Dynamic power management

Abstract

Example embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to dynamic power management A method comprises determining an evaluation period for a duty cycle; and in accordance with a determination, during the evaluation period, that at least one waveform in a plurality of waveforms associated with a dynamic waveform switching corresponds to a power boosting beyond a threshold power class, determining a target duty cycle that is allowed to be applied by the first apparatus during one or more uplink transmissions.

Description

DYNAMIC POWER MANAGEMENTCROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0001] This application claims priority from, and the benefit of, Finland Application No. 20245474, filed April 15, 2024, which is hereby incorporated by reference in it entirety.FIELD

[0002] Various example embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of telecommunication and in particular, to methods, devices, apparatuses and computer readable storage medium for dynamic power management.BACKGROUND

[0003] 5th Generation Mobile Communication Technology (5G) is currently supporting two waveforms in uplink. Cyclic Prefix-Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (CP-OFDM) is used as mainstream waveform and Discrete Fourier Transform-Spread-Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (DFT-s-OFDM) is used when the coverage is limited. Release 18 has specified also dynamic waveform switching which enables rapid waveform change using Downlink Control Information (DCI) bit.SUMMARY

[0004] In a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus at least to: determine an evaluation period for a duty cycle; in accordance with a determination, during the evaluation period, that at least one waveform in a plurality of waveforms associated with a dynamic waveform switching corresponds to a power boosting beyond a threshold power class, determine a target duty cycle that is allowed to be applied by the first apparatus during one or more uplink transmissions; and transmit the one or more uplink transmission using a transmit power determined at least based on the target duty cycle.

[0005] In a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: determining, at a first apparatus, an evaluation period for a duty cycle; and in accordance with a determination, during the evaluation period, that at least one waveform in a plurality of waveforms associated with a dynamic waveform switching corresponds to a power boosting beyond a threshold power class, determine a target duty cycle that is allowed to be applied by the first apparatus during one or more uplink transmissions; and transmitting the one or more uplink transmission using a transmit power determined at least based on the target duty cycle.

[0006] In a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises means for determining an evaluation period for a duty cycle; and means for in accordance with a determination, during the evaluation period, that at least one waveform in a plurality of waveforms associated with a dynamic waveform switching corresponds to a power boosting beyond a threshold power class, determine a target duty cycle that is allowed to be applied by the first apparatus during one or more uplink transmissions; and means for transmitting the one or more uplink transmission using a transmit power determined at least based on the target duty cycle.

[0007] In a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium comprises instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the second aspect.

[0008] It is to be understood that the Summary section is not intended to identify key or essential features of embodiments of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become easily comprehensible through the following description.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009] Some example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, where:

[0010] FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication environment in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented;

[0011] FIG. 2 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a first apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0012] FIG. 3 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a device that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure; and

[0013] FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of an example computer readable medium in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0014] Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals represent the same or similar element.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0015] Principle of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It is to be understood that these embodiments are described only for the purpose of illustration and help those skilled in the art to understand and implement the present disclosure, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the disclosure. Embodiments described herein can be implemented in various manners other than the ones described below.

[0016] In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skills in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

[0017] References in the present disclosure to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “an example embodiment,” and the like indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but it is not necessary that every embodiment includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

[0018] It shall be understood that although the terms “first,” “second,”... etc. in front of noun(s) and the like may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another and they do not limit the order of the noun(s). For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of example embodiments. As used herein, the term “and / or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

[0019] As used herein, “at least one of the following: ” and “at least one of ” and similar wording, where the list of two or more elements are joined by “and” or “or”, mean at least any one of the elements, or at least any two or more of the elements, or at least all the elements.

[0020] As used herein, unless stated explicitly, performing a step “in response to A” does not indicate that the step is performed immediately after “A” occurs and one or more intervening steps may be included.

[0021] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”, “comprising”, “has”, “having”, “includes” and / or “including”, when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and / or components etc., but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and / or combinations thereof.

[0022] As used in this application, the term “circuitry” may refer to one or more or all of the following:(a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in only analog and / or digitalcircuitry) and(b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as (as applicable):(i) a combination of analog and / or digital hardware circuit(s) with software / firmware and(ii) any portions of hardware processor(s) with software (including digital signal processor(s)), software, and memory(s) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions) and(c) hardware circuit(s) and or processor(s), such as a microprocessor(s) or a portion of a microprocessor(s), that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation.

[0023] This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and / or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

[0024] As used herein, the term “communication network” refers to a network following any suitable communication standards, such as New Radio (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE- A), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-loT) and so on. Furthermore, the communications between a terminal device and a network device in the communication network may be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocols, including, but not limited to, the first generation (1 G), the second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, the third generation (3G), the fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, the fifth generation (5G), 5.5G, the sixth generation (6G) communication protocols, and / or any other protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied in various communication systems. Given the rapid development in communications, there will of course also be future type communication technologies and systems with which the present disclosure may be embodied. It should not be seen as limiting the scope of the present disclosure to only the aforementioned system.

