User equipment (UE) and method performed by ue

Abstract

A method performed by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system is provided in the embodiment of the disclosure, which relates to the field of communication technology. The method includes: receiving a first synchronization signal block (SSB) of a first secondary cell (SCell); receiving activation information of the first SCell; and activating the first SCell based on an SCell activation delay of the first SSB, wherein the first SSB is an on-demand SSB, and the SCell activation delay is determined based on a duration related to the first SSB when the UE has the capability related to the first SSB, thereby an enhanced communication method based on the on-demand SSB is provided, and energy-saving and efficient communication of the whole communication system is realized.

Description

USER EQUIPMENT (UE) AND METHOD PERFORMED BY UE

[0001] The disclosure relates to the field of communication technology, and specifically, the disclosure relates to a user equipment (UE) and a method performed by the UE.

[0002] 5G mobile communication technologies define broad frequency bands such that high transmission rates and new services are possible, and can be implemented not only in "Sub 6GHz" bands such as 3.5GHz, but also in "Above 6GHz" bands referred to as mmWave including 28GHz and 39GHz. In addition, it has been considered to implement 6G mobile communication technologies (referred to as Beyond 5G systems) in terahertz bands (for example, 95GHz to 3THz bands) in order to accomplish transmission rates fifty times faster than 5G mobile communication technologies and ultra-low latencies one-tenth of 5G mobile communication technologies.

[0003] At the beginning of the development of 5G mobile communication technologies, in order to support services and to satisfy performance requirements in connection with enhanced Mobile BroadBand (eMBB), Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC), and massive Machine-Type Communications (mMTC), there has been ongoing standardization regarding beamforming and massive MIMO for mitigating radio-wave path loss and increasing radio-wave transmission distances in mmWave, supporting numerologies (for example, operating multiple subcarrier spacings) for efficiently utilizing mmWave resources and dynamic operation of slot formats, initial access technologies for supporting multi-beam transmission and broadbands, definition and operation of BWP (BandWidth Part), new channel coding methods such as a LDPC (Low Density Parity Check) code for large amount of data transmission and a polar code for highly reliable transmission of control information, L2 pre-processing, and network slicing for providing a dedicated network specialized to a specific service.

[0004] Currently, there are ongoing discussions regarding improvement and performance enhancement of initial 5G mobile communication technologies in view of services to be supported by 5G mobile communication technologies, and there has been physical layer standardization regarding technologies such as V2X (Vehicle-to-everything) for aiding driving determination by autonomous vehicles based on information regarding positions and states of vehicles transmitted by the vehicles and for enhancing user convenience, NR-U (New Radio Unlicensed) aimed at system operations conforming to various regulation-related requirements in unlicensed bands, NR UE Power Saving, Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) which is UE-satellite direct communication for providing coverage in an area in which communication with terrestrial networks is unavailable, and positioning.

[0005] Moreover, there has been ongoing standardization in air interface architecture / protocol regarding technologies such as Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) for supporting new services through interworking and convergence with other industries, IAB (Integrated Access and Backhaul) for providing a node for network service area expansion by supporting a wireless backhaul link and an access link in an integrated manner, mobility enhancement including conditional handover and DAPS (Dual Active Protocol Stack) handover, and two-step random access for simplifying random access procedure (2-step RACH for NR). There also has been ongoing standardization in system architecture / service regarding a 5G baseline architecture (for example, service based architecture or service based interface) for combining Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and Software-Defined Networking (SDN) technologies, and Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) for receiving services based on UE positions.

[0006] As 5G mobile communication systems are commercialized, connected devices that have been exponentially increasing will be connected to communication networks, and it is accordingly expected that enhanced functions and performances of 5G mobile communication systems and integrated operations of connected devices will be necessary. To this end, new research is scheduled in connection with eXtended Reality (XR) for efficiently supporting AR (Augmented Reality), VR (Virtual Reality), MR (Mixed Reality) and the like, 5G performance improvement and complexity reduction by utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), AI service support, metaverse service support, and drone communication.

[0007] Furthermore, such development of 5G mobile communication systems will serve as a basis for developing not only new waveforms for providing coverage in terahertz bands of 6G mobile communication technologies, multi-antenna transmission technologies such as Full Dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antennas and large-scale antennas, metamaterial-based lenses and antennas for improving coverage of terahertz band signals, high-dimensional space multiplexing technology using OAM (Orbital Angular Momentum), and RIS (Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface), but also full-duplex technology for increasing frequency efficiency of 6G mobile communication technologies and improving system networks, AI-based communication technology for implementing system optimization by utilizing satellites and AI (Artificial Intelligence) from the design stage and internalizing end-to-end AI support functions, and next-generation distributed computing technology for implementing services at levels of complexity exceeding the limit of UE operation capability by utilizing ultra-high-performance communication and computing resources.

[0008] The disclosure provides a method performed by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the UE, and a computer-readable storage medium, which may solve a problem of low performance of the wireless communication system during the communication process related to on-demand synchronization signal blocks. The technical scheme is as follows.

[0009] In a first aspect, there is provided a method performed by a UE in a wireless communication system, the method including: receiving a first synchronization signal block (SSB) of a first secondary cell (SCell); receiving activation information of the first SCell; and activating the first SCell based on an SCell activation delay of the first SSB, wherein the first SSB is an on-demand SSB, and the SCell activation delay is determined based on a duration related to the first SSB when the UE has a capability related to the first SSB, and wherein the duration related to the first SSB is one of: when the first SCell is a known cell and a measurement period of the first SCell is equal to or smaller than a first duration, the duration related to the first SSB is a second duration; or when the first SCell is a known cell, and the measurement period of the first SCell is larger than the first duration, the duration related to the first SSB is a third duration; or when the first SCell is an unknown cell and a first condition is met, and either only one SSB is being actually transmitted or multiple SSBs and transmission configuration indicator (TCI) indications of the multiple SSBs are provided in a same medium access control protocol data unit (MAC PDU) with a first SCell activation, the duration related to the first SSB is a fourth duration; or when the first SCell is an unknown cell and the first condition is met, and a semi-persistent channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) is used for CSI reporting or a periodic CSI-RS is used for CSI reporting, the duration related to the first SSB is a fifth duration.

[0010] In an embodiment of the disclosure, the determining of the SCell activation delay based on the duration related to the first SSB may include at least one of: when the first SCell is a known cell and the measurement period of the first SCell is equal to or smaller than the first duration, determining the SCell activation delay based on the second duration and a first fixed value; or when the first SCell is a known cell and the measurement period of the first SCell is larger than the first duration, determining the SCell activation delay based on the third duration, a sixth duration and the first fixed value; or when the first SCell is an unknown cell and the first condition is met, and either only one SSB is being actually transmitted or multiple SSBs and TCI indications of the multiple SSBs are provided in the same MAC PDU with the first SCell activation, determining the SCell activation delay based on the fourth duration, the sixth duration, and the first fixed value; or when the first SCell is an unknown cell and the first condition is met, and the semi-persistent CSI-RS is used for CSI reporting or the periodic CSI-RS is used for CSI reporting, determining the SCell activation delay based on the sixth duration, the fifth duration, a second fixed value, and a seventh duration.

[0011] In an embodiment of the disclosure, when the UE has the capability related to the first SSB and a fast measurement capability and the UE receives at least two first SSBs, or at least two first SSBs and at least one second SSB, from the first SCell, the determining of the SCell activation delay includes: when the first SCell is a known cell and the measurement period of the first SCell is equal to or smaller than the first duration, determining the activation delay of the SCell to be a third fixed value; or when the first SCell is a known cell and the measurement period of the first SCell is larger than the first duration, determining the activation delay of the SCell based on a sixth duration and the third fixed value.

[0012] In an embodiment of the disclosure, the first duration is a predefined value; or the first duration is determined based on time information of the first SSB, the time information comprising any one of a measurement time configuration, a periodicity and a duration; and the sixth duration is determined based on an SSB-based measurement timing configuration (SMTC) periodicity of the first SCell.

[0013] In an embodiment of the disclosure, the capability related to the first SSB includes: a first capability indicating that the UE has a capability to support the first SSB; or a second capability indicating that the UE has a capability to support the first SSB and the second SSB, wherein the second SSB is a periodically transmitted SSB.

[0014] In an embodiment of the disclosure, if the UE has the first capability: the second duration is determined based on a measurement time configuration of the first SSB; the third duration is the maximum value in measurement time configurations determined based on the measurement time configuration of the first SSB; the fourth duration is determined based on the third duration and the maximum value of the SMTC periodicity determined based on the measurement time configuration of the first SSB; or the fourth duration is determined based on the third duration and a periodicity of the first SSB; and the fifth duration is determined based on the fourth duration, an eighth duration, and a ninth duration, wherein the eighth duration is a layer 1 reference signal received power (L1-RSRP) measurement delay based on the first SSB, and the ninth duration is a delay of L1-RSRP measurement reporting based on the first SSB.

[0015] In an embodiment of the disclosure, if the UE has the second capability, then: the second duration is determined based on a tenth duration and an eleventh duration, wherein the tenth duration is determined based on a measurement time configuration of the first SSB and the eleventh duration is determined based on a measurement time configuration of the second SSB; the third duration is determined based on a twelfth duration and a thirteenth duration, wherein the twelfth duration is the maximum value in measurement time configurations determined based on the measurement time configuration of the first SSB and the thirteenth duration is the maximum value in measurement time configurations determined based on a measurement time configuration of the second SSB; the fourth duration is determined based on the third duration and the maximum value of the SMTC periodicity determined based on the measurement time configuration of the first SSB; or the fourth duration is determined based on the third duration and a periodicity of the first SSB; and the fifth duration is determined based on the fourth duration, an eighth duration, and a ninth duration, wherein the eighth duration is a layer 1 reference signal received power (L1-RSRP) measurement delay based on the first SSB and the second SSB, and the ninth duration is a delay of L1-RSRP measurement reporting based on the first SSB and the second SSB.

[0016] In an embodiment of the disclosure, the method further includes: determining whether the first SCell is a known cell of the UE by one of the following ways: if the first SCell belongs to a frequency range 1 (FR1), the first SCell is a known cell if at least one of the following conditions is satisfied, otherwise it is an unknown cell: a first condition: during a fourteenth duration before the reception of the activation information of the first SCell, the UE has sent a valid measurement report for an SCell being activated, and a measurement of the first SSB and / or the second SSB remains detectable; a second condition: during the fourteenth duration within the SCell activation delay of the UE, the measurement of the first SSB and / or the second SSB remains detectable; a third condition: the number of SSBs is no less than N; wherein the fourteenth duration is any one of: the maximum value determined based on the measurement time configuration of the first SSB and a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle; the maximum value determined based on the periodicity of the first SSB and the DRX cycle; or the maximum value determined based on the measurement period of the first SCell and the DRX cycle; or if the first SCell belongs to a frequency range 2 (FR2), the first SCell is a known cell if at least one of the following conditions is satisfied, otherwise it is an unknown cell: a fourth condition: during a fifteenth duration before the UE receives a last activation command of a first semi-persistent CSI-RS, the UE has sent a valid layer 3 reference signal received power (L3-RSRP) measurement report of the first SSB and / or the second SSB with an SSB index, and the UE receives the activation information of the first SCell after L3-RSRP reporting, and a reception time of the activation information of the first SCell is no later than a time when the UE receives a command for TCI activation; a fifth condition: during a period from the L3-RSRP reporting to valid channel quality indicator (CQI) reporting, the reported first SSB and / or second SSB with indexes remains detectable, and a TCI state is selected based on a latest reported SSB index; or the third condition, wherein the N is the number of first SSBs, or a sum of the number of first SSBs and the number of second SSBs.

[0017] In an embodiment of the disclosure, the method further includes: performing a first SSB based measurement based on a measurement duration related to the first SSB, wherein the measurement duration is determined based on a sixteenth duration related to the first SSB and / or a scaling factor related to the first SSB; wherein the scaling factor related to the first SSB comprises one of: a first scaling factor for a first measurement based on the first SSB; or a second scaling factor for a layer 1 reference signal received power (L1-RSRP) measurement based on the first SSB; wherein the measurement duration comprises at least one of: a duration of the first measurement based on the first SSB; or an L1-RSRP measurement duration based on the first SSB; and wherein the first measurement includes at least one of: detection of a primary synchronization signal (PSS) and / or a secondary synchronization signal (SSS); detection of a time index of the first SSB; or synchronization signal-reference signal received power (SS-RSRP), synchronization signal-reference signal received quality (SS-RSRQ), and synchronization-signal signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SS-SINR) measurements based on the first SSB.

[0018] In an embodiment of the disclosure, the method further includes: determining an interruption duration of activating or deactivating a first secondary cell (SCell) based on the maximum value in a first measurement time configuration of all activated serving cells and the SCell being activated in a measurement time unit, wherein the first measurement time configuration includes the measurement time configuration or a duration of the first SSB.

[0019] In an embodiment of the disclosure, if the SCell being activated is configured with an SSB and not configured with an SMTC, the periodicity of the SSB is a first fixed value, and the interruption duration is a seventeenth duration; if the SSB includes the first SSB, the seventeenth duration is the number of consecutive subframes of all the first SSBs included in an SSB burst transmission in the SCell being activated; and if the SSB includes the first SSB and the second SSB, the seventeenth duration is the number of all consecutive subframes including the first SSB in a first SSB burst transmission in the SCell being activated; or the seventeenth duration is the number of all consecutive subframes including the first SSB and the number of all consecutive subframes including the second SSB in the first SSB burst transmission in the SCell being activated.

