Method for multiple SIB scheduling

Abstract

Example embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to multiple system information block, SIB, scheduling in low power wide area, LPWA A method comprises receiving, from a second apparatus, a master information block, MIB, comprising a first information element indicating first SIB scheduling information and a second information element indicating second SIB scheduling information; determining, from at least one of the first SIB scheduling information or the second SIB scheduling information, SIB scheduling information corresponding to a SIB; and receiving, from the second apparatus, the SIB based on the determined scheduling information.

Description

METHOD FOR MULTIPLE SIB SCHEDULINGCROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0001] This application claims priority from, and the benefit of, US Provisional Application 63 / 733702, filed December 13, 2024, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.FIELD

[0002] Various example embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of telecommunication and in particular, to methods, devices, apparatuses and computer readable storage medium for multiple system information block (SIB) scheduling.BACKGROUND

[0003] With the development of low power wide area (LPWA)technologies, it is critical to support the growing number of internet of things (loT) devices for the next-generation networks. These devices demand ultra-low power consumption, extended battery life, and enhanced coverage to operate in challenging environments. However, the balance between the requirements for extreme coverage enhancement and network efficiency introduces challenges. In this case, efficient scheduling and transmission of SIB play a crucial role in overcoming the challenges.SUMMARY

[0004] In a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus to: receive, from a second apparatus, a master information block, MIB, comprising a first information element indicating first system information block, SIB, scheduling information and a second information element indicating second SIB scheduling information; determine, from at least one of the first SIB scheduling information or the second SIB scheduling information, SIB scheduling information corresponding to a SIB; and receive, from the second apparatus, the SIB based on the determined scheduling information.

[0005] In a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a second apparatus. The second apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second apparatus to: transmit, a master information block, MIB, comprising a first information element indicating first system information block, SIB, scheduling information and a second information element indicating second SIB scheduling information; and transmit one or more SIBs based on at least one of the first SIB scheduling information or the second SIB scheduling information.

[0006] In a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The methodcomprises: receiving, at a first apparatus and from a second apparatus, a master information block, MIB, comprising a first information element indicating first system information block, SIB, scheduling information and a second information element indicating second SIB scheduling information; determining, from at least one of the first SIB scheduling information or the second SIB scheduling information, SIB scheduling information corresponding to a SIB; and receiving, from the second apparatus, the SIB based on the determined scheduling information.

[0007] In a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: transmitting, at a second apparatus, a master information block, MIB, comprising a first information element indicating first system information block, SIB, scheduling information and a second information element indicating second SIB scheduling information; and transmitting one or more SIBs based on at least one of the first SIB scheduling information or the second SIB scheduling information.

[0008] In a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises means for receiving, from a second apparatus, a master information block, MIB, comprising a first information element indicating first system information block, SIB, scheduling information and a second information element indicating second SIB scheduling information; means for determining, from at least one of the first SIB scheduling information or the second SIB scheduling information, SIB scheduling information corresponding to a SIB; and means for receiving, from the second apparatus, the SIB based on the determined scheduling information.

[0009] In a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a second apparatus. The second apparatus comprises means for transmitting, a master information block, MIB, comprising a first information element indicating first system information block, SIB, scheduling information and a second information element indicating second SIB scheduling information; and means for transmitting one or more SIBs based on at least one of the first SIB scheduling information or the second SIB scheduling information.

[0010] In a seventh aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium comprises instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the third aspect.

[0011] In an eighth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium comprises instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the fourth aspect.

[0012] It is to be understood that the Summary section is not intended to identify key or essential features of embodiments of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become easily comprehensible through the following description.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] Some example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, where:

[0014] FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication environment in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented;

[0015] FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic diagram of dynamically scheduled SIB transmissions;

[0016] FIG. 3 illustrates a schematic diagram of master information block (MIB) scheduled SIB transmissions;

[0017] FIG. 4 illustrates a signaling flow of SIB scheduling in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0018] FIG. 5 illustrates a schematic diagram of MIB indicating two different types of SIB scheduling information;

[0019] FIG. 6 illustrates another schematic diagram of MIB indicating two different types of SIB scheduling information;

[0020] FIG. 7 illustrates a schematic diagram of base station (BS)-to-BS request for SIB transmission corresponding to a scheduling information;

[0021] FIG. 8 illustrates an example signaling flow of SIB scheduling in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0022] FIG. 9 illustrates another example signaling flow of SIB scheduling in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0023] FIG. 10 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a first apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0024] FIG. 11 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a second apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0025] FIG. 12 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a device that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure; and

[0026] FIG. 13 illustrates a block diagram of an example computer readable medium in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0027] Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals represent the same or similar element.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0028] Principle of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It is to be understood that these embodiments are described only for the purpose of illustration and help those skilled in the art to understand and implement the present disclosure, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the disclosure. Embodiments described hereincan be implemented in various manners other than the ones described below.

[0029] In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skills in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

[0030] References in the present disclosure to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “an example embodiment,” and the like indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but it is not necessary that every embodiment includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

[0031] It shall be understood that although the terms “first,” “second,”..., etc. in front of noun(s) and the like may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another and they do not limit the order of the noun(s). For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of example embodiments. As used herein, the term “and / or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

[0032] As used herein, “at least one of the following: ” and “at least one of ” and similar wording, where the list of two or more elements are joined by “and” or “or”, mean at least any one of the elements, or at least any two or more of the elements, or at least all the elements.

[0033] As used herein, unless stated explicitly, performing a step “in response to A” does not indicate that the step is performed immediately after “A” occurs and one or more intervening steps may be included.

[0034] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”, “comprising”, “has”, “having”, “includes” and / or “including”, when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and / or components etc., but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and / or combinations thereof.

[0035] As used in this application, the term “circuitry” may refer to one or more or all of the following:(a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in only analog and / ordigital circuitry) and(b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as (as applicable):(i) a combination of analog and / or digital hardware circuit(s) with software / firmware and(ii) any portions of hardware processor(s) with software (including digital signal processor(s)), software, and memory(ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions) and(c) hardware circuit(s) and or processor(s), such as a microprocessor(s) or a portion of a microprocessor(s), that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation.

[0036] This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and / or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

[0037] As used herein, the term “communication network” refers to a network following any suitable communication standards, such as New Radio (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE- A), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-loT) and so on. Furthermore, the communications between a terminal device and a network device in the communication network may be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocols, including, but not limited to, the first generation (1 G), the second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, the third generation (3G), the fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, the fifth generation (5G), 5.5G, the sixth generation (6G) communication protocols, and / or any other protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied in various communication systems. Given the rapid development in communications, there will of course also be future type communication technologies and systems with which the present disclosure may be embodied. It should not be seen as limiting the scope of the present disclosure to only the aforementioned system.

[0038] As used herein, the term “network device” refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services therefrom. The network device may refer to a base station (BS) or an access point (AP), for example, a node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), an NR NB (also referred to as a gNB), a Remote Radio Unit (RRU), a radio header (RH), a remote radio head (RRH), a relay, an Integrated Access and Backhaul (I AB) node, a low power node such as a femto, a pico, a non-terrestrial network (NTN) or non-groundnetwork device such as a satellite network device, a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite and a geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) satellite, an aircraft network device, and so forth, depending on the applied terminology and technology. In some example embodiments, radio access network (RAN) split architecture comprises a Centralized Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU) at an IAB donor node. An IAB node comprises a Mobile Terminal (IAB-MT) part that behaves like a UE toward the parent node, and a DU part of an IAB node behaves like a base station toward the next-hop IAB node.

[0039] The term “terminal device” refers to any end device that may be capable of wireless communication. By way of example rather than limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE), a Subscriber Station (SS), a Portable Subscriber Station, a Mobile Station (MS), or an Access Terminal (AT). The terminal device may include, but not limited to, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, a tablet, a wearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), portable computers, desktop computer, image capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback appliances, vehicle-mounted wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), USB dongles, smart devices, wireless customer-premises equipment (CPE), an Internet of Things (loT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD), a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remote surgery), an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and / or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and / or an automated processing chain contexts), a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial and / or industrial wireless networks, and the like. The terminal device may also correspond to a Mobile Termination (MT) part of an IAB node (e.g., a relay node). In the following description, the terms “terminal device”, “communication device”, “terminal”, “user equipment” and “UE” may be used interchangeably.