[0025] As used herein, the term “network device” refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services therefrom. The network device may refer to a base station (BS) or an access point (AP), for example, a node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), an NR NB (also referred to as a gNB), a Remote Radio Unit (RRU), a radio header (RH), a remote radio head (RRH), a relay, an Integrated Access and Backhaul (I AB)node, a low power node such as a femto, a pico, a non-terrestrial network (NTN) or non-ground network device such as a satellite network device, a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite and a geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) satellite, an aircraft network device, and so forth, depending on the applied terminology and technology. In some example embodiments, radio access network (RAN) split architecture comprises a Centralized Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU) at an IAB donor node. An IAB node comprises a Mobile Terminal (IAB-MT) part that behaves like a user equipment (UE) toward the parent node, and a DU part of an IAB node behaves like a base station toward the next-hop IAB node.

[0026] The term “terminal device” refers to any end device that may be capable of wireless communication. By way of example rather than limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE), a Subscriber Station (SS), a Portable Subscriber Station, a Mobile Station (MS), or an Access Terminal (AT). The terminal device may include, but not limited to, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, a tablet, a wearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), portable computers, desktop computer, image capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback appliances, vehicle-mounted wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), USB dongles, smart devices, wireless customer-premises equipment (CPE), an Internet of Things (loT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD), a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remote surgery), an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and / or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and / or an automated processing chain contexts), a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial and / or industrial wireless networks, and the like. The terminal device may also correspond to a Mobile Termination (MT) part of an IAB node (e.g., a relay node). In the following description, the terms “terminal device”, “communication device”, “terminal”, “user equipment” and “UE” may be used interchangeably.

[0027] As used herein, the term “resource,” “transmission resource,” “resource block,” “physical resource block” (PRB), “uplink resource,” or “downlink resource” may refer to any resource for performing a communication, for example, a communication between a terminal device and a network device, such as a resource in time domain, a resource in frequency domain, a resource in space domain, a resource in code domain, or any other combination of the time, frequency, space and / or code domain resource enabling a communication, and the like. In the following, unless explicitly stated, a resource in both frequency domain and time domain will be used as an example of a transmission resource for describing some example embodiments of the present disclosure. It is noted that example embodiments of the present disclosure are equally applicable to other resources in other domains.

[0028] FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication environment 100 in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented. As shown in FIG. 1 , the communication network 100 may comprise a first apparatus 110 which may be, for example, a terminal device. In some example embodiments, the terminal device may also be discussed as a UE.

[0029] The communication network 100 may further comprise a second apparatus 120, which may be, for example, a network device. In some example embodiments, the network device may be discussed as a BS, a gNB, or an eNB.

[0030] A serving area provided by the second apparatus 120 is called a cell. The first apparatus 110 may communicate with the second apparatus 120 within the cell 102. The cell currently serving the first apparatus 110 may be considered as a serving cell 102.

[0031] In the following, for the purpose of illustration, some example embodiments are described with the first apparatus 110 operating as a terminal device and the second apparatus 120 operating as a network device. However, in some example embodiments, operations described in connection with a terminal device may be implemented at a network device or other device, and operations described in connection with a network device may be implemented at a terminal device or other device.

[0032] In some example embodiments, if the first apparatus 110 is a terminal device and second apparatus 120 is a network device, a link from the second apparatus 120 to the first apparatus 110 is referred to as a downlink (DL), while a link from the first apparatus 110 to the second apparatus 120 is referred to as an uplink (UL). In DL, the second apparatus 120 is a transmitting (TX) apparatus (or a transmitter) and the first apparatus 110 is a receiving (RX) apparatus (or a receiver). In UL, the first apparatus 110 is a TX apparatus (or a transmitter) and the second apparatus 120 is a RX apparatus (or a receiver).

[0033] It is to be understood that the number of network devices and terminal devices shown in FIG.1 is given for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitations. The communication environment 100 may include any suitable number of network devices and terminal devices.

[0034] Communications in the communication environment 100 may be implemented according to any proper communication protocol(s), comprising, but not limited to, cellular communication protocols of the first generation (1 G), the second generation (2G), the third generation (3G), the fourth generation (4G), the fifth generation (5G), 5.5G, the sixth generation (6G), and the like, wireless local network communication protocols such as Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 and the like, and / or any other protocols currently known or to be developed in the future. Moreover, the communication may utilize any proper wireless communication technology, comprising but not limited to: Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA),Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Duplex (FDD), Time Division Duplex (TDD), Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple (OFDM), Discrete Fourier Transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) and / or any other technologies currently known or to be developed in the future.

[0035] The present disclosure generally related to a method of dynamic power management, wherein the embodiment of the present disclosure further comprises dynamic wave form switching and dynamic waveform operation. The above-mentioned methods and operation may be implemented in any current network technologies such as 5th Generation Mobile Communication Technology (5G) and any future developed network technologies such as 6th Generation Mobile Communication Technology (6G).