[0020] In an embodiment of the disclosure, the method further includes: receiving the second SSB of the first SCell, wherein the UE does not expect to receive the first SSB and the second SSB at the same time unit; or wherein the first SSB received by the UE is not expected to be transmitted at the same time unit as the second SSB; or wherein the UE uses the first SSB and / or the second SSB; or wherein the first SSB and the second SSB are separated by the first number of time units, and the first SSB and the second SSB are valid SSBs.

[0021] In a second aspect, there is provided a method performed by a UE in a wireless communication system, including: receiving a first synchronization signal block (SSB); and performing the first SSB based measurement based on a measurement duration related to the first SSB, wherein the measurement duration related to the first SSB is determined based on a sixteenth duration related to the first SSB and / or based on a scaling factor related to the first SSB; wherein the first SSB is an on-demand SSB; wherein the scaling factor related to the first SSB comprises one of: a first scaling factor for a first measurement based on the first SSB; or a second scaling factor for a layer 1 reference signal received power (L1-RSRP) measurement based on the first SSB; wherein the measurement duration comprises at least one of: a duration of the first measurement based on the first SSB; or an L1-RSRP measurement duration based on the first SSB; wherein the first measurement includes at least one of: detection of a primary synchronization signal (PSS) and / or a secondary synchronization signal (SSS); detection of a time index of the first SSB; or synchronization signal-reference signal received power (SS-RSRP), synchronization signal-reference signal received quality (SS-RSRQ), and synchronization-signal signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SS-SINR) measurements based on the first SSB.

[0022] In an embodiment of the disclosure, during the first measurement based on the first SSB, the sixteenth duration related to the first SSB comprises: the SSB-based measurement Timing configuration (SMTC) or the periodicity or duration of the first SSB; or during the L1-RSRP measurement based on the first SSB, the sixteenth duration related to the first SSB comprises: a periodicity or a duration of the first SSB.

[0023] In an embodiment of the disclosure, the UE has a capability related to a first SSB, which includes: a first capability indicating that the UE has a capability to support the first SSB; and a second capability indicating that the UE has a capability to support the first SSB and the second SSB, wherein the second SSB is a periodically transmitted SSB.

[0024] In an embodiment of the disclosure, if the UE has the first capability, the first scaling factor is determined based on the number of SMTCs or periodicities of the first SSB within a measurement window and the number of SMTCs or periodicities of the first SSB within a measurement window that do not overlap with any non-dropped occasion; or if the UE has the second capability, the first scaling factor is determined based on a first value and a second value, wherein the first value is the sum of the number of SMTCs or periodicities of the first SSB and the number of SMTCs of the second SSB within the measurement window, and the second value is the sum of the number of SMTCs or periodicities of the first SSB and the number of SMTCs of the second SSB within the measurement window that do not overlap with any non-dropped occasion.

[0025] In an embodiment of the disclosure, if the UE has the first capability, the second scaling factor is determined based on the number of periodicities of the first SSB within the measurement window and the number of periodicities of the first SSB within the measurement window that do not overlap with any non-dropped occasion; or if the UE has the second capability, the second scaling factor is determined based on the sum of the number of periodicities of the first SSB and the number of SMTCs of the second SSB within the measurement window, and the sum of the number of periodicities of the first SSB and the number of SMTCs of the second SSB within the measurement window that do not overlap with any non-dropped occasion.

[0026] In an embodiment of the disclosure, the determining of the measurement duration based on the sixteenth duration related to the first SSB and / or the scaling factor related to the first SSB comprises: determining the measurement duration based on the sixteenth duration, a first fixed duration, and the first scaling factor, when a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle is not configured; or determining the measurement duration based on the sixteenth duration, the first fixed duration, the first scaling factor, and the DRX cycle, when the DRX cycle is smaller than or equal to a first threshold; or determining the measurement duration based on the first scaling factor and the DRX cycle, when the DRX cycle is larger than the first threshold; or determining the measurement duration based on the sixteenth duration and the first fixed duration; or determining the measurement duration based on the sixteenth duration.

[0027] In an embodiment of the disclosure, during the L1-RSRP measurement based on the first SSB, the measurement duration is determined based on the sixteenth duration, a configured period of the L1-RSRP measurement reporting, and the second scaling factor, when the discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle is not configured; or the measurement duration is determined based on the sixteenth duration, the configured period of the L1-RSRP measurement reporting, the second scaling factor, and the DRX cycle, when the DRX cycle is smaller than or equal to a first threshold; or the measurement duration is determined based on the second scaling factor and the DRX cycle, when the DRX cycle is larger than the first threshold; or the measurement duration is determined based on the sixteenth duration and the configured period of the L1-RSRP measurement reporting; or the measurement duration is determined based on the sixteenth duration.

[0028] In an embodiment of the disclosure, the method further includes: receiving a second SSB, wherein the UE does not expect to receive the first SSB and the second SSB at the same time unit; or the first SSB received by the UE is not expected to be transmitted at the same time unit as the second SSB; or the UE uses the first SSB and / or the second SSB; or the first SSB and the second SSB are separated by the first number of time units, and the first SSB and the second SSB are valid SSBs.

[0029] In an embodiment of the disclosure, the method further includes: determining an interruption duration of activating or deactivating a first secondary cell (SCell) based on the maximum value in a first measurement time configuration of all activated serving cells and the SCell being activated in a measurement time unit, wherein the first measurement time configuration includes the measurement time configuration or duration of the first SSB.

[0030] In an embodiment of the disclosure, if the SCell being activated is configured with SSB and not configured with SMTC, the periodicity of SSB is a first fixed value, and the interruption duration is a seventeenth duration; if the SSB includes the first SSB, the seventeenth duration is the number of consecutive subframes of all the first SSBs included in an SSB burst transmission in the SCell being activated; if the SSB includes the first SSB and the second SSB, the seventeenth duration is the number of all consecutive subframes including the first SSB in a first SSB burst transmission in the activated SCell; or the seventeenth duration is the number of all consecutive subframes including the first SSB and the number of all consecutive subframes including the second SSB in a first SSB burst transmission in the activated SCell.

[0031] In a third aspect, there is provided a UE in a wireless communication system, the UE including: a transceiver and at least one processor coupled with the transceiver, and the at least one processor is configured to perform the method described in the first aspect or the second aspect of the disclosure.

[0032] In a fourth aspect, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium, the storage medium stores a computer program that, when executed by a processor, implements the method described in the first or second aspect of the disclosure.

[0033] By using the scheme in the embodiment of the disclosure, SCell is activated by SCell activation delay determined based on SSB-related duration of on-demand SSB transmission, or SSB-related measurement is performed based on the duration related to the on-demand SSB, thereby providing an enhanced communication method based on the on-demand SSB, and realizing energy-saving and efficient communication of the whole communication system.

[0034] The exemplary embodiments of the disclosure are further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0035] The text and drawings are provided as examples only to help understand the disclosure. They should not be construed as limiting the scope of the disclosure in any way. Although certain embodiments and examples have been provided, based on the content disclosed herein, it is obvious to those skilled in the art that modifications to the illustrated embodiments and examples can be made without departing from the scope of the disclosure.

[0036] FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless network according to various embodiments of the disclosure;

[0037] FIG. 2a and FIG. 2b illustrate example wireless transmission and reception paths according to the disclosure;

[0038] FIG. 3a illustrates an example UE according to the disclosure;

[0039] FIG. 3b illustrates an example base station according to the disclosure;

[0040] FIG. 4a illustrates a schematic diagram of receiving only on-demand SSB according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

[0041] FIG. 4b illustrates a schematic diagram of simultaneously receiving on-demand SSB and always-on SSB according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

[0042] FIG. 5 illustrates a schematic flowchart of a method performed by a UE in a communication system according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

[0043] FIG. 6 illustrates a schematic flowchart of a method performed by a UE in a communication system according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

[0044] FIG. 7 illustrates a schematic structure diagram of UE according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

[0045] In order to meet the increasing demand for wireless data communication services since the deployment of 4G communication systems, efforts have been made to develop improved 5G or pre-5G communication systems. Therefore, 5G or pre-5G communication systems are also called "Beyond 4G networks" or "Post-LTE systems".

[0046] In order to achieve a higher data rate, 5G communication systems are implemented in higher frequency (millimeter, mmWave) bands, e.g., 60 GHz bands. In order to reduce propagation loss of radio waves and increase a transmission distance, technologies such as beamforming, massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), full-dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antenna, analog beamforming and large-scale antenna are discussed in 5G communication systems.

[0047] In addition, in 5G communication systems, developments of system network improvement are underway based on advanced small cell, cloud radio access network (RAN), ultra-dense network, device-to-device (D2D) communication, wireless backhaul, mobile network, cooperative communication, coordinated multi-points (CoMP), reception-end interference cancellation, etc.

[0048] In 5G systems, hybrid FSK and QAM modulation (FQAM) and sliding window superposition coding (SWSC) as advanced coding modulation (ACM), and filter bank multicarrier (FBMC), non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) and sparse code multiple access (SCMA) as advanced access technologies have been developed.

[0049] The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings is provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of various embodiments of the disclosure as defined by the claims and their equivalents. It includes various specific details to assist in that understanding but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary. Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications of the various embodiments described herein can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the disclosure. In addition, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions may be omitted for clarity and conciseness.

[0050] The terms and words used in the following description and claims are not limited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by the inventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the disclosure. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following description of various embodiments of the disclosure is provided for illustration purpose only and not for the purpose of limiting the disclosure as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

[0051] It is to be understood that the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, reference to "a component surface" includes reference to one or more of such surfaces.

[0052] The term "include" or "may include" refers to the existence of a corresponding disclosed function, operation or component which can be used in various embodiments of the disclosure and does not limit one or more additional functions, operations, or components. The terms such as "include" and / or "have" may be construed to denote a certain characteristic, number, step, operation, constituent element, component or a combination thereof, but may not be construed to exclude the existence of or a possibility of addition of one or more other characteristics, numbers, steps, operations, constituent elements, components or combinations thereof.

[0053] The term "or" used in various embodiments of the disclosure includes any or all of combinations of listed words. For example, the expression "A or B" may include A, may include B, or may include both A and B.

[0054] Unless defined differently, all terms used herein, which include technical terminologies or scientific terminologies, have the same meaning as that understood by a person skilled in the art to which the disclosure belongs. Such terms as those defined in a generally used dictionary are to be interpreted to have the meanings equal to the contextual meanings in the relevant field of art, and are not to be interpreted to have ideal or excessively formal meanings unless clearly defined in the disclosure.

[0055] The various embodiments of the disclosure can be applied to various communication systems, such as: global system for mobile communications (GSM) system, code division multiple access (CDMA) system, broadband code division multiple access (WCDMA) system, general packet radio service (GPRS), long term evolution (LTE) system Frequency division duplex (FDD) systems, time division duplex (TDD) systems, universal mobile telecommunications systems (UMTS), global interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) communication systems, fifth generation (5G) systems or new wireless (NR) systems, etc. In addition, the various embodiments of the disclosure can be applied to future oriented communication technologies.

[0056] FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless network 100 according to various embodiments of the disclosure. The embodiment of the wireless network 100 shown in FIG. 1 is for illustration only. Other embodiments of the wireless network 100 can be used without departing from the scope of the disclosure.

[0057] The wireless network 100 includes a gNodeB (gNB) 101, a gNB 102, and a gNB 103. gNB 101 communicates with gNB 102 and gNB 103. gNB 101 also communicates with at least one Internet Protocol (IP) network 130, such as the Internet, a private IP network, or other data networks.

[0058] Depending on a type of the network, other well-known terms such as "base station" or "access point" can be used instead of "gNodeB" or "gNB". For convenience, the terms "gNodeB" and "gNB" are used in this patent document to refer to network infrastructure components that provide wireless access for remote terminals. And, depending on the type of the network, other well-known terms such as "mobile station", "user station", "remote terminal", "wireless terminal" or "user apparatus" can be used instead of "user equipment" or "UE". For convenience, the terms "UE" and "UE" are used in this patent document to refer to remote wireless devices that wirelessly access the gNB, no matter whether the UE is a mobile device (such as a mobile phone or a smart phone) or a fixed device (such as a desktop computer or a vending machine).

[0059] gNB 102 provides wireless broadband access to the network 130 for a first plurality of User Equipments (UEs) within a coverage area 120 of gNB 102. The first plurality of UEs include a UE 111, which may be located in a Small Business (SB); a UE 112, which may be located in an enterprise (E); a UE 113, which may be located in a WiFi Hotspot (HS); a UE 114, which may be located in a first residence (R); a UE 115, which may be located in a second residence (R); a UE 116, which may be a mobile device (M), such as a cellular phone, a wireless laptop computer, a wireless PDA, etc. gNB 103 provides wireless broadband access to network 130 for a second plurality of UEs within a coverage area 125 of gNB 103. The second plurality of UEs include a UE 115 and a UE 116. In some embodiments, one or more of gNBs 101-103 can communicate with each other and with UEs 111-116 using 5G, Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-A, WiMAX or other advanced wireless communication technologies.

[0060] The dashed lines show approximate ranges of the coverage areas 120 and 125, and the ranges are shown as approximate circles merely for illustration and explanation purposes. It should be clearly understood that the coverage areas associated with the gNBs, such as the coverage areas 120 and 125, may have other shapes, including irregular shapes, depending on configurations of the gNBs and changes in the radio environment associated with natural obstacles and man-made obstacles.

[0061] As will be described in more detail below, one or more of gNB 101, gNB 102, and gNB 103 include a 2D antenna array as described in embodiments of the disclosure. In some embodiments, one or more of gNB 101, gNB 102, and gNB 103 support codebook designs and structures for systems with 2D antenna arrays.

