Method and apparatus for indicating synchronization channel format and devices implementing the same in a wireless communication system

Abstract

The disclosure relates to a 5G or 6G communication system for supporting a higher data transmission rate. Specifically, the present disclosure relates to a method performed by a base station (BS) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising: transmitting one or more synchronization signal (SS) / physical broadcast channel (PBCH) blocks of a predetermined format, wherein the SS comprises a primary synchronization signal (PSS) and a secondary synchronization signal (SSS), and the PBCH further comprises a demodulation reference signal (DMRS), wherein the PSS specifies the predefined format of the one or more SS / PBCH blocks or the transmission periodicity of said one or more SS / PBCH blocks, and the physical cell identifier　is specified by the SSS or by the SSS in combination with the DMRS.

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INDICATING SYNCHRONIZATION CHANNEL FORMAT AND DEVICES IMPLEMENTING THE SAME IN A WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the field of communication between a Base Station (BS) and a User Equipment (UE). More specifically, the present disclosure relates to a method for transmitting / receiving a Synchronization Signal (SS) / Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) block with an indication of SS / PBCH block format and / or periodicity of sending these blocks.

[0002] Considering the development of wireless communication from generation to generation, the technologies have been developed mainly for services targeting humans, such as voice calls, multimedia services, and data services. Following the commercialization of 5G (5th generation) communication systems, it is expected that the number of connected devices will exponentially grow. Increasingly, these will be connected to communication networks. Examples of connected things may include vehicles, robots, drones, home appliances, displays, smart sensors connected to various infrastructures, construction machines, and factory equipment. Mobile devices are expected to evolve in various form-factors, such as augmented reality glasses, virtual reality headsets, and hologram devices. In order to provide various services by connecting hundreds of billions of devices and things in the 6G (6th generation) era, there have been ongoing efforts to develop improved 6G communication systems. For these reasons, 6G communication systems are referred to as beyond-5G systems.

[0003] 6G communication systems, which are expected to be commercialized around 2030, will have a peak data rate of tera (1,000 giga)-level bit per second (bps) and a radio latency less than 100μsec, and thus will be 50 times as fast as 5G communication systems and have the 1 / 10 radio latency thereof.

[0004] In order to accomplish such a high data rate and an ultra-low latency, it has been considered to implement 6G communication systems in a terahertz (THz) band (for example, 95 gigahertz (GHz) to 3THz bands). It is expected that, due to severer path loss and atmospheric absorption in the terahertz bands than those in mmWave bands introduced in 5G, technologies capable of securing the signal transmission distance (that is, coverage) will become more crucial. It is necessary to develop, as major technologies for securing the coverage, Radio Frequency (RF) elements, antennas, novel waveforms having a better coverage than Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), beamforming and massive Multiple-input Multiple-Output (MIMO), Full Dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antennas, and multiantenna transmission technologies such as large-scale antennas. In addition, there has been ongoing discussion on new technologies for improving the coverage of terahertz-band signals, such as metamaterial-based lenses and antennas, Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM), and Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface (RIS).

[0005] Moreover, in order to improve the spectral efficiency and the overall network performances, the following technologies have been developed for 6G communication systems: a full-duplex technology for enabling an uplink transmission and a downlink transmission to simultaneously use the same frequency resource at the same time; a network technology for utilizing satellites, High-Altitude Platform Stations (HAPS), and the like in an integrated manner; an improved network structure for supporting mobile base stations and the like and enabling network operation optimization and automation and the like; a dynamic spectrum sharing technology via collision avoidance based on a prediction of spectrum usage; an use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in wireless communication for improvement of overall network operation by utilizing AI from a designing phase for developing 6G and internalizing end-to-end AI support functions; and a next-generation distributed computing technology for overcoming the limit of UE computing ability through reachable super-high-performance communication and computing resources (such as Mobile Edge Computing (MEC), clouds, and the like) over the network. In addition, through designing new protocols to be used in 6G communication systems, developing mechanisms for implementing a hardware-based security environment and safe use of data, and developing technologies for maintaining privacy, attempts to strengthen the connectivity between devices, optimize the network, promote softwarization of network entities, and increase the openness of wireless communications are continuing.

[0006] It is expected that research and development of 6G communication systems in hyper-connectivity, including person to machine (P2M) as well as machine to machine (M2M), will allow the next hyper-connected experience. Particularly, it is expected that services such as truly immersive eXtended Reality (XR), high-fidelity mobile hologram, and digital replica could be provided through 6G communication systems. In addition, services such as remote surgery for security and reliability enhancement, industrial automation, and emergency response will be provided through the 6G communication system such that the technologies could be applied in various fields such as industry, medical care, automobiles, and home appliances.

[0007] The present disclosure relates to wireless communication systems and, more specifically, the present disclosure relates to method and apparatus for indicating synchronization channel format and devices implementing the same in a wireless communication system.

[0008] In a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method implemented by the BS for transmitting SS / PBCH block(s) to the UE, comprising the steps of: transmitting one or more SS / PBCH blocks of a predetermined format, wherein the SS comprises a PSS and a SSS, and the PBCH further comprises a Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS). The PSS specifies said predetermined format of said one or more SS / PBCH blocks and / or the transmission periodicity of said one or more SS / PBCH blocks, and the physical cell identifier is specified by the SSS or by the SSS in combination with the DMRS.

[0009] In the present disclosure, the PSS is used not as part of the information used to specify / derive the value of the physical cell identifier but as the information for specifying / deriving the format (structure) of the SS / PBCH block and / or the transmission periodicity of the SS / PBCH blocks. And for specifying / deriving the physical cell identifier , the present disclosure proposes to use either exclusively SSS or SSS in combination with DMRS. Therefore, since at least part of the network in this case can use the same PSS signaling sequence, SFN gain can be ensured in said at least part of the network, and the signaling of the SS / PBCH block format and periodicity allows for reduced number of errors in detecting SS / PBCH block information, and for increased flexibility due to the support of a subset of different SS / PBCH block formats and / or periodicities (which can be predetermined in advance and advantageously used in different network operation scenarios).

[0010] According to the development of the first aspect of the present disclosure, it is assumed that in the communication network in which said BS serving its communication cell operates comprises a plurality of BSs, each serving a different communication cell, wherein said one or more SS / PBCH blocks transmitted in this communication network by one or more BSs, including said BS, comprise the same PSS, have the same SS / PBCH block format and / or are transmitted with the same periodicity. In other words, in the at least part of the communication network, the SS / PBCH blocks transmitted by the base station(s) comprise the same PSS, which provides that SS / PBCH blocks of the same format are used in this part of the network and / or that these SS / PBCH blocks are transmitted in this part of the network with the same periodicity. In this case, by providing the possibility of specifying the format of the SS / PBCH blocks and / or the transmission periodicity of the SS / PBCH blocks, flexibility is increased, i.e. the base station(s) serving said part of the network can, in one case (e.g. during the day time when the network load is usually high), use and signal one predetermined format of the SS / PBCH blocks and / or the transmission periodicity of these SS / PBCH blocks (and transmit the SS / PBCH blocks according to such periodicity), and in another case (e.g. at night time when the network load is usually low), use and signal another predetermined format of the SS / PBCH blocks and / or another transmission periodicity of these SS / PBCH blocks, for example a predetermined format of the SS / PBCH block with repetitions of individual signals PSS, SSS, PBCH within one occurrence of the SS / PBCH block and with a longer periodicity. Due to the use of the same PSS, ensured is SFN gain improving coverage, especially at cell edges.

[0011] According to a development of the first aspect of the present disclosure, the method further comprises switching the SS / PBCH block format and / or the SS / PBCH block transmission periodicity used in the at least part of the communication network to a modified SS / PBCH block format and / or a modified SS / PBCH block transmission periodicity in response to the occurrence of a certain point in time (for example, but without limitation, when it became midnight). Therefore, the base station(s) serving said part of the network can centrally switch to the modified SS / PBCH block format and / or modified SS / PBCH block transmission periodicity when a certain condition is met, which should not be limited to only a time-related condition. In an alternative embodiment of this development of the first aspect of the present disclosure, another condition may be a transition (either in one direction or in the other) of the number of users active in the network through a predetermined threshold value.

[0012] According to the development of the first aspect of the present disclosure, the physical cell identifier is specified by the SSS identifier when the to-be-transmitted SS / PBCH block is generated, according to the following mathematical expression , where is the identifier of the SSS included in the SS / PBCH block being generated. According to the alternative development of the first aspect of the present disclosure, the physical cell identifier is specified by the SSS identifier and the DMRS identifier according to the following mathematical expression: , where is the identifier of the SSS included in the generated SS / PBCH block, and is the identifier of the DMRS included in the PBCH of the generated SS / PBCH block.

[0013] According to the development of the first aspect of the present disclosure the predetermined format of said one or more SS / PBCH blocks, specified by the PSS, indicates that one or more repetitions of one or more of the PSS, SSS and PBCH are contained within the transmitted SS / PBCH block, and / or that the bandwidth of the SSS and / or PBCH in the frequency domain is modified relative to that used respectively for the SSS and / or PBCH in 5G NR. In other words, the predefined format may indicate within one SS / PBCH block one or more PSS repetitions and / or one or more SSS repetitions, and / or one or more PBCH repetitions. To avoid mutual interference between different repetitions of the same signal in SS / PBCH, Orthogonal Cover Codes (OCC) can be applied. In this way, the UE will be able to accumulate SS / PBCH signals not only from different occurrences of several SS / PBCH in the time domain, as in the prior art, which, if increased transmission periodicity is applied, can lead to excessive delay on the UE side, but also from one occurrence of SS / PBCH with repetitions of individual signals thereof. In other words, this development of the first aspect of the present disclosure facilitates successful detection of SS / PBCH based on its single occurrence (single shot detection).