[0036] Even though DFT-s-OFDM is mainly meant for coverage scenarios, it is still supported for almost all the cases, including non-coverage limited scenarios, e.g., high-order modulations. The main issue there is huge complexity especially from the RAN4 RF perspective. In particular, as few examples, each of the following cases require huge effort for specifying new radio frequency (RF) requirements:• Two waveforms:■ Two frequency ranges (FRs)■ Several power classes■ 5 Modulation schemes (in uplink (UL))■ 3 separate resource block (RB) regions (even further divided for specific cases inRelease18), reflecting RB allocation (starting physical resource block (PRB), allocation size)■ Additional maximum power reduction (A-MPR) (band specific a for huge number of bands)■ Carrier aggregation (CA) scenarios have their own maximum power reduction (MPR):■ Intra-band contiguous, Intra-band non-contiguous■ Contiguous RB allocation, non-contiguous RB allocation

[0037] One example of MPR requirements is shown in below figure, where each waveform (WF) and modulation includes different MPR requirements for different regions and power classes. The 5G baseline power class has been power class 3 (PC3), which has 23dBm maximum transmit (TX) power. Then, depending on the modulation, allocation, band etc., UE is allowed to use maximum power reduction, i.e., to reduce the maximum transmit power from 23dBm, to satisfy RF requirements. 5G also has power class 2 (PC2), which has 26dBm maximum TX power. When PC2 is used, UE applies duty cycle restriction, which is basically defining the maximum number of symbols during the evaluation period that can be used for UL transmission to satisfy the specific absorption rate (SAR)requirements.

[0038] In 6G, one of the important targets is to simplify unnecessary complexity, and one of the goals there would be to simplify the specification and implementation complexity. One option for such simplification is to use DFT-s-OFDM only for lower order modulations, i.e., truly coverage limited scenarios, this is tempting especially because dynamic waveform switching has been specified in third generation partnership project (3GPP) release 18. Another important goal is to increase baseline coverage for 6G. This invention specifically targets for increasing the baseline coverage and enhancing related dynamic operation.Table 1 Maximum power reduction (MPR) for power class 3Table 2 Maximum power reduction (MPR) for power class 2

[0039] In 5G, UE sets its configured maximum output power PCMAX .C within the range given by the standardized lower and upper output power bounds. Both bounds depend, among other things, on the UE’s power class as well as on the APpowerciass and APpowerBoost, if applicable.

[0040] The PCMAXJ.C and PCMAX are used to limit the transmission power of individual transmissions, e.g. as shown for physical Uplink shared Channel (PUSCH) in single cell case.

[0041] For the aspect of configured transmitted power, the UE is allowed to set its configured maximum output power PCMAX .C for carrier f of serving cell c in each slot. The configured maximum output power PCMAX .C is set within the following bounds:PcMAX-B.fx “ MIN {PEMAX.C. PFOWWOKS - APpowaCtaw } ) wherePEMAX.C is the value given by P-Max IE for serving cell c;Ppowerciass is the maximum UE power for the power class;When the IE [P-Boost- Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK)] is set to 1 , PEMAX.C is increased by +3 dB for a power class 3 capable UE operating in TDD bands n40, n77, n78, and n79 with PI / 2 BPSK modulation and 40% or less slots in radio frame are used for UL transmission when PEMAX.C 20 dBm. When the IE [P-Boost-BPSK] is set to 1 , APpowerciass = -3 dB for a power class 3 capable UE operating in TDD bands n40, n77, n78, and n79 with PI / 2 BPSK modulation and 40% or less slots in radio frame are used for UL transmission.

[0042] If a UE transmits a PUSCH on active UL Bandwidth Part (BWP) b of carrier f of serving cell c using parameter set configuration with index j and PUSCH power control adjustment state with indexI, the UE determines the PUSCH transmission powerin PUSCH transmission occasion i as

[0043] In 5G, baseline power class has been defined according to PC3 which is 23dBm. 5G also supports PC2 which has 26dBm reference power level. 3GPP release 18 has specified dynamic waveform switching, and the key target is how to enable efficient power management when dynamic waveform switching is considered as baseline feature in 6G day-1 scenario. 5G Rel-18 does not take into account dynamic waveform switching in the duty cycle determination. Since the DWS is dynamic, it is assumed to be used more constantly than reconfiguration. As can be seen in the table below, the power boosting capability difference between the different waveforms is rather large. Hence the error in duty cycle determination can become large and occur often if duty cycle for previously used waveform is used as measure. Maximum power could be limited unnecessarily, or maximum energyallowed by SAR requirements could be exceeded when the waveform change is done. The key question addressed is how to perform duty cycle adaptation with dynamic waveform switching involving power boosting beyond the UEs nominal power class.

[0044] The solution of the present disclosure target for coverage enhancements in 6G by facilitating easier use of higher power class and power boosting for waveforms providing lower Peak to Average Power Ratio (PAPR) than CP-OFDM.

[0045] In accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a solution for dynamic power management. In this solution, an evaluation period for a duty cycle is determined by the first apparatus 110. If the first apparatus 110 determines, during the evaluation period, that at least one waveform in a plurality of waveforms associated with a dynamic waveform switching corresponds to a power boosting beyond a threshold power class, the first apparatus 110 determines a target duty cycle that is allowed to be applied by the first apparatus during one or more uplink transmissions. Then one or more uplink transmission is transmitted using a transmit power determined at least based on the target duty cycle.

[0046] Example embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0047] FIG. 2 shows a flowchart of an example method 200 implemented at a first apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 200 will be described from the perspective of the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1.

[0048] At block 210, the first apparatus 110 determines an evaluation period for a duty cycle.