[0062] Although FIG. 1 illustrates an example of the wireless network 100, various changes can be made to FIG. 1. The wireless network 100 can include any number of gNBs and any number of UEs in any suitable arrangement, for example. Furthermore, gNB 101 can directly communicate with any number of UEs and provide wireless broadband access to the network 130 for those UEs. Similarly, each gNB 102-103 can directly communicate with the network 130 and provide direct wireless broadband access to the network 130 for the UEs. In addition, gNB 101, 102 and / or 103 can provide access to other or additional external networks, such as external telephone networks or other types of data networks.

[0063] FIG. 2a and FIG. 2b illustrate example wireless transmission and reception paths according to the disclosure. In the following description, the transmission path 200 can be described as being implemented in a gNB, such as gNB 102, and the reception path 250 can be described as being implemented in a UE, such as UE 116. However, it should be understood that the reception path 250 can be implemented in a gNB and the transmission path 200 can be implemented in a UE. In some embodiments, the reception path 250 is configured to support codebook designs and structures for systems with 2D antenna arrays as described in embodiments of the disclosure.

[0064] The transmission path 200 includes a channel coding and modulation block 205, a Serial-to-Parallel (S-to-P) block 210, a size N Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) block 215, a Parallel-to-Serial (P-to-S) block 220, a cyclic prefix addition block 225, and an up-converter (UC) 230. The reception path 250 includes a down-converter (DC) 255, a cyclic prefix removal block 260, a Serial-to-Parallel (S-to-P) block 265, a size N Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) block 270, a Parallel-to-Serial (P-to-S) block 275, and a channel decoding and demodulation block 280.

[0065] In the transmission path 200, the channel coding and modulation block 205 receives a set of information bits, applies coding (such as Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) coding), and modulates the input bits (such as using Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) or Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM)) to generate a sequence of frequency-domain modulated symbols. The Serial-to-Parallel (S-to-P) block 210 converts (such as demultiplexes) serial modulated symbols into parallel data to generate N parallel symbol streams, where N is a size of the IFFT / FFT used in gNB 102 and UE 116. The size N IFFT block 215 performs IFFT operations on the N parallel symbol streams to generate a time-domain output signal. The Parallel-to-Serial block 220 converts (such as multiplexes) parallel time-domain output symbols from the Size N IFFT block 215 to generate a serial time-domain signal. The cyclic prefix addition block 225 inserts a cyclic prefix into the time-domain signal. The up-converter 230 modulates (such as up-converts) the output of the cyclic prefix addition block 225 to an RF frequency for transmission via a wireless channel. The signal can also be filtered at a baseband before switching to the RF frequency.

[0066] The RF signal transmitted from gNB 102 arrives at UE 116 after passing through the wireless channel, and operations in reverse to those at gNB 102 are performed at UE 116. The down-converter 255 down-converts the received signal to a baseband frequency, and the cyclic prefix removal block 260 removes the cyclic prefix to generate a serial time-domain baseband signal. The Serial-to-Parallel block 265 converts the time-domain baseband signal into a parallel time-domain signal. The Size N FFT block 270 performs an FFT algorithm to generate N parallel frequency-domain signals. The Parallel-to-Serial block 275 converts the parallel frequency-domain signal into a sequence of modulated data symbols. The channel decoding and demodulation block 280 demodulates and decodes the modulated symbols to recover the original input data stream.

[0067] Each of gNBs 101-103 may implement a transmission path 200 similar to that for transmitting to UEs 111-116 in the downlink, and may implement a reception path 250 similar to that for receiving from UEs 111-116 in the uplink. Similarly, each of UEs 111-116 may implement a transmission path 200 for transmitting to gNBs 101-103 in the uplink, and may implement a reception path 250 for receiving from gNBs 101-103 in the downlink.

[0068] Each of the components in FIG. 2a and FIG. 2b can be implemented using only hardware, or using a combination of hardware and software / firmware. As a specific example, at least some of the components in FIG. 2a and FIG. 2b may be implemented in software, while other components may be implemented in configurable hardware or a combination of software and configurable hardware. For example, the FFT block 270 and IFFT block 215 may be implemented as configurable software algorithms, in which the value of the size N may be modified according to the implementation.

[0069] Furthermore, although described as using FFT and IFFT, this is only illustrative and should not be interpreted as limiting the scope of the disclosure. Other types of transforms can be used, such as Discrete Fourier transform (DFT) and Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform (IDFT) functions. It should be understood that for DFT and IDFT functions, the value of variable N may be any integer (such as 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.), while for FFT and IFFT functions, the value of variable N may be any integer which is a power of 2 (such as 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, etc.).

[0070] Although FIG. 2a and FIG. 2b illustrate examples of wireless transmission and reception paths, various changes may be made to FIG. 2a and FIG. 2b. For example, various components in FIG. 2a and FIG. 2b can be combined, further subdivided or omitted, and additional components can be added according to specific requirements. Furthermore, FIG. 2a and FIG. 2b are intended to illustrate examples of types of transmission and reception paths that can be used in a wireless network. Any other suitable architecture can be used to support wireless communication in a wireless network.

[0071] FIG. 3a illustrates an example UE 116 according to the disclosure. The embodiment of UE 116 shown in FIG. 3a is for illustration only, and UEs 111-115 of FIG. 1 can have the same or similar configuration. However, a UE has various configurations, and FIG. 3a does not limit the scope of the disclosure to any specific implementation of the UE.

[0072] UE 116 includes an antenna 301, a radio frequency (RF) transceiver 302, a transmission (TX) processing circuit 303, a microphone 304, and a reception (RX) processing circuit 305. UE 116 also includes a speaker 306, a controller / processor 307, an input / output (I / O) interface 308, an input device(s) 309, a display 310, and a memory 311. The memory 311 includes an operating system (OS) 312 and one or more applications 313.

[0073] The RF transceiver 302 receives an incoming RF signal transmitted by a gNB of the wireless network 100 from the antenna 301. The RF transceiver 302 down-converts the incoming RF signal to generate an intermediate frequency (IF) or baseband signal. The IF or baseband signal is transmitted to the RX processing circuit 305, where the RX processing circuit 305 generates a processed baseband signal by filtering, decoding and / or digitizing the baseband or IF signal. The RX processing circuit 305 transmits the processed baseband signal to speaker 306 (such as for voice data) or to controller / processor 307 for further processing (such as for web browsing data).

[0074] The TX processing circuit 303 receives analog or digital voice data from microphone 304 or other outgoing baseband data (such as network data, email or interactive video game data) from controller / processor 307. The TX processing circuit 303 encodes, multiplexes, and / or digitizes the outgoing baseband data to generate a processed baseband or IF signal. The RF transceiver 302 receives the outgoing processed baseband or IF signal from the TX processing circuit 303 and up-converts the baseband or IF signal into an RF signal transmitted via the antenna 301.

[0075] The controller / processor 307 can include one or more processors or other processing devices and execute an OS 312 stored in the memory 311 in order to control the overall operation of UE 116. For example, the controller / processor 307 can control the reception of forward channel signals and the transmission of backward channel signals through the RF transceiver 302, the RX processing circuit 305 and the TX processing circuit 303 according to well-known principles. In some embodiments, the controller / processor 307 includes at least one microprocessor or microcontroller.

[0076] The controller / processor 307 is also capable of executing other processes and programs residing in the memory 311, such as operations for channel quality measurement and reporting for systems with 2D antenna arrays as described in embodiments of the disclosure. The controller / processor 307 can move data into or out of the memory 311 as required by an execution process. In some embodiments, the controller / processor 307 is configured to execute the application 313 based on the OS 312 or in response to signals received from the gNB or the operator. The controller / processor 307 is also coupled to an I / O interface 308, where the I / O interface 308 provides UE 116 with the ability to connect to other devices such as laptop computers and handheld computers. I / O interface 308 is a communication path between these accessories and the controller / processor 307.

[0077] The controller / processor 307 is also coupled to the input device(s) 309 and the display 310. An operator of UE 116 can input data into UE 116 using the input device(s) 309. The display 310 may be a liquid crystal display or other display capable of presenting text and / or at least limited graphics (such as from a website). The memory 311 is coupled to the controller / processor 307. A part of the memory 311 can include a random access memory (RAM), while another part of the memory 311 can include a flash memory or other read-only memory (ROM).

[0078] Although FIG. 3a illustrates an example of UE 116, various changes can be made to FIG. 3a. For example, various components in FIG. 3a can be combined, further subdivided or omitted, and additional components can be added according to specific requirements. As a specific example, the controller / processor 307 can be divided into a plurality of processors, such as one or more central processing units (CPUs) and one or more graphics processing units (GPUs). Furthermore, although FIG. 3a illustrates that the UE 116 is configured as a mobile phone or a smart phone, UEs can be configured to operate as other types of mobile or fixed devices.

[0079] FIG. 3b illustrates an example gNB 102 according to the disclosure. The embodiment of gNB 102 shown in FIG. 3b is for illustration only, and other gNBs of FIG. 1 can have the same or similar configuration. However, a gNB has various configurations, and FIG. 3b does not limit the scope of the disclosure to any specific implementation of a gNB. It should be noted that gNB 101 and gNB 103 can include the same or similar structures as gNB 102.

[0080] As shown in FIG. 3b, gNB 102 includes a plurality of antennas 370a-370n, a plurality of RF transceivers 372a-372n, a transmission (TX) processing circuit 374, and a reception (RX) processing circuit 376. In certain embodiments, one or more of the plurality of antennas 370a-370n include a 2D antenna array. gNB 102 also includes a controller / processor 378, a memory 380, and a backhaul or network interface 382.

[0081] RF transceivers 372a-372n receive an incoming RF signal from antennas 370a-370n, such as a signal transmitted by UEs or other gNBs. RF transceivers 372a-372n down-convert the incoming RF signal to generate an IF or baseband signal. The IF or baseband signal is transmitted to the RX processing circuit 376, where the RX processing circuit 376 generates a processed baseband signal by filtering, decoding and / or digitizing the baseband or IF signal. RX processing circuit 376 transmits the processed baseband signal to controller / processor 378 for further processing.

[0082] The TX processing circuit 374 receives analog or digital data (such as voice data, network data, email or interactive video game data) from the controller / processor 378. TX processing circuit 374 encodes, multiplexes and / or digitizes outgoing baseband data to generate a processed baseband or IF signal. RF transceivers 372a-372n receive the outgoing processed baseband or IF signal from TX processing circuit 374 and up-convert the baseband or IF signal into an RF signal transmitted via antennas 370a-370n.

[0083] The controller / processor 378 can include one or more processors or other processing devices that control the overall operation of gNB 102. For example, the controller / processor 378 can control the reception of forward channel signals and the transmission of backward channel signals through the RF transceivers 372a-372n, the RX processing circuit 376 and the TX processing circuit 374 according to well-known principles. The controller / processor 378 can also support additional functions, such as higher-level wireless communication functions. For example, the controller / processor 378 can perform a Blind Interference Sensing (BIS) process such as that performed through a BIS algorithm, and decode a received signal from which an interference signal is subtracted. A controller / processor 378 may support any one of a variety of other functions in gNB 102. In some embodiments, the controller / processor 378 includes at least one microprocessor or microcontroller.

[0084] The controller / processor 378 is also capable of executing programs and other processes residing in the memory 380, such as a basic OS. The controller / processor 378 can also support channel quality measurement and reporting for systems with 2D antenna arrays as described in embodiments of the disclosure. In some embodiments, the controller / processor 378 supports communication between entities such as web RTCs. The controller / processor 378 can move data into or out of the memory 380 as required by an execution process.

[0085] The controller / processor 378 is also coupled to the backhaul or network interface 382. The backhaul or network interface 382 allows gNB 102 to communicate with other devices or systems through a backhaul connection or through a network. The backhaul or network interface 382 can support communication over any suitable wired or wireless connection(s). For example, when gNB 102 is implemented as a part of a cellular communication system, such as a cellular communication system supporting 5G or new radio access technology or NR, LTE or LTE-A, the backhaul or network interface 382 can allow gNB 102 to communicate with other gNBs through wired or wireless backhaul connections. When gNB 102 is implemented as an access point, the backhaul or network interface 382 can allow gNB 102 to communicate with a larger network, such as the Internet, through a wired or wireless local area network or through a wired or wireless connection. The backhaul or network interface 382 includes any suitable structure that supports communication through a wired or wireless connection, such as an Ethernet or an RF transceiver.

[0086] The memory 380 is coupled to the controller / processor 378. A part of the memory 380 can include an RAM, while another part of the memory 380 can include a flash memory or other ROMs. In certain embodiments, a plurality of instructions, such as the BIS algorithm, are stored in the memory. The plurality of instructions are configured to cause the controller / processor 378 to execute the BIS process and decode the received signal after subtracting at least one interference signal determined by the BIS algorithm.

[0087] As will be described in more detail below, the transmission and reception paths of gNB 102 (implemented using RF transceivers 372a-372n, TX processing circuit 374 and / or RX processing circuit 376) support aggregated communication with FDD cells and TDD cells.

[0088] Although FIG. 3b illustrates an example of gNB 102, various changes may be made to FIG. 3b. For example, gNB 102 can include any number of each component shown in FIG. 3a. As a specific example, the access point can include many backhaul or network interfaces 382, and the controller / processor 378 can support routing functions to route data between different network addresses. As another specific example, although shown as including a single instance of the TX processing circuit 374 and a single instance of the RX processing circuit 376, gNB 102 can include multiple instances of each (such as one for each RF transceiver).