[0040] As used herein, the term “resource,” “transmission resource,” “resource block,” “physical resource block” (PRB), “uplink resource,” or “downlink resource” may refer to any resource for performing a communication, for example, a communication between a terminal device and a network device, such as a resource in time domain, a resource in frequency domain, a resource in space domain, a resource in code domain, or any other combination of the time, frequency, space and / or code domain resource enabling a communication, and the like. In the following, unless explicitly stated, a resource in both frequency domain and time domain will be used as an example of a transmission resource for describing some example embodiments of the present disclosure. It is noted that example embodiments of the present disclosure are equally applicable to other resources in other domains.

[0041] As used herein, the term “system information block” (SIB) may refer to a structured set of information broadcasted by a cellular network to user equipment (UE). SIBs provide critical configuration and operational parameters required for devices to access and communicate with thenetwork.

[0042] As used herein, the term “master information block" (Ml B) may refer to a critical component of the broadcast information transmitted by a base station in wireless communication networks. The MIB provides essential system parameters needed by user equipment (UE) to access and configure the network.

[0043] As used herein, the term “downlink control information” (DCI) may refer to the control information transmitted in the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) in cellular communication systems. DCI is essential for coordinating communication between the network and user equipment (UE).

[0044] FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication environment 100 in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented. In the communication environment 100, two communication apparatus, including a first apparatus 110, and a second apparatus 120 can communicate with each other.

[0045] In the example of FIG. 1 , the first apparatus 110 may be a terminal device, such as UE, and the second apparatus 120 may be a network device, such as a base station serving the UE. The serving area of the network device 120 may be called a cell 102.

[0046] It is to be understood that the number of apparatuses and their connections shown in FIG. 1 are only for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitation. The communication environment 100 may include any suitable number of apparatuses configured to implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure. Although not shown, it would be appreciated that one or more additional apparatuses may be located in the cell 102, and one or more additional cells may be deployed in the communication environment 100.

[0047] In the following, for the purpose of illustration, some example embodiments are described with the first apparatus 110 operating as a terminal device and the second apparatus 120 operating as a network device. However, in some example embodiments, operations described in connection with a terminal device may be implemented at a network device or other device, and operations described in connection with a network device may be implemented at a terminal device or other device.

[0048] In some example embodiments, if the first apparatus 110 is a terminal device and the second apparatus 120 is a network device, a link from the second apparatus 120 to the first apparatus 110 is referred to as a downlink (DL), and a link from the first apparatus 110 to the second apparatus 120 is referred to as an uplink (UL). In DL, the second apparatus 120 is a transmitting (TX) device (or a transmitter) and the first apparatus 110 is a receiving (RX) device (or a receiver). In UL, the first apparatus 110 is a TX device (or a transmitter) and the second apparatus 120 is a RX device (or a receiver).

[0049] Communications in the communication environment 100 may be implemented according to any proper communication protocol(s), comprising, but not limited to, cellular communication protocols of the first generation (1 G), the second generation (2G), the third generation (3G), the fourth generation (4G), the fifth generation (5G), the sixth generation (6G), and the like, wireless local network communication protocols such as Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 and the like, and / or any other protocols currently known or to be developed in the future. Moreover, the communication may utilize any proper wireless communication technology, comprising but not limited to: Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Duplex (FDD), Time Division Duplex (TDD), Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple (OFDM), Discrete Fourier Transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) and / or any other technologies currently known or to be developed in the future.

[0050] For LPWA network, SIB1 contains essential information for the UE to access the network, such as cell parameters, random access parameters, access baring, scheduling for other SIBs, and the like. LPWA network is used to support loT devices and have the following characteristics: low device complexity or cost; low device power consumption which enables long battery life of greater than 10 years; enhanced coverage compared to broadband services, for example, up to 20-25 dB enhanced coverage; support for massive number of devices; delay tolerant data transmission, for example, up to 10 seconds to transmit a data packet; and infrequent data transmissions.

[0051] In 4G long-term evolution (LTE), LPWA network based on narrowband internet of things (NB- loT) and long-term evolution machine type communication (LTE-M) technologies were introduced. In 5G, no new LPWA technology was specified as NB-loT and LTE-M continue to be supported for massive loT use cases. Therefore, it is necessary to introduce new lightweight radio protocol for LPWA. The motivations for introducing 6G LPWA include the following: sunset of 4G LTE, which means replacement technology will be needed when 4G LTE carriers are no longer supported; further improvement on 4G LTE solutions by introducing a simple lightweight radio protocol with essential features all in the same release is needed; and a single solution to address massive loT use cases is needed.

[0052] As for SIB1 scheduling, in new radio (NR), SIB1 is dynamically scheduled via DCI (i.e. PDCCH) in a search space configured for control resource set 0 (CORESETO), where the search space indicates the locations where the UE may try to find the control channel transmitted within the time-frequency resources defined by the CORESETO at the time instants defined by SearchSpaceO. The configuration of CORESETO and SearchSpaceO is indicated in the MIB as shown in the Table 1 and Table 2 below, which provide an index that points to pre-configured CORESET tables applicable based on for example, subcarrier spacing (SCS) and carrier bandwidth.Table 1Table 20053] FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic diagram of dynamically scheduled SIB transmissions. he dynamic scheduling of SIB1 provides scheduling flexibility to the network in term of SIB1 transmission frequency, resource utilization, and overhead. It also allows faster adaptation to dynamic network conditions, for example, to cope with mobility, varying load and interference. In addition, SIB1 has a transmission periodicity. In NR, SIB1 is transmitted on the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) with a periodicity of 160ms, and a number of SIB1 repetitions may be transmitted within this period. UE may combine multiple copies of SIB1 transmission within the 160ms boundary to assist in decoding of SIB1. However, UE first needs to decode the PDCCH scheduling each SIB1 PDSCH transmission before the UE may combine the multiple PDSCHs, since the PDSCHs are scheduled independently and thus may be scheduled in different resources relative to the corresponding PDCCH, as shown in FIG. 2.

[0054] In LTE-M and NB-loT, a different SIB1 , including SIB1 for bandwidth reduced radio (SIB1 - BR) and SIB1 for narrowband (SIB1 -NB), respectively, is transmitted from the SIB1 used by enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) UE. These SIB1 s are transmitted on the PDSCH or NPDSCH and directly scheduled via MIB, that is, without requiring scheduling via DCI, as shown in FIG. 3, which illustrates a schematic diagram of master information block (MIB) scheduled SIB transmissions. Moreover, an example of SIB1-NB scheduling via MIB-NB is shown in Table 3 below:Table 3MasterlnformationBlock-NB ::= SEQUENCE systemFrameNumber-MSB-r13 BIT STRING (SIZE (4)), hyperSFN-LSB-r13 BIT STRING (SIZE (2)), schedulinglnfoSIBI -r13 INTEGER (0..15), systemlnfoValueTag-r13 INTEGER (0..31 ), ab-Enabled-r13 BOOLEAN, operationModel nfo-r13 CHOICE { inband-SamePCI-r13 lnband-SamePCI-NB-r13, inband-DifferentPCI-r13 lnband-DifferentPCI-NB-r13, guardband-r13 Guardband-NB-r13, standalone-r13 Standalone-NB-r13}, additionalTransmissionSI B1 -r15 BOOLEAN, ab-Enabled-5GC-r16 BOOLEAN, partEARFCN-r17 CHOICE { spare BIT STRING (SIZE (2)), earfcn-LSB BIT STRING (SIZE (2))}, spare BIT STRING (SIZE (6))coverage enhancement (CE) of up to 20 dB beyond the coverage of LTE / NR. UE may combine multiple copies of SIB1 transmission within the boundary without having to first decode the PDCCH that would have been needed in case of dynamic scheduling.

[0056] As for network energy saving, various techniques are provided in some solutions, which aim to: introduce more energy efficient cell transmissions and receptions during base transceiver station (BTS) active periods of low-to-medium load based on the following: cell discontinuous transmission (DTX) or discontinuous reception (DRX), TX antenna ports muting, PDSCH power control, synchronization signal block (SSB)-less secondary cell (SCell) in inter-band carrier aggregation (CA), cell barring to legacy UEs; enable faster and reliable offloading during cell shutdown via enhanced conditional hand over (CHO); limit paging transmissions to recommended beam(s); and enable inter- gNB node signaling for beam activation. In this case, the SSB-less functionality may generally provide up to 35% energy savings on a SCell, and it is noted that SIB1 is also omitted, besides SSBs.