[0014] According to the development of the first aspect of the present disclosure, the transmission bandwidth of the PSS in the frequency domain remains the same, and the transmission bandwidth of the SSS and / or PBCH in the frequency domain is variable according to the SS / PBCH block format specified by the PSS and depends on the frequency band available in the communication network. In case of availability of a narrow frequency band and a large coverage area in the communication network, the PSS of the SS / PBCH block may specify such a predetermined SS / PBCH block format, according to which the transmission bandwidth of the SSS and / or PBCH is narrower in the frequency domain, and in case of availability of a wide frequency band and a small coverage area in the communication network, the PSS of the SS / PBCH block may specify such a predetermined SS / PBCH block format, according to which the transmission bandwidth of the SSS and / or PBCH is wider in the frequency domain to compensate for coverage area loss. This development allows to compensate for the reduction of the coverage area when the operating frequency band is expanded by widening the SSS and / or PBCH transmissions in the frequency domain, and the use of always the same PSS bandwidth in the frequency domain contributes to the simplification of the receiver at the UE side and, ultimately, to achieving SFN gain in PSS transmissions.

[0015] According to the development of the first aspect of the present disclosure, a plurality of PSS variants and, corresponding thereto on one-to-one basis, a plurality of SS / PBCH block format variants and / or SS / PBCH block transmission periodicities are predetermined, wherein a given PSS from the plurality of PSS variants is generated according to the PSS generation procedure used in the 5G NR standard, but with the use of equidistant cyclic shifts that are different from those used in the 5G NR standard when the PSS is generated, and / or with the use of a polynomial that is different from that used in the 5G NR standard when the PSS is generated. Thus, any collisions between PSS (and consequently SS / PBCH) detection according to the present disclosure and PSS detection according to 5G NR are avoided.

[0016] Provided in a second aspect of the present disclosure is a base station comprising operatively coupled a transceiver unit, an antenna, a processor, and a readable medium storing processor executable instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the base station to perform the method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure or according to any development of the first aspect of the present disclosure.

[0017] Provided in a third aspect of the present disclosure is a computer-readable medium storing executable instructions that, when executed by a device, cause the device to perform the method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure or according to any development of the first aspect of the present disclosure. This medium can be non-transitory.

[0018] Provided in a fourth aspect of the present disclosure is UE-implemented method of receiving SS / PBCH from BS, which comprises the steps of: detecting PSS, wherein the detected PSS specifies a predetermined format of the one or more SS / PBCH blocks being received and / or a transmission periodicity of the one or more SS / PBCH blocks; taking into account the predetermined format of the one or more SS / PBCH blocks and / or the transmission periodicity of the one or more SS / PBCH blocks, detecting SSS; and deriving a physical cell identifier based on the detected SSS.

[0019] According to the development of the fourth aspect of the present disclosure said step of SSS detection further comprises detecting DMRS in PBCH, and using the detected DMRS in combination with the detected SSS in deriving the value of the physical cell identifier .

[0020] According to the development of the fourth aspect of the present disclosure, in a communication network in which said UE operates, there are a plurality of cells, each of which is served by its own BS, including the cell in which the UE is located and which is served by said BS with which said UE communicates, wherein the PSS being received from said BS and detected by said UE is the same as all PSSs received at the same time in at least part of said communication network, wherein the format of the SS / PBCH block comprising the detected PSS and / or the transmission periodicity of the SS / PBCH blocks, including said SS / PBCH block comprising the detected PSS, are the same as those used at the same time in said at least part of the communication network.

[0021] According to the development of the fourth aspect of the present disclosure, the physical cell identifier is derived based on the identifier of the detected SSS according to the mathematical expression , where is the identifier of the detected SSS. According to the alternative development of the fourth aspect of the present disclosure, the physical cell identifier is derived based on the identifier of the detected SSS and the identifier of the detected DMRS according to the mathematical expression , where is the identifier of the detected SSS, and is the identifier of the detected DMRS.

[0022] According to the development of the fourth aspect of the present disclosure the predetermined format of said one or more SS / PBCH blocks, derived according to the PSS, indicates that one or more repetitions of one or more of the PSS, SSS and PBCH are contained within the received SS / PBCH block, and / or that the bandwidth of the SSS and / or PBCH in the frequency domain is modified relative to that used respectively for the SSS and / or PBCH in 5G NR.

[0023] According to the development of the fourth aspect of the present disclosure, the bandwidth of the PSS in the frequency domain remains the same, and the bandwidth of the SSS and / or PBCH in the frequency domain is variable according to the received SS / PBCH block format derived by the PSS and depends on the frequency band available in the communication network.

[0024] According to the development of the fourth aspect of the present disclosure, a plurality of PSS variants and, corresponding thereto on one-to-one basis, a plurality of SS / PBCH block format variants and / or SS / PBCH block transmission periodicities are predetermined, wherein a given PSS from the plurality of PSS variants is detected according to the PSS generation procedure used in the 5G NR standard, but with the use of equidistant cyclic shifts that are different from those used in the 5G NR standard in detecting PSS, and / or with the use of a polynomial that is different from that used in the 5G NR standard in detecting PSS.

[0025] Provided in a fifth aspect of the present disclosure is a user equipment comprising operatively coupled a transceiver unit, an antenna, a processor, and a readable medium storing processor executable instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the user equipment to perform the method according to the fourth aspect of the present disclosure or according to any development of the fourth aspect of the present disclosure.

[0026] Provided in a sixth aspect of the present disclosure is a computer-readable medium storing executable instructions that, when executed by a device, cause the device to perform the method according to the fourth aspect of the present disclosure or according to any development of the fourth aspect of the present disclosure. This medium can be non-transitory.

[0027] Provided in a seventh aspect of the present disclosure is a communication system comprising a plurality of cells and / or a plurality of sectors of a cell(s) served by at least one base station according to the second aspect of the present disclosure or according to any development of the second aspect of the present disclosure and at least one user equipment according to the fifth aspect of the present disclosure or according to any development of the fifth aspect of the present disclosure, wherein said at least one base station and said at least one user equipment communicate with each other.

[0028] These and other aspects of the present disclosure will be described in detail in the following detailed description with reference to the following drawings. The same reference positions on different figures are intended to point to the same entities.

[0029] Fig. 1 illustrates a flow chart of operations of UE accessing a communication network served by a BS according to the 5G NR prior art (left side of the figure) in a visual comparison with a flow chart of operations of UE accessing a communication network served by a BS according to the present disclosure (right side of the figure).

[0030] Fig. 2 illustrates an exemplary structure of SS / PBCH block.

[0031] Fig. 3 illustrates a scheme of specifying / deriving a physical cell identifier according to only the SSS identifier in an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0032] Fig. 4 illustrates an alternative scheme of specifying / deriving a physical cell identifier according to the SSS identifier and DMRS identifier in another embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0033] Fig. 5 illustrates non-limiting examples of different formats of SS / PBCH blocks transmitted with different periodicities according to the present disclosure.

[0034] Fig. 6 illustrates non-limiting embodiments of different SS / PBCH block formats and corresponding scenarios of available network coverage and frequency spectrum in which the corresponding SS / PBCH block formats can be advantageously applied according to the present disclosure.

[0035] Fig. 7 illustrates two non-limiting embodiments (referred to as "examples" in this figure) of generating PSS sequences according to the present disclosure.

[0036] Fig. 8 illustrates the Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR) and Cubic Metric (CM) characteristics determined according to the ambiguity function for three PSS variants generated according to the present disclosure.

[0037] Fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of a base station 200 according to the present disclosure.

[0038] Fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of a user equipment 400 according to the present disclosure.

[0039] Fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of a communication system 500 according to the present disclosure.

[0040] Fig. 12 is a block diagram of a base station, according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0041] Fig. 13 is a block diagram of a network entity, according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0042] Accordingly, the embodiment herein is to provide a base station (BS) implemented method of transmitting a Synchronization Signal (SS) / Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) to a User Equipment (UE), the method comprising the steps of: transmitting (S100) one or more SS / PBCH blocks of a predetermined format, wherein the SS comprises a Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS) and a Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS), and the PBCH further comprises a Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS), wherein the PSS specifies the predefined format of the one or more SS / PBCH blocks and / or the transmission periodicity of said one or more SS / PBCH blocks, and the physical cell identifier is specified by the SSS or by the SSS in combination with the DMRS.

[0043] In an embodiment, by the BS, the communication network in which said BS serving its communication cell operates comprises a plurality of BSs, each serving a different communication cell, said one or more SS / PBCH blocks transmitted in this communication network by one or more BSs, including said BS, comprise the same PSS, have the same SS / PBCH block format and / or are transmitted with the same periodicity.

[0044] In an embodiment, by the BS, the method further comprises switching the SS / PBCH block format and / or the SS / PBCH block transmission periodicity used in at least part of the communication network to a modified SS / PBCH block format and / or a modified SS / PBCH block transmission periodicity in response to the occurrence of a switching time according to the time of day.

[0045] In an embodiment, by the BS, the is specified by the SSS identifier when the to-be-transmitted SS / PBCH block is generated, , where is the identifier of the SSS included in the generated SS / PBCH block.

[0046] In an embodiment, by the BS, is specified by the SSS identifier and the DMRS identifier.

[0047] In an embodiment, by the BS, the is specified according to the following mathematical expression , where is the identifier of the SSS included in the generated SS / PBCH block, and is the identifier of the DMRS included in the PBCH of the generated SS / PBCH block.

[0048] In an embodiment, by the BS, the predetermined format of said one or more SS / PBCH blocks, specified by the PSS, indicates that one or more repetitions of one or more of the PSS, SSS and PBCH are contained within the transmitted SS / PBCH block, and / or that the bandwidth of the SSS and / or PBCH in the frequency domain is modified relative to that used respectively for the SSS and / or PBCH in 5G NR.

[0049] In an embodiment, by the BS, the PSS transmission bandwidth in the frequency domain remains the same, and the SSS and / or PBCH transmission bandwidth in the frequency domain is modifiable according to the SS / PBCH block format specified by the PSS and depends on the frequency band available in the communication network.

[0050] In an embodiment, by the BS, a plurality of PSS variants and, corresponding thereto on one-to-one basis, a plurality of SS / PBCH block format variants and / or SS / PBCH block transmission periodicities are predetermined, a given PSS from the plurality of PSS variants is generated according to the PSS generation procedure used in the 5G NR standard, but with the use of equidistant cyclic shifts that are different from those used in the 5G NR standard when the PSS is generated, and / or with the use of a polynomial that is different from that used in the 5G NR standard when the PSS is generated.