[0089] With the continuous development of wireless communication systems, in order to obtain higher data rates, the network needs to use more antennas, larger bandwidths and more frequency bands, and the high energy expenditure has gradually become one of the problems plaguing operators. Meanwhile, in the communication system, a primary synchronization signal (PSS), a secondary synchronization signal (SSS) and a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) together form a synchronization signal block (SS / PBCH block, SSB), which is mainly used for downlink synchronization and measurement. The SSB appears several times in a certain half frame at regular durations, and these SSBs form an SSB set. The periodicity of SSB set can be, for example, 5ms, 10ms, 20ms, 40ms, 80ms, 160ms, etc. However, sending these SSBs periodically takes up a lot of time-frequency resources and consumes a lot of energy in the network. If the SSB is not sent at all, it is difficult to ensure the time and frequency synchronization, which will in turn affect the performance of the whole communication system. Therefore, an enhanced communication method based on on-demand SSB is urgently needed to realize energy-saving and efficient communication of the whole communication system.

[0090] For the convenience of expression, in the disclosure, the SSB sent periodically is called always-on SSB, and the SSB sent on-demand introduced for network energy saving is called on-demand SSB. As shown in the figure below, when the UE receives the on-demand SSB sent by the network device, there may be no always-on SSB to receive (FIG. 4a). In this scenario, the network device saves energy because it no longer needs to send always-on SSB. There may still be always-on SSB to receive (FIG. 4b). In this scenario, the network device saves energy because it can send always-on SSB with a larger periodicity. Regardless of whether it is an on-demand SSB only scenario or an on-demand SSB and always-on SSB coexistence scenario, the UE needs to have the capability to receive the on-demand SSB signal, and do measurements based on the on-demand SSB and / or always-on SSB signal according to the corresponding measurement requirements and report the related measurement results. Activating secondary cell (SCell) based on on-demand SSB and / or always-on SSB signals according to the corresponding activation delay requirements could achieve the energy-saving and efficient operation of the communication system.

[0091] The exemplary embodiments of the disclosure are further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0092] The text and drawings are provided as examples only to help readers understand the disclosure. They are not intended and should not be interpreted as limiting the scope of the disclosure in any way. Although certain embodiments and examples have been provided, based on the content disclosed herein, it is obvious to those skilled in the art that modifications to the illustrated embodiments and examples can be made without departing from the scope of the disclosure.

[0093] FIG. 5 illustrates a schematic flowchart of a method performed by a UE in a communication system according to an embodiment of the disclosure. It will be understood that a schematic flowchart of the SCell activation method based on the on-demand SSB (which may correspond to the first SSB hereinafter) is shown in FIG. 5. The method may include:

[0094] step S11: receiving a first SSB of a first SCell by a UE;

[0095] step S12: receiving the activation information of the first SCell by the UE;

[0096] step S13: activating the first SCell based on the SCell activation delay of the first SSB by the UE.

[0097] It should be noted that there is no fixed sequence of steps S11 and S12. The SCell activation delay based on the on-demand SSB in step S13 may be seen in Embodiment 2 below.

[0098] Optionally, the first SCell is an SCell being activated, and the activation information may include an activation command.

[0099] In an embodiment, the first SSB is an on-demand SSB, and the SCell activation delay is determined based on a duration related to the first SSB when the UE has the capability related to the first SSB,

[0100] wherein the duration related to the first SSB is one of the following:

[0101] when the first SCell is a known cell, and a measurement period of the first SCell is equal to or smaller than a first duration, the duration related to the first SSB is a second duration; or

[0102] when the first SCell is a known cell, and a measurement period of the first SCell is larger than the first duration, the duration related to the first SSB is a third duration; or

[0103] when the first SCell is an unknown cell and the first condition is met, and either only one SSB is being actually transmitted or multiple SSBs and transmission configuration indicator (TCI) indication of the multiple SSBs are provided in the same medium access control protocol data unit (MAC PDU) with the first SCell activation, the duration related to the first SSB is a fourth duration; or

[0104] when the first SCell is an unknown cell and the first condition is met, and a semi-persistent channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) is used for CSI reporting or a periodic CSI-RS is used for CSI reporting, the duration related to the first SSB is a fifth duration.

[0105] In an optional embodiment, the SCell activation delay is determined based on the duration related to the first SSB, including at least one of the following:

[0106] when the first SCell is a known cell, and the measurement period of the first SCell is equal to or smaller than the first duration, the SCell activation delay is determined based on the second duration and a first fixed value; or

[0107] when the first SCell is a known cell, and the measurement period of the first SCell is larger than the first duration, the SCell activation delay is determined based on the third duration, a sixth duration and the first fixed value; or

[0108] when the first SCell is an unknown cell and the first condition is met, and either only one SSB is being actually transmitted, or multiple SSBs and TCI indication of the multiple SSBs are provided in same MAC PDU with the first SCell activation, the SCell activation delay is determined based on the fourth duration, the sixth duration and the first fixed value; or

[0109] when the first SCell is an unknown cell and the first condition is met, and a semi-persistent CSI-RS is used for CSI reporting or a periodic CSI-RS is used for CSI reporting, the SCell activation delay is determined based on the sixth duration and the fifth duration, and a second fixed value and a seventh duration.

[0110] In an optional embodiment, when the UE has the capability related to the first SSB and a fast measurement capability, and the UE receives at least two first SSBs, or at least two first SSBs and at least one second SSB, from the first SCell, the method of determining the SCell activation delay includes:

[0111] when the first SCell is a known cell, and a measurement period of the first SCell is equal to or smaller than the first duration, the activation delay of the SCell is a third fixed value; or

[0112] when the first SCell is a known cell, and the measurement period of the first SCell is larger than the first duration, the activation delay of the SCell is determined based on a sixth duration and the third fixed value.

[0113] In an optional embodiment, the first duration is a predefined value; or the first duration is determined based on the time information of the first SSB signal; wherein the time information includes any one of measurement time configuration, periodicity and duration;

[0114] the sixth duration is determined based on an SSB-based measurement Timing configuration (SMTC) periodicity of the first SCell.

[0115] In an optional embodiment, the capability related to the first SSB include:

[0116] a first capability, the UE has a related capability to support the first SSB; and

[0117] a second capability, the UE has a related capability to support the first SSB and the second SSB, wherein the second SSB is a periodically transmitted SSB.

[0118] In an optional embodiment, if the UE has the first capability, then:

[0119] the second duration is determined based on the measurement time configuration of the first SSB;

[0120] the third duration is the maximum value in the measurement time configurations determined based on the measurement time configuration of the first SSB;

[0121] the fourth duration is determined based on the third duration and the maximum value of the SMTC periodicity determined based on the measurement time configuration of the first SSB; or the fourth duration is determined based on the third duration and the periodicity of the first SSB;

[0122] the fifth duration is determined based on the fourth duration, an eighth duration, and a ninth duration, wherein the eighth duration is a layer 1 reference signal received power (L1-RSRP) measurement delay based on the first SSB; and the ninth duration is a delay of the L1-RSRP measurement reporting based on the first SSB.

[0123] In an optional embodiment, if the UE has the second capability, then:

[0124] the second duration is determined based on a tenth duration and an eleventh duration, wherein the tenth duration is determined based on the measurement time configuration of the first SSB and the eleventh duration is determined based on the measurement time configuration of the second SSB;

[0125] the third duration is determined based on a twelfth duration and a thirteenth duration, wherein the twelfth duration is the maximum value in the measurement time configurations determined based on the measurement time configuration of the first SSB and the thirteenth duration is the maximum value in the measurement time configurations determined based on the measurement time configuration of the second SSB;

[0126] the fourth duration is determined based on the third duration and the maximum value of the SMTC periodicity determined based on the measurement time configuration of the first SSB; or the fourth duration is determined based on the third duration and the periodicity of the first SSB;

[0127] the fifth duration is determined based on the fourth duration, the eighth duration and the ninth duration, wherein the eighth duration is an L1-RSRP measurement delay based on the first SSB and the second SSB; and the ninth duration is the delay of L1-RSRP measurement reporting based on the first SSB and the second SSB.

[0128] In the above-described scheme, the duration related to the first SSB is determined based on the capability supported by the UE related to the first SSB, and then the SCell activation delay is determined, and the SCell being activated is activated based on the SCell activation delay, so that communication can be realized more efficiently.

[0129] In an optional embodiment, the method further includes: determining whether the first SCell is a known cell of the UE by one of the following ways:

[0130] if the first SCell belongs to the frequency range 1 (FR1), the first SCell is a known cell if at least one of the following conditions is satisfied, otherwise it is an unknown cell:

[0131] a first condition: during the fourteenth duration before the reception of the first SCell activation information, the UE has sent a valid measurement report for the SCell being activated, and the measurement of the first SSB and / or the second SSB remains detectable;

[0132] a second condition: during the fourteenth duration within the SCell activation delay of the UE, the measurement of the first SSB and / or the second SSB remains detectable;

[0133] a third condition: the number of SSBs has been received is no less than N;

[0134] wherein the fourteenth duration is any one of the following:

[0135] the maximum value determined based on the measurement time configuration of the first SSB and the discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle;

[0136] the maximum value determined based on the periodicity of the first SSB and the DRX cycle;

[0137] the maximum value determined based on the measurement period of the first SCell and the DRX cycle;

[0138] or

[0139] if the first SCell belongs to the frequency range 2 (FR2), the first SCell is a known cell if at least one of the following conditions is satisfied, otherwise it is an unknown cell:

[0140] a fourth condition: during the fifteenth duration before the UE receives the last activation command of the first semi-persistent CSI-RS, the UE has sent a valid layer 3 reference signal received power (L3-RSRP) measurement report of the first SSB and / or the second SSB with the SSB index, and the UE receives the activation information of the first SCell after the L3-RSRP reporting, and the reception time of the activation information of the first SCell is no later than the time when the UE receives command for TCI activation;

[0141] a fifth condition: during the period from L3-RSRP reporting to the valid channel quality indicator (CQI) reporting, the reported first SSB and / or second SSB with indexes remains detectable, and the TCI state is selected based on the latest reported SSB index;

[0142] the third condition;

[0143] wherein the N is the number of the first SSBs, or the sum of the number of first SSBs and the number of second SSBs.

[0144] In the above scheme, when determining whether the SCell being activated is a known cell, the time related to the first SSB is also considered, so that the communication process based on the on-demand SSB can be better adapted and the communication method based on the on-demand SSB can be enhanced.

[0145] In an embodiment, the method further includes: performing the first SSB based measurement based on a measurement duration related to the first SSB.

[0146] The measurement duration is determined based on a sixteenth duration related to the first SSB and / or a scaling factor related to the first SSB.

[0147] The scaling factor related to the first SSB includes one of the following:

[0148] a first scaling factor for a first measurement based on the first SSB;

[0149] a second scaling factor for an L1-RSRP measurement based on the first SSB.

[0150] The measurement duration includes at least one of the following:

[0151] the duration of the first measurement based on the first SSB;

[0152] L1-RSRP measurement duration based on the first SSB.

[0153] wherein the first measurement includes at least one of the following:

[0154] detection of a PSS / SSS;

[0155] detection of a time index of the first SSB;

[0156] synchronization signal-reference signal received power (SS-RSRP), synchronization signal-reference signal received quality (SS-RSRQ), and synchronization-signal signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SS-SINR) measurements based on the first SSB.

[0157] On the basis of the above scheme, the measurement related to SSB may be further performed based on the duration related to the first SSB and / or the measurement duration determined by the scaling factor related to the first SSB, so that energy-saving and efficient communication of the communication system can be realized.

[0158] In an optional embodiment, the method further includes:

[0159] determining the interruption duration of activating or deactivating the SCell based on the maximum value in the first measurement time configuration of all activated serving cells and the SCell being activated in the measurement time unit,

[0160] wherein the first measurement time configuration includes the measurement time configuration or duration of the first SSB.

[0161] In an optional embodiment, if the SCell being activated is configured with SSB and not configured with SMTC, the periodicity of SSB is the first fixed value, and the interruption duration is a seventeenth duration.

[0162] If the SSB includes the first SSB, the seventeenth duration is the number of consecutive subframes of all the first SSBs included in an SSB burst transmission in the SCell being activated.

[0163] if the SSB includes the first SSB and the second SSB, the seventeenth duration is the number of all consecutive subframes including the first SSB in a first SSB burst transmission in the activated SCell; or the seventeenth duration is the number of all consecutive subframes including the first SSB and the number of all consecutive subframes including the second SSB in a first SSB burst transmission in the activated SCell.

[0164] In an embodiment, the interruption duration of activating or deactivating SCell needs to be determined based on the first SSB, or the first SSB and the second SSB, so that it can be better applied to the communication process related to on-demand SSB scenario, for the purpose of energy-saving and efficient communication of the communication system.

[0165] In an optional embodiment, the method further includes:

[0166] receiving a second SSB of the first SCell;

[0167] wherein the UE does not expect to receive the first SSB signal and the second SSB signal at the same time unit; or

[0168] the first SSB received by the UE is not expected to be transmitted at the same time unit as the second SSB; or

[0169] the UE uses the first SSB and / or the second SSB; or

[0170] the first SSB and the second SSB are separated by a first number of time units, and then the first SSB and the second SSB are valid SSBs.

[0171] In an embodiment, using the first SSB and the second SSB needs to meet some criteria.

[0172] Optionally, the time unit may be a symbol, a time slot, a subframe, a frame, a half-frame, a mini time slot, etc., which is not limited by the embodiments of the disclosure.

[0173] FIG. 6 illustrates a schematic flowchart of a method performed by a UE in a communication system according to an embodiment of the disclosure. It will be understood that a schematic flowchart of a measurement method based on an on-demand SSB (which may correspond to a first SSB hereinafter) is shown in FIG. 6, and the method may include:

[0174] step S21: receiving a first SSB by a UE;

[0175] step S22: performing a measurement and / or measurement reporting based on the first SSB, based on a measurement duration related to the first SSB.