[0057] Moreover, further network energy savings aims to be studied, which includes on-demand SSB and on-demand SIB1 transmissions, as well as adaptation of common signal or channeltransmissions. Specifically, the on-demand SIB1 feature removes the need of regular SIB1 transmissions which are energy consuming.

[0058] For 6G LPWA, it is expected that both broadband UEs and LPWA / loT UEs can be supported in the same carrier. The former benefits from network flexibility to adapt to dynamic environment, while the latter may have low complexity and extreme coverage enhancement. These aspects may be taken into account for the choice of the SIB1 scheduling method. However, the SIB1 scheduling type, including DCI based and MIB-based, and configuration such as number of repetitions also impact the network energy consumption. For example, if network intends to support high coverage enhancement levels, it may provide many repetitions of SIB1 PDSCH (irrespective of whether MIB-based or DCI- based scheduling is used) as well as repetitions of PDCCH (e.g., 64 PDCCH repetitions to support 20 dB CE, if DCI-based SIB1 scheduling is used). Therefore, scheduling and transmitting these SIB1 repetitions in multiple cells and in multiple beams may incur high energy consumption for the network.

[0059] The network may adapt the SIB1 scheduling type and indicate it in MIB depending on the desired service and CE level support. However, the following issues remain when setting the MIB payload for indicating transmission of SIB1 with different scheduling type or configuration: providing SIB1 with a single scheduling type at a time is not optimum when both broadband UEs and LPWA loT UEs are deployed in the same carrier; complexity for network to set potentially different MIB payload per beam from higher to lower layer; UE may spend more effort re-acquiring MIB as it changes; and steady transmission of the scheduled SIB1 in beams without UE activity may incur unnecessary network energy consumption.

[0060] In accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a solution for SIB transmission in LPWA network. In particular, the first apparatus receives a MIB comprising a first information element indicating first SIB scheduling information and a second information element indicating second SIB scheduling information. The first apparatus determines SIB scheduling information corresponding to a SIB from at least one of the first SIB scheduling information and the second SIB scheduling information. The first apparatus receives the SIB based on the determined scheduling information from the second apparatus. In this way, the second apparatus does not have to change the MIB payload, that is, it can always transmit a MIB payload indicating MIB- based SIB1 scheduling information. In addition, the first apparatus can save energy and reduces latency because it does not need to reacquire the MIB after sending a request. Moreover, network energy saving can be caused by transmitting SIB1 according to at least one of the first SIB scheduling information and the second SIB scheduling information only in a subset of the SSB beams, as additional transmissions of SIB1 via other beams consumes extra energy.

[0061] Example embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0062] FIG. 4 illustrates a signaling flow 400 of SIB scheduling in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the signaling flow 400 will be described with reference to FIG. 1 , for example, by using the first apparatus 110 and the second apparatus 120. In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may be a terminal device, such as UE. In some example embodiments, the second apparatus 120 may be a network device, such as a base station.

[0063] The second apparatus 120 transmits (4010) a MIB including a first information element (IE) or field indicating first SIB scheduling information and a second IE or field indicating second SIB scheduling information. In other words, the first apparatus 110 receives (4010) the MIB from the second apparatus 120. For example, the MIB payload includes two lEs indicating scheduling information for respective SIB1 transmissions, and the scheduling information in each of the two lEs is of a different type. In some example embodiments, the first SIB scheduling information includes downlink control information-based, DCI-based, scheduling information, and the second SIB scheduling information includes MIB-based scheduling information. Alternatively, the first SIB scheduling information includes the MIB-based scheduling information, and the second SIB scheduling information includes the DCI-based scheduling information. Only for the purpose of illustrations, the following example embodiments are described with reference to a scenario where the first SIB scheduling information includes the DCI-based scheduling information and the second SIB scheduling information includes the MIB-based scheduling information. It is noted that the MIB may include any suitable number of lEs (such as, more than 2) indicating SIB scheduling information for respective SI B1 transmissions.

[0064] Reference is made to FIG. 5, which illustrates a schematic diagram of MIB indicating two different types of SIB scheduling information. As shown in FIG. 5, the MIB indicates scheduling information for a first SIB1 in a first IE and for a second SIB1 in a second IE, the scheduling information for the first SIB1 in the first IE is DCI-based, which is dynamic SIB1 scheduling using CORESETO / SearchSpaceO for PDCCH, and the scheduling information for the second SIB1 is directly provided in the second IE, which is MIB-based SIB1 scheduling.

[0065] Referring back to FIG. 4, the first apparatus 110 determines (4020) SIB scheduling information corresponding to a SIB from at least one of the first SIB scheduling information or the second SIB scheduling information. In this case, the first SIB scheduling information and the second SIB scheduling information may correspond to different SIBs. The first apparatus 110 receives (4040) the SIB from the second apparatus 120 based on the determined scheduling information. In other words, the second apparatus 120 transmits (4040) the SIB to the first apparatus 110. The SIB may also be broadcasted to one or more other first apparatuses. In some example embodiments, the second apparatus 120 may transmit (4040), to one or more first apparatuses, one or more SIBs thatare scheduled based on the first SIB scheduling information. Alternatively, or in addition, the second apparatus 120 may transmit (4040), to one or more first apparatuses, one or more SIBs that are scheduled based on the second SIB scheduling information.

[0066] In some example embodiments, the MIB may include a first configuration for determining the SIB scheduling information, and the first apparatus 110 determines (4020) the SIB scheduling information corresponding to the SIB based on the first configuration. In other words, the MIB may configure one or more parameters for the first apparatus 110 to use to select which SIB scheduling information IE to utilize for SIB1 reception. For example, the first configuration includes one or more of: a reference signal received power (RSRP) threshold, configured parameters, a UE capability, a type of UE, or a UE measurement.

[0067] In some example embodiments, the configured parameter is an RSRP threshold value which allows the first apparatus 110 to determine if it needs coverage enhancement, which may be supported by only one type of scheduling information, e.g., MIB-based scheduling information is for UEs in high CE level. That is, if an RSRP measured by the first apparatus 110 is lower than the RSRP threshold, the first apparatus 110 may perform coverage enhancement. Hence, the first apparatus 110 may select the second IE for receiving MIB-based scheduled SIB1 which may directly schedule multiple SIB1 PDSCH repetitions.

[0068] In some example embodiments, the parameters for selecting an IE containing SIB1 scheduling information (for example, the first IE or the second IE) are configured separately from one or more lEs containing SIB1 scheduling information. In this case, if the MIB payload includes two lEs with SIB1 scheduling information, a single RSRP threshold value may be configured. If the MIB payload includes three lEs with SIB1 scheduling information, two RSRP threshold values may be configured, and the first RSRP threshold value may be used for selecting between the first IE and the second IE, and the second RSRP threshold value may be used for selecting between the second IE and a third IE. Alternatively, the configured parameter may be included within the IE containing SIB1 scheduling information to indicate the type of UE or UE capability for which the scheduling information in the IE applies. For example, the first IE may indicate that it is to be selected by broadband UEs, and the second IE may indicate that it is to be selected by LPWA UEs (e.g. as denoted by UE type or UE capability).

[0069] In some example embodiments, the MIB may include a first indication indicating whether one of the first IE and the second IE includes valid scheduling information or both of the first IE and the second IE include valid scheduling information. For example, the MIB may include a 1 -bit flag, and the 1 -bit flag indicates whether one IE or two lEs with SIB1 scheduling information include valid SIB1 scheduling information. For example, if the bit is set to ‘O’, it means that only the first IE contains valid scheduling information, that is, transmission of only the SIB1 scheduled by the information in the firstIE is supported. In addition, if the bit is set to ‘1’, it means that both the first IE and the second IE contain valid information, that is, transmission of the SIB1 scheduled by each of the two lEs is supported. In this case, the first apparatus 110 may select one IE and try to receive the corresponding SIB1 , after requesting the SIB1 transmission if necessary.

[0070] In some other example embodiments, the MIB may include a second indication indicating the number of available lEs between the first IE and the second IE. In other words, the MIB may include additional bits to indicate how many SIB1 transmissions are currently occurring. In this case, SIB1 corresponding to at least one scheduling information IE may be transmitted only upon request. For example, the MIB may include 2 bits which is used to indicate whether none of the SIB1 transmissions, one of the SIB1 transmissions, or both of the SIB1 transmissions have already been activated. This field in the MIB may be updated at the SIB period boundary whenever a new SIB1 transmission is activated or deactivated. Accordingly, the first apparatus 110 may determine whether it needs to request SIB1 transmission or not according to one of the lEs with scheduling information.