[0051] Accordingly, the embodiment herein is to provide a base station (200) comprising operatively coupled a transceiver unit (200.1), an antenna (200.2), a processor (200.3), and a readable medium (200.4) storing processor executable instructions which, when executed by the processor.

[0052] Accordingly, the embodiment herein is to provide a user equipment (UE) implemented method of receiving a Synchronization Signal (SS) / Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) from a Base Station (BS), the method comprising the steps of: detecting (S300) a Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS), wherein the detected PSS specifies a predetermined format of the one or more SS / PBCH blocks being received and / or a transmission periodicity of the one or more SS / PBCH blocks, taking into account the predetermined format of the one or more SS / PBCH blocks and / or the transmission periodicity of the one or more SS / PBCH blocks, detecting (S305) a Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS), deriving (S310) a physical cell identifier based on the detected SSS.

[0053] In an embodiment, by the UE, the method further comprises detecting a Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS) of the PBCH, and when deriving at step S310, the detected DMRS is used in combination with the detected SSS.

[0054] In an embodiment, by the UE, in the communication network in which said UE operates there are a plurality of cells, each of which is served by its own BS, including the cell in which said UE is located and served by said BS with which said UE communicates, the PSS being received from said BS and detected by said UE is the same as all PSSs received at the same time in at least part of said communication network, the format of the SS / PBCH block comprising the detected PSS and / or the transmission periodicity of the SS / PBCH blocks, including said SS / PBCH block comprising the detected PSS, are the same as those used at the same time in said at least part of the communication network.

[0055] In an embodiment, by the UE, is derived based on the identifier of the detected SSS, , where is the identifier of the detected SSS

[0056] In an embodiment, by the UE, is derived based on the identifier of the detected SSS and the identifier of the detected DMRS.

[0057] In an embodiment, by the UE, is derived according to the following mathematical expression: , is the identifier of the detected SSS, and is the identifier of the detected DMRS.

[0058] In an embodiment, by the UE, the predetermined format of said one or more SS / PBCH blocks, derived according to the PSS, indicates that one or more repetitions of one or more of the PSS, SSS and PBCH are contained within the received SS / PBCH block, and / or that the bandwidth of the SSS and / or PBCH in the frequency domain is modified relative to that used respectively for the SSS and / or PBCH in 5G NR.

[0059] In an embodiment, by the UE, bandwidth of the PSS in the frequency domain remains the same, and bandwidth of the SSS and / or PBCH in the frequency domain is modifiable according to the received SS / PBCH block format derived from the PSS and depends on the frequency band available in the communication network.

[0060] In an embodiment, by the UE, a plurality of PSS variants and, corresponding thereto on one-to-one basis, a plurality of SS / PBCH block format variants and / or SS / PBCH block transmission periodicities are predetermined, a given PSS from the plurality of PSS variants is detected according to the PSS generation procedure used in the 5G NR standard, but with the use of equidistant cyclic shifts that are different from those used in the 5G NR standard when the PSS is generated, and / or with the use of a polynomial that is different from that used in the 5G NR standard when the PSS is generated.

[0061] Accordingly, the embodiment herein is to provide a user equipment comprising operatively coupled a transceiver unit, an antenna, a processor, and a readable medium storing processor executable instructions which, when executed by the processor.

[0062] Accordingly, the embodiment herein is to provide a communication system comprising a plurality of cells and / or a plurality of sectors of a cell(s) served by at least one base station, and at least one user equipment.

[0063] Before undertaking the DETAILED DESCRIPTION below, it may be advantageous to set forth definitions of certain words and phrases used throughout this patent document. The term "couple" and its derivatives refer to any direct or indirect communication between two or more elements, whether or not those elements are in physical contact with one another. The terms "transmit," "receive," and "communicate," as well as derivatives thereof, encompass both direct and indirect communication. The terms "include" and "comprise," as well as derivatives thereof, mean inclusion without limitation. The term "or" is inclusive, meaning and / or. The phrase "associated with," as well as derivatives thereof, means to include, be included within, interconnect with, contain, be contained within, connect to or with, couple to or with, be communicable with, cooperate with, interleave, juxtapose, be proximate to, be bound to or with, have, have a property of, have a relationship to or with, or the like. The term "controller" means any device, system, or part thereof that controls at least one operation. Such a controller may be implemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and software and / or firmware. The functionality associated with any particular controller may be centralized or distributed, whether locally or remotely. The phrase "at least one of," when used with a list of items, means that different combinations of one or more of the listed items may be used, and only one item in the list may be needed. For example, "at least one of: A, B, and C" includes any of the following combinations: A, B, C, A and B, A and C, B and C, and A and B and C.

[0064] Moreover, various functions described below can be implemented or supported by one or more computer programs, each of which is formed from computer readable program code and embodied in a computer readable medium. The terms "application" and "program" refer to one or more computer programs, software components, sets of instructions, procedures, functions, objects, classes, instances, related data, or a portion thereof adapted for implementation in a suitable computer readable program code. The phrase "computer readable program code" includes any type of computer code, including source code, object code, and executable code. The phrase "computer readable medium" includes any type of medium capable of being accessed by a computer, such as read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), a hard disk drive, a compact disc (CD), a digital video disc (DVD), or any other type of memory. A "non-transitory" computer readable medium excludes wired, wireless, optical, or other communication links that transport transitory electrical or other signals. A non-transitory computer readable medium includes media where data can be permanently stored and media where data can be stored and later overwritten, such as a rewritable optical disc or an erasable memory device.

[0065] Definitions for other certain words and phrases are provided throughout this patent document. Those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that in many if not most instances, such definitions apply to prior as well as future uses of such defined words and phrases.

[0066] Fig. 1 illustrates a flow chart of operations of UE accessing a communication network served by a BS according to the 5G NR prior art (left side of the figure) in a visual comparison with a flow chart of operations of UE accessing a communication network served by a BS according to the present disclosure (right side of the figure).

[0067] Left side of Fig. 1 depicts the scheme of accessing the BS by the UE according to the 5G NR communication standard. The operations performed on the UE side shown in the figure may be performed during the Initial Access (IA) of the UE to the communication network, during the reestablishment of the UE connection to the communication network when any problems occurred, or during the UE handover from one BS to another BS.

[0068] The synchronization process begins, as shown in Fig. 1, with transmitting SS / PBCH blocks by the BS. The UE located in the cell served by the given BS performs rough time and frequency synchronization in an attempt to detect a Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS). In case the PSS is detected successfully, the value of identifier associated with it is determined. Then, the UE performs fine time and frequency synchronization in an attempt to detect a Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS). If the SSS is detected successfully, the value of identifier associated with it is determined. Then the UE derives the value of the physical cell identifier according to the mathematical expression and uses it to decode the PBCH. The UE then typically obtains information from the Master Information Blocks (MIBs) contained in the decoded PBCH and finds out the transmission schedule of the System Information Blocks (SIBs) sent by the base station. The UE may then perform sequential SIB detection and decoding and any other operations that the UE needs to perform.

[0069] In 5G NR, a specific single SS / PBCH block format is supported, it has the same transmission bandwidth, and by default, the same periodicity with which it is transmitted. In addition, 5G NR does not have any capability to repeat or extend the SS / PBCH block duration to support "single shot detection", i.e. detection based on a single occurrence of SS / PBCH block in the time domain. Instead, in 5G NR, it is assumed that the UE, especially the one located at the cell edge, can somehow accumulate the signal over multiple SS / PBCH block occurrences in the time domain, since the transmission periodicity of SS / PBCH blocks is known (20 ms), and perform successful detection. In other words, with the operation scheme like in 5G NR, there is no possibility for UEs located at the cell edge to detect the SS / PBCH block signal in one attempt. In addition, in 5G NR, the format and transmission periodicity of SS / PBCH block are not adaptive to different network operation patterns. Therefore, the approach used in 5G NR is not flexible enough for the next generation communication standard (6G) and there is a need to support some variations in the SS / PBCH block format and / or SS / PBCH block transmission periodicity and to ensure that these variations can be applied depending on the use cases.

[0070] Let us look at one more aspect of 5G NR that could be improved. One of the main parameters used to access the communication network is the above-mentioned physical cell identifier that is derived at the UE according to the above-mentioned mathematical expression. The PSS-associated identifier can take the values {0, 1, 2}, i.e. each PSS is assigned one of the three values. The SSS-associated identifier can take the values {0, 1, ..., 335}, i.e. each SSS is assigned one of the three hundred thirty-six values. Based on this, the total number of possible values of the physical cell identifier is 1008 identifiers (3 PSS * 336 SSS). This cell identifier is then used in many cases, in the generation of many signals, almost all scrambling sequences including scrambling sequences for the PBCH.

[0071] Therefore, since there are 3 PSS variants in the entire communication network according to 5G NR, one part of the base stations transmits SS / PBCH block with one PSS variant, another part of the base stations transmits SS / PBCH block with another PSS variant etc. Thus, it turns out that the PSS signal sequences are different from each other, and accordingly, the so-called Single-Frequency Network (SFN) gain cannot be ensured when transmitting PSS included in SS / PBCH block in the 5G NR communication network. With implementation of such an amplification by transmitting the same signal from different base stations, a better coverage area could be ensured even for UEs located at the cell (sector) edge.

[0072] At least some of the above-mentioned problems in the prior art and / or related problems that are not explicitly stated above are solved by the present disclosure. It should not be assumed, however, that possible is only the implementation of the present disclosure, which solves all such problems at once. In other words, the present disclosure, which will be described in detail below and in all essential details, also contemplates implementations, each of which solves one or a subset of the problems inherent in the prior art.

[0073] The right side of Fig. 1 depicts a flow chart of operations of UE accessing a communication network served by a BS according to the present disclosure. This figure depicts both the operation performed by BS 200 and the complementary operations performed by UE 400. The BS-implemented method of transmitting SS / PBCH to the UE begins with the step S100, in which the BS transmits one or more SS / PBCH blocks of a predetermined format. The Synchronization Signal (SS) of the SS / PBCH block comprises PSS and SSS, and the PBCH of the SS / PBCH block further comprises a Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS). The PSS in the SS / PBCH block specifies the applied predetermined format of said one or more SS / PBCH blocks and / or the transmission periodicity of said one or more SS / PBCH blocks, and the physical cell identifier is specified by the SSS or by the SSS in combination with the DMRS.