[0049] In some embodiments, the evaluation period may be determined by the first apparatus 110. As an option, the first apparatus 110 determines the evaluation period based on a duration and timing of a reference semi-static evaluation period. As another option, the first apparatus 110 determines the evaluation period based on a pre-determined timing of a pre-determined evaluation period. Furthermore, a predetermined duration limit for an evaluation period may also be considered for determining the evaluation period. For example, the first apparatus 110 can freely select evaluation period as long as it is at least 10 ms.

[0050] It is also possible that the evaluation period may be determined by the first apparatus 110, e.g., based on the network configuration. For example, the first apparatus 110 receives a configuration from a second apparatus 120. The configuration indicates a duration and timing of a configured evaluation period via a higher layer signaling. Then, first apparatus 110 determines the evaluation period based on the configuration.

[0051] At block 220, if the first apparatus 110 determines, during the evaluation period, that at least one waveform in a plurality of waveforms associated with a dynamic waveform switching correspondsto a power boosting beyond a threshold power class, at block 230, the first apparatus 110 determine a target duty cycle that is allowed to be applied by the first apparatus 110 during one or more uplink transmissions. Hereinafter the threshold power class may be referred to as the nominal power class.

[0052] It is to be understood that the duty cycle is evaluated during the evaluation period based on the number of transmitted uplink symbols that is to be compared against the number of transmitted uplink symbols associated with the target duty cycle.

[0053] In some example embodiments, only one waveform may correspond to a power boosting beyond the threshold power class. In this case, if the first apparatus 110 determines a single waveform corresponding to the power boosting beyond the threshold power class, the first apparatus 110 may determine a duty cycle, with which the single waveform operates, as the target duty cycle that is allowed to be applied by the first apparatus 110.

[0054] For example, during the evaluation period, two waveforms may be associated with the dynamic waveform switching, namely the CP-OFDM and the waveform A. The CP-OFDM scenario may be limited with a threshold power class of e.g. Ppowerciass = 26 dBm and may operate with the first duty cycle (e.g. 50%). If the first apparatus 110 determines the waveform A corresponding to with boosted maximum output power (e.g. Ppowerciass - APpowerciass + APpowerBoost = 28 dBm) which is beyond the threshold power class, then the first apparatus 110 determines a second duty cycle (e.g. 30%), with which the waveform A operates, as the target duty cycle that is allowed to be applied.

[0055] In some example embodiments, more than one waveform may correspond to respective power boosting beyond the threshold power class. In this case, some options for determining the target duty cycle may be further described as below.

[0056] In the first option (option 1), if the first apparatus 110 determines that two or more waveforms correspond to the power boosting beyond the threshold power class, the first apparatus 110 may determine respective duty cycles associated with the two or more waveforms. If the first apparatus 110 determines that a first duty cycle, with which a first waveform in the two or more waveforms operates, is the smallest duty cycle in the respective duty cycles, the first apparatus 110 may determine the first duty cycle as the target duty cycle that is allowed to be applied until the end of the evaluation period.

[0057] In the second option (option 2), if the first apparatus 110 determines that two or more waveforms correspond to the power boosting beyond the threshold power class, the first apparatus 110 may determine respective duty cycles associated with the two or more waveforms. Then the first apparatus 110 may calculate a further duty cycle based on weighted average of the two or more waveforms and determine the further duty cycle as the target duty cycle that is allowed to be applied within the evaluation period.

[0058] In the third option (option 3), if the first apparatus 110 determines that two or more waveforms correspond to the power boosting beyond the threshold power class, the first apparatus 110 may restart the evaluation period. During the restarted evaluation period, the first apparatus 110 may count the number of transmitted uplink symbols from a start of a waveform change and determine the target duty cycle based on the number of transmitted uplink symbols.

[0059] In the fourth option (option 4), if the first apparatus 110 determines that two or more waveforms correspond to the power boosting beyond the threshold power class, the first apparatus 110 determines a current duty cycle of a current waveform as the target duty cycle that is allowed to be applied.

[0060] For the option 4, the first apparatus 110 may determine the number of transmitted uplink symbols under a power boost limit based on scaling a first transmitted uplink symbol count associated with the previous duty cycle and incorporating the scaled first transmitted uplink symbol count to a second transmitted uplink symbol count associated with the current duty cycle.

[0061] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may scale the first number of transmitted uplink symbols based on a difference between a first output power associated with a first waveform and a second output power associated with a second waveform.

[0062] In some example embodiments, the first waveform is a previous waveform and the second waveform is the current waveform, and wherein the first output power is the maximum output power limit corresponding to the previous waveform and the second output power is the maximum output power limit corresponding to the current waveform, the second maximum output power limit is not equal to the first maximum output power limit.

[0063] In some example embodiments, the second output power is the maximum output power limit corresponding to the second waveform, and the first output power is equal to or smaller than the maximum output power limit corresponding to the first waveform, and wherein the second maximum output power limit is larger than the first maximum output power limit. The first output power is a configured maximum output power or a transmission power for at least one or more transmitted uplink symbols.

[0064] At block 240, the first apparatus 110 transmits the one or more uplink transmission using a transmit power determined at least based on the target duty cycle. For example, the first apparatus 110 may receive one or more UL grants for one or more UL transmissions. After determining the transmit power for the one or more UL transmissions based on the target duty cycle, the first apparatus 110 may transmit the one or more uplink transmission using the determined transmit power.

[0065] Different options as described above may be further explained in detail in the following.