[0071] In some example embodiments, the MIB may include a second configuration for the first apparatus 110 to request an activation of transmission of the SIB based on the determined SIB scheduling information. For example, physical random-access channel (PRACH) resources or preamble sequences may be associated with each type of SIB1 scheduling information provided. The PRACH resources or preamble sequences for requesting transmissions of a scheduled SIB1 may be predetermined, for example, by a rule or a table. In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may transmit the PRACH associated to the determined SIB scheduling information to request the activation.

[0072] In some example embodiments, information carried in a first SIB that is corresponding to the first SIB scheduling information may be same as information carried in a second SIB that is corresponding to the second SIB scheduling information. In other words, the attributes or content of both SIB1 transmissions may be the same. In this case, the SIB1 transmissions corresponding to one scheduling information may share a subset of the SIB1 transmissions corresponding to the other scheduling information, for example, one repetition among multiple repetitions. For example, the same SIB1 transport block may be scheduled by DCI-based scheduling and by a MIB-based scheduling, with some SIB1 PDSCH scheduled via DCI being the same as some of the multiple SIB1 PDSCH repetitions scheduled via MIB. Furthermore, there may be multiple transmissions with the same content of the SIB1 PDSCH scheduled via DCI within a SIB1 period, and each SIB1 PDSCH transmission is scheduled by a separate PDCCH and may be the same as another one of the multiple SIB1 PDSCH repetitions scheduled via MIB.

[0073] In some other example embodiments, information carried in the first SIB that is corresponding to the first SIB scheduling information may be different from the information carried in the second SIBthat is corresponding to the second SIB scheduling information. In other words, the attributes or content of both SIB1 transmissions may be different. In this case, the transport block is different for the two SIB1 transmissions, and information relevant to different categories of UEs may be carried. In addition, there may not be any relationship between the multiple transmissions of SIB1 scheduled via DCI within a SIB1 period and the multiple repetitions scheduled via MIB.

[0074] In some example embodiments, the MIB payload may include lEs for more than two SIB1 scheduling information. For example, the first IE provides scheduling information for DCI-based SIB1 scheduling, which is used for broadband UEs and UEs which don't require coverage enhancement. The second IE in the MIB payload may provide scheduling information for MIB-based SIB1 scheduling with configuration for a small number of SIB1 repetitions, which is used for UEs which require low coverage enhancement, such as CE level 1. The third IE in the MIB payload may provide scheduling information for MIB-based SIB1 scheduling with configuration for a larger number of SIB1 repetitions, which is used for UEs which require high coverage enhancement, for example, CE level 2.

[0075] In some example embodiments, the MIB may indicate (e.g., in an IE comprising SIB1 scheduling information) an index of a predetermined table. In this case, a MIB-based scheduling parameter for SIB may be based on the predetermined table. In other words, each IE may indicate a different index of predetermined tables which specify options of MIB-based scheduling parameters for SIB1 (for example, transport block size (TBS), number of repetitions) and options of DCI-based scheduling parameters for SIB1 (such as, CORESETO, search space). In some example embodiments, a same value of a scheduling parameter (e.g., in the scheduling information for MIB-based scheduling) may be used for at least one of the first information element or a second information element. In other words, the different lEs may share some common parameters. For example, the second IE may configure a TBS and a certain number of repetitions, and the third IE may reuse the same TBS (i.e., TBS is common) and define a different number of repetitions.

[0076] In some example embodiments, if the determined scheduling information is the first SIB scheduling information, the first apparatus 110 may monitor (4030) DCI scheduling the SIB in a control resource set, CORESET and a search space indicated by the DCI-based scheduling information. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the first apparatus 110 may monitor the DCI on the PDCCH, and receive (4040) the SIB scheduled by the DCI on a physical downlink shared channel, PDSCH.

[0077] In some other example embodiments, the MIB-based scheduling information may be included in the second IE. In some example embodiments, if the determined scheduling information is the second SIB scheduling information, the first apparatus 110 may receive the SIB on the PDSCH. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, after receiving and decoding the second IE in MIB, the first apparatus 110 may receive (4040) the SIB on the PDSCH.

[0078] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may transmit, to the secondapparatus 120 a request for activation of SIB transmission based on the determined scheduling information. In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may transmit the request for activation of SIB transmission, before the reception of the SIB. Alternatively, the first apparatus 110 may transmit the request for activation of SIB transmission after a failure occurs in the reception or decoding of the SIB. In some example embodiments, the transmission of the one or more SIBs from the second apparatus 120 to the first apparatus 110 is after the request for activation of SIB transmission is received. In other words, the SIB corresponding to at least one scheduling information IE is transmitted only upon requested.

[0079] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus 120 may activate one SIB1 transmission on all SSB beams by default. Referring to FIG. 6, which illustrates another schematic diagram of MIB indicating two different types of SIB scheduling information, the first SIB1 corresponding to DCI-based scheduling is activated on all SSB beams on default.

[0080] In some other example embodiments, the second apparatus 120 may activate at least one SIB1 transmission, for example, the second SIB1 corresponding to MIB-based scheduling, on an SSB beam-basis. This case may be only upon reception at the second apparatus 120 of a request from the first apparatus 110 or from a further second apparatus via Xn interface, if the first apparatus 110 handovers to a cell using “transmission of SIB1 with MIB-based scheduling that requires activation”, which means that, despite MIB always indicating MIB-based scheduling for the second SIB1 , the transmission of the second SIB1 as per MIB-based scheduling may occur only if there is a request and the transmission will happen only on the SSB beam on which it was requested. Alternatively, the second apparatus 120 may activate each of the SIB1 transmissions only upon request. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the transmission of MIB-based scheduling SIB may be active only upon request from the first apparatus.

[0081] In some example embodiments, if there is no indication on activated SIB1 transmissions in the MIB, different example embodiments are shown in the followings. In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may firstly attempt receiving and decoding PDCCH or SIB1 PDSCH or at least a subset of SIB1 repetitions using the SIB1 scheduling information from the selected IE. In this case, if a failure occurs, the first apparatus 110 may transmit the request for activation of the corresponding SIB1 transmission to the second apparatus 120. This prevents unnecessary signaling, given that the selected SIB1 may be already activated by the second apparatus 120 upon a prior request (e.g., by a further first apparatus).

[0082] In some example embodiments, if the determined scheduling information is the first SIB scheduling information, the transmission of the request for activation of SIB transmission may be based on a failure of decoding PDCCH with a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) scrambled by system information-radio network temporary identity (SI-RNTI) in a plurality of search spaces. In some otherexample embodiments, if the determined scheduling information is the second SIB scheduling information, the transmission of the request for activation of SIB transmission may be based on a failure of decoding the SIB on PDSCH. In other words, If the first apparatus 110 selects an IE corresponding to DCI-based scheduling, the determination to request SIB1 may be based on the first apparatus 110 failing to decode PDCCH using SI-RNTI in multiple search spaces. If the first apparatus 110 selects an IE corresponding to MIB-based scheduling, the determination to request SIB1 may be based on the first apparatus 110 failing to decode SIB1 PDSCH.

[0083] In some other example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may only attempt receiving and decoding SIB1 after sending the request. This may require more signaling from the first apparatus 110, but it avoids attempting to receive and decode possibly many repetitions of SIB1 which may not yet be activated by the second apparatus 120.

[0084] In some example embodiments, if the determined scheduling information is the second SIB scheduling information, the received SIB may include system information associated with a LPWA UE. In some other example embodiments, if the determined scheduling information is the first SIB scheduling information, the received SIB may include system information associated with a broadband UE. In some example embodiments, the received SIB may include system information associated with a LPWA access. Alternatively, the received SIB may include system information associated with broadband access. In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may determine whether the received SIB includes the information to perform LPWA initial access or the information to perform a broadband initial access.