[0074] Fig. 2 illustrates an exemplary structure of SS / PBCH block.

[0075] With reference to Fig. 2, an exemplary structure of the SS / PBCH block will be described. In general, the structure shown in this figure corresponds to that used in 5G NR. In this sense, in the present disclosure, the SS / PBCH block structure / format shown in the figure can be considered as the default SS / PBCH block structure / format or the simplest structure / format. The default SS / PBCH block format shown in the figure may also be used in the present disclosure, at least in certain cases, such as when the PSS signals only a change in transmission periodicity of SS / PBCH blocks to a periodicity that differs from the 20 ms periodicity applied in 5G NR. But it is important to note that even in the absence of observable structural changes, the important difference between the SS / PBCH block according to the present disclosure and the SS / PBCH block according to 5G NR will be that the PSS (namely its ID) according to the present disclosure will not be used to specify / derive the physical cell identifier as in 5G NR, but it will be used to specify / derive, separately or in combination, SS / PBCH block format and / or periodicity. Other non-limiting examples of SS / PBCH block formats applicable in the present disclosure will be described below with reference to other figures.

[0076] In the simplest design, the SS / PBCH block is spread in the time domain over four Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols, and in the frequency domain it covers, in the first (earliest in time) OFDM symbol, 127 center subcarriers into which the PSS is multiplexed; in the second and fourth OFDM symbols, there are 240 subcarriers into which the PBCH and PBCH DMRS are multiplexed, wherein the PBCH DMRS subcarriers may be uniformly distributed among the PBCH subcarriers in these OFDM symbols; and in the third OFDM symbol there are 240 subcarriers, and in this implementation of the SS / PBCH block: of these 240 subcarriers, the SSS is multiplexed into the 127 center subcarriers of this OFDM symbol, a part of the subcarriers on both sides of the SSS in the frequency domain is allocated as a guard interval (which is desirable, but not mandatory), and into the remaining subcarriers on both sides of the SSS in the frequency domain, PBCH and PBCH DMRS are multiplexed, and the PBCH DMRS subcarriers can be uniformly distributed among the PBCH subcarriers in this OFDM symbol as well.

[0077] The PSS signal sequence is typically modulated by a maximum length modulating sequence ("M-sequence" for short), which is a pseudo-random binary sequence generated by a linear feedback shift register and having a maximum period. Different variants of the PSS signal sequences can be generated as will be described in detail below with reference to Fig. 7, by applying corresponding different cyclic shifts to the base M-sequence and / or different polynomials, wherein any cyclic shifts and polynomials different from those used in generating the PSS in 5G NR can be used as cyclic shifts and / or polynomials in the present disclosure. This is necessary to avoid collisions of the PSSs in the present disclosure with the PSSs according to 5G NR.

[0078] Each variant of the PSS signal sequence that can be generated may be assigned with its own predetermined SS / PBCH block format and / or predetermined SS / PBCH block transmission periodicity. Thus, in the present disclosure, the PSS is used to specify / derive a predetermined SS / PBCH block format and / or a predetermined transmission periodicity of the SS / PBCH blocks. In one embodiment of the present disclosure, a particular PSS can be used to specify / derive a particular SS / PBCH block format (e.g., a modified SS / PBCH format with one or more repetitions of PSS, SSS, and PBCH), in another embodiment of the present disclosure, a particular PSS may be used to specify / derive a particular modified SS / PBCH block transmission periodicity (e.g., 160 ms periodicity) without any change in the SS / PBCH block format (i.e., structure) itself. In another embodiment of the present disclosure, a particular PSS may be used simultaneously for both specifying / deriving a particular SS / PBCH block format (e.g., a modified SS / PBCH format with one or more repetitions of PSS, SSS, and PBCH) and for specifying / deriving a particular modified transmission periodicity of SS / PBCH blocks (e.g., 80 ms periodicity).

[0079] The SSS signal sequence is typically modulated with a Gold modulating sequence (one of 336 sequences). PBCH is an OFDM signal obtained from Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) modulated bit sequences encoded with a polar code, which additionally contains DMRS signals that can be based on the Gold sequence as well. Embodiments of PSS sequence generation according to the present disclosure are described below with reference to Fig. 7, and generation of the SSS sequence and the PBCH sequence comprising the DMRS sequence may be performed according to any method known in the art, including the methods used for these purposes in 5G NR.

[0080] The communication network in which said BS serving its communication cell operates may comprise a plurality of BSs, each serving its own communication cell. In this communication network, one or more SS / PBCH blocks transmitted by the base station in step S100 and one or more SS / PBCH blocks transmitted by one or more (e.g. neighboring) base stations carry the same PSS, i.e. have the same SS / PBCH block format and / or are transmitted with the same periodicity. This allows achieving SFN-gain for PSS in this part of the communication network and, as a consequence, more accurate detection of the SS / PBCH block, due to the transmission of the same PSS by different BSs in this part of the network.

[0081] The method performed by the base station may further comprise switching the SS / PBCH block format and / or the SS / PBCH block transmission periodicity used in at least part of the communication network to a modified SS / PBCH block format and / or a modified SS / PBCH block transmission periodicity in response to the occurrence of a switching time according to the time of day or if another condition associated, for example, with the current load of the communication network is fulfilled. Such switching may be performed synchronously by all base stations in the communication network or by at least certain group of neighboring base stations in the at least part of such communication network.

[0082] As the non-limiting example, the upper part of Fig. 5 illustrates the first pattern for transmitting SS / PBCH blocks of the first format with the first periodicity (20 ms), and the lower part of Fig. 5 illustrates the second pattern for transmitting SS / PBCH blocks of the second (modified) format with the second (modified) periodicity (160 ms).

[0083] We now proceed to a description of embodiments of the new scheme of specifying / deriving the physical cell identifier with references to Figs. 3-4.

[0084] Fig. 3 illustrates a scheme of specifying / deriving a physical cell identifier according to only the SSS identifier in an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0085] In the first embodiment depicted in Fig. 3, the physical cell identifier is specified based on the SSS identifier in generating to-be-transmitted SS / PBCH block. In this embodiment , where is the identifier of the SSS included in the generated SS / PBCH block. Considering that 5G NR uses 1008 different cellIDs, it makes sense that 6G would have at least as many different cellIDs. Therefore, in one non-limiting implementation of this embodiment, an increased number (compared to 336 in 5G NR) of up to 1008 {0,1,...,1007} different identifiers of SSS sequences can be used, each of which indicates a unique cell identifier, cellID. Nonetheless, the number of different identifiers, cellIDs, should not be limited to 1008 (and, accordingly, the number of of different SSSs), since the actual number of different cellIDs used may be both greater than 1008 (see the alternative embodiment described below with reference to Fig. 4) and less than 1008 depending on the configuration of the communication network (e.g., depending on the number of cells supported in the network).

[0086] Fig. 4 illustrates an alternative scheme of specifying / deriving a physical cell identifier according to the SSS identifier and DMRS identifier in another embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0087] In the second (alternative) embodiment shown in Fig. 4, the physical cell identifier is specified based on the SSS identifier and the DMRS identifier in generating to-be-transmitted SS / PBCH block. In this embodiment , where {0,1,...,335} is the identifier of the SSS included in the generated SS / PBCH block, and {0,1,...,5} is the identifier of the DMRS included in the generated SS / PBCH block. The total number of in this non-limiting embodiment is equal to the total number of in 5G NR, i.e. 336, and additional cellID values in this embodiment can be specified / derived by combining the SSSs with six different PBCH DMRSs. However, the number of different SSS identifiers in this embodiment should not be limited to 336, since the actual number of used identifiers of different SSSs may be greater than 336 or less than 336. In addition, it should be clear that a number of of different DMRSs, which is greater or less than 6, can be used, but in practice, usually no one implements a receiver (detector) for so many such DMRS sequences, so as not to complicate the receiver. Therefore, the second embodiment shown in Fig. 4 is the embodiment of specifying / deriving the physical cell identifier hierarchically. According to the second embodiment, the UE detects the one of the plurality of DMRSs and determines the identifier of the detected DMRS, then the UE detects one of the plurality of SSSs and determines the identifier of the detected SSS, and, subsequently, by combining these identifiers and according to the mathematical expression , the UE derives the physical cell identifier .

[0088] It is important to note that in both embodiments the PSSs are used for other purposes (not for specifying the physical cell identifier as in 5G NR): but, for example, for classifying SS / PBCH block format, namely by the repetitions of individual SS / PBCH signals and / or the bandwidth of individual SS / PBCH signals (except for the PSS bandwidth) in the frequency domain, and / or the periodicity of transmitting SS / PBCH. In the present disclosure, the UE first detects the sequence of particular PSS (from a plurality of predetermined variants) and derives from it, what a SS / PBCH block format and / or SS / PBCH transmission periodicity is / are used. Due to this, the present disclosure provides that base stations in the entire communication network or in at least part of the communication network transmit the same PSS, since the dependence of the PSS on the is avoided in the present disclosure. Therefore, throughout the entire such communication network or in said at least part of the communication network, the PSS of the transmitted SS / PBCH blocks will have the same format and, accordingly, SFN gain will be achieved.

[0089] Fig. 5 illustrates non-limiting examples of different formats of SS / PBCH blocks transmitted with different periodicities according to the present disclosure.

[0090] The first and second patterns illustrated represent SS / PBCH block transmissions that may be repeated in the time domain with some periodicity. In one implementation, the illustrated first and second patterns may represent burst transmissions performed with some periodicity.