[0066] For the power class and configured maximum output power determination:

[0067] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may determine the upper and lower limits for the configured maximum output power. PCMAXJ.C at least partially based on the configuration parameters. The configuration parameters may be defined as below:• Nominal Power class has maximum output power of 23+X d Bm• If CP-OFDM is configured with inner allocation and minimum modulation order (e.g. QPSK),MPR=0dB is applied. In absence of other limiting factors (like A-MPR, Power Management Maximum Power Reduction (P-MPR), etc), the resulting lower limit for the configured maximum output power is 23+X dB• If Waveform A (DFT-s-OFDM) is configured, the lower limit for the configured maximum output power (at least for inner allocations) in absence of other limiting factors (A-MPR, P-MPR, etc.) is always larger than 23+XdBm for all modulation orders supported by the waveform A.■ for example, maximum modulation order for waveform A (e.g. DFT-s-OFDM) may be QPSK or 16QAM■ The increase for the lower limit for the configured maximum output power may be achieved by means of o MPR<=0 o Power boost (APpowerBoost) or negative APpowerciass value which may be predetermined by the specification or be a UE capability• In the preferred embodiment, X=3 and power class is PC2.

[0068] The transmit power level is subject to duty cycle requirement, where duty cycle requirement depends on the waveform and / or modulation. The duty cycle requirement may be specified in terms of the number of active (i.e. transmitted) UL symbols within an evaluation period (as in NR), an actual consumed energy within an evaluation period, an energy estimate within an evaluation period, calculated per each transmission and integrated over evaluation period, e.g. Nsymb*Pest, where Nsymb is number of transmitted symbols and Pest is power estimate; an average power estimate within an evaluation period, calculated per each transmission and integrated over evaluation period, e.g. Nsymb*Pest / Nsymb_tot, where Nsymb is number of transmitted symbols, Pest is power estimate and Nsymb_tot is total number of symbols per each power control period. Pest could be e.g. PCMAX .C, PcMAX.

[0069] For the option 1 , Pest may e.g. PCMAX .C, PCMAX which provides the upper limit for the output power during a transmission. For the option 2, Pest may be obtained as linear average of the symbol specific Tx power values during a transmission (Psym). For the option 3, Pest may be obtained as linear average of the symbol specific Tx power values during a transmission with a limit Pref, wherein Pref is a predefined value (e.g. 20 dBm). In this case symbol specific power values during atransmission is obtained as max(Pref, Psym).

[0070] In some example embodiment, the evaluation period is defined to be Radio Frame (10ms) or some other multiple of radio frames. The evaluation period may involve two parameters: 1 ) duration and 2) starting (and / or ending) time. The starting (and / or ending) time may be defined w.r.t. an existing time reference (such as starting time of the Radio frame).

[0071] If CP-OFDM is configured, the first apparatus 110 may correspond to first duty cycle. If waveform A (DFT-s-OFDM) is configured, the first apparatus 110 may correspond to the second duty cycle, wherein the second duty cycle is smaller than the first duty cycle.

[0072] It is to be understood that both duty cycles may be specified or based on UE capability.

[0073] It is also possible that the first duty cycle may be specified or based on UE capability and the second may be calculated based on boosting difference e.g. first_duty_cycle*10A(-APpOwerBoost / 10).

[0074] There may be duty cycle per each combination of waveform and modulation. These may be specified or based on UE capability. Alternatively, they may be calculated based on power boosting difference and / or MPR difference, e.g. compared to a reference waveform and modulation associated with the first duty cycle. The duty cycle may be given by first_duty_cycle*10A(- Aboost- AMPR / 10), where Aboost is boosting difference to the reference waveform and AMPR is MPR difference to the MPR of the reference waveform.

[0075] When the evaluation period contains multiple waveforms (i.e., more than one waveforms) with waveform specific power boost, the first apparatus 110 may correspond to duty cycle requirement based on new predefined rule as explained earlier.

[0076] As described above, in option 1 , the first apparatus 110 may follow the smallest duty cycle among multiple (=two) duty cycles until the end of the evaluation period. For example, if the evaluation period contains scheduled transmissions with CP-OFDM and DFT-s-OFDM, the first apparatus 110 may correspond to the duty cycle of DFT-s-OFDM.

[0077] In option 2, the first apparatus 110 may calculate a third duty cycle and correspond to it until the end of the evaluation period. In some example embodiments, the third duty cycle is defined based on weighted average between the involved duty cycles, and their durations within the evaluation period.

[0078] In option 3, the first apparatus 110 may restart the evaluation period as well as the counting of transmitted uplink symbols from the start of the waveform change.

[0079] In option 4, the first apparatus 110 may follow the duty cycle of the current waveform, but the first apparatus 110 may weight (or scale) the number of transmitted uplink symbols transmitted under different power boost limit, e.g., with different waveform, when incorporating them into transmitted uplink symbol count compared against the current duty cycle.

[0080] The embodiments of weighting will be described as below. In the following, the first apparatus 110 may be referred to as a UE.