[0085] In some example embodiments, the first SIB scheduling information may include a first repetition number of SIB transmission. Alternatively, or in addition, the transmitted one or more SIBs may include the first repetition number of repetitions. In some example embodiments, at least one of the first SIB scheduling information or a second SIB scheduling information may indicate the number of repetitions of corresponding SIB transmission. In some example embodiments, one of a first SIB transmission or a second SIB transmission may include a portion of the other of the first SIB transmission or the second SIB transmission. In this case, the first SIB transmission is based on the first SIB scheduling information and the second SIB transmission is based on the second SIB scheduling information. In some example embodiments, if the determined scheduling information is the first SIB scheduling information, the transmitted one or more SIBs may include the first repetition number of repetitions. In some example embodiments, the first repetition number may be equal to the second repetition number. Alternatively, the first repetition number may be larger than or smaller than the second repetition number. It is noted that the first repetition number and the second repetition number may be any suitable values. In some example embodiments, if the determined scheduling information is the second SIB scheduling information, the transmitted one or more SIBs may includethe second repetition number of repetitions. The first apparatus 110 may combine the repetitions of the SIB transmission, which achieves coverage enhancement (CE). In some example embodiments, CE may be supported only for the MIB-scheduled SIB1 PDSCH, for example, by directly scheduling numerous SIB1 PDSCH repetitions. In some example embodiments, a first SIB transmission scheduled based on the first SIB scheduling information includes a portion of a second SIB transmission scheduled based on the second SIB scheduling information. Alternatively, the second SIB transmission may include a portion of the first SIB transmission.

[0086] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus 120 may transmit, to a further second apparatus, an indication indicating an activation of the SIB transmission or a deactivation of the SIB transmission associated with scheduling information for a SSB beam of a set of SSB. Referring to FIG. 7, which illustrates a schematic diagram of BS-to-BS request for SIB transmission corresponding to a scheduling information, a BS-to-BS signaling (i.e., via Xn interface) may indicate SIB1 scheduling information and configuration to neighbor cell. In some example embodiments, if a LPWA UE in high CE level is moving to a neighbor cell, based on mobility measurement reports if available, the source cell may determine the CE level of the UE in the neighbor cell, for example, based on the neighbor cell RSRP, reference signal received quality (RSRQ) or signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) informed upon a measurement event, and may inform the neighbor cell whether it needs to activate the transmission of MIB-based SIB1 scheduling to support that UE in CE. In addition, the first apparatus 110 may receive, via the source cell, the information about the types of SIB1 scheduling information of the neighbor cell and whether at least one type is activated. Moreover, the first apparatus may determine whether or when to monitor for SIB1 on the neighbor cell and how to request before communication breaks with source cell. The source cell may provide the information for the neighbor cell(s) associated with a UE report, or from other / multiple neighbor cells.

[0087] FIG. 8 illustrates an example signaling flow of SIB scheduling in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG.8, a MIB provides both types of SIB1 scheduling information, and both SIB1 transmissions according to each of the SIB1 scheduling information are always transmitted. In addition, the UE 810 may determine which of the types is to be received. The UE 810 may be implemented at the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1 and the BS 820 may be implemented at the second apparatus 120.

[0088] The BS 820 may transmit (8010) a MIB to the UE 810. In this case, the MIB includes two lEs indicating scheduling information for respective SIB1 transmissions. In addition, the scheduling information in each of the two lEs is of a different type. The UE 810 may select (8020) the IE of the SIB1 scheduling information to use (out of the two indicated) based on configuration, measurement such as RSRP or CE and / or its capability such as bandwidth (BW). The BS 820 may perform (8030) SIB1 transmission according a first scheduling information and SIB1 transmission according a secondscheduling information. The UE 810 may receive (8040) and decode SIB1 using the SIB1 scheduling information in the selected IE. For example, if the SIB1 scheduling information is DCI-based, the UE 810 may monitor a CORESET. If the SIB1 scheduling information is MIB-based, the UE 810 may monitor SIB1 PDSCH directly.

[0089] FIG. 9 illustrates another example signaling flow of SIB scheduling in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG.9, a MIB provides both types of SIB1 scheduling information. In addition, the UE 910 may determine which of the types is to be received. Furthermore, the SIB1 transmission according to the provided information is activated depending on a request from the UE. The UE 910 may be implemented at the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1 and the BS 920 may be implemented at the second apparatus 120.

[0090] The BS 920 may transmit (9010) a MIB to the UE 910. In this case, the MIB includes two lEs indicating scheduling information for respective SIB1 transmissions. In addition, the scheduling information in each of the two lEs is of a different type. The SIB1 corresponding to at least one scheduling information IE is transmitted only upon request. The UE 910 may select (9020) the IE of the SIB1 scheduling information to use (out of the two indicated) based on configuration, measurement such as RSRP or CE and / or its capability such as bandwidth (BW). The UE 910 may receive (9030) and decode SIB1 using the SIB1 scheduling information in the selected IE. For example, if the SIB1 scheduling information is DCI-based, the UE 810 may monitor a CORESET. If the SIB1 scheduling information is MIB-based, the UE 810 may receive SIB1 PDSCH directly. The UE 910 may determine (9040) whether to request for SIB1 transmissions according to the selected IE. For example, if the UE 910 fails to decode PDCCH using SI-RNTI in DCI-based or SIB1 PDSCH in MIB-based, the UE 910 may transmit (9050) a request for SIB1 transmission according to the selected IE. Based on the request, the BS 920 may determine (9060) whether to activate the transmission of SIB1 of a scheduling type in a cell beam. The BS 920 may transmit (9070) SIB1 according to the determination of the BS 920. The UE 910 may receive (9080) and decode SIB1 using the SIB1 scheduling information in the selected IE.

[0091] FIG. 10 shows a flowchart of an example method 1000 implemented at a first apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 1000 will be described from the perspective of the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1.

[0092] At block 1010, the first apparatus 110 receives, from a second apparatus, a master information block, MIB, comprising a first information element or field indicating first system information block, SIB, scheduling information and a second information element or field indicating second SIB scheduling information.

[0093] At block 1020, the first apparatus 110 determines, from at least one of the first SIB scheduling information or the second SIB scheduling information, SIB scheduling information corresponding to aSIB. The first SIB scheduling information and the second SIB scheduling information may correspond to different SIBs.

[0094] At block 1030, the first apparatus 110 receives, from the second apparatus, the SIB based on the determined scheduling information.

[0095] In some example embodiments, the method 1000 further comprises: determining the SIB scheduling information corresponding to the SIB based on the first configuration.

[0096] In some example embodiments, the first configuration comprises at least one of: a reference signal received power, RSRP, threshold, a user equipment, UE, capability, or a type of UE.

[0097] In some example embodiments, the MIB comprises a first indication indicating whether one of the first IE and the second IE comprises valid scheduling information or both of the first IE and the second IE comprise valid scheduling information. In some other example embodiments, the MIB comprises a second indication indicating the number of available lEs between the first IE and the second IE.

[0098] In some example embodiments, the MIB comprises a second configuration for the first apparatus to request an activation of transmission of the SIB based on the determined SIB scheduling information.

[0099] In some example embodiments, the first SIB scheduling information comprises downlink control information-based, DCI-based, scheduling information, and the second SIB scheduling information comprises MIB-based scheduling information.

[0100] In some example embodiments, the method 1000 further comprises: if the determined scheduling information is the first SIB scheduling information, monitoring DCI scheduling the SIB in a control resource set, CORESET and a search space indicated by the DCI-based scheduling information.

[0101] In some example embodiments, the MIB-based scheduling information is comprised in the second IE.

[0102] In some example embodiments, the method 1000 further comprises: if the determined scheduling information is the second SIB scheduling information, receiving the SIB on a physical downlink shared channel, PDSCH.

[0103] In some example embodiments, the method 1000 further comprises: transmitting, to the second apparatus, a request for activation of SIB transmission based on the determined scheduling information.

[0104] In some example embodiments, the method 1000 further comprises: transmitting the request for activation of SIB transmission, before the reception of the SIB; or transmitting the request for activation of SIB transmission, after a failure occurs in the reception or decoding of the SIB.

[0105] In some example embodiments, if the determined scheduling information is the first SIBscheduling information, the transmission of the request for activation of SIB transmission is based on a failure of decoding physical downlink control channel, PDCCH, with a cyclic redundancy check, CRC, scrambled by system information-radio network temporary identity, SI-RNTI, in a plurality of search spaces. In some other example embodiments, if the determined scheduling information is the second SIB scheduling information, the transmission of the request for activation of SIB transmission is based on a failure of decoding the SIB on PDSCH.

[0106] In some example embodiments, if the determined scheduling information is the second SIB scheduling information, the received SIB comprises system information associated with a low power wide area, LPWA, UE. In some other example embodiments, if the determination that the determined scheduling information is the first SIB scheduling information, the received SIB comprises system information associated with a broadband UE.