[0176] It should be noted that the determination method of the measurement duration related to the on-demand SSB in step S22 can be seen in Embodiment 4 below, and the processing of the measurement results may be seen in Embodiment 5 below.

[0177] The duration related to the measurement is determined based on a sixteenth duration related to the first SSB and / or based on a scaling factor related to the first SSB.

[0178] The first SSB is an on-demand SSB.

[0179] The scaling factor related to the first SSB includes one of the following:

[0180] a first scaling factor for a first measurement based on the first SSB;

[0181] a second scaling factor for an L1-RSRP measurement based on the first SSB.

[0182] The measurement duration includes at least one of the following:

[0183] a duration of a first measurement based on the first SSB;

[0184] an L1-RSRP measurement duration based on the first SSB.

[0185] The first measurement includes at least one of the following:

[0186] detection of a PSS / SSS;

[0187] detection of a time index of the first SSB;

[0188] SS-RSRP, SS-RSRQ, and SS-SINR measurements based on the first SSB.

[0189] In an optional embodiment, during the first measurement based on the first SSB, the sixteenth duration related to the first SSB includes: SMTC or the periodicity or duration of the first SSB;

[0190] during L1-RSRP measurement based on the first SSB, the sixteenth duration related to the first SSB includes: the periodicity or duration of the first SSB.

[0191] In an optional embodiment, the UE has the capabilities related to the first SSB, which include:

[0192] a first capability, the UE has a related capability to support the first SSB; and

[0193] a second capability, the UE has a related capability to support the first SSB and the second SSB, and the second SSB is a periodically transmitted SSB.

[0194] In an optional embodiment, if the UE has the first capability, the first scaling factor is determined based on the number of SMTCs or periodicities of the first SSB within the measurement window and the number of SMTCs or periodicities of the first SSB within the measurement window that do not overlap with any non-dropped occasion; or

[0195] if the UE has the second capability, the first scaling factor is determined based on a first value and a second value. The first value is the sum of the number of SMTCs or periodicities of the first SSB and the number of SMTCs of the second SSB within the measurement window, and the second value is the sum of number of SMTCs or periodicities of the first SSB and the number of SMTCs of the second SSB within the measurement window that do not overlap with any non-dropped occasion.

[0196] In an optional embodiment, if the UE has the first capability, the second scaling factor is determined based on the number of periodicities of the first SSB within the measurement window and the number of periodicities of the first SSB within the measurement window that do not overlap with any non-dropped occasion; or

[0197] if the UE has the second capability, the second scaling factor is determined based on the sum of the number of periodicities of the first SSB and the number of SMTCs of the second SSB within the measurement window, and the sum of the number of periodicities of the first SSB and the number of SMTCs of the second SSB within the measurement window that do not overlap with any non-dropped occasion.

[0198] In an optional embodiment, the measurement duration is determined based on a sixteenth duration related to the first SSB and / or a scaling factor related to the first SSB, including:

[0199] the measurement duration is determined based on the sixteenth duration, a first fixed duration, and the first scaling factor, when the discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle is not configured; or

[0200] the measurement duration is determined based on the sixteenth duration, the first fixed duration, the first scaling factor, and the DRX cycle, when the DRX cycle is smaller than or equal to a first threshold; or

[0201] the measurement duration is determined based on the first scaling factor and the DRX cycle, when the DRX cycle is larger than the first threshold; or

[0202] the measurement duration is determined based on the sixteenth duration and the first fixed duration; or

[0203] the measurement duration is determined based on the sixteenth duration.

[0204] In an optional embodiment, during the L1-RSRP measurement based on the first SSB, the measurement duration includes one of the following:

[0205] the measurement duration is determined based on the sixteenth duration, a configured period of the L1-RSRP measurement reporting, and the second scaling factor, when the discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle is not configured; or

[0206] the measurement duration is determined based on the sixteenth duration, the configured period of the L1-RSRP measurement reporting, the second scaling factor, and the DRX cycle, when the DRX cycle is smaller than or equal to a first threshold; or

[0207] the measurement duration is determined based on the second scaling factor and the DRX cycle, when the DRX cycle is larger than the first threshold; or

[0208] the measurement duration is determined based on the sixteenth duration and the configured period of the L1-RSRP measurement reporting; or

[0209] the measurement duration is determined based on the sixteenth duration.

[0210] In the above scheme, the duration related to the first SSB and the scaling factor related to the first SSB are determined based on the capability supported by the UE related to the first SSB, and then the measurement duration related to the first SSB is determined, and the measurement of the SSB is performed based on the measurement duration, so that communication can be realized more efficiently.

[0211] It is noted that any cell supporting on-demand SSB in the above measurement method based on the on-demand SSB may include an SCell and / or a primary cell (PCell).

[0212] In an optional embodiment, the method further includes:

[0213] receiving a second SSB;

[0214] wherein the UE does not expect to receive the first SSB signal and the second SSB signal at the same time unit; or

[0215] the first SSB received by the UE is not expected to be transmitted at the same time unit as the second SSB; or

[0216] the UE uses the first SSB and / or the second SSB; or

[0217] the first SSB and the second SSB are separated by the first number of time units, and then the first SSB and the second SSB are valid SSBs.

[0218] In an optional embodiment, the method further includes:

[0219] determining the interruption duration of activating or deactivating the SCell based on the maximum value in the first measurement time configuration of all activated serving cells and the SCell being activated in the measurement time unit;

[0220] wherein the first measurement time configuration includes the measurement time configuration or duration of the first SSB.

[0221] In an optional embodiment, if the SCell being activated is configured with SSB and not configured with SMTC, the periodicity of SSB is the first fixed value, and the interruption duration is a seventeenth duration;

[0222] if the SSB includes the first SSB, the seventeenth duration is the number of consecutive subframes of all the first SSBs included in an SSB burst transmission in the SCell being activated;

[0223] if the SSB includes the first SSB and the second SSB, the seventeenth duration is the number of all consecutive subframes including the first SSB in a first SSB burst transmission in the activated SCell; or the seventeenth duration is the number of all consecutive subframes including the first SSB and the number of all consecutive subframes including the second SSB in a first SSB burst transmission in the activated SCell;

[0224] It should be noted that there is no specific sequence relationship between the steps of the flow of the SCell activation method based on the on-demand SSB and the flow of the measurement method based on on-demand SSB, which may be performed in combination or separately.

[0225] Based on the prior art and the intensive and transient characteristics of on-demand SSB, the embodiments of the disclosure may include the following.

[0226] Embodiment 1: New UE Capabilities

[0227] The capabilities of on-demand SSB possessed by the UE can be specifically divided into:

[0228] a first capability, on-demand SSB capable, indicates that the UE may have the capability to recognize the configuration information of on-demand SSB (which may correspond to the first SSB described above), have the capability to correctly receive and parse the on-demand SSB signal, and have the capability to do new processing behaviors different from those of the legacy UE based on the on-demand SSB signal, such as measurement, measurement report, etc.;

[0229] a second capability, on-demand SSB and always-on SSB (which may correspond to the second SSB above) capable, indicates that the UE may have the capability to recognize the configuration information of the two SSBs separately, have the capability to correctly receive and parse the two SSB signals, and have the capability to do new processing behaviors different from those of the legacy UE based on the two SSBs, such as measurement and measurement report, etc.

[0230] The capability may be indicated based on a feature set, such as defined based on each band or each band combination.

[0231] The introduction of new UE capability information provides the necessary conditions for the on-demand SSB mechanism to work normally and assists in achieving the purpose of network energy saving.

[0232] In an embodiment, the UE may report the capabilities of the above on-demand SSB to the network device.

[0233] Embodiment 2: New SCell Activation Delay Requirements

[0234] Upon receiving SCell activation command with an on-demand SSB signal, the UE may be able to activate the deactivated SCell within a specified time, as shown in FIGS. 4a and 4b, upon receiving SCell activation command at time T2, the UE may be capable to complete the SCell activation no later than time T3. For the SCell with an on-demand SSB signal, upon receiving SCell activation command in slot n, the UE may be capable to transmit valid CSI report and apply actions related to the activation command for the SCell being activated no later than in slot , where:

[0235] - THARQ(in ms) is the time between downlink data transmission and acknowledgement;

[0236] - TCSI_reporting(in ms) includes the uncertainty time of acquiring the first available downlink CSI reference resource, the processing time of the UE for CSI reporting, and the uncertainty time of acquiring the first available CSI reporting resource;

[0237] - Tactivation_time(in ms) is the SCell activation delay.

[0238] The activation delay Tactivation_timeof UE will have different requirements for different scenarios and different UE capabilities.

[0239] Scheme 1:

[0240] If the SCell being activated (which may correspond to the first SCell above) is a known cell carrying an on-demand SSB signal (for the judgment criteria for known cells, refer to Embodiment 3), and the UE has the first capability of supporting on-demand SSB as described above, the corresponding activation delay requirements are as follows:

[0241] - T2FirstSSB+ 5ms, if the measurement period of the SCell being activated is equal to or smaller than Y(ms).

[0242] - T2FirstSSB_MAX+ Trs+ 5ms, if the measurement period of the SCell being activated is larger than Y(ms).

[0243] If the SCell being activated is a known cell carrying an on-demand SSB signal, and the UE has the second capability of supporting on-demand SSB as described above, the corresponding activation delay requirements are as follows:

[0244] - operator (T2FirstSSB, TFirstSSB)+ 5ms, if the measurement period of the SCell being activated is equal to or smaller than Y(ms).

[0245] - operator (T2FirstSSB_MAX, TFirstSSB_MAX)+ Trs+ 5ms, if the measurement period of the SCell being activated is larger than Y(ms).

[0246] 5ms may correspond to the first fixed value above (also described as a fixed duration).

[0247] TFirstSSBis the time from slot to the end of the first SSB burst indicated by SMTC, or it may be the end time of the first SSB burst within 5ms if SMTC is not configured.

[0248] T2FirstSSBis the time from slot to the end of the first on-demand SSB burst indicated by SMTCnew, or it may be the end time of the first on-demand SSB burst in the on-demand SSB occasion if SMTCnewis not defined or configured.

[0249] T2FirstSSB_MAXis TFirstSSB_MAXdefined based on SMTCnew.

[0250] Trs(which may correspond to the sixth duration above) is the SMTC periodicity of the SCell being activated. If the UE is not provided SMTC configuration or measurement object on this frequency, the requirement which involves Trsis applied with equal to Xms, and X is the on-demand SSB transmission periodicity, e.g., X is 2ms, 5ms, etc. There are no requirements if the on-demand SSB transmission periodicity is not Xms.

[0251] Y (which may correspond to the first duration described above) may be a predefined value, e.g. 2400, 300, etc. Y may also be a calculation formula, e.g. M1* SMTCnew(ms). M1 may be a predefined value, e.g. 15, 10, etc.

[0252] SMTCnewis the measurement time configuration of on-demand SSB.

[0253] The operator is an operation operator, which can take the maximum value, take the minimum value, take the average value, take one of them, etc.

[0254] Optionally, when the UE has the first capability of supporting on-demand SSB as described above, T2FirstSSBmay correspond to the second duration above, and T2FirstSSB_MAXmay correspond to the third duration above.

[0255] Optionally, when the UE has the second capability of supporting on-demand SSB as described above, the operator (T2FirstSSB, TFirstSSB) may correspond to the second duration above, and the operator (T2FirstSSB_MAX, TFirstSSB_MAX) may correspond to the third duration above. T2FirstSSBmay correspond to the tenth duration described above, and TFirstSSBmay correspond to the eleventh duration above; T2FirstSSB_MAXmay correspond to the twelfth duration above, and TFirstSSB_MAXmay correspond to the thirteenth duration above.

[0256] If SMTCnewis not defined, then the activation delay requirement may be as follows:

[0257] Scheme 2:

[0258] If the SCell being activated is a known cell carrying an on-demand SSB signal, and the UE has the first capability of supporting on-demand SSB as described above, the corresponding activation delay requirements are as follows:

[0259] - T2FirstSSB+ 5ms, if the measurement period of the SCell being activated is equal to or smaller than Y(ms).

[0260] - T2FirstSSB_MAX+ Trs+ 5ms, if the measurement period of the SCell being activated is greater than Y(ms).

[0261] If the SCell being activated is a known cell, and the UE has the second capability of supporting on-demand SSB as described above, the corresponding activation delay requirements are as follows:

[0262] - operator (T2FirstSSB, TFirstSSB)+ 5ms, if the measurement period of the SCell being activated is equal to or smaller than Y(ms).

[0263] - operator (T2FirstSSB_MAX, TFirstSSB_MAX)+ Trs+ 5ms, if the measurement period of the SCell being activated is larger than Y(ms).

[0264] Y may be a predefined value, e.g. 2400, 300, etc. Y may also be a calculation formula, e.g. M1* T2SSB(ms).

[0265] T2SSBcan be the periodicity of on-demand SSB signal, and the user equipment can obtain it by the on-demand SSB configuration information, or by a value predefined in the specification.

[0266] The values of other parameters are as described above.

[0267] If T2SSBis not defined, the corresponding activation delay requirements are as follows:

[0268] Scheme 3:

[0269] If the SCell being activated is a known cell carrying an on-demand SSB signal, and the UE has the first capability of supporting on-demand SSB as described above, the corresponding activation delay requirements are as follows:

[0270] - T2FirstSSB+ 5ms, if the measurement period of the SCell being activated is equal to or smaller than Y(ms).

[0271] - T2FirstSSB_MAX+ Trs+ 5ms, if the measurement period of the SCell being activated is greater than Y(ms).