[0081] Assuming that M [dBm] is maximum output power (limit) for the previous waveform in terms of power class and power boosting, i.e. , PpowerClass - APpowerciass+APpowerBoost N is corresponding limit for the current waveform. L is the number of UL symbols transmitted with the previous waveform, in some embodiments, the number of UL symbols L transmitted under the maximum output power constraint M, e.g.,. Ppowerciass - APpowerciass + APpowerBoost = M dBm (associated to a first waveform) is scaled as L' = ioM~N) / loL when counting the number of UL symbols within the evaluation period for comparison against the duty cycle limit corresponding for the maximum output power constraint N dBm (associated to a second waveform, N M).

[0082] The number of symbols L is scaled either up or down corresponding to the maximum output power difference M-N in absolute value.

[0083] In some another embodiments, the number of UL symbols L transmitted with the configured maximum output power PCMAX .C M, where M is the maximum output power constraint (e.g.,. Ppowerciass - APpowerciass + APpowerBoost) associated to a first waveform is scaled as L' = IQ(M-W10when counting the number of UL symbols within the evaluation period for comparison against the duty cycle limit corresponding for the maximum output power constraint N dBm (associated to a second waveform, N>M).

[0084] In this case, it is to be understood that L contains symbols of also the second waveform when the corresponding PCMAXJ.C^M. The current waveform has higher maximum output power (N) than the previous waveform (M) (i.e. the number of symbols L is scaled downwards). Further the counting of transmitted UL symbols for the current waveform is changed by not counting the symbols already incorporated to L.

[0085] For each slot UE can set its configured max output power P_cMAx,f,c within the limits (e.g., Equation 1 ) depending e.g. on the current modulation order and resource allocation location within the carrier. The UE may have, with certain MPR values, P_CMAXJ,C < M even for the waveform with N. Those corresponding UL symbols are counted within L, which is then scaled down.

[0086] In some yet another embodiments, the number of UL symbols L transmitted with the output power P < M is scaled as L' = ioM~N) / loL when counting the number of UL symbols within the evaluation period for comparison against the duty cycle limit corresponding for the maximum output power constraint N dBm (associated to a second waveform, N>M) In this case, L contains symbols of also the second waveform when the actual transmission power is less than M dBm.

[0087] In this case, P is the actual transmission power for a UL transmission determined by the power control formula and P <= PCMAX .C. Most of the time UE has transmission power significantlysmaller than its max power, and now the corresponding transmitted UL symbols are counted to L to be scaled down. The transmitted UL symbols counted to L are not counted to any other count of transmitted UL symbols, i.e. , each transmitted UL symbol is counted only once.

[0088] M may be the maximum output power constraint associated to a first waveform (e.g. M = 26 dBm), but it may also be another transmission power limit, e.g. M = 23 dBm.

[0089] There may be also multiple M values in use, e.g. M1 = 26 dBm and M2 = 23 dBm, with corresponding number of transmitted UL symbols L1 and L2. The symbols of transmission Q are counted to the cumulative number of symbols L1 or L2 corresponding to the smallest M larger than actual transmission power. (E.g. symbols for 10 dBm transmission are counted to L2, while symbols for 21 dBm transmission are counted to L1). That is, multiple M values are not bound to the max output power limit of the previous waveform. The cumulative number of symbols L1 and L2 are scaled as LI' = io(M1-«) / loLl and L2' = IO(M2-W) / 1OL2 when counting the number of UL symbols within the evaluation period for comparison against the duty cycle limit corresponding for the maximum output power constraint N dB.

[0090] As described above, the solution of present disclosure relates to UE power boosting definition in 6G, and the related Tx power management. Based on this solution, how to perform duty cycle adaptation with dynamic waveform switching involving power boosting beyond the UEs nominal power class is addressed.

[0091] In some example embodiments, a first apparatus capable of performing any of the method 200 (for example, the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1 ) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 200. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The first apparatus may be implemented as or included in the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1 .

[0092] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises means for determining an evaluation period for a duty cycle; and means for in accordance with a determination, during the evaluation period, that at least one waveform in a plurality of waveforms associated with a dynamic waveform switching corresponds to a power boosting beyond a threshold power class, determining a target duty cycle that is allowed to be applied by the first apparatus during one or more uplink transmissions; and means for transmitting the one or more uplink transmission using a transmit power determined at least based on the target duty cycle.

[0093] In some example embodiments, the duty cycle is evaluated during the evaluation period based on the number of transmitted uplink symbols that is to be compared against the number of transmitted uplink symbols associated with the target duty cycle.

[0094] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for determiningthe evaluation period based on one of the following: a duration and timing of a reference semi-static evaluation period, or a pre-determined timing of a pre-determined evaluation period, or a predetermined duration limit for an evaluation period.

[0095] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for receiving, from a second apparatus, a configuration indicating a duration and timing of a configured evaluation period; and means for determining the evaluation period based on the configuration.

[0096] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for in accordance with a determination that a single waveform applies the power boosting beyond the threshold power class, determining a duty cycle, with which the single waveform operates, as the target duty cycle that is allowed to be applied by the first apparatus.

[0097] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for in accordance with a determination that two or more waveforms correspond to the power boosting beyond the threshold power class, determining respective duty cycles associated with the two or more waveforms; and means for in accordance with a determination that a first duty cycle, withing which a first waveform in the two or more waveforms operates, is the smallest duty cycle in the respective duty cycles, determining the first duty cycle as the target duty cycle that is allowed to be applied by the first apparatus until the end of the evaluation period.