[0107] In some example embodiments, at least one of the first SIB scheduling information or a second SIB scheduling information indicates the number of repetitions of SIB transmission.

[0108] In some example embodiments, if the determined scheduling information is the first SIB scheduling information and the first SIB scheduling information comprises a first repetition number of SIB transmission, the received SIB comprises the first repetition number of repetitions; or if the determined scheduling information is the second SIB scheduling information and the second SIB scheduling information comprises a second repetition number of SIB transmission, the received SIB comprises the second repetition number of repetitions.

[0109] In some example embodiments, information carried in a first SIB that is corresponding to the first SIB scheduling information is same as information carried in a second SIB that is corresponding to the second SIB scheduling information. Alternatively, the information carried in the first SIB that is corresponding to the first SIB scheduling information is different from the information carried in the second SIB that is corresponding to the second SIB scheduling information.

[0110] In some example embodiments, the MIB indicates an index of a predetermined table, and a MIB-based scheduling parameter for SIB is based on the predetermined table.

[0111] In some example embodiments, a same value of a scheduling parameter is used for at least one of the first information element or a second information element.

[0112] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus is a terminal device and the second apparatus is a network device.

[0113] FIG. 11 shows a flowchart of an example method 1100 implemented at a second apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 1100 will be described from the perspective of the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 1.

[0114] At block 1110, the second apparatus transmits, a master information block, MIB, comprisinga first information element or field indicating first system information block, SIB, scheduling information and a second information element or field indicating second SIB scheduling information.

[0115] At block 1120, the second apparatus transmits one or more SIBs based on at least one of the first SIB scheduling information or the second SIB scheduling information.

[0116] In some example embodiments, the method 1100 further comprises: transmitting, to a further second apparatus, an indication indicating an activation of transmission of a SIB of the one or more SIBs or a deactivation of transmission of a SIB of the one or more SIBs associated with scheduling information for a synchronization signal block, SSB, beam of a set of SSBs.

[0117] In some example embodiments, the MIB comprises a first configuration for determining the SIB scheduling information.

[0118] In some example embodiments, the first configuration comprises at least one of: a reference signal received power, RSRP, threshold, a user equipment, UE, capability, or a type of UE.

[0119] In some example embodiments, the MIB comprises a first indication indicating whether one of the first IE and the second IE comprises valid scheduling information or both of the first IE and the second IE comprise valid scheduling information. In some other example embodiments, the MIB comprises a second indication indicating the number of available lEs between the first IE and the second IE.

[0120] In some example embodiments, the MIB comprises a second configuration for the first apparatus to request an activation of transmission of a SIB of the one or more SIBs based on the first or second SIB scheduling information.

[0121] In some example embodiments, the first SIB scheduling information comprises downlink control information-based, DCI-based, scheduling information, and the second SIB scheduling information comprises MIB-based scheduling information.

[0122] In some example embodiments, the method 1100 further comprises: transmitting DCI scheduling the SIB in a control resource set, CORSET and / or a search space.

[0123] In some example embodiments, the MIB-based scheduling information is comprised in the second IE.

[0124] In some example embodiments, the method 1100 further comprises: transmitting the SIB on a physical downlink shared channel, PDSCH.

[0125] In some example embodiments, the method 1100 further comprises: receiving, from the first apparatus, a request for activation of transmission of a SIB of the one or more SIBs that is based on the first SIB scheduling information or the second SIB scheduling information.

[0126] In some example embodiments, the transmission of the one or more SIBs to the first apparatus is after the request for activation of transmission of a SIB of the one or more SIBs is received.

[0127] In some example embodiments, the SIB comprises system information associated with a lowpower wide area, LPWA, UE. Alternatively, the SIB comprises system information associated with a broadband UE.

[0128] In some example embodiments, at least one of the first SIB scheduling information or a second SIB scheduling information indicates the number of repetitions of corresponding SIB transmission.

[0129] In some example embodiments, one of a first SIB transmission or a second SIB transmission comprises a portion of the other of the first SIB transmission or the second SIB transmission, wherein the first SIB transmission is based on the first SIB scheduling information and the second SIB transmission is based on the second SIB scheduling information.

[0130] In some example embodiments, the first SIB scheduling information comprises a first repetition number of SIB transmission, wherein the transmitted one or more SIBs comprise the first repetition number of repetitions.

[0131] In some example embodiments, the second SIB scheduling information comprises a second repetition number of SIB transmission, wherein the transmitted one or more SIBs comprise the second repetition number of repetitions.

[0132] In some example embodiments, information carried in a first SIB that is corresponding to the first SIB scheduling information is same as information carried in a second SIB that is corresponding to the second SIB scheduling information. In some other example embodiments, the information carried in the first SIB that is corresponding to the first SIB scheduling information is different from the information carried in the second SIB that is corresponding to the second SIB scheduling information.

[0133] In some example embodiments, the MIB indicates an index of a predetermined table, and a MIB-based scheduling parameter for SIB is based on the predetermined table.

[0134] In some example embodiments, a same value of a scheduling parameter is used for at least one of the first information element or a second information element.

[0135] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus is a terminal device and the second apparatus is a network device.

[0136] In some example embodiments, a first apparatus capable of performing any of the method 1000 (for example, the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1 ) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 1000. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The first apparatus may be implemented as or included in the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1 .

[0137] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises means for receiving, from a second apparatus, a master information block, MIB, comprising a first information element or field indicating first system information block, SIB, scheduling information and a second information element or field indicating second SIB scheduling information; means for determining, from at leastone of the first SIB scheduling information or the second SIB scheduling information, SIB scheduling information corresponding to a SIB, wherein the first SIB scheduling information and the second SIB scheduling information correspond to different SIBs; and means for receiving, from the second apparatus, the SIB based on the determined scheduling information.

[0138] In some example embodiments, the MIB comprises a first configuration for determining the SIB scheduling information, and the first apparatus further comprises: means for determining the SIB scheduling information corresponding to the SIB based on the first configuration.

[0139] In some example embodiments, the first configuration comprises at least one of: a reference signal received power, RSRP, threshold, a user equipment, UE, capability, or a type of UE.

[0140] In some example embodiments, the MIB comprises a first indication indicating whether one of the first IE and the second IE comprises valid scheduling information or both of the first IE and the second IE comprise valid scheduling information. In some other example embodiments, the MIB comprises a second indication indicating the number of available lEs between the first IE and the second IE.

[0141] In some example embodiments, the MIB comprises a second configuration for the first apparatus to request an activation of transmission of the SIB based on the determined SIB scheduling information.

[0142] In some example embodiments, the first SIB scheduling information comprises downlink control information-based, DCI-based, scheduling information, and the second SIB scheduling information comprises MIB-based scheduling information.

[0143] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for if the determined scheduling information is the first SIB scheduling information, monitoring DCI scheduling the SIB in a control resource set, CORESET and a search space indicated by the DCI-based scheduling information.

[0144] In some example embodiments, the MIB-based scheduling information is comprised in the second IE.

[0145] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for if the determined scheduling information is the second SIB scheduling information, receiving the SIB on a physical downlink shared channel, PDSCH.

[0146] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to the second apparatus, a request for activation of SIB transmission based on the determined scheduling information.

[0147] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting the request for activation of SIB transmission, before the reception of the SIB; or means for transmitting the request for activation of SIB transmission, after a failure occurs in the reception ordecoding of the SIB.

[0148] In some example embodiments, if the determined scheduling information is the first SIB scheduling information, the transmission of the request for activation of SIB transmission is based on a failure of decoding physical downlink control channel, PDCCH, with a cyclic redundancy check, CRC, scrambled by system information-radio network temporary identity, SI-RNTI, in a plurality of search spaces. In some other example embodiments, if the determined scheduling information is the second SIB scheduling information, the transmission of the request for activation of SIB transmission is based on a failure of decoding the SIB on PDSCH.

[0149] In some example embodiments, if the determined scheduling information is the second SIB scheduling information, the received SIB comprises system information associated with a low power wide area, LPWA, UE. In some other example embodiments, if the determined scheduling information is the first SIB scheduling information, the received SIB comprises system information associated with a broadband UE.

[0150] In some example embodiments, at least one of the first SIB scheduling information or a second SIB scheduling information indicates the number of repetitions of SIB transmission.

