Method performed by terminal or network in wireless communication system, and device therefor

Abstract

A user equipment (UE) according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may: receive, from a base station (BS), configuration information including information related to at least one first random access channel occasion (RO) and information related to at least one second RO; determine, on the basis of UE capability, at least one available RO among the at least one first RO and the at least one second RO; and transmit a physical random access channel (PRACH) to the BS on the basis of the at least one available RO.

Description

A method performed by a terminal or network in a wireless communication system and an apparatus for the same

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a wireless communication system, and more specifically, to a method and apparatus for performing wireless communication between terminals or networks in a wireless communication system.

[0002] The 5G mobile communication system is a successor technology to LTE (Long Term Evolution) and is a new clean-slate type of mobile communication system characterized by high performance, low latency, and high availability. In the case of 5G NR, all available spectrum resources can be utilized, ranging from low-frequency bands below 1 GHz to intermediate frequency bands between 1 GHz and 10 GHz, and high-frequency (millimeter wave) bands above 24 GHz. Based on the underlying technology of 5G mobile communication, 6G mobile communication systems are being developed.

[0003] The technical problem to be solved by the present disclosure is to provide a method for efficiently performing a wireless signal transmission and reception process and an apparatus for doing so. According to one embodiment, the technical problem to be solved by the present disclosure is to set Cat 1 RO (RACH occasion) / Cat 2 RO, which are distinguished by whether NES (Network Energy Saving) is supported, and Cat A RO / Cat B RO, which are distinguished by whether SBFD is supported, determine their validity, and provide a PRACH transmission operation based thereon.

[0004] In addition to the technical challenges described above, other technical challenges can be inferred from the description below.

[0005] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a method performed by a User Equipment (UE) may include: receiving configuration information from a Base Station (BS) including information related to at least one first Random Access Channel Occasion (RO) and information related to at least one second RO; determining at least one available RO among the at least one first RO and the at least one second RO based on the UE Capability; and transmitting a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) to the BS based on the at least one available RO.

[0006] Preferably, the at least one second RO can be set from the at least one first RO based on information related to the at least one second RO.

[0007] More preferably, based on the UE performance being related to SBFD (Sub-Band Full Duplex) non-support, the at least one second RO may be set by applying information related to the at least one second RO to the at least one first RO set in the downlink time domain.

[0008] Preferably, the step of determining the at least one available RO may include determining the at least one RO set in the SBFD support time region among the at least one first RO and the at least one second RO as an available RO, based on the UE performance being related to SBFD (Sub-Band Full Duplex) support.

[0009] Preferably, the step of determining the at least one available RO may include determining the at least one RO set in the downlink time region among the at least one first RO and the at least one second RO as an unavailable RO.

[0010] Preferably, the information related to the at least one second RO may include at least one of a muting pattern, a masking pattern, a time offset, or a frequency offset applied to the at least one first RO.

[0011] Preferably, the at least one second RO may include at least one RO for NES (Network Energy Saving) support.

[0012] Preferably, the at least one first RO includes an RO that does not support both NES (Network Energy Saving) and SBFD (Sub-Band Full Duplex), and the at least one second RO may include an RO that supports at least one of the NES or SBFD.

[0013] Preferably, the UE can receive DCI (Downlink control information) that triggers a Random Access (RA) procedure from the BS, and the DCI may include information indicating at least one RO based on the UE performance among the at least one first RO and the at least one second RO.

[0014] In this case, the step of transmitting the PRACH may include the step of transmitting the PRACH to the BS based on at least one RO indicated in the DCI among the at least one available RO.

[0015] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a computer-readable non-transitory recording medium may be provided that records a program for performing the method described above.

[0016] An apparatus according to another aspect of the present disclosure comprises: at least one processor; and at least one memory configured to store instructions for performing operations by being executed by the at least one processor, wherein the operations may include: receiving configuration information from a BS (Base Station) including information related to at least one first RO (Random access channel Occasion) and information related to at least one second RO; determining at least one available RO among the at least one first RO and the at least one second RO based on UE capability; and transmitting a PRACH (Physical Random Access Channel) to the BS based on the at least one available RO.

[0017] The above device may further include a transmitter and receiver.

[0018] The above device may be a UE (User Equipment).

[0019] The above device may be a processing device configured to control a terminal.