[0098] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for in accordance with a determination that two or more waveforms correspond to the power boosting beyond the threshold power class, determining respective duty cycles associated with the two or more waveforms; means for calculating a further duty cycle based on weighted average of the two or more waveforms; and means for determining the further duty cycle as the target duty cycle that is allowed to be applied by the first apparatus within the evaluation period.

[0099] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for in accordance with a determination that two or more waveforms correspond to the power boosting beyond the threshold power class, restarting the evaluation period; and means for counting the number of transmitted uplink symbols from a start of a waveform change during the restarted evaluation period; and means for determining the target duty cycle based on the number of transmitted uplink symbols.

[0100] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for in accordance with a determination that two or more waveforms correspond to the power boosting beyond the threshold power class, determining a current duty cycle of a current waveform as the target duty cycle that is allowed to be applied by the first apparatus.

[0101] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for determiningthe number of transmitted uplink symbols under a power boost limit based on scaling a first transmitted uplink symbol count associated with the previous duty cycle and incorporating the scaled first transmitted uplink symbol count to a second transmitted uplink symbol count associated with the current duty cycle.

[0102] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for scaling the first number of transmitted uplink symbols based on a difference between a first output power associated with a first waveform and a second output power associated with a second waveform.

[0103] In some example embodiments, the first waveform is a previous waveform and the second waveform is the current waveform, and wherein the first output power is the maximum output power limit corresponding to the previous waveform and the second output power is the maximum output power limit corresponding to the current waveform, the second maximum output power limit is not equal to the first maximum output power limit.

[0104] In some example embodiments, the second output power is the maximum output power limit corresponding to the second waveform, and the first output power is equal to or smaller than the maximum output power limit corresponding to the first waveform, and wherein the second maximum output power limit is larger than the first maximum output power limit.

[0105] In some example embodiments, the first output power is a configured maximum output power or a transmission power for at least one or more transmitted uplink symbols.

[0106] FIG. 3 is a simplified block diagram of a device 300 that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 300 may be provided to implement a communication device, for example, the first apparatus 110as shown in FIG. 1. As shown, the device 300 includes one or more processors 310, one or more memories 320 coupled to the processor 310, and one or more communication modules 340 coupled to the processor 310.

[0107] The communication module 340 is for bidirectional communications. The communication module 340 has one or more communication interfaces to facilitate communication with one or more other modules or devices. The communication interfaces may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements. In some example embodiments, the communication module 340 may include at least one antenna.

[0108] The processor 310 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may include one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 300 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock which synchronizes the main processor.

[0109] The memory 320 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of the non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a Read Only Memory (ROM) 324, an electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM), a flash memory, a hard disk, a compact disc (CD), a digital video disk (DVD), an optical disk, a laser disk, and other magnetic storage and / or optical storage. Examples of the volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a random-access memory (RAM) 322 and other volatile memories that will not last in the power-down duration.

[0110] A computer program 330 includes computer executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 310. The instructions of the program 330 may include instructions for performing operations / acts of some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The program 330 may be stored in the memory, e.g., the ROM 324. The processor 310 may perform any suitable actions and processing by loading the program 330 into the RAM 322.

[0111] The example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by means of the program 330 so that the device 300 may perform any process of the disclosure as discussed with reference to FIG. 2. The example embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.

[0112] In some example embodiments, the program 330 may be tangibly contained in a computer readable medium which may be included in the device 300 (such as in the memory 320) or other storage devices that are accessible by the device 300. The device 300 may load the program 330 from the computer readable medium to the RAM 322 for execution. In some example embodiments, the computer readable medium may include any types of non-transitory storage medium, such as ROM, EPROM, a flash memory, a hard disk, CD, DVD, and the like. The term “non-transitory,” as used herein, is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e. , tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation on data storage persistency (e.g., RAM vs. ROM).

[0113] FIG. 4 shows an example of the computer readable medium 400 which may be in form of CD, DVD or other optical storage disk. The computer readable medium 400 has the program 330 stored thereon.

[0114] Generally, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, and other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. Although various aspects of embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or using some other pictorial representations, it is to be understood that the block, apparatus, system, technique or method described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware,software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

[0115] Some example embodiments of the present disclosure also provide at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a computer readable medium, such as a non-transitory computer readable medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, being executed in a device on a target physical or virtual processor, to carry out any of the methods as described above. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, or the like that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired in various embodiments. Machineexecutable instructions for program modules may be executed within a local or distributed device. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.

[0116] Program code for carrying out methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. The program code may be provided to a processor or controller of a general-purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, such that the program code, when executed by the processor or controller, cause the functions / operations specified in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams to be implemented. The program code may execute entirely on a machine, partly on the machine, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the machine and partly on a remote machine or entirely on the remote machine or server.

[0117] In the context of the present disclosure, the computer program code or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable the device, apparatus or processor to perform various processes and operations as described above. Examples of the carrier include a signal, computer readable medium, and the like.

[0118] The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable medium may include but not limited to an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of the computer readable storage medium would include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random-access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

[0119] Further, although operations are depicted in a particular order, this should not be understoodas requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Likewise, although several specific implementation details are contained in the above discussions, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the present disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments. Unless explicitly stated, certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, unless explicitly stated, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in a plurality of embodiments separately or in any suitable subcombination.