[0272] If the SCell being activated is a known cell, and the UE has the second capability of supporting on-demand SSB as described above, the corresponding activation delay requirements are as follows:

[0273] - operator (T2FirstSSB, TFirstSSB)+ 5ms, if the measurement period of the SCell being activated is equal to or smaller than Y(ms).

[0274] - operator (T2FirstSSB_MAX, TFirstSSB_MAX)+ Trs+ 5ms, if the measurement period of the SCell being activated is larger than Y(ms).

[0275] Y may be a predefined value, e.g. 2400, 300, etc. Y may also be a calculation formula, e.g. M3* Tduration(ms).

[0276] M3 may be a predefined value, such as taking the value of 3, 2, 1, etc. M3 may also be a value obtained from the network device through configuration information.

[0277] Tdurationmay be the duration of on-demand SSB signal of the SCell being activated, which may be obtained by the UE through the on-demand SSB configuration information, or through the calculation of parameters in the on-demand SSB configuration information, or through a value predefined in the specification.

[0278] The values of other parameters are as described above.

[0279] Scheme 4:

[0280] If the UE has obtained enough on-demand SSBs from the SCell being activated, or enough on-demand SSBs and always-on SSBs from the SCell being activated before receiving the SCell activation command carrying the on-demand SSB signal, meanwhile the UE has a fast measurement capability, the UE may no longer do measurements on the SSB after receiving the activation command to activate the SCell. Then the activation delay requirements of SCell are as follows.

[0281] - 3ms, if the measurement period of the SCell being activated is equal to or smaller than Y(ms).

[0282] - Trs+ 3ms, if the measurement period of the SCell being activated is larger than Y(ms).

[0283] Y may be a predefined value, such as 2400, 300, etc. Y may also be a calculation formula, such as M1* SMTCnew, M1* T2SSB, M3*Tduration, etc.

[0284] 3ms may correspond to the third fixed value above.

[0285] The values of other parameters are the same as above.

[0286] According to the above schemes, if the SCell carrying the on-demand SSB signal being activated is an unknown cell (not a known cell), and the UE has the first capability of supporting on-demand SSB as described above and fulfills the side condition (which may correspond to the first condition above, which is related to the channel quality), the corresponding activation delay requirements are as follows:

[0287] - T2FirstSSB_MAX+ [T2SMTC_MAXor T2SSB] + 2*Trs+ 5ms. When 'ssb-PositionInBurst' indicates that only one SSB is being actually transmitted, or 'ssb-PositionInBurst' indicates multiple SSBs, and the TCI indication of the multiple SSBs is provided in the same MAC PDU with the SCell activation.

[0288] - 6ms + T2FirstSSB_MAX+ [T2SMTC_MAXor T2SSB] + Trs+ T2L1-RSRP, measure+ T2L1-RSRP, report+ THARQ+ max (Tuncertainty_MAC+ TFineTiming+ 2ms, Tuncertainty_SP), when semi-persistent CSI-RS is used for CSI reporting.

[0289] - 3ms + T2FirstSSB_MAX+ [T2SMTC_MAXor T2SSB] + Trs+ T2L1-RSRP, measure+ T2L1-RSRP, report+ max (THARQ+ Tuncertainty_MAC+ 5ms + TFineTiming, Tuncertainty_RRC+ TRRC_delay), when periodic CSI-RS is used for CSI reporting.

[0290] If the SCell carrying the on-demand SSB signal being activated is an unknown cell, and the UE has the second capability of supporting on-demand SSB as described above and fulfills the side condition that , the corresponding activation delay requirements are as follows:

[0291] - operator (T2FirstSSB_MAX, TFirstSSB_MAX) + [T2SMTC_MAXor T2SSB] + 2*Trs+ 5ms. When 'ssb-PositionInBurst' indicates that only one SSB is being actually transmitted, or 'ssb-PositionInBurst' indicates multiple SSBs, and the TCI indication of the multiple SSBs is provided in the same MAC PDU with the SCell activation.

[0292] - 6ms + operator (T2FirstSSB_MAX, TFirstSSB_MAX) + [T2SMTC_MAXor T2SSB] + Trs+ T2L1-RSRP, measure+ T2L1-RSRP, report+ THARQ+ max (Tuncertainty_MAC+ TFineTiming+ 2ms, Tuncertainty_SP), if semi-persistent CSI-RS is used for CSI reporting.

[0293] - 3ms + operator (T2FirstSSB_MAX, TFirstSSB_MAX) + [T2SMTC_MAXor T2SSB]+ Trs+ T2L1-RSRP, measure+ T2L1-RSRP, report+ max (THARQ+ Tuncertainty_MAC+ 5ms + TFineTiming, Tuncertainty_RRC+ TRRC_delay), if periodic CSI-RS is used for CSI reporting.

[0294] T2SMTC_MAXis TSMTC_MAXdefined based on SMTCnew.

[0295] TSMTC_MAXis the longer SMTC periodicity between activated serving cells and SCell being activated in FR1 intra-band contiguous SCell activation or intra-band non-contiguous SCell activation of the UE, and TSMTC_MAXis the SMTC periodicity of SCell being activated in FR1 non-collocated intra-band non-contiguous SCell activation or inter-band SCell activation of the UE. TSMTC_MAXis the longer SMTC periodicity in the activated serving cell and the cell being activated in FR2 intra-band SCell activation of the UE, and TSMTC_MAXis the SMTC periodicity of SCell being activated in FR2 intra-band SCell activation of the UE.

[0296] T2L1-RSRP, measuremay be an L1-RSRP measurement delay based on on-demand SSB, or an L1-RSRP measurement delay based on on-demand SSB and always-on SSB.

[0297] T2L1-RSRP, reportmay be an L1-RSRP measurement reporting delay based on on-demand SSB, or an L1-RSRP measurement reporting delay based on on-demand SSB and always-on SSB.

[0298] The values of other parameters are the same as above.

[0299] T2FirstSSB_MAX+ [T2SMTC_MAXor T2SSB] may correspond to the fourth duration described above.

[0300] T2FirstSSB_MAX+ [T2SMTC_MAXor T2SSB] + T2L1-RSRP, measure + T2L1-RSRP, reportmay correspond to the fifth duration described above. T2L1-RSRP, measure may correspond to the eighth duration above, and T2L1-RSRP, report may correspond to the ninth duration described above.

[0301] THARQ+ max (Tuncertainty_MAC+ TFineTiming+ 2ms, Tuncertainty_SP), or max (Tuncertainty_MAC+ TFineTiming+ 2ms, Tuncertainty_SP) may correspond to the seventh duration described above.

[0302] The new definition of SCell activation delay requirement related to on-demand SSB enables the UE to activate SCell faster, reducing unnecessary waiting time and enhancing user experience.

[0303] Embodiment 3: Judgement criteria for known cells

[0304] The on-demand SSB usually appears in a short-duration and intensive form, and the always-on SSB may or may not exist during the duration of on-demand SSB. For the UE supporting on-demand SSB, the FR1 SCell meeting the following conditions is a known cell:

[0305] - for FR1, during the period equal to max (5* SMTCnew, 5*DRX cycles) or max (Tduration, 5*DRX cycles) or max (5*measCycleSCell, 5*DRX cycles) before the UE receives the SCell activation command:

[0306] - the UE has sent a valid measurement report for the SCell being activated, and

[0307] - according to the existing cell identification conditions, on-demand SSB and / or always-on SSB measurements are still detectable.

[0308] - According to the existing cell identification conditions, the on-demand SSB and / or always-on SSB measurements are still detectable during the time period equal to max (5* SMTCnew, 5*DRX cycles) or max (Tduration, 5*DRX cycles) or max (5*measCycleSCell, 5*DRX cycles) of the SCell activation delay of the UE.

[0309] Alternatively,

[0310] - the UE has received enough SSBs not less than N,

[0311] -- N may be the number of on-demand SSBs, or

[0312] -- N may be the sum of the number of on-demand SSBs and always-on SSBs.

[0313] Otherwise, the FR1 SCell is an unknown cell.

[0314] The values of each parameter are the same as above.

[0315] The time period max(5* SMTCnew, 5*DRX cycles) or max(Tduration, 5*DRX cycles) or max(5*measCycleSCell, 5*DRX cycles) may correspond to the fourteenth duration described above.

[0316] For the first SCell activation of FR2 bands, the FR2 SCells that meet the following conditions are known cells:

[0317] - During the period equal to 4s for UE supporting power class 1 / 5 and 3s for UE supporting power class 2 / 3 / 4 before UE receives the last activation command for PDCCH TCI, PDSCH TCI (when applicable) and semi-persistent CSI-RS for CQI reporting (when applicable):

[0318] - the UE has sent a valid L3-RSRP measurement report with on-demand SSB and / or always-on SSB index, and

[0319] - SCell activation command is received after L3-RSRP reporting and no later than the time when UE receives MAC-CE command for TCI activation.

[0320] - During the period from L3-RSRP reporting to the valid CQI reporting, the reported on-demand SSB and / or always-on SSB with indexes remain detectable according to the existing cell identification conditions, and the TCI state is selected based on the latest reported SSB index. Alternatively,

[0321] - the UE has received enough SSBs not less than N,

[0322] -- N may be the number of on-demand SSBs, or

[0323] -- N may be the sum of the number of on-demand SSBs and the number of always-on SSBs.

[0324] Otherwise, the SCell on the FR2 bands is an unknown cell.

[0325] The values of each parameter are the same as above.

[0326] The period equal to 4s for UE supporting power class 1 / 5 and 3s for UE supporting power class 2 / 3 / 4, this can correspond to the fifteenth duration described above.

[0327] The introducing new judgment conditions for known cells helps the UE to judge the cell state conveniently and quickly, and improves the overall efficiency of the communication system.

[0328] Embodiment 4: Cell measurements of intra-frequency and inter-frequency

[0329] Prior to the availability of on-demand SSBs, SSB-based measurements of the UE were performed based on always-on SSBs, and since always-on SSBs exist periodically, the detection time for PSS(primary synchronization signal) / SSS(secondary synchronization signal) and the RSRP(reference signal received power) / RSRQ(reference signal received quality) / SINR(signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio) measurement time based on SSB are usually related to the periodicity of SSB. With the introduction of on-demand SSB, this periodicity will be broken. On-demand SSB may only exist for a period of time, and always-on SSB may exist or no longer exist, then accordingly, the detection time for PSS / SSS and the measurement time for SS-RSRP(synchronization signal RSRP) / SS-RSRQ(synchronization signal RSRQ) / SS-SINR(synchronization signal SINR) / L1-RSRP(layer 1 RSRP) by the UE also need to be changed accordingly to maintain the normal operation of the whole communication system.

[0330] Upon receiving the on-demand SSB signal, the UE may have the capability identify a new detectable intra-frequency / inter-frequency cell in the Tidentify_intra_without_index / Tidentify_inter_without_indexor Tidentify_intra_with_index / Tidentify_inter_with_indextime period. The time period Tidentify_intra_without_index / Tidentify_inter_without_indexor Tidentify_intra_with_index / Tidentify_inter_with_indexis related to the detection duration TPSS / SSS_sync_intra / TPSS / SSS_sync_interof PSS / SSS, and the measurement duration TSSB_measurement_period_intra / TSSB_measurement_period_interof SSB and the duration TSSB_time_index_intra / TSSB_time_index_interof obtaining the index of the measured SSB.

[0331] When the UE receives the on-demand SSB signal, the measurement for SS-RSRP / SS-RSRQ / SS-SINR / L1-RSRP by the UE may be able to also satisfy the measurement duration TSSB_measurement_period_intra / TSSB_measurement_period_interand TL1-RSRP_Measurement_SSB.

[0332] When the UE supports the first capability described above, Tidentify_intra_without_index / Tidentify_inter_without_indexor Tidentify_intra_with_index / Tidentify_inter_with_indexand TL1-RSRP_Measurement_SSBneed to be defined as the time related to on-demand SSB to ensure the valid operation of the communication system.

[0333] When the UE supports the second capability described above, Tidentify_intra_without_index / Tidentify_inter_without_indexor Tidentify_intra_with_index / Tidentify_inter_with_indexand TL1-RSRP_Measurement_SSBneed to be defined as the time related to on-demand SSB and / or always-on SSB to ensure the valid operation of the communication system.

[0334] Scheme 1: Use the new scaling factor and SMTCnewto define the duration

[0335] For the UE supporting on-demand SSB, the durations related to the detection duration TPSS / SSS_sync_intra / TPSS / SSS_sync_interof PSS / SSS, the duration TSSB_time_index_intra / TSSB_time_index_interof obtaining the index of the measured SSB, and the measurement duration TSSB_measurement_period_intra / TSSB_measurement_period_interbased on SSB may be defined as shown in Table 1 below:

[0336] [Table 1]

[0337]

[0338] The function ceil( x ) means to round up x. For details of M2 and CSSFintra, please refer to relevant agreements.

[0339] Y1 (which may correspond to the first fixed duration above) is a predefined value for defining the minimum measurement time, e.g., the value may be 600, 400, 200, 120, 0, etc.

[0340] Z1 is a predefined value for defining the number of samples, e.g., the value may be 8, 5, 3, etc. MGRP is the Measurement Gap Repetition Period, and MGRP=0ms when no GAP is measured.

[0341] Scaling factor K'p= Ntotal / Navailable.

[0342] K'pmay correspond to the first scaling factor described above.

[0343] When the UE supports the first capability, Ntotalis the number of on-demand SSB SMTC occasions in the measurement window, and Navailableis the number of on-demand SSB SMTC occasions in the measurement window that do not overlap with any non-dropped occasion.