[0091] Said first transmission pattern with SS / PBCH blocks of the first format can be applied in the communication network during the day time (under usually heavy load), and the switching of a part of or all BSs in the communication network and / or in a particular part of the communication network to the second transmission pattern with SS / PBCH blocks of the second format can be carried out, but without limitation, upon the arrival of a particular time (for example, at night) or upon fulfilment of a particular other condition (for example, the number of active users in the communication network and / or in a particular part of the communication network has dropped below the threshold value of the number of active users). The necessity of such switching is explained as follows. When the network load is low, there is no sense in frequent sending of these SS / PBCH blocks, so as not to waste BS power. In this case, switching to a longer SS / PBCH block transmission periodicity (for example, 160 ms, as shown at the bottom of Fig. 5) can be performed. But the UE needs to somehow understand that the BS has changed the periodicity of transmitting SS / PBCH blocks. In the present disclosure, the UE will be able to understand this by detecting the PSS. On the other hand, in order to prevent the UE from losing when the longer periodicity of transmitting SS / PBCH blocks is applied, with which an attempt to accumulate (i.e. combine) SS / PBCH information over different SS / PBCH occurrences in the time domain would result in an excessively high delay (and this is disadvantageous since it requires the presence of an extremely large buffer on the UE receiver side), the present disclosure proposes to increase the number of repetitions of PSS, SSS, PBCH and PBCH DMRS within a single SS / PBCH block occurrence. In this sense, it can be said that such a format of the SS / PBCH block, proposed in the present disclosure, "incorporates" all the periodicity of transmitting SS / PBCH blocks not having repetitions of PSS, SSS, PBCH and PBCH DMRS according to 5G NR. But this entails in the present disclosure the completely different SS / PBCH block format and the way to signal it. Scenarios with high SS / PBCH block transmission periodicity and with low SS / PBCH block transmission periodicity are, in a way, an adaptation to periods of low network load (e.g. at night) and to periods of high network load (e.g. during the day time).

[0092] Therefore, the first SS / PBCH block format illustrated at the upper part of Fig. 5, transmitted with the periodicity of 20 ms, may correspond to the default SS / PBCH block format illustrated and described above with reference to Fig. 2. In said first pattern, the fact that the SS / PBCH block is transmitted frequently enough (i.e. eight times more frequently than the SS / PBCH block of the second format according to the second pattern depicted at the lower part of Fig. 5) allows for the UE to perform successful detection of the SS / PBCH block by accumulating its information over several occurrences of the SS / PBCH block in the time domain (i.e. from different periods) and due to processing usually being the non-coherent processing to obtain an improvement in the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR). In the second pattern, in which a longer periodicity (160 ms) is applied, but the SS / PBCH block has the second format in which the PSS is repeated 4 times, the SSS is repeated 4 times and the PBCH (together with the PBCH DMRS) is repeated about 2 times, the UE will typically be able to successfully detect the SS / PBCH from its single occurrence (i.e. it will be able to perform the so-called "single shot detection") due to the repetitions of different signal components in such a larger SS / PBCH block, without waiting for the next occurrence of the SS / PBCH block after 160 ms in the illustrated example. The criteria for successful detection of PSS may vary. In the non-limiting example, the success of PSS detection may be determined by exceeding a particular threshold for a particular metric.

[0093] Orthogonal Cover Codes (OCC) may in this case be incorporated into individual repetitions of the SS / PBCH signals in the time domain to ensure their orthogonality in the time domain, i.e. to avoid interference between different repetitions of these signals. It should be understood that the examples illustrated in Fig. 5 should not be considered as limiting, since other SS / PBCH block formats and transmission periodicities are possible. Some of these other SS / PBCH block formats and periodicities will be illustrated in other non-limiting examples described below.

[0094] Fig. 6 illustrates non-limiting embodiments of different SS / PBCH block formats and corresponding scenarios of available network coverage and frequency spectrum in which the corresponding SS / PBCH block formats can be advantageously applied according to the present disclosure.

[0095] Now, with reference to Fig. 6, we will consider non-limiting embodiments of different SS / PBCH block formats and corresponding scenarios of available network coverage and frequency spectrum in which the corresponding SS / PBCH block formats can be advantageously applied according to the present disclosure. In general, according to the present disclosure, the predetermined format of said one or more SS / PBCH blocks, specified by the PSS, indicates that one or more repetitions of one or more of the PSS, SSS and PBCH are contained within the transmitted SS / PBCH block, and / or that the bandwidth of the SSS and / or PBCH in the frequency domain is modified relative to that used respectively for the SSS and / or PBCH in 5G NR. In the present disclosure, the transmission bandwidth of the PSS in the frequency domain is kept the same in order to facilitate the reception of this first-detected signal at the UE side, and the transmission bandwidth of the SSS and / or PBCH in the frequency domain can be modified according to the SS / PBCH block format specified by the PSS and depending on, for example, the frequency band available in the communication network.

[0096] The left side of Fig. 6 illustrates the first SS / PBCH format that is applied in a limited frequency spectrum scenario with a narrow frequency band that ensures a large coverage area. The bandwidth of the narrow frequency band in this case can be about 20 MHz, but without limitation to the mentioned value. In this case, the PBCH and SSS in the frequency domain are not expanded, i.e. they can have a bandwidth corresponding to the bandwidth of the PBCH and SSS in the SS / PBCH block, the structure of which is described above with reference to Fig. 2.

[0097] In the center of Fig. 6 depicted is the second SS / PBCH format that is applied in a frequency spectrum scenario with a mid-frequency band that ensures a smaller coverage area. The bandwidth of the mid-frequency band in this case can be about 20-100 MHz, but without limitation to the mentioned range. In this case, the bandwidth of the PBCH and / or SSS in the frequency domain may be increased. Widening the PBCH and / or SSS in the frequency domain (i.e. increasing the number of subcarriers) within a single SS / PBCH block results in a reduced coding rate since more code bits are transmitted and, as a result, higher noise immunity can be ensured in this case. In other words, widening the SSS and / or PBCH bandwidth within the SS / PBCH block transmission allows to compensate for the loss of coverage area when higher frequency ranges are.

[0098] The right side of Fig. 6 illustrates the third SS / PBCH format that is applied in a frequency spectrum scenario with a wide-frequency band (typical of the millimeter range) that ensures even smaller coverage area. The bandwidth of such a wide-frequency band in this case can be of the order of 100-400 MHz, but without limitation to the mentioned range. In this case, the bandwidth of the PBCH and / or SSS in the frequency domain can be increased even further, up to the point of using the entire available frequency band for transmitting the SSS and / or PBCH.

[0099] As can be seen from Fig. 6, in contrast to the SSS and / or PBCH, which are the sequences specific to at least a part of the cells / sectors, the bandwidth of the PSS, which is the sequence common to the at least part of the cells / sectors, ensuring SFN gain, is not changed from SS / PBCH block format to SS / PBCH block format. This feature, according to which the PSS bandwidth is kept the same from format to format, is unique because the PSS is primarily detected in the time domain rather than the frequency domain, and for this, a simpler, and therefore fixed-bandwidth, receiver at the UE can be used. With PBCH and SSS, the situation is the opposite, since they are usually detected in the frequency domain, their bandwidth in the frequency domain can be increased, without any problems, to improve their noise immunity and compensate for coverage area loss. But the UE should know in advance about any change in the format and / or periodicity of the SS / PBCH blocks, and the UE can learn about this change by performing detection of the PSS, which will remain the same in bandwidth in the frequency domain.

[0100] Additionally, the following is noted regarding the role of PSS in the present disclosure. The information about the physical cell identifier is removed from the PSS. This ensures full SFN gain, i.e. full gain due to joint transmission. In other words, due to the fact that all BSs or at least some of the neighboring BSs in the space of the communication network will transmit the same PSS sequence, these BSs will "help" each other and increase the level of the PSS signal power received by the UE. A particular technical advantage in this regard is provided for UEs that are located at the edge of cells or at the edge of cell sectors that are served by the said BSs.

[0101] In addition, there are different types of devices, there are simple devices (the so-called Reduced Capability devices, RedCap devices, according to the terminology used in 5G), which by being reduced in cost can only receive narrowband signals, and there are more standard devices (smartphone, fixed wireless access device), which are considered more advanced and which can receive a wider band signal. Therefore, the present disclosure is suitable for supporting different types of devices in an optimal manner by changing the SS / PBCH block format and signaling the corresponding PSS sequence.

[0102] Fig. 7 illustrates two non-limiting embodiments (referred to as "examples" in this figure) of generating PSS sequences according to the present disclosure.

[0103] Now, let us turn to a description of the embodiments of generating the PSS sequence according to the present disclosure with reference to Fig. 7.

[0104] In general, according to the present disclosure, a plurality of PSS variants and, corresponding thereto on one-to-one basis, a plurality of SS / PBCH block format variants and / or SS / PBCH block transmission periodicities are predetermined. The correspondences between predetermined PSS sequences and corresponding SS / PBCH block formats and / or periodicities may be defined in advance in a specification and stored, for example in the form of a look-up table, in the memory of both all BSs and all UEs implementing the present disclosure.

[0105] A given PSS from the plurality of PSS variants is generated according to the PSS generation procedure used in the 5G NR standard, but with the use of equidistant cyclic shifts that are different from those used in the 5G NR standard in generating the PSS, and / or with the use of a polynomial that is different from that used in the 5G NR standard in generating the PSS.

[0106] Let us consider the generation of PSS in more detail with reference to the schemes of Fig. 7. The PSS generation process depicted at the top of Fig. 7, referred to as "Example 1", uses the same PSS generation process as that in 5G NR, but with different (from 5G NR) cyclic shifts to avoid any collisions. In this case, PSS generation starts with the generation of the M-sequence, which in this example is inherited from 5G NR. To generate the inherited M-sequence, a generator is used which is implemented by a linear shift register as depicted at the upper part of Fig. 7 related to Example 1. The M-sequence, from which a particular signal sequence PSS will subsequently be generated, is obtained from the depicted linear shift register by initializing the initial state [1110110] of the shift register. In other words, each cell of the shift register is initialized with its initial bit value and the output from the register is the basic sequence of length 127.

[0107] The basic bit sequence is then cyclically shifted by a given cyclic shift corresponding to the SS / PBCH block format and / or the SS / PBCH block transmission periodicity that the PSS being generated shall signal. As the non-limiting example, the cyclic shift applied at this step may be determined from the following Table 1, which defines three possible variants of SS / PBCH format and / or periodicity.

