apparent that various changes may be made in the form, constructions and arrangement of the exemplary aspects thereof without departing from the scope of the concepts and aspects described herein or without sacrificing all of its advantageous effects. The aspects presented herein can be varied in 2555 many ways.

[0338] P110516W001 71 / 77 Some useful abbreviations comprise

[0339] Abbreviation Explanation

[0340] ABF Analog beamformer, fanout to antenna+beamforming

[0341] ACK / NACK Acknowledgment / Negative Acknowledgement

[0342] Ant Antenna

[0343] ARQ Automatic Repeat reQuest

[0344] BB BaseBand

[0345] Beamindex IF beamindex interface

[0346] BER Bit Error Rate

[0347] BI Beam Index

[0348] BLER Block Error Rate

[0349] BPSK Binary Phase Shift Keying

[0350] BWP BandWidth Part

[0351] CAZAC Constant Amplitude Zero Cross Correlation

[0352] CB Code Block

[0353] CBB Code Block Bundle

[0354] CBG Code Block Group

[0355] CDM Code Division Multiplex

[0356] CM Cubic Metric

[0357] Comm RXBB communication receiver baseband

[0358] CORESET Control Resource Set

[0359] CP Cyclic Prefix

[0360] CP rem CP removal

[0361] CQI Channel Quality Information

[0362] CRC Cyclic Redundancy Check

[0363] CRS Common reference signal

[0364] CSI Channel State Information

[0365] CSI-RS Channel state information reference signal

[0366] DAI Downlink Assignment Indicator

[0367] DCI Downlink Control Information

[0368] DFE Digital Frontend

[0369] DFT Discrete Fourier Transform

[0370] DFTS-FDM DFT-spread-FDM

[0371] DM(-)RS Demodulation reference signal(ing) eMBB enhanced Mobile BroadBand

[0372] FDD Frequency Division Duplex

[0373] FDE Frequency Domain Equalisation

[0374] P110516W001 72 / 77 FDF Frequency Domain Filtering FDM Frequency Division Multiplex FFT Fast Fourier Transform GPIO General Purpose Input Output HARQ Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request IAB Integrated Access and Backhaul IFFT Inverse Fast Fourier Transform Im Imaginary part, e.g. for pi / 2*BPSK modulation IR Impulse Response ISI Inter Symbol Interference JCAS Joint Communication and Sensing MBB Mobile Broadband MCS Modulation and Coding Scheme MIMO Multiple-input-multiple-output MRC Maximum-ratio combining MRT Maximum-ratio transmission MU-MIMO Multiuser multiple- input-multiple-output OFDM / A Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex / Multiple Access PAPR Peak to Average Power Ratio PDCCH Physical Downlink Control Channel PDSCH Physical Downlink Shared Channel PRACH Physical Random Access CHannel PRB Physical Resource Block PUCCH Physical Uplink Control Channel PUSCH Physical Uplink Shared Channel (P)SCCH (Physical) Sidelink Control Channel PSS Primary Synchronisation Signal(ing) PT-RS Phase Tracking Reference signalling (P)SSCH (Physical) Sidelink Shared Channel QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation occ Orthogonal Cover Code QPSK Quadrature Phase Shift Keying PSD Power Spectral Density RAN Radio Access Network RAT Radio Access Technology RB Resource Block RE Resource Element Re Real part (e.g., for pi / 2*BPSK) modulation

[0375] P110516W001 73 / 77 RF Radio Frequency

[0376] RNTI Radio Network Temporary Identifier

[0377] RRC Radio Resource Control

[0378] RX Receiver, Reception, Reception-related / side

[0379] SA Scheduling Assignment

[0380] SC-FDE Single Carrier Frequency Domain Equalisation

[0381] SC-FDM / A Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiplex / Multiple Access

[0382] SCI Sidelink Control Information

[0383] SINR Signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio

[0384] SIR Signal-to-interference ratio

[0385] SNR Signal-to-noise-ratio

[0386] SPI Serial to Parallel Interface

[0387] SR Scheduling Request

[0388] SRS Sounding Reference Signal(ing) sss Secondary Synchronisation Signal(ing)

[0389] SVD Singular- value decomposition

[0390] TB Transport Block

[0391] TDD Time Division Duplex

[0392] TDM Time Division Multiplex

[0393] T-RS Tracking Reference signalling or Timing Reference signalling

[0394] TX Transmitter, Transmission, Transmission-related / side

[0395] UCI Uplink Control Information

[0396] UDC Up-Down Converter, mixing from BBj-^RF

[0397] UE User Equipment

[0398] URLLC Ultra Low Latency High Reliability Communication VL-MIMO Very- large multiple-input-multiple-output WD Wireless Device Wfg Waveform Generator ZC Zadoff-Chu ZF Zero Forcing

[0399] ZP Zero-Power, e.g. muted CSLRS symbol

[0400] Abbreviations may be considered to follow 3GPP usage if applicable.

[0401] P110516W001 74 / 77

Claims

CLAIMS 25601. Method of operating a wireless device in a wireless communication network, the method comprising transmitting a random access message on an indicated random access resource, the indicated random access resource being indicated by a random access resource assignment received in an assigning message.

2. Wireless device for a wireless communication network, the wireless device being adapted 2565 for transmitting a random access message on an indicated random access resource, the indicated random access resource being indicated by a random access resource assignment received in an assigning message.

3. Method of operating a network node in a wireless communication network, the method comprising monitoring for a random access message on an indicated random access re- 2570 source, the indicated random access resource being indicated to a wireless device with a random access resource assignment transmitted to the wireless device in an assigning message.

4. Network node for a wireless communication network, the network node being adapted for monitoring for a random access message on an indicated random access resource, the 2575 indicated random access resource being indicated to a wireless device with a random access resource assignment transmitted to the wireless device in an assigning message.

5. Method or device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the assigning message is carried by control signalling or data signalling, and / or is a physical layer message or MAC layer message. 25806. Method or device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the assigning message is a control information message scheduling a paging message, and / or is a paging message.

7. Method or device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the random access message comprises a random access preamble, and / or is a msgA or msgl. 25858. Method or device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the assigning message is single-cast, or multi-cast, or broadcast.

9. Method or device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the indicated random access resource is one of a set of random access resources, or one of a subset of random access resources, wherein the set or subset may be configured to the wireless 2590 device with higher-layer signalling.P110516W001 75 / 7710. Method or device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the random access resource assignment explicitly allocates the indicated random access resource.

11. Method or device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein a second assigning message indicates a second indicated random access resource for transmission of a second 2595 random access message.

12. Method or device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the indicated random access resource is not part of a set of resources configured with a first random access configuration.

13. Method or device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the assigning 2600 message indicates one or more random access parameters, e.g., a validity period and / or timer for the indicated random access resource.

14. Program product comprising instructions causing processing circuitry to control and / or perform a method according to one of claims 1, or 3, or one of 5 to 13.

15. Carrier medium arrangement carrying and / or storing a program product according 2605 to claim 14.P110516W001 76 / 77

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