[0344] When the UE supports the second capability, Ntotalis the sum of the number of on-demand SSB SMTCs and the number of always-on SSB SMTC occasions in the measurement window, and Navailableis the sum of the number of on-demand SSB SMTC occasions and the number of always-on SSB SMTC occasions in the measurement window that do not overlap with any non-dropped occasion.

[0345] When the measurement or detection is based on on-demand SSB, K'pmay also be defined to be equal to 1.

[0346] Operator2 is an operation operator, which may be to take a larger value, to take a smaller value, to take an average value, to take the value of one of them and so on. When the UE supports the first capability, operator2 takes the time value related to the on-demand SSB.

[0347] SMTCnewmay correspond to the sixteenth duration described above.

[0348] The values of other parameters are the same as above.

[0349] Scheme 2: Define the duration using the new scaling factor and T2SSB

[0350] For the UE supporting on-demand SSB, the durations related to the detection duration TPSS / SSS_sync_intra / TPSS / SSS_sync_interof PSS / SSS, the duration TSSB_time_index_intra / TSSB_time_index_interof obtaining the index of the measured SSB, and the measurement duration TSSB_measurement_period_intra / TSSB_measurement_period_interbased on SSB may be defined as shown in Table 2 below:

[0351] [Table 2]

[0352]

[0353] For the measurement time of L1-RSRP of the UE supporting on-demand SSB, the duration may be defined as shown in Table 3 below:

[0354] [Table 3]

[0355]

[0356] The function ceil( x ) means to round up x. For details of K and M, please refer to relevant agreements. TReportis the configured reporting period.

[0357] TDRXis the configured DRX cycle.

[0358] Scaling factor K'p=P'= Ntotal / Navailable.

[0359] K'pmay correspond to the first scaling factor described above, and P' may correspond to the second scaling factor described above.

[0360] When the UE supports the first capability, Ntotalis the number of on-demand SSB periods in the measurement window, and Navailableis the number of on-demand SSB periods in the measurement window that do not overlap with any non-dropped occasion.

[0361] When the UE supports the second capability, Ntotalis the sum of the number of on-demand SSB periods and the number of always-on SSB SMTC occasions in the measurement window, and Navailableis the sum of the number of on-demand SSB periods and the number of always-on SSB SMTC occasions in the measurement window that do not overlap with any non-dropped occasion.

[0362] When the measurement or detection is based on on-demand SSB, K'pand P' may also be defined to be equal to 1.

[0363] Operator2 is an operation operator, which can take a larger value, take a smaller value, take the average value, take one of them, etc. When the UE supports the first capability, operator2 takes the time value related to the on-demand SSB. T2SSBmay correspond to the sixteenth duration described above.

[0364] The values of other parameters are the same as above.

[0365] Scheme 3: Define the duration using the duration of on-demand SSB

[0366] For the UE supporting on-demand SSB, the durations related to the detection duration TPSS / SSS_sync_intra / TPSS / SSS_sync_interof PSS / SSS, the duration TSSB_time_index_intra / TSSB_time_index_interof obtaining the index of the measured SSB, and the measurement duration TSSB_measurement_period_intra / TSSB_measurement_period_interbased on SSB may be defined as shown below:

[0367] the UE may detect PSS / SSS, obtain the index of the measured SSB and do measurements based on SSB during the activation period of on-demand SSB, regardless of the DRX cycle setting, and then the corresponding detection and / or measurement duration may be defined as max(Y1ms, Tduration) * CSSFintraor Tduration*CSSFintra.

[0368] For the measurement time of L1-RSRP of the UE supporting on-demand SSB, the duration may be defined as shown below:

[0369] the UE may detect L1_RSRP based on SSB during the activation period of on-demand SSB, regardless of the DRX cycle setting, and then the corresponding measurement duration may be defined as max (TReport, Tduration).

[0370] When the UE supports the first capability, the on-demand SSB signal in Tdurationis used for corresponding detection and / or measurement.

[0371] When the UE supports the second capability, not only the on-demand SSB signal in Tdurationmay be used for corresponding detection and / or measurement, but also the always-on SSB signal in Tdurationmay be used for corresponding detection and / or measurement.

[0372] In addition, for the above three schemes, in order to ensure the accuracy of measurement, other embodiments of the disclosure embodiment application also define the UE behavior criterion when the number of measurement samples is insufficient or the measurement time is insufficient:

[0373] - When the UE supports the first capability:

[0374] - If the number of on-demand SSB occasions in the measurement window is less than Z1, the UE may either do measurements according to the actual number of on-demand SSB occasions or drop the measurement window.

[0375] - If the number of on-demand SSBs available for measurement received by the UE is less than M1 (which may correspond to the seventh value described above) within the time of Tduration, the UE may either do measurements according to the actual number of on-demand SSBs or drop this measurement window, where M1 is a predefined value, e.g., 10, 15, etc.

[0376] - If Z1* SMTCnew+(Z1-1)*Tgapor Z1* T2SSB+(Z1-1)*Tgapor Tdurationis smaller than Y1ms, then the detection duration of PSS / SSS or the duration of obtaining the index of the measured SSB may be defined according to Tduration, or this measurement window may be dropped, where Tgapmay be the period between multiple occurrences of on-demand SSBs.

[0377] In this embodiment, defining according to Tdurationmay be understood as defining the detection duration of PSS / SSS or the duration of obtaining the index of the measured SSB as Tduration; or the detection duration of PSS / SSS or the duration of obtaining the index of the measured SSB is determined based on the implementation of Scheme 3 in Embodiment 4 above.

[0378] - When the UE supports the second capability:

[0379] - In addition to the on-demand SSB, the signals used for detection or measurement may also include the always-on SSB signals within the measurement window, and also comply with the above detection or measurement criteria.

[0380] Furthermore, for the processing of measurement results, if the UE supports the second capability, and the measurement results of SS-RSRP / SS-RSRQ / SS-SINR / L1-RSRP include not only those based on on-demand SSB, but also those based on always-on SSB. When the UE performs operations such as linear average, taking the maximum value, taking the minimum value, and taking the arithmetic average on the results, the two kinds of results are to be processed separately for power normalization before the operations are performed, and the power values may be obtained from the configuration information of on-demand SSB and / or always-on SSB or calculated based on the configuration information of on-demand SSB and / or always-on SSB.

[0381] Embodiment 5: SCell activation / deactivation interrupt requirements

[0382] When an SCell is activated or deactivated as defined in TS37. 340, the UE is allowed to have an interruption duration on any activated serving cell. When the on-demand SSB is introduced, this interruption duration may be defined as shown in Table 4 below:

[0383] [Table 4]

[0384]

[0385] Embodiment 6: Priority criteria for the use of SSB

[0386] When the UE receives both the on-demand SSB from the SCell being activated and the always-on SSB signal from the SCell being activated, one or more of the following criteria for the use of SSB signals may be introduced:

[0387] Criteria 1: use only on-demand SSB;

[0388] Criteria 2: use only always-on SSB;

[0389] Criteria 3: use by combining on-demand SSB and always-on SSB;

[0390] Criteria 4: always-on SSB and on-demand SSB are separated by Q symbols to be considered as two valid SSBs, for example: Q=4, where Q may correspond to the first number described above.

[0391] Alternatively, define new UE behavior constraints:

[0392] - The UE does not expect to receive always-on SSB and on-demand SSB at the same time unit. Alternatively,

[0393] - the UE receives an on-demand SSB signal, wherein the on-demand SSB is not expected to be transmitted in the same time unit as the always-on SSB.

[0394] It should be understood that the time unit may be a symbol, a time slot, a mini-time slot, a sub-frame, a half-frame, a frame, etc., which is not limited in this embodiment.

[0395] Embodiment 7:

[0396] For the UE supporting on-demand SSB, the PSS / SSS detection duration, time index detection requirements, and measurement duration for intra-frequency / inter-frequency FR1 / FR2 are as follows:

[0397] max(Y1ms, Tduration) * CSSFintra

[0398] For the UE supporting on-demand SSB, the PSS / SSS detection duration, time index detection requirements, and measurement duration for intra-frequency FR1 / FR2 deactivating SCell are as follows:

[0399] Tduration* CSSFintra

[0400] For the UE supporting on-demand SSB, the measurement duration for L1-RSRP for FR1 / FR2 is as follows:

[0401] max(TReport, Tduration)

[0402] where each parameter is defined as previously described. The UE may detect PSS / SSS, obtain the index of the measured SSB, and do measurements based on SSB during the activation of on-demand SSB regardless of the DRX cycle setting.

[0403] When the UE supports the first capability, the on-demand SSB signal in Tdurationis used for corresponding detection and / or measurement.

[0404] When the UE supports the second capability, not only the on-demand SSB signal in Tdurationmay be used for corresponding detection and / or measurement, but also the always-on SSB signal in Tdurationmay be used for corresponding detection and / or measurement.

[0405] Embodiment 8:

[0406] For the UE supporting the first capability, the PSS / SSS detection duration for intra-frequency FR1 is shown in Table 5 below:

[0407] [Table 5]

[0408]

[0409] For the UE supporting the first capability, the PSS / SSS detection duration for intra-frequency FR2 is shown in Table 6 below:

[0410] [Table 6]

[0411]

[0412] For details of parameters Mpss / sss_sync_w / o_gaps, KFR, and Klayer1_measurement, please refer to relevant protocol provisions.

[0413] For the UE supporting the first capability, the time index detection duration for intra-frequency FR1 is shown in Table 7 below:

[0414] [Table 7]

[0415]

[0416] For the UE supporting the first capability, the PSS / SSS detection duration for de-activated SCells of intra-frequency FR1 is shown in Table 8 below:

[0417] [Table 8]

[0418]

[0419] For the UE supporting the first capability, the PSS / SSS detection duration for de-activated SCells of intra-frequency FR2 is shown in Table 9 below:

[0420] [Table 9]

[0421]

[0422] For the UE supporting the first capability, the time index detection duration for de-activated SCells of intra-frequency FR1 is shown in Table 10 below:

[0423] [Table 10]

[0424]

[0425] For the UE supporting the first capability, the measurement duration for intra-frequency FR1 is shown in Table 11 below:

[0426] [Table 11]

[0427]

[0428] For the UE supporting the first capability, the measurement duration for intra-frequency FR2 is shown in Table 12 below:

[0429] [Table 12]

[0430]

[0431] For the UE supporting the first capability, the measurement duration for de-activated SCells of intra-frequency FR1 is shown in Table 13 below:

[0432] [Table 13]

[0433]

[0434] For the UE supporting the first capability, the measurement duration for de-activated SCells of intra-frequency FR2 is shown in Table 14 below:

[0435] [Table 14]

[0436]

[0437] For the UE supporting the first capability, the measurement duration for FR1 L1-RSRP is shown in Table 15 below:

[0438] [Table 15]

[0439]

[0440] For the UE supporting the first capability, the measurement duration for FR2 L1-RSRP is shown in Table 16 below:

[0441] [Table 16]

[0442]

[0443] The definitions of the various parameters involved in the above tables are as previously described.

[0444] Embodiment 9:

[0445] For the UE supporting the second capability, the PSS / SSS detection duration for intra-frequency FR1 is shown in Table 17 below:

[0446] [Table 17]

[0447]

[0448] For the UE supporting the second capability, the PSS / SSS detection duration for intra-frequency FR2 is shown in Table 18 below:

[0449] [Table 18]

[0450]

[0451] For the UE supporting the second capability, the time index detection duration for intra-frequency FR1 is shown in Table 19 below:

[0452] [Table 19]

[0453]

[0454] For the UE supporting the second capability, the PSS / SSS detection duration for de-activated SCells of intra-frequency FR1 is shown in Table 20 below:

[0455] [Table 20]

[0456]

[0457] For the UE supporting the second capability, the PSS / SSS detection duration for de-activated SCells of intra-frequency FR2 is shown in Table 21 below:

[0458] [Table 21]

[0459]

[0460] For the UE supporting the second capability, the time index detection duration for de-activated SCells of intra-frequency FR1 is shown in Table 22 below:

[0461] [Table 22]

[0462]

[0463] For the UE supporting the second capability, the measurement duration for intra-frequency FR1 is shown in Table 23 below:

[0464] [Table 23]

[0465]

[0466] For the UE supporting the second capability, the measurement duration for intra-frequency FR2 is shown in Table 24 below:

[0467] [Table 24]

[0468]

[0469] For the UE supporting the second capability, the measurement duration for de-activated SCells of intra-frequency FR1 is shown in Table 25 below:

[0470] [Table 25]

[0471]

[0472] For the UE supporting the second capability, the measurement duration for de-activated SCells of intra-frequency FR2 is shown in Table 26 below:

[0473] [Table 26]

[0474]

[0475] For the UE supporting the second capability, the measurement duration for FR1 L1-RSRP is shown in Table 27 below:

[0476] [Table 27]

[0477]

[0478] For the UE supporting the second capability, the measurement duration for FR2 L1-RSRP is shown in Table 28 below:

[0479] [Table 28]

[0480]

[0481] The definitions of the various parameters involved in the above tables are as previously described.

[0482] An embodiment of the present application further provides an electronic device, including at least one controller / processor, and optionally at least one transceiver coupled to the at least one controller / processor. The processor is configured to implement the method provided in any one of optional embodiments of the present application.

[0483] FIG. 7 shows a schematic structure diagram of an electronic device to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied. As shown in FIG. 7, the electronic device 4000 shown in FIG. 7 may include a processor 4001 and a memory 4003. The processor 4001 is connected to the memory 4003, for example, through a bus 4002. Optionally, the electronic device 4000 may further include a transceiver 4004 that can be used for data exchange, for example, transmission and reception of data, between the electronic device and other electronic device. It should be noted that, in practical applications, the number of transceiver 4004 is not limited to one, and the structure of the electronic device 4000 does not constitute any limitations to the embodiments of the present application. Optionally, the electronic device may be gNB, UE or other entities or node in communication networks.