[0020] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a method performed by a BS (Base Station) comprises the steps of: transmitting configuration information to a UE (User Equipment) including information related to at least one first RO (Random access channel Occasion) and information related to at least one second RO; and receiving a PRACH (Physical Random Access Channel) from the UE based on at least one available RO, wherein the at least one available RO may be determined based on the UE capability among the at least one first RO and the at least one second RO.

[0021] A Base Station (BS) according to another aspect of the present disclosure comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory configured to store instructions that perform operations by being executed by the at least one processor, wherein the operations include the step of transmitting configuration information to a User Equipment (UE) that includes information related to at least one first RO (Random access channel Occasion) and information related to at least one second RO; and the step of receiving a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) from the UE based on at least one available RO, wherein the at least one available RO may be determined based on the UE capability among the at least one first RO and the at least one second RO.

[0022] According to the present disclosure, signal transmission and reception can be performed efficiently in a wireless communication system. According to one embodiment, when PRACH resource setting considering the SBFD perspective of a base station / terminal and PRACH resource setting considering the NES perspective coexist, efficient PRACH resource setting and determination can be performed.

[0023] In addition to the technical effects described above, other technical effects can be inferred from the description below.

[0024] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary flexible network topology to which some of the examples of the present specification may be applied.

[0025] FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a communication system applicable to the present disclosure.

[0026] FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a wireless device that can be applied to the present disclosure.

[0027] FIG. 4 illustrates a communication procedure between a first node (e.g., a terminal) and a second node (e.g., a base station) applicable to the present disclosure.

[0028] Figure 5 illustrates a general functional architecture for an AI / ML model.

[0029] FIG. 6 illustrates a communication procedure between a first node (e.g., terminal) and a second node (e.g., base station) to which an AI / ML model is applied.

[0030] FIG. 7 shows an electromagnetic spectrum according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0031] FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a procedure for transmitting system information for THz communication to which the present disclosure applies.

[0032] FIG. 9 illustrates a beam management procedure applicable to the present disclosure.

[0033] FIG. 10 shows an example of a sensing operation according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0034] FIG. 11 illustrates a time / frequency resource for a sensing operation according to one embodiment of the present specification.

[0035] FIG. 12 illustrates a procedure related to a sensing operation according to one embodiment of the present specification.

[0036] Figure 13 illustrates an example of the operation procedure of a base station supporting NES technology.

[0037] Figure 14 illustrates an example of a procedure for cell DTX / DRX operation.

[0038] Figure 15 illustrates an example of a procedure for CA operation using an SSB-less SCell.

[0039] Figure 16 illustrates an example of a Conditional Handover (CHO) procedure.

[0040] Figure 17 illustrates an example of on-demand SSB transmission.

[0041] FIG. 18 illustrates an example of setting Cat 1 RO and Cat 2 RO and determining validity according to the present disclosure.

[0042] FIG. 19 illustrates an example of setting Cat A RO and Cat B RO and determining validity according to the present disclosure.

[0043] FIG. 20 illustrates an example of setting ROs by type and determining validity according to the present disclosure.

[0044] FIG. 21 illustrates another example of setting ROs by type and determining validity according to the present disclosure.

[0045] FIG. 22 is a diagram illustrating the operation of UE and BS for setting ROs by type and determining validity according to the present disclosure.

[0046] FIG. 23 illustrates the flow of a method performed by a UE to set ROs by type and determine validity according to one embodiment.

[0047] FIG. 24 illustrates the flow of a method performed by BS for setting ROs by type and determining validity according to one embodiment.

[0048] FIG. 25 is a diagram illustrating the operation of a UE and a BS for SSB to RO mapping and DCI-based RA procedure execution according to the present disclosure.

[0049] FIG. 26 illustrates the flow of a method performed by a UE for SSB to RO mapping and DCI-based RA procedure execution according to one embodiment.

[0050] FIG. 27 illustrates the flow of a method performed by BS for SSB to RO mapping and DCI-based RA procedure execution according to one embodiment.

[0051] In this specification, "A or B" may mean "only A," "only B," or "both A and B." Alternatively, in this specification, "A or B" may be interpreted as "A and / or B." For example, in this specification, "A, B or C" may mean "only A," "only B," "only C," or "any combination of A, B and C."

[0052] A slash ( / ) or a comma used in this specification may mean "and / or." For example, "A / B" may mean "A and / or B." Accordingly, "A / B" may mean "only A," "only B," or "both A and B." For example, "A, B, C" may mean "A, B or C."

[0053] In this specification, "at least one of A and B" may mean "only A," "only B," or "both A and B." Additionally, in this specification, the expressions "at least one of A or B" or "at least one of A and / or B" may be interpreted as synonymous with "at least one of A and B."