[0151] In some example embodiments, if the determined scheduling information is the first SIB scheduling information and the first SIB scheduling information comprises a first repetition number of SIB transmission, the received SIB comprises the first repetition number of repetitions; or if the determined scheduling information is the second SIB scheduling information and the second SIB scheduling information comprises a second repetition number of SIB transmission, the received SIB comprises the second repetition number of repetitions.

[0152] In some example embodiments, information carried in a first SIB that is corresponding to the first SIB scheduling information is same as information carried in a second SIB that is corresponding to the second SIB scheduling information. In some other example embodiments, the information carried in the first SIB that is corresponding to the first SIB scheduling information is different from the information carried in the second SIB that is corresponding to the second SIB scheduling information.

[0153] In some example embodiments, the MIB indicates an index of a predetermined table, and a MIB-based scheduling parameter for SIB is based on the predetermined table.

[0154] In some example embodiments, a same value of a scheduling parameter is used for at least one of the first information element or a second information element.

[0155] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus is a terminal device and the second apparatus is a network device.

[0156] In some example embodiments, a second apparatus capable of performing any of the method 1100 (for example, the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 1) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 1100. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. Forexample, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The second apparatus may be implemented as or included in the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 1.

[0157] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus comprises means for transmitting, a master information block, MIB, comprising a first information element or field indicating first system information block, SIB, scheduling information and a second information element or field indicating second SIB scheduling information; and means for transmitting, one or more SIBs based on at least one of the first SIB scheduling information or the second SIB scheduling information.

[0158] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to a further second apparatus, an indication indicating an activation of transmission of a SIB of the one or more SIBs or a deactivation of transmission of a SIB of the one or more SIBs associated with scheduling information for a synchronization signal block, SSB, beam of a set of SSB.

[0159] In some example embodiments, the MIB comprises a first configuration for determining the SIB scheduling information.

[0160] In some example embodiments, the first configuration comprises at least one of: a reference signal received power, RSRP, threshold, a user equipment, UE, capability, or a type of UE.

[0161] In some example embodiments, the MIB comprises a first indication indicating whether one of the first IE and the second IE comprises valid scheduling information or both of the first IE and the second IE comprise valid scheduling information. In some other example embodiments, the MIB comprises a second indication indicating the number of available lEs between the first IE and the second IE.

[0162] In some example embodiments, the MIB comprises a second configuration for the first apparatus to request an activation of transmission of a SIB of the one or more SIBs based on the first or second SIB scheduling information.

[0163] In some example embodiments, the first SIB scheduling information comprises downlink control information-based, DCI-based, scheduling information, and the second SIB scheduling information comprises MIB-based scheduling information.

[0164] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting DCI scheduling the SIB in a control resource set, CORSET and / or a search space.

[0165] In some example embodiments, the MIB-based scheduling information is comprised in the second IE.

[0166] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting the SIB on a physical downlink shared channel, PDSCH.

[0167] I n some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for receiving, from the first apparatus, a request for activation of transmission of a SIB of the one or more SIBs that is based on the first SIB scheduling information or the second SIB scheduling information.

[0168] In some example embodiments, the transmission of the one or more SIBs to the first apparatus is after the request for activation of transmission of a SIB of the one or more SIBs is received.

[0169] In some example embodiments, the SIB comprises system information associated with a low power wide area, LPWA, UE. In some other example embodiments, the SIB comprises system information associated with a broadband UE.

[0170] In some example embodiments, at least one of the first SIB scheduling information or a second SIB scheduling information indicates the number of repetitions of corresponding SIB transmission.

[0171] In some example embodiments, one of a first SIB transmission or a second SIB transmission comprises a portion of the other of the first SIB transmission or the second SIB transmission, wherein the first SIB transmission is based on the first SIB scheduling information and the second SIB transmission is based on the second SIB scheduling information.

[0172] In some example embodiments, the first SIB scheduling information comprises a first repetition number of SIB transmission, wherein the transmitted one or more SIBs comprise the first repetition number of repetitions.

[0173] In some example embodiments, the second SIB scheduling information comprises a second repetition number of SIB transmission, wherein the transmitted one or more SIBs comprise the second repetition number of repetitions.

[0174] In some example embodiments, information carried in a first SIB that is corresponding to the first SIB scheduling information is same as information carried in a second SIB that is corresponding to the second SIB scheduling information. In some other example embodiments, the information carried in the first SIB that is corresponding to the first SIB scheduling information is different from the information carried in the second SIB that is corresponding to the second SIB scheduling information.

[0175] In some example embodiments, the MIB indicates an index of a predetermined table, and a MIB-based scheduling parameter for SIB is based on the predetermined table.

[0176] In some example embodiments, a same value of a scheduling parameter is used for at least one of the first information element or a second information element.

[0177] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus is a terminal device and the second apparatus is a network device.

[0178] FIG. 12 is a simplified block diagram of a device 1200 that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 1200 may be provided to implement a communication device, for example, the first apparatus 110 or the second apparatus 120 as shown in FIG. 1. As shown, the device 1200 includes one or more processors 1210, one or more memories 1220 coupled to the processor 1210, and one or more communication modules 1240 coupled to the processor 1210.

[0179] The communication module 1240 is for bidirectional communications. The communication module 1240 has one or more communication interfaces to facilitate communication with one or more other modules or devices. The communication interfaces may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements. In some example embodiments, the communication module 1240 may include at least one antenna.

[0180] The processor 1210 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may include one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 1200 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock which synchronizes the main processor.

[0181] The memory 1220 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of the non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a Read Only Memory (ROM) 1224, an electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM), a flash memory, a hard disk, a compact disc (CD), a digital video disk (DVD), an optical disk, a laser disk, and other magnetic storage and / or optical storage. Examples of the volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a random-access memory (RAM) 1222 and other volatile memories that will not last in the power-down duration.

[0182] A computer program 1230 includes computer executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 1210. The instructions of the program 1230 may include instructions for performing operations / acts of some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The program 1230 may be stored in the memory, e.g., the ROM 1224. The processor 1210 may perform any suitable actions and processing by loading the program 1230 into the RAM 1222.

[0183] The example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by means of the program 1230 so that the device 1200 may perform any process of the disclosure as discussed with reference to FIG. 4 to FIG. 11. The example embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.

[0184] In some example embodiments, the program 1230 may be tangibly contained in a computer readable medium which may be included in the device 1200 (such as in the memory 1220) or other storage devices that are accessible by the device 1200. The device 1200 may load the program 1230 from the computer readable medium to the RAM 1222 for execution. In some example embodiments, the computer readable medium may include any types of non-transitory storage medium, such as ROM, EPROM, a flash memory, a hard disk, CD, DVD, and the like. The term “non-transitory,” as used herein, is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e. , tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation on data storage persistency (e.g., RAM vs. ROM).

[0185] FIG. 13 shows an example of the computer readable medium 1300 which may be in form of CD, DVD or other optical storage disk. The computer readable medium 1300 has the program 1230 stored thereon.

[0186] Generally, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, and other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. Although various aspects of embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or using some other pictorial representations, it is to be understood that the block, apparatus, system, technique or method described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

[0187] Some example embodiments of the present disclosure also provide at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a computer readable medium, such as a non-transitory computer readable medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, being executed in a device on a target physical or virtual processor, to carry out any of the methods as described above. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, or the like that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired in various embodiments. Machineexecutable instructions for program modules may be executed within a local or distributed device. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.

[0188] Program code for carrying out methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. The program code may be provided to a processor or controller of a general-purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, such that the program code, when executed by the processor or controller, cause the functions / operations specified in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams to be implemented. The program code may execute entirely on a machine, partly on the machine, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the machine and partly on a remote machine or entirely on the remote machine or server.

[0189] In the context of the present disclosure, the computer program code or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable the device, apparatus or processor to perform various processes and operations as described above. Examples of the carrier include a signal, computer readable medium, and the like.

[0190] The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computerreadable storage medium. A computer readable medium may include but not limited to an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of the computer readable storage medium would include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random-access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

[0191] Further, although operations are depicted in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Likewise, although several specific implementation details are contained in the above discussions, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the present disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments. Unless explicitly stated, certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, unless explicitly stated, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in a plurality of embodiments separately or in any suitable subcombination.

[0192] Although the present disclosure has been described in languages specific to structural features and / or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the present disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:1 . A first apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus to: receive, from a second apparatus, a master information block, MIB, comprising a first information element indicating first system information block, SIB, scheduling information and a second information element indicating second SIB scheduling information; determine, from at least one of the first SIB scheduling information or the second SIB scheduling information, SIB scheduling information corresponding to a SIB; and receive, from the second apparatus, the SIB based on the determined scheduling information.