[0108]

[0109] If necessary, more variants of SS / PBCH format and / or periodicity may be predetermined. In this case, as the non-limiting example, the following Table 2 may be considered which defines six possible SS / PBCH format and / or periodicity variants.

[0110]

[0111] The information given in Tables 1 and 2 above should be considered as the non-limiting examples of defining mappings between particular SS / PBCH formats and / or periodicities and particular cyclic shifts . It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that these mappings may be redefined, and other signaled SS / PBCH formats and / or periodicities may be assigned to particular cyclic shifts. Furthermore, the cyclic shifts shown in Tables 1 and 2 as being equidistant from each other may not be equidistant from each other in an actual implementation. In addition, the specific cyclic shift values may differ from those shown in Tables 1 and 2, provided that they differ from the cyclic shift values used in 5G NR for generating different PSS variants.

[0112] Then, according to Example 1 in Fig. 7, the cyclically shifted bit sequence is subjected to Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK) according to the following mathematical expression and the BPSK-modulated PSS bit sequence is mapped onto subcarriers, namely onto the 127 center subcarriers of the first OFDM symbol of the generated SS / PBCH block according to the mathematical expression . In the above mathematical expressions:

[0113] is the BPSK modulated PSS bit sequence,

[0114] is the subcarrier number, ,

[0115] is the bit M-sequence: and

[0116] ,

[0117] is index of the element in the bit M-sequence,

[0118] is the cyclic shift value (for example, but not limited to, the value according to Table 1 or Table 2 above).

[0119] After this, the PSS generation procedure according to Example 1 is completed by performing a standard Cyclic Prefix OFDM (CP-OFDM) symbol generation procedure on the PSS sequence mapped onto the subcarriers.

[0120] The sequence of PSS generation operations shown at the bottom of Fig. 7, referred to as "Example 2", consists of using the same PSS generation process as that in 5G NR, but with a different M-sequence than that used in PSS generation according to 5G NR. To generate the new M-sequence, a generator is used which is implemented by a linear shift register as depicted at the bottom part of Fig. 7 related to Example 2. The new M-sequence, from which a particular signal sequence PSS will subsequently be generated, is obtained from the shown linear shift register characterized by the new polynomial of the form by initialization of the initial state [1111110] of the shift register. Each cell of such a shift register is initialized with its initial bit value and at the output of the register the new basic sequence of length 127 is obtained. Next, at the step of cyclic shifting, to obtain different sequences, the cyclic shift values used in PSS generation according to 5G NR can be used (for example, to define three PSS variants, the set of △CS (5G NR)values can be, but is not limited to, {0, 43, 86}) or, optionally, it is possible to use cyclic shift values different from those used in PSS generation according to 5G NR. It is clear that even in the first case, when for generating the PSS used are the same cyclic shift values △CS (5G NR)as in 5G NR, no collisions will occur, since in Example 2 to generate the PSS the following components different from that in 5G NR are used: the linear shift register, the polynomial, the initial state of the shift register, and, as a consequence, the new basic M-sequence. The remaining operations in Example 2 correspond to the operations described above for Example 1, so they are not described here again. The scheme according to Example 2 is more robust compared to the scheme according to Example 1 at least due to a larger number of different / new parameters (relative to Example 1) that distinguish the PSS generation procedure in the present disclosure from that according to 5G NR.

[0121] Fig. 8 illustrates the Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR) and Cubic Metric (CM) characteristics determined according to the ambiguity function for three PSS variants generated according to the present disclosure.

[0122] Fig. 8 shows graphs reflecting the characteristics of possible PSS variants that are generated according to the flow chart of Example 2 described above with reference to the lower part of Fig. 7, using similar to 5G NR cyclic shift values △CS (5G NR)= {0, 43, 86}. For each of the PSS variants, the values of the PAPR and CM metrics representing the characteristics of the dynamic range of the generated PSS are calculated and shown in Fig. 8. As follows from these values of the specified metrics, the generated PSS variants have a high dynamic range, i.e. all generated PSS have significant differences between their strongest and weakest components. In addition, the ambiguity function graphs show that the generated PSS are well localized, i.e. the maxima of their ambiguity functions are in the region of zero frequency and time shifts. Furthermore, it can be seen from these graphs that there is no dramatic growth of side lobes, side peaks, etc. In other words, the characteristics of the new PSS signals obtained according to the present disclosure are comparable to the characteristics of the PSS signals in 5G NR, although they serve for completely different purposes in the present disclosure and in 5G NR.

[0123] Next, with reference to Fig. 9, we will describe an embodiment of a base station 200.

[0124] Fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of a base station 200 according to the present disclosure.

[0125] The base station 200 comprises operatively coupled a transceiver unit 200.1, an antenna 202, a processor 203, and a readable medium 204 storing processor executable instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the base station to perform the method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure or according to any development of the first aspect of the present disclosure. The base station 200 may be implemented as follows, but not limited to: Node B, eNodeB, gNodeB.

[0126] The transceiver unit 201 and the antenna 202 can be adapted for operation in, but not limited to the mentioned range, the upper part of the medium frequency range (7-13 GHz). The transceiver unit 201 is configured to transmit and receive radio signals. It includes amplifiers, modulators, demodulators and other components needed to convert signals to and from radio frequency range. The transceiver unit 201 can support multi-channel data transmission using xMIMO technology, which can increase the throughput. The transceiver unit 201 and the antenna 202 are responsible for digital and analog precoding / decoding of the signal. The transceiver unit 201 and the antenna 202 support operation in time division duplex mode and frequency division duplex mode, and comply with 3GPP specifications.

[0127] Antenna 202 is configured to emit and receive radio signals transmitted and received by transceiver unit 201. The antenna can be made in the form of an adaptive antenna array (including an extremely massive antenna array), which allows sending the signal in a desired direction and minimizing interference. As an example and not a limitation, the antenna 202 may have 1024 antenna elements and 128 digital ports. In the other example, the antenna 202 may have 3072 antenna elements and 256 digital ports. In the other example, the antenna 202 may have 4096 antenna elements and 256 digital ports.

[0128] The processor 203 is responsible for processing all signals from all components of the base station 200 and for performing any step(s) of the above-described communication method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure or according to any development of the first aspect of the present disclosure. In other words, the processor 203 is configured to perform operations necessary to control the operation of the base station 200 and to execute executable instructions stored on the readable medium 204. The processor 203 in the BS 200 may be one or more of the following processors, but is not limited to the following types of processors: Central Processing Units (CPUs), which are general-purpose processors that perform basic computing tasks in computers, servers, and mobile devices; Graphic Processing Units (GPUs), which are specialized processors for processing graphics and performing parallel computing; coprocessors, which are auxiliary processors that operate in tandem with the CPU to perform specific tasks, such as, but not limited to, mathematical calculations or encryption; Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), which are processors optimized for processing digital signals in real time, used in telecommunications and multimedia; Systems on Chips (SoCs), which are integrated chips that include, but are not limited to, CPU, GPU, DSP, and other components, intended for mobile devices and embedded systems; microcontrollers (MCUs), which are compact processors with integrated memory and peripherals used in embedded systems and IoT; Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), which are programmable processors that allow the user to configure their architecture to perform specialized tasks; Neural Processing Units (NPUs), which are specialized processors optimized for machine learning and artificial intelligence tasks; Vision Processing Units (VPUs), which are specialized microprocessors that are a type of AI accelerators configured to hardware accelerate the operation of machine vision algorithms.

[0129] The processor 203 may be produced using any technology known in the art, such as, but not limited to, CMOS technology, Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) technology, Silicon-Germanium (SiGe) technology, Gallium Nitride (GaN) technology, graphene transistor based technology, FinFET technology, GAAFET technology, etc. The processor 203 may be multi-core and support parallel data processing, which increases the operating efficiency of the BS 200.

[0130] Readable medium 204 is a storage device that stores executable instructions for processor 203. These instructions include instructions for performing the communication method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure or according to any development of the first aspect of the present disclosure, as well as any other instructions for controlling data transmission, signal processing, network resource management and other functions. The readable medium 204 in the BS 200 may be one or more of the following media, but not limited to the types of media mentioned below: Read-Only Memory (ROM), including but not limited to Mask ROM, PROM, EPROM, EEPROM; Random Access Memory (RAM), including but not limited to DRAM, SDRAM, DDR SDRAM, MRAM, SRAM, PRAM, RRAM, FRAM, Nano-RAM, CBRAM nvSRAM; flash memory, including but not limited to NAND flash memory, NOR flash memory, USB flash memory; Solid-State Drives (SSDs), including but not limited to SATA SSD, NVMe SSD; optical discs, including but not limited to CD-ROM, DVD, Blu-ray; magnetic storage devices, including but not limited to HDD, magnetic tapes; memory cards, including but not limited to SD cards, microSD.

[0131] The readable medium 204 may be produced using any technology known in the art, such as, but not limited to, CMOS technology, Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) technology, FinFET technology, 3D NAND technology, etc.

[0132] It should be understood that Fig. 9 does not show all components of base station 200. In particular, in addition to the components shown, the base station 200 may comprise other software and / or hardware components, such as, but not limited to, a power supply; a frequency-time resource scheduler implemented in software, hardware, or firmware and included in the base station 200 or located outside the base station 200, but in communication with it; a cooling system; input-output interfaces; switches and interconnections; a modulator / demodulator; a multiplexer / demultiplexer; filters; power control circuits; an operating system (OS) and other software. The base station 200 may be referred to by other names, such as a Transmit / Receive Point (TRP).

[0133] In the third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided the computer-readable medium storing executable instructions which, when executed by a device, cause the device to perform the communication method of the first aspect of the present disclosure or any development of the first aspect of the present disclosure. The readable medium may correspond to the readable medium 204 described above, so its repeated description is omitted here. The instructions may be in any language and be presented in any form, provided that such language and form of instructions can be perceived by the processor 203 and other equipment of the base station 200 and the instructions can be executed to perform the communication method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure or according to any development of the first aspect of the present disclosure, or to implement any other necessary functionality.