[0484] The processor 4001 may be a central processing unit (CPU), a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or a field programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components, or any combination thereof. It may implement or execute various exemplary logical blocks, modules and circuits described in connection with the disclosure. The processor 4001 may also be a combination for realizing computing functions, for example, a combination of one or more microprocessors, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, etc.

[0485] The bus 4002 may include a path to transfer information between the components described above. The bus 4002 may be a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus, or an extended industry standard architecture (EISA) bus, etc. The bus 4002 may be an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of presentation, the bus is represented by only one thick line in FIG. 7. However, it does not mean that there is only one bus or one type of buses.

[0486] The memory 4003 may be, but not limited to, read only memories (ROMs) or other types of static storage devices that can store static information and instructions, random access memories (RAMs) or other types of dynamic storage devices that can store information and instructions, may be electrically erasable programmable read only memories (EEPROMs), compact disc read only memories (CD-ROMs) or other optical disk storages, optical disc storages (including compact discs, laser discs, discs, digital versatile discs, blue-ray discs, etc.), magnetic storage media or other magnetic storage devices, or any other media that can carry or store desired program codes in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by computers.

[0487] The memory 4003 is used to store application program codes for executing the solutions of the present application, and is controlled by the processor 4001. The processor 4001 is used to execute the computer program stored in the memory 4003 to implement the steps of the foregoing method embodiments.

[0488] Embodiments of the disclosure provide a computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored on the computer-readable storage medium, the computer program, when executed by a processor, implements the steps and corresponding contents of the foregoing method embodiments.

[0489] Embodiments of the disclosure also provide a computer program product including a computer program, the computer program when executed by a processor realizing the steps and corresponding contents of the preceding method embodiments.

[0490] The terms "first", "second", "third", "fourth", "1", "2", etc. (if present) in the specification and claims of this application and the accompanying drawings above are used to distinguish similar objects and need not be used to describe a particular order or sequence. It should be understood that the data so used is interchangeable where appropriate so that embodiments of the disclosure described herein can be implemented in an order other than that illustrated or described in the text.

[0491] It should be understood that while the flow diagrams of embodiments of the disclosure indicate the individual operational steps by arrows, the order in which these steps are performed is not limited to the order indicated by the arrows. Unless explicitly stated herein, in some implementation scenarios of embodiments of the disclosure, the implementation steps in the respective flowcharts may be performed in other orders as desired. In addition, some, or all of the steps in each flowchart may include multiple sub-steps or multiple phases based on the actual implementation scenario. Some or all of these sub-steps or stages can be executed at the same moment, and each of these sub-steps or stages can also be executed at different moments separately. The order of execution of these sub-steps or stages can be flexibly configured according to requirements in different scenarios of execution time, and the embodiments of the disclosure are not limited thereto.

[0492] The above-mentioned description and the drawings are provided merely as examples to help readers to understand the disclosure. They are not intended and should not be interpreted as limiting the scope of the disclosure in any way. Although some embodiments are provided, it is apparent for those skilled in the art to adopt other similar implementation means based on the technical idea of the disclosure without departing from the technical concept of the solution of the disclosure. Other similar implementation means based on the technical idea of the present application are adopted, and likewise belong to the protection scope of the embodiments of the present application.

Claims

1.A method performed by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:receiving a first synchronization signal block (SSB) of a first secondary cell (SCell);receiving activation information of the first SCell; andactivating the first SCell based on an SCell activation delay of the first SSB,wherein the first SSB is an on-demand SSB, and the SCell activation delay is determined based on a duration related to the first SSB, in case that the UE has a capability related to the first SSB, andwherein the duration related to the first SSB is one of:in case that the first SCell is a known cell and a measurement period of the first SCell is equal to or smaller than a first duration, the duration related to the first SSB is a second duration;in case that the first SCell is the known cell and the measurement period of the first SCell is larger than the first duration, the duration related to the first SSB is a third duration;in case that the first SCell is an unknown cell and a first condition is met, and either only one SSB is being actually transmitted or multiple SSBs and transmission configuration indicator (TCI) indications of the multiple SSBs are provided in a same medium access control protocol data unit (MAC PDU) with a first SCell activation, the duration related to the first SSB is a fourth duration; orin case that the first SCell is the unknown cell and the first condition is met, and a semi-persistent channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) is used for CSI reporting or a periodic CSI-RS is used for CSI reporting, the duration related to the first SSB is a fifth duration.2.The method of claim 1, wherein the determining of the SCell activation delay based on the duration related to the first SSB comprises at least one of:in case that the first SCell is the known cell and the measurement period of the first SCell is equal to or smaller than the first duration, determining the SCell activation delay based on the second duration and a first fixed value;in case that the first SCell is the known cell and the measurement period of the first SCell is larger than the first duration, determining the SCell activation delay based on the third duration, a sixth duration and the first fixed value;in case that the first SCell is the unknown cell and the first condition is met, and either the only one SSB is being actually transmitted or the multiple SSBs and the TCI indications of the multiple SSBs are provided in the same MAC PDU with the first SCell activation, determining the SCell activation delay based on the fourth duration, the sixth duration, and the first fixed value; orin case that the first SCell is the unknown cell and the first condition is met, and the semi-persistent CSI-RS is used for CSI reporting or the periodic CSI-RS is used for CSI reporting, determining the SCell activation delay based on the sixth duration, the fifth duration, a second fixed value, and a seventh duration.3.The method of claim 1, wherein in case that the UE has the capability related to the first SSB and a fast measurement capability and the UE receives at least two first SSBs, or at least two first SSBs and at least one second SSB, from the first SCell, the determining of the SCell activation delay comprises:in case that the first SCell is the known cell and the measurement period of the first SCell is equal to or smaller than the first duration, determining the activation delay of the SCell to be a third fixed value; orin case that the first SCell is the known cell and the measurement period of the first SCell is larger than the first duration, determining the activation delay of the SCell based on a sixth duration and the third fixed value.4.The method of claim 2 or 3, wherein:the first duration is a predefined value; or the first duration is determined based on time information of the first SSB, the time information comprising any one of a measurement time configuration, a periodicity, and a duration; andthe sixth duration is determined based on an SSB-based measurement timing configuration (SMTC) periodicity of the first SCell.5.The method of any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the capability related to the first SSB comprises:a first capability indicating that the UE has a capability to support the first SSB; ora second capability indicating that the UE has a capability to support the first SSB and the second SSB, wherein the second SSB is a periodically transmitted SSB.6.The method of claim 5, wherein in case that the UE has the first capability:the second duration is determined based on a measurement time configuration of the first SSB;the third duration is a maximum value in measurement time configurations determined based on the measurement time configuration of the first SSB;the fourth duration is determined based on the third duration and a maximum value of the SMTC periodicity determined based on the measurement time configuration of the first SSB; or the fourth duration is determined based on the third duration and a periodicity of the first SSB; andthe fifth duration is determined based on the fourth duration, an eighth duration, and a ninth duration, wherein the eighth duration is a layer 1 reference signal received power (L1-RSRP) measurement delay based on the first SSB, and the ninth duration is a delay of L1-RSRP measurement reporting based on the first SSB.7.The method of claim 5, wherein in case that the UE has the second capability:the second duration is determined based on a tenth duration and an eleventh duration, wherein the tenth duration is determined based on a measurement time configuration of the first SSB and the eleventh duration is determined based on a measurement time configuration of the second SSB;the third duration is determined based on a twelfth duration and a thirteenth duration, wherein the twelfth duration is a maximum value in measurement time configurations determined based on the measurement time configuration of the first SSB and the thirteenth duration is a maximum value in measurement time configurations determined based on a measurement time configuration of the second SSB;the fourth duration is determined based on the third duration and a maximum value of the SMTC periodicity determined based on the measurement time configuration of the first SSB; or the fourth duration is determined based on the third duration and a periodicity of the first SSB; andthe fifth duration is determined based on the fourth duration, an eighth duration, and a ninth duration, wherein the eighth duration is a layer 1 reference signal received power (L1-RSRP) measurement delay based on the first SSB and the second SSB, and the ninth duration is a delay of L1-RSRP measurement reporting based on the first SSB and the second SSB.8.The method of claim 6 or 7, further comprising:determining whether the first SCell is a known cell of the UE,wherein:in case that the first SCell belongs to a frequency range 1 (FR1), the first SCell is determined to be the known cell in case that at least one of a first condition, a second condition, or a third condition is satisfied, and the first SCell is determined to be the unknown cell in case that the first condition, the second condition, and the third condition are not satisfied;the first condition is that, during a fourteenth duration before the reception of the activation information of the first SCell, the UE has sent a valid measurement report for an SCell being activated, and a measurement of the first SSB and / or the second SSB remains detectable;the second condition is that, during the fourteenth duration within the SCell activation delay of the UE, the measurement of the first SSB and / or the second SSB remains detectable;the third condition is that a number of received SSBs is no less than N, wherein the N is a number of first SSBs, or a sum of the number of first SSBs and a number of second SSBs;the fourteenth duration is any one of:a maximum value determined based on the measurement time configuration of the first SSB and a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle;a maximum value determined based on the periodicity of the first SSB and the DRX cycle;a maximum value determined based on the measurement period of the first SCell and the DRX cycle; orwherein:in case that the first SCell belongs to a frequency range 2 (FR2), the first SCell is determined to be the known cell in case that at least one of a fourth condition, a fifth condition, or the third condition is satisfied, and the first SCell is determined to be the unknown cell in case that the fourth condition, the fifth condition, and the third condition are not satisfied,the fourth condition is that, during a fifteenth duration before the UE receives a last activation command of a first semi-persistent CSI-RS, the UE has sent a valid layer 3 reference signal received power (L3-RSRP) measurement report of the first SSB and / or the second SSB with an SSB index, and the UE receives the activation information of the first SCell after L3-RSRP reporting, and a reception time of the activation information of the first SCell is no later than a time when the UE receives a command for TCI activation;the fifth condition is that, during a period from the L3-RSRP reporting to valid channel quality indicator (CQI) reporting, the reported first SSB and / or second SSB with indexes remains detectable, and a TCI state is selected based on a latest reported SSB index.9.The method of any one of claims 1 to 8, further comprising:performing a first SSB based measurement based a measurement duration related to the first SSB,wherein the measurement duration is determined based on a sixteenth duration related to the first SSB and / or a scaling factor related to the first SSB;wherein the scaling factor related to the first SSB comprises one of:a first scaling factor for a first measurement based on the first SSB; ora second scaling factor for an L1-RSRP measurement based on the first SSB.wherein the measurement duration comprises at least one of:a duration of the first measurement based on the first SSB; oran L1-RSRP measurement duration based on the first SSB; andwherein the first measurement comprises at least one of:detection of a primary synchronization signal (PSS) and / or a secondary synchronization signal (SSS);detection of a time index of the first SSB; orsynchronization signal-reference signal received power (SS-RSRP), synchronization signal-reference signal received quality (SS-RSRQ), and synchronization-signal signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SS-SINR) measurements based on the first SSB.10.The method of claim 8, further comprising:determining an interruption duration of activating or deactivating the SCell based on a maximum value in a first measurement time configuration of all activated serving cells and the SCell being activated in a measurement time unit,wherein the first measurement time configuration comprises the measurement time configuration or a duration of the first SSB.11.The method of claim 10, wherein in case that the SCell being activated is configured with an SSB and not configured with an SMTC, the periodicity of the SSB is a first fixed value, and the interruption duration is a seventeenth duration;wherein in case that the SSB comprises the first SSB, the seventeenth duration is a number of consecutive subframes of all the first SSBs included in an SSB burst transmission in the SCell being activated; andwherein in case that the SSB comprises the first SSB and the second SSB, the seventeenth duration is a number of all consecutive subframes including the first SSB in a first SSB burst transmission in the SCell being activated; or the seventeenth duration is a number of all consecutive subframes including the first SSB and a number of all consecutive subframes including the second SSB in the first SSB burst transmission in the SCell being activated.12.The method of any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the method further comprises:receiving the second SSB of the first SCell,wherein the UE does not expect to receive the first SSB and the second SSB at a same time unit; orwherein the first SSB received by the UE is not expected to be transmitted at a same time unit as the second SSB; orwherein the UE uses the first SSB and / or the second SSB; orwherein the first SSB and the second SSB are separated by a first number of time units, and the first SSB and the second SSB are valid SSBs.13.A method performed by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:receiving a first synchronization signal block (SSB); andperforming the first SSB based measurement based on a measurement duration related to the first SSB,wherein the measurement duration related to the first SSB is determined based on a sixteenth duration related to the first SSB and / or based on a scaling factor related to the first SSB;wherein the first SSB is an on-demand SSB;wherein the scaling factor related to the first SSB comprises one of:a first scaling factor for a first measurement based on the first SSB; ora second scaling factor for a layer 1 reference signal received power (L1-RSRP) measurement based on the first SSB;wherein the measurement duration comprises at least one of:a duration of the first measurement based on the first SSB; oran L1-RSRP measurement duration based on the first SSB;wherein the first measurement comprises at least one of:detection of a primary synchronization signal (PSS) and / or a secondary synchronization signal (SSS);detection of a time index of the first SSB; orsynchronization signal-reference signal received power (SS-RSRP), synchronization signal-reference signal received quality (SS-RSRQ), and synchronization-signal signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SS-SINR) measurements based on the first SSB.14.A user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, comprising: a transceiver and at least one processor coupled with the transceiver, and the at least one processor being configured to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 13.15.A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, wherein the storage medium stores a computer program that, when executed by a processor, implements the method of any one of claims 1 to 13.

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