[0120] Although the present disclosure has been described in languages specific to structural features and / or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the present disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:1 . A first apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus at least to: determine an evaluation period for a duty cycle; in accordance with a determination, during the evaluation period, that at least one waveform in a plurality of waveforms associated with a dynamic waveform switching corresponds to a power boosting beyond a threshold power class, determine a target duty cycle that is allowed to be applied by the first apparatus during one or more uplink transmissions; and transmit the one or more uplink transmission using a transmit power determined at least based on the target duty cycle.

2. The first apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the duty cycle is evaluated during the evaluation period based on the number of transmitted uplink symbols that is to be compared against the number of transmitted uplink symbols associated with the target duty cycle.

3. The first apparatus of claim 1 or 2, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: determine the evaluation period based on one of the following: a duration and timing of a reference semi-static evaluation period, or a pre-determined timing of a pre-determined evaluation period, or a predetermined duration limit for an evaluation period.

4. The first apparatus of claim 1 or 2, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: receive, from a second apparatus, a configuration indicating a duration and timing of a configured evaluation period; and determine the evaluation period based on the configuration.

5. The first apparatus of any of claims 1-4, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: in accordance with a determination that a single waveform corresponds to the power boosting beyond the threshold power class, determine a duty cycle, with which the single waveform operates, as the target duty cycle that is allowed to be applied by the first apparatus.

6. The first apparatus of any of claims 1-4, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: in accordance with a determination that two or more waveforms correspond to the power boosting beyond the threshold power class, determine respective duty cycles associated with the two or more waveforms; and in accordance with a determination that a first duty cycle, with which a first waveform in the two or more waveforms operates, is the smallest duty cycle in the respective duty cycles, determine the first duty cycle as the target duty cycle that is allowed to be applied by the first apparatus until the end of the evaluation period.

7. The first apparatus of any of claims 1-4, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: in accordance with a determination that two or more waveforms correspond to the power boosting beyond the threshold power class, determine respective duty cycles associated with the two or more waveforms; calculate a further duty cycle based on weighted average of the two or more waveforms; and determine the further duty cycle as the target duty cycle that is allowed to be applied by the first apparatus within the evaluation period.

8. The first apparatus of any of claims 1-4, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: in accordance with a determination that two or more waveforms correspond to the power boosting beyond the threshold power class, restart the evaluation period; and count the number of transmitted uplink symbols from a start of a waveform change during the restarted evaluation period; and determine the target duty cycle based on the number of transmitted uplink symbols.

9. The first apparatus of any of claims 1-4, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: in accordance with a determination that two or more waveforms correspond to the power boosting beyond the threshold power class, determine a current duty cycle of a current waveform as the target duty cycle that is allowed to be applied by the first apparatus.

10. The first apparatus of claim 9, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: determine the number of transmitted uplink symbols under a power boost limit based on scaling a first transmitted uplink symbol count associated with the previous duty cycle and incorporating the scaled first transmitted uplink symbol count to a second transmitted uplink symbol count associated with the currentduty cycle.11 . The first apparatus of claim 10, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: scale the first number of transmitted uplink symbols based on a difference between a first output power associated with a first waveform and a second output power associated with a second waveform.

12. The first apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the first waveform is a previous waveform and the second waveform is the current waveform, and wherein the first output power is the maximum output power limit corresponding to the previous waveform and the second output power is the maximum output power limit corresponding to the current waveform, the second maximum output power limit is not equal to the first maximum output power limit.

13. The first apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the second output power is the maximum output power limit corresponding to the second waveform, and the first output power is equal to or smaller than the maximum output power limit corresponding to the first waveform, and wherein the second maximum output power limit is larger than the first maximum output power limit.

14. The first apparatus of claim 13, wherein the first output power is a configured maximum output power or a transmission power for at least one or more transmitted uplink symbols.

15. The first apparatus of any of claims 1-13, wherein the first apparatus comprises a terminal device.

16. A method comprising: determining, at a first apparatus, an evaluation period for a duty cycle; in accordance with a determination, during the evaluation period, that at least one waveform in a plurality of waveforms associated with a dynamic waveform switching corresponds to a power boosting beyond a threshold power class, determine a target duty cycle that is allowed to be applied by the first apparatus during one or more uplink transmissions; and transmitting the one or more uplink transmission using a transmit power determined at least based on the target duty cycle.

17. A first apparatus comprising: means for determining an evaluation period for a duty cycle; means for, in accordance with a determination, during the evaluation period, that at least onewaveform in a plurality of waveforms associated with a dynamic waveform switching corresponds to a power boosting beyond a threshold power class, determine a target duty cycle that is allowed to be applied by the first apparatus during one or more uplink transmissions; and means for transmitting the one or more uplink transmission using a transmit power determined at least based on the target duty cycle.

18. A computer readable medium comprises instructions stored thereon for causing a first apparatus to perform at least: determining an evaluation period for a duty cycle; in accordance with a determination, during the evaluation period, that at least one waveform in a plurality of waveforms associated with a dynamic waveform switching corresponds to a power boosting beyond a threshold power class, determine a target duty cycle that is allowed to be applied by the first apparatus during one or more uplink transmissions; and transmitting the one or more uplink transmission using a transmit power determined at least based on the target duty cycle.

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