[0134] Next, with reference again to the right part of Fig. 1, we will describe the embodiment of the method for receiving SS / PBCH from BS 200, which is implemented by UE 400, according to the fourth aspect of the present disclosure, which is essentially a complementary method to the above-described method performed by the BS 200. The method performed by the UE 400 begins with detecting, at step S300, PSS of one or more SS / PBCH blocks transmitted by the BS 200 when it performs the step S100 described above. With such a detection S300, it is assumed that the UE performs rough time and frequency synchronization in any manner known from the art.

[0135] Based on the detected PSS, the UE derives a predetermined format of the SS / PBCH blocks transmitted by the base station 200 and / or the periodicity of transmitting these blocks by the base station 200. In the present disclosure, as mentioned above, the PSS is used not to specify / derive the physical cell identifier, but to specify / derive a predetermined format and / or the transmission periodicity of the transmitted SS / PBCH blocks. The actual derivation at the UE of the format and / or periodicity of the SS / PBCH blocks may consist of determining the corresponding format and / or periodicity of the SS / PBCH blocks from identifier of the detected PSS or by the sequence of the detected PSS itself. Such determination may be performed by referring to a look-up table pre-configured and stored in the UE 400. The correspondence table here can be any one of the Tables 1-2 described above. However, the present disclosure should not be limited to the information given in Tables 1-2, since such information may be reassigned differently in the actual look-up table used.

[0136] Next, taking into account the predetermined format of the one or more SS / PBCH blocks and / or the periodicity of transmitting the one or more SS / PBCH blocks, derived from the detected PSS, the UE detects the SSS at step S305. Optionally, at step S305, the UE further detects PBCH DMRS. The fact that this detection is performed taking into account the predetermined SS / PBCH block format and / or taking into account the periodicity of transmitting SS / PBCH blocks means that the UE attempts to detect the SSS and, optionally, the PBCH DMRS at the present step S305 by performing fine time and frequency synchronization only in those parts of the frequency domain (i.e. on particular subcarriers) and only in those parts of the time domain (in particular OFDM symbols), in which the occurrences of the corresponding SS / PBCH signals are expected taking into account such a format and / or periodicity. This allows to reduce the number of detection attempts by the UE until the SSS and, optionally, the PBCH DMRS are successfully detected, and thus ensure a more rational use of UE resources.

[0137] Finally, in step S310, the UE derives the physical cell identifier based on the detected SSS or, if the PBCH DMRS was additionally detected earlier in step S305, based on the detected SSS in combination with the detected PBCH DMRS. The derivation of the physical cell identifier can be carried out in accordance with how it was specified during the initial configuration of the BS 200 and the corresponding cell. When the physical cell identifier is derived solely from the SSS, this derivation can be performed according to the mathematical expression , where is the identifier of the detected SSS. When the physical cell identifier is derived based on the SSS and PBCH DMRS, this derivation can be performed according to the mathematical expression , where is the identifier of the detected SSS, and is the identifier of the detected DMRS.

[0138] In the communication network in which said UE 400 operates there are a plurality of cells, each of which is served by its own BS 200, including the cell in which said UE 400 is located and served by said BS 200 with which said UE 400 communicates. In this case, the PSS detected by the UE 400 in step S300 is similar to all PSSs transmitted at the same time in at least part of the communication network, which ensures the above-described SFN gain in this part of the communication network. Accordingly, the format of the SS / PBCH block comprising the PSS detected at step S300 and / or the transmission periodicity of the SS / PBCH blocks, including said SS / PBCH block comprising the PSS detected at step S300, are the same as those used at the same time in said at least part of the communication network.

[0139] As indicated earlier, the predetermined format of said one or more SS / PBCH blocks, derived according to the PSS, indicates that within the received SS / PBCH block there are one or more repetitions of one or more of the PSS, SSS and PBCH (see the example described above with reference to Fig. 5), and / or that the bandwidth of the SSS and / or PBCH in the frequency domain is modified relative to that used, respectively, for the SSS and / or PBCH in 5G NR (see the examples described above with reference to the central and right parts of Fig. 6). In all SS / PBCH block formats, it is preferable to keep the PSS bandwidth in the frequency domain the same to simplify PSS detection at the UE receiver.

[0140] Further, as illustrated in Fig. 1, the UE, knowing the physical cell identifier , can perform PBCH decoding and obtain all necessary information, for example from the MIB. In addition, at this step, the UE may measure the RSRP and report to the BS the results of such measurements or any other information obtained by the UE based on the results of such measurements. After obtaining the information from the PBCH and / or MIB, the UE understands the transmission schedule of the SIBs sent by the base station and performs sequential detection and decoding of the SIBs and any other operations that the UE needs to perform. These operations performed by the UE after step S310 are not the subject of the present disclosure and can be performed in any sequence known from the prior art in any manner known from the prior art, for example in accordance with the 3GPP specification. Note that the abbreviation SFN in Fig. 1 does not refer to the SFN gain described above, but to the System Frame Number (SFN).

[0141] Fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of a user equipment 400 according to the present disclosure.

[0142] In the fifth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided the user equipment 400 schematically shown in Fig. 10, comprising operatively coupled a transceiver unit 401, an antenna 402, a processor 403, and a readable medium 404 storing processor executable instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the user equipment to perform the communication method according to the fourth aspect of the present disclosure or according to any development of the fourth aspect of the present disclosure.

[0143] User equipment 400 may be an electronic user device that connects to telecommunication networks to provide access to various services and functions. Thus, the user equipment 400 may be, but is not limited to, a smartphone, a tablet, a smart watch, smart glasses, a fitness tracker, an augmented reality (AR) and / or virtual reality (VR) headset, a laptop, a desktop computer, a mini PC, a smart TV, a streaming media device, a medical device, a payment processing device, equipment installed on a vehicle, including an infotainment system, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a smart sensor, a monitoring device, etc. The user equipment 400 may be referred to in other ways, such as a user terminal, a terminal, a user device, a mobile device, etc.

[0144] The descriptions of possible implementations of the transceiver unit 201, antenna 202, processor 203, and readable medium 204 comprised in the BS 200 are essentially applicable, mutatis mutandis, respectively, as the descriptions of possible implementations of the transceiver unit 401, antenna 402, processor 403, and readable medium 400.4 comprised in the UE 400. Therefore, such descriptions are not repeated here.

[0145] In the sixth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided the computer-readable medium storing executable instructions which, when executed by a device, cause the device to perform the communication method of the fourth aspect of the present disclosure or any development of the fourth aspect of the present disclosure. The description of possible implementations of the readable medium 204 is essentially applicable, mutatis mutandis, as the description of the readable medium according to the sixth aspect of the present disclosure. Therefore, it is not described again here. The instructions may be in any language and be presented in any form, provided that such language and form of instructions can be perceived by the processor 403 and other components of the user equipment 400 and the instructions can be executed to perform the communication method according to the fourth aspect of the present disclosure or according to any development of the fourth aspect of the present disclosure, or to implement any other necessary functionality.

[0146] Fig. 11 illustrates the schematic representation of the communication system 500 according to seventh aspect of the present disclosure. The communication system 500 comprises one BS 200, which is installed to serve UEs 400 in three deployed cells 1, 2, 3. The BS may correspond to the BS 200 described in detail above with reference to Fig. 9, and each user equipment may correspond to the UE 400 described in detail above with reference to Fig. 10, so detailed descriptions of the BS 200 and the UE 400 are not given here again. The communication system 500 may simultaneously support several active radio access technologies (RATs) such as 4G LTE, 5G NR, 6G.

[0147] The specific details shown in Fig. 11 should not be considered as limitations of the present technology, since the system 500 may have a different architecture and be characterized / illustrated differently, for example, each cell of cell 1, cell 2, cell 3 may have its own BS 200, the number of UEs 400 in the cells may differ from that shown, cells 1, 2, 3 may represent one larger cell, the shape and space covered by the cells may differ from that shown, etc. The number of cells may be greater or less than 3.

[0148] Fig. 12 illustrates a block diagram of a terminal (or a user equipment (UE)), according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Fig. 12 corresponds to the example of the UE of Fig. 9.

[0149] As shown in Fig. 12, the UE according to an embodiment may include a transceiver 1210, a memory 1220, and a processor 1230. The transceiver 1210, the memory 1220, and the processor 1230 of the UE may operate according to a communication method of the UE described above. However, the components of the UE are not limited thereto. For example, the UE may include more or fewer components than those described above. In addition, the processor 1230, the transceiver 1210, and the memory 1220 may be implemented as a single chip. Also, the processor 1230 may include at least one processor.

[0150] The transceiver 1210 collectively refers to a UE receiver and a UE transmitter, and may transmit / receive a signal to / from a base station or a network entity. The signal transmitted or received to or from the base station or a network entity may include control information and data. The transceiver 1210 may include a RF transmitter for up-converting and amplifying a frequency of a transmitted signal, and a RF receiver for amplifying low-noise and down-converting a frequency of a received signal. However, this is only an example of the transceiver 1210 and components of the transceiver 1210 are not limited to the RF transmitter and the RF receiver.

[0151] Also, the transceiver 1210 may receive and output, to the processor 1230, a signal through a wireless channel, and transmit a signal output from the processor 1230 through the wireless channel.

[0152] The memory 1220 may store a program and data required for operations of the UE. Also, the memory 1220 may store control information or data included in a signal obtained by the UE. The memory 1220 may be a storage medium, such as read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), a hard disk, a CD-ROM, and a DVD, or a combination of storage media.

[0153] The processor 1230 may control a series of processes such that the UE operates as described above. For example, the transceiver 1210 may receive a data signal including a control signal transmitted by the base station or the network entity, and the processor 1230 may determine a result of receiving the control signal and the data signal transmitted by the base station or the network entity.

[0154] Fig. 13 illustrates a block diagram of a base station, according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Fig. 13 corresponds to the example of the RAN node of Fig. 10.

[0155] As shown in Fig. 13, the base station according to an embodiment may include a transceiver 1310, a memory 1320, and a processor 1330. The transceiver 1310, the memory 1320, and the processor 1330 of the base station may operate according to a communication method of the base station described above. However, the components of the base station are not limited thereto. For example, the base station may include more or fewer components than those described above. In addition, the processor 1330, the transceiver 1310, and the memory 1320 may be implemented as a single chip. Also, the processor 1330 may include at least one processor.