[0054] Additionally, in this specification, "at least one of A, B and C" may mean "only A," "only B," "only C," or "any combination of A, B and C." Also, "at least one of A, B or C" or "at least one of A, B and / or C" may mean "at least one of A, B and C."

[0055] Additionally, parentheses used in this specification may mean "for example." Specifically, when indicated as "control information (ABC)," "ABC" may be described as an example of "control information." For example, "control information" may include DEF as another example. In other words, "control information" in this specification is not limited to "ABC," and "ABC" may be described as an example of "control information." Also, when indicated as "control information (i.e., ABC)," "ABC" may be described as an example of "control information."

[0056] In addition, terms such as "first," "second," etc. in this specification are used solely for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another and are not used to limit the components, nor are they used to limit the order or importance of the components unless specifically limited. Accordingly, a first component in one embodiment of this specification may be referred to as a second component in another embodiment, and likewise, a second component in one embodiment may be referred to as a first component in another embodiment.

[0057] In the following explanation, 'when, if, in case of' can be replaced with 'based on'.

[0058] Technical features described individually within a single drawing in this specification may be implemented individually or simultaneously.

[0059] In this specification, a terminal is a user-side device (user equipment, UE) or a consumer-side device, and may also be referred to as a first node that receives / transmits signals from / to a base station / second node / IAB node / Transmission-Reception Point (TRP). A terminal may correspond to a physical node or a logical node. A terminal may correspond to a user-side endpoint or an intermediate point between other endpoints. In communication between two points not limited to endpoints (including one-to-one / many-to-one / one-to-many / many-to-many communication), a terminal may correspond to a served node. A terminal may be a fixed-location node or a non-fixed-location (or mobile) node.

[0060] In this specification, a Base Station (BS) is a device on the network side and may also be referred to as a second node / IAB node / x-NodeB (x-NodeB, where x may be an abbreviation related to Radio Access Technology (RAT)) / Transmission-Reception Point (TRP). A Base Station may correspond to a physical node or a logical node. A Base Station may correspond to an endpoint on the network side or an intermediate point between other endpoints. In communication between two points not limited to endpoints (including one-to-one / many-to-one / one-to-many / many-to-many communication), a Base Station may correspond to a serving node. A Base Station may be a node with a fixed location or a node with an indefinite location.

[0061] In this specification, higher layer parameters may be set for the terminal, pre-set, or pre-defined. For example, a base station may transmit higher layer parameters to the terminal. For example, the terminal may transmit parameters such as capability to the base station as higher layer parameters. For example, higher layer parameters may be transmitted via RRC (radio resource control) signaling or MAC (medium access control) signaling.

[0062] In this specification, information / state / parameters being "configured" or "pre-configured" may be interpreted as the information / state / parameters being provided / pre-provided to the terminal through pre-defined signaling (e.g., SIB, MAC, RRC) from the base station. In this specification, information / state / parameters being "defined" or "pre-defined" may be interpreted as being known or stored in advance by the base station and the terminal without signaling between the base station and the terminal.

[0063] The technology described in this specification can be used in various wireless communication systems such as CDMA (code division multiple access), FDMA (frequency division multiple access), TDMA (time division multiple access), OFDMA (orthogonal frequency division multiple access), and SC-FDMA (single carrier frequency division multiple access). CDMA can be implemented with wireless technologies such as UTRA (universal terrestrial radio access) or CDMA2000. TDMA can be implemented with wireless technologies such as GSM (global system for mobile communications) / GPRS (general packet radio service) / EDGE (enhanced data rates for GSM evolution). OFDMA can be implemented with wireless technologies such as IEEE (institute of electrical and electronics engineers) 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802-20, E-UTRA (evolved UTRA), LTE (long term evolution), and 5G NR.

[0064] The technology described in this specification can be implemented as 6G wireless technology and applied to various 6G systems. For example, 6G systems may have key factors such as eMBB (enhanced mobile broadband), URLLC (ultra-reliable low latency communications), mMTC (massive machine-type communication), AI (artificial intelligence) integrated communication, tactile internet, high throughput, high network capacity, high energy efficiency, low backhaul and access network congestion, and enhanced data security.