2. The first apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the MIB comprises a first configuration for determining the SIB scheduling information, and the first apparatus is caused to: determine the SIB scheduling information corresponding to the SIB based on the first configuration.

3. The first apparatus of claim 2, wherein the first configuration comprises at least one of: a reference signal received power, RSRP, threshold, a user equipment, UE, capability, or a type of UE.

4. The first apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the MIB comprises a first indication indicating whether one of the first IE and the second IE comprises valid scheduling information or both of the first IE and the second IE comprise valid scheduling information, or wherein the MIB comprises a second indication indicating the number of available lEs between the first IE and the second IE.

5. The first apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the MIB comprises a second configuration for the first apparatus to request an activation of transmission of the SIB based on the determined SIB scheduling information.

6. The first apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first SIB scheduling information comprises downlink control information-based, DCI-based, scheduling information, and the second SIB scheduling information comprises MIB-based scheduling information.

7. The first apparatus of claim 6, wherein the first apparatus is caused to:based on a determination that the determined scheduling information is the first SIB scheduling information, monitor DCI scheduling the SIB in a control resource set, CORESET and a search space indicated by the DCI-based scheduling information.

8. The first apparatus of claim 6, wherein the MIB-based scheduling information is comprised in the second IE.

9. The first apparatus of claim 8, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: based on a determination that the determined scheduling information is the second SIB scheduling information, receive the SIB on a physical downlink shared channel, PDSCH.

10. The first apparatus of claim 5, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: transmit, to the second apparatus, a request for activation of SIB transmission based on the determined scheduling information.11 . The first apparatus of claim 10, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: transmit the request for activation of SIB transmission, before attempting the reception of the SIB; or transmit the request for activation of SIB transmission, after a failure occurs in the reception or decoding of the SIB.

12. The first apparatus of claim 10, wherein based on the determination that the determined scheduling information is the first SIB scheduling information, the transmission of the request for activation of SIB transmission is based on a failure of decoding physical downlink control channel, PDCCH, with a cyclic redundancy check, CRC, scrambled by system information-radio network temporary identity, SI-RNTI, in a plurality of search spaces, or wherein based on the determination that the determined scheduling information is the second SIB scheduling information, the transmission of the request for activation of SIB transmission is based on a failure of decoding the SIB on PDSCH.

13. The first apparatus of claim 1, wherein based on the determination that the determined scheduling information is the second SIB scheduling information, the received SIB comprises system information associated with a low power wide area, LPWA, UE, or wherein based on the determination that the determined scheduling information is the first SIB scheduling information, the received SIB comprises system information associated with a broadband UE.

14. The first apparatus of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first SIB scheduling information or a second SIB scheduling information indicates a number of repetitions of SIB transmission.

15. The first apparatus of claim 1 , wherein based on a determination that the determined scheduling information is the first SIB scheduling information and the first SIB scheduling information comprises a first repetition number of SIB transmission, the received SIB comprises the first repetition number of repetitions; or based on a determination that the determined scheduling information is the second SIB scheduling information and the second SIB scheduling information comprises a second repetition number of SIB transmission, the received SIB comprises the second repetition number of repetitions.

16. The first apparatus of claim 1 , wherein information carried in a first SIB that is corresponding to the first SIB scheduling information is same as information carried in a second SIB that is corresponding to the second SIB scheduling information, or wherein the information carried in the first SIB that is corresponding to the first SIB scheduling information is different from the information carried in the second SIB that is corresponding to the second SIB scheduling information.

17. The first apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the MIB indicates an index of a predetermined table, and a MIB-based scheduling parameter for SIB is based on the predetermined table.

18. The first apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a same value of a scheduling parameter is used for at least one of the first information element or a second information element.

19. A second apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second apparatus to: transmit a master information block, MIB, comprising a first information element indicating first system information block, SIB, scheduling information and a second information element indicating second SIB scheduling information; and transmit one or more SIBs based on at least one of the first SIB scheduling information or the second SIB scheduling information.

20. The second apparatus of claim 19, wherein the second apparatus is caused to:receive, from a first apparatus, a request for activation of transmission of a SIB of the one or more SIBs that is based on the first SIB scheduling information or the second SIB scheduling information.

21. The second apparatus of claim 20, wherein the transmission of the one or more SIBs to the first apparatus is after the request for activation of transmission of a SIB of the one or more SIBs is received.

22. The second apparatus of claim 19, wherein the second apparatus is caused to: transmit, to a further second apparatus, an indication indicating an activation of transmission of a SIB of the one or more SIBs or a deactivation of transmission of a SIB of the one or more SIBs associated with scheduling information for a synchronization signal block, SSB, beam of a set of SSB.

23. The second apparatus of claim 19, wherein the MIB comprises a first configuration for determining the SIB scheduling information.

24. The second apparatus of claim 23, wherein the first configuration comprises at least one of: a reference signal received power, RSRP, threshold, a user equipment, UE, capability, or a type of UE.

25. The second apparatus of claim 19, wherein the MIB comprises a first indication indicating whether one of the first IE and the second IE comprises valid scheduling information or both of the first IE and the second IE comprise valid scheduling information, or wherein the MIB comprises a second indication indicating the number of available lEs between the first IE and the second IE.

26. The second apparatus of claim 19, wherein the MIB comprises a second configuration for a first apparatus to request an activation of transmission of a SIB of the one or more SIBs based on the first or second SIB scheduling information.

27. The second apparatus of claim 19, wherein the first SIB scheduling information comprises downlink control information-based, DCI-based, scheduling information, and the second SIB scheduling information comprises MIB-based scheduling information.

28. The second apparatus of claim 27, wherein the second apparatus is caused to: transmit DCI scheduling SIB in a control resource set, CORESET and a search space, wherein the CORESET and the search space are indicated by the DCI-based scheduling information.

29. The second apparatus of claim 27, wherein the MIB-based scheduling information is comprised in the second IE.

30. The second apparatus of claim 29, wherein the second apparatus is caused to: transmit the one or more SIBs on a physical downlink shared channel, PDSCH.

31. The second apparatus of claim 19, wherein the SIB comprises system information associated with a low power wide area, LPWA, UE, or wherein the SIB comprises system information associated with a broadband UE.

32. The second apparatus of claim 19, wherein at least one of the first SIB scheduling information or a second SIB scheduling information indicates a number of repetitions ofthe corresponding SIB transmission.

33. The second apparatus of claim 32, wherein one of a first SIB transmission or a second SIB transmission comprises a portion of the other of the first SIB transmission or the second SIB transmission, wherein the first SIB transmission is based on the first SIB scheduling information and the second SIB transmission is based on the second SIB scheduling information.

34. The second apparatus of claim 19, wherein the first SIB scheduling information comprises a first repetition number of SIB transmission, wherein the transmitted one or more SIBs comprise the first repetition number of repetitions.

35. The second apparatus of claim 19, wherein the second SIB scheduling information comprises a second repetition number of SIB transmission, wherein the transmitted one or more SIBs comprise the second repetition number of repetitions.

36. The second apparatus of claim 19, wherein information carried in a first SIB that is corresponding to the first SIB scheduling information is same as information carried in a second SIB that is corresponding to the second SIB scheduling information, or wherein the information carried in the first SIB that is corresponding to the first SIB scheduling information is different from the information carried in the second SIB that is corresponding to the second SIB scheduling information.

37. The second apparatus of claim 19, wherein the MIB indicates an index of a predetermined table, and a MIB-based scheduling parameter for SIB is based on the predetermined table.

38. The second apparatus of claim 37, wherein a same value of a parameter is used for at least one of the first information element or a second information element.

39. A method comprising: receiving, at a first apparatus and from a second apparatus, a master information block, MIB, comprising a first information element indicating first system information block, SIB, scheduling information and a second information element indicating second SIB scheduling information; determining, from at least one of the first SIB scheduling information or the second SIB scheduling information, SIB scheduling information corresponding to a SIB; and receiving, from the second apparatus, the SIB based on the determined scheduling information.

40. A method comprising: transmitting, at a second apparatus, a master information block, MIB, comprising a first information element indicating first system information block, SIB, scheduling information and a second information element indicating second SIB scheduling information; and transmitting one or more SIBs based on at least one of the first SIB scheduling information or the second SIB scheduling information.

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