[0156] The transceiver 1310 collectively refers to a base station receiver and a base station transmitter, and may transmit / receive a signal to / from a terminal or a network entity. The signal transmitted or received to or from the terminal or a network entity may include control information and data. The transceiver 1310 may include a RF transmitter for up-converting and amplifying a frequency of a transmitted signal, and a RF receiver for amplifying low-noise and down-converting a frequency of a received signal. However, this is only an example of the transceiver 1310 and components of the transceiver 1310 are not limited to the RF transmitter and the RF receiver.

[0157] Also, the transceiver 1310 may receive and output, to the processor 1330, a signal through a wireless channel, and transmit a signal output from the processor 1330 through the wireless channel.

[0158] The memory 1320 may store a program and data required for operations of the base station. Also, the memory 1320 may store control information or data included in a signal obtained by the base station. The memory 1320 may be a storage medium, such as read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), a hard disk, a CD-ROM, and a DVD, or a combination of storage media.

[0159] The processor 1330 may control a series of processes such that the base station operates as described above. For example, the transceiver 1310 may receive a data signal including a control signal transmitted by the terminal, and the processor 1330 may determine a result of receiving the control signal and the data signal transmitted by the terminal.

[0160] Industrial Applicability

[0161] The present disclosure can be applied in 3GPP compliant communication networks with BS and UE that support xMIMO up to 256 digital ports / 4096 antenna elements. The proposed frequency range for using the disclosed disclosure is the upper part of the mid-frequency band (7-13 GHz). The technical solutions according to the present disclosure can be implemented with analog / digital single / multi-beam beamforming and TDD and / or FDD duplex modes. Other applications of the technology disclosed herein will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon review of this detailed description of the present application.

[0162] At least one aspect of the disclosed technical solution may be implemented by means of an AI model. The function associated with the AI can be performed by a read-only memory, random access memory, and processor(s) (CPU, GPU, NPU). The processor(s) controls the processing of input data in accordance with a predefined operating rule or an AI model stored in read-only memory and random access memory. The predefined operating rule or AI model is provided through training. Here, "provided through training" means that by applying a learning algorithm to a set of training data, a predefined operating rule or AI model with a desired characteristic is created. The training may be performed within the device itself that uses the AI model according to the embodiment (i.e., online), and / or may be implemented via a separate server / system (i.e., offline).

[0163] The AI model may be a decision tree-based algorithm or may consist of multiple layers of a neural network. Each layer has a plurality of weights and performs the operation of the layer through a calculation based on the result of the calculation in the previous layer and the application of a plurality of weights and other parameter values. Examples of decision tree based algorithms include a random forest, tree ensembles, etc., and examples of neural networks include, among others, Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), Deep Neural Network (DNN), Recurrent Neural Network (RNN), Restricted Boltzmann Machine (RBM), Deep Belief Network (DBN), Bi-directional Network, Bi-directional Recurrent Deep Neural Network (BRDNN), Generative Adversarial Network (GAN), Transformer-based Networks, Deep Q-Network, large language models etc.

[0164] A learning algorithm is a method for learning a predetermined target device or target function based on a corresponding set of training data that causes, enables, controls, or provides output data of the target device or target function. Examples of learning algorithms include, but not limited to, supervised learning, unsupervised learning, semi-supervised learning or reinforcement learning, and so on.

[0165] One skilled in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks (functional blocks or modules) and steps (operations) used in embodiments of the disclosed technical solution may be implemented by electronic hardware, computer software, or a combination thereof. Whether the functions are implemented with the use of hardware or software depends on particular applications and requirements to a design of an entire system. A person skilled in the art can use different methods to implement the described functions for each particular application, but it should not be considered that the implementation will go beyond the scope of the embodiments disclosed in the application.

[0166] It should also be noted that the order of steps of any disclosed method is not strict, because some one or more steps may be rearranged in the actual order of execution and / or combined with another one or more steps, and / or subdivided into a larger number of sub-steps.

[0167] Throughout this application, a reference to an element in the singular form does not preclude the presence of a plurality of such elements in the actual implementation of the disclosure, and, conversely, a reference to an element in the plural form does not exclude the presence of only one such element in the actual implementation of the disclosure. Any specific value or range of values stated above should not be interpreted in a limiting sense, but rather such specific value or range of values should be considered to represent the midpoint of a specified larger range, up to approximately 50% or more% on either side of the specifically stated value or from the boundaries of the specifically specified smaller range.

[0168] Although this disclosure has been shown and described with reference to specific embodiments and examples thereof, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various changes in form and detail may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of this disclosure as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents. In other words, the above detailed description is based on specific examples and possible implementations of the present disclosure, but it should not be interpreted so that only the explicitly disclosed implementations are feasible. It is intended that any modification or substitution that could be made to this disclosure by one of ordinary skill in the art without creative and / or technical contribution shall be within the scope of protection (with equivalents considered) provided by the following claims.

Claims

A method performed by a base station (BS) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:transmitting one or more a synchronization signal (SS) / physical broadcast channel (PBCH) blocks of a predetermined format, wherein the SS comprises a primary synchronization signal (PSS) and a secondary synchronization signal (SSS), and the PBCH further comprises a demodulation reference signal (DMRS),wherein the PSS specifies the predefined format of the one or more SS / PBCH blocks or the transmission periodicity of said one or more SS / PBCH blocks, and the physical cell identifieris specified by the SSS or by the SSS in combination with the DMRS.The method of claim 1,wherein the communication network in which said BS serving its communication cell operates comprises a plurality of BSs, each serving a different communication cell,wherein said one or more SS / PBCH blocks transmitted in this communication network by one or more BSs, including said BS, comprise the same PSS, have the same SS / PBCH block format and / or are transmitted with the same periodicity.The method of claim 1, further comprising:switching the SS / PBCH block format and / or the SS / PBCH block transmission periodicity used in at least part of the communication network to a modified SS / PBCH block format and / or a modified SS / PBCH block transmission periodicity in response to the occurrence of a switching time according to the time of day.The method of claim 1,wherein theis specified by the SSS identifier when the to-be-transmitted SS / PBCH block is generated,wherein, whereis the identifier of the SSS included in the generated SS / PBCH block.The method of claim 1,whereinis specified by the SSS identifier and the DMRS identifier,wherein theis specified according to the following mathematical expression:whereis the identifier of the SSS included in the generated SS / PBCH block, andis the identifier of the DMRS included in the PBCH of the generated SS / PBCH block.The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined format of said one or more SS / PBCH blocks, specified by the PSS, indicates that one or more repetitions of one or more of the PSS, SSS and PBCH are contained within the transmitted SS / PBCH block, or that the bandwidth of the SSS and / or PBCH in the frequency domain is modified relative to that used respectively for the SSS and / or PBCH in 5G NR.The method of claim 1,wherein the PSS transmission bandwidth in the frequency domain remains the same, andwherein the SSS and / or PBCH transmission bandwidth in the frequency domain is modifiable according to the SS / PBCH block format specified by the PSS and depends on the frequency band available in the communication network.The method of claim 1, wherein a plurality of PSS variants and, corresponding thereto on one-to-one basis, a plurality of SS / PBCH block format variants and / or SS / PBCH block transmission periodicities are predetermined, whereina given PSS from the plurality of PSS variants is generated according to the PSS generation procedure used in the 5G NR standard, with the use of equidistant cyclic shifts that are different from those used in the 5G NR standard when the PSS is generated, or with the use of a polynomial that is different from that used in the 5G NR standard when the PSS is generated.A method performed by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:detecting a primary synchronization signal (PSS), wherein the detected PSS specifies a predetermined format of the one or more SS / PBCH blocks being received or a transmission periodicity of the one or more SS / PBCH blocks;taking into account the predetermined format of the one or more SS / PBCH blocks or the transmission periodicity of the one or more SS / PBCH blocks, detecting a secondary synchronization signal (SSS); andderiving a physical cell identifierbased on the detected SSS.The method of claim 9, further comprising:detecting a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) of the PBCH,when deriving, the detected DMRS is used in combination with the detected SSS, andwhereinis derived based on the identifier of the detected SSS and the identifier of the detected DMRS.The method of claim 9,wherein in the communication network in which said UE operates there are a plurality of cells, each of which is served by its own BS, including the cell in which said UE is located and served by said BS with which said UE communicates,wherein the PSS being received from said BS and detected by said UE is the same as all PSSs received at the same time in at least part of said communication network,wherein the format of the SS / PBCH block comprising the detected PSS and / or the transmission periodicity of the SS / PBCH blocks, including said SS / PBCH block comprising the detected PSS, are the same as those used at the same time in said at least part of the communication network.The method of claim 9,whereinis derived based on the identifier of the detected SSS,wherein, whereis the identifier of the detected SSS,whereinis derived according to the following mathematical expression:whereis the identifier of the detected SSS, andis the identifier of the detected DMRS.The method of claim 9, wherein the predetermined format of said one or more SS / PBCH blocks, derived according to the PSS, indicates that one or more repetitions of one or more of the PSS, SSS and PBCH are contained within the received SS / PBCH block, and / or that the bandwidth of the SSS and / or PBCH in the frequency domain is modified relative to that used respectively for the SSS and / or PBCH in 5G NR.The method of claim 9,wherein bandwidth of the PSS in the frequency domain remains the same, andwherein bandwidth of the SSS and / or PBCH in the frequency domain is modifiable according to the received SS / PBCH block format derived from the PSS and depends on the frequency band available in the communication network.The method of claim 9,wherein a plurality of PSS variants and, corresponding thereto on one-to-one basis, a plurality of SS / PBCH block format variants and / or SS / PBCH block transmission periodicities are predetermined,wherein a given PSS from the plurality of PSS variants is detected according to the PSS generation procedure used in the 5G NR standard, but with the use of equidistant cyclic shifts that are different from those used in the 5G NR standard when the PSS is generated, and / or with the use of a polynomial that is different from that used in the 5G NR standard when the PSS is generated.

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