[0065] <Symbols, Abbreviations, Terms>

[0066] - PDCCH: Physical Downlink Control CHannel

[0067] - DCI: Downlink Control Information

[0068] - PDSCH: Physical Downlink Shared CHannel

[0069] - PUSCH: Physical Uplink Shared CHannel

[0070] - CSI: Channel state information

[0071] - RRM: Radio resource management

[0072] - SCS: Sub-carrier spacing

[0073] - RLM: Radio link monitoring

[0074] - DCI: Downlink Control Information

[0075] - CAP: Channel Access Procedure

[0076] - Ucell: Unlicensed cell

[0077] - TBS: Transport Block Size

[0078] - TDRA: Time Domain Resource Allocation

[0079] - SLIV: Starting and Length Indicator Value (An indicator value for the starting symbol index and number of symbols within a slot of a PDSCH and / or PUSCH; it can be set as a component of an entry constituting the TDRA field within the PDCCH scheduling the said PDSCH and / or PUSCH.)

[0080] - BWP: Bandwidth Part (It can be composed of consecutive resource blocks (RBs) on the frequency axis and can correspond to a single numerology (e.g., sub-carrier spacing, CP length, slot / mini-slot duration). Additionally, multiple BWPs can be configured on a single carrier (the number of BWPs per carrier may also be limited), but the number of active BWPs per carrier may be limited to a fraction of them (e.g., 1).)

[0081] - CORESET: Control Resource Set (Refers to the time and frequency resource range where PDCCH can be transmitted, and the number of CORESETs per BWP may be limited.)

[0082] - REG: Resource element group

[0083] - SFI: Slot Format Indicator (An indicator that indicates the symbol level DL / UL direction within a specific slot(s), transmitted via the group common PDCCH.)

[0084] - COT: Channel occupancy time

[0085] - SPS: Semi-persistent scheduling

[0086] - QCL: Quasi-Co-Location (The QCL relationship between two reference signals implies that QCL parameters, such as Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread, and spatial Rx parameters obtained from one reference signal, can be applied to another reference signal (or the antenna port(s) of the corresponding RS). In NR systems, four QCL types are defined as follows: 'typeA': {Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread}, 'typeB': {Doppler shift, Doppler spread}, 'typeC': {Doppler shift, average delay}, 'typeD': {Spatial Rx parameter}. For a certain DL RS antenna port(s), the first DL RS is set as a reference for QCL type X (X=A, B, C, or D), and additionally, the second DL RS is set as a reference for QCL type Y (Y=A, B, C, or D but X≠Y). It can be set to.)

[0087] - TCI: Transmission Configuration Indication (A single TCI state contains QCL relationships between one or more DL RSs, such as DM-RS ports of the PDSCH, the DM-RS port of PDCCH, or the CSI-RS port(s) of a CSI-RS resource. For 'Transmission Configuration Indication' among the fields within the DCI that schedule PDSCH, the TCI state index corresponding to each code point constituting the field is activated by MAC CE, and the TCI state setting for each TCI state index is configured via RRC signaling. In Rel-16 NR systems, the corresponding TCI state is configured between DL RSs, but configuration between DL RSs and UL RSs, or between UL RSs and UL RSs, may be permitted in future releases. Examples of UL RSs include SRS, PUSCH DM-RS, and PUCCH DM-RS.)

[0088] - SRI: SRS resource indicator (Indicates one of the SRS resource index values ​​set in the 'SRS resource indicator' among the fields within the DCI that schedule PUSCH. When transmitting a PUSCH, the terminal can transmit the PUSCH by utilizing the same spatial domain transmission filter used for transmitting and receiving the reference signal associated with the corresponding SRS resource. In this case, the reference RS is set by RRC signaling via the SRS-SpatialRelationInfo parameter for each SRS resource, and the SS / PBCH block, CSI-RS, or SRS can be set as the reference RS.)

[0089] - TRP: Transmission and Reception Point

[0090] - TAG: Timing advance group

[0091] - AmIoT: Ambient Internet of Things

[0092] - CW: Carrier Wave

[0093] - BSC: Backscattering

[0094] - BSS: Backscattered signal

[0095] - SIC: Self-Interference Cancellation

[0096] - RFID: Radio Frequency Identifier

[0097] - IN: Intermediate Node

[0098] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary flexible network topology to which some of the examples of the present specification may be applied.

[0099] To compensate for incomplete areas of network coverage, a network topology in which the Split Radio Access Network (RAN) is configured more flexibly and resiliently may be considered. To this end, various nodes such as IAB nodes, relays, and RF repeaters, as exemplified in Fig. 1, may be applied, and NTN may be integrated. For example, an IAB node may correspond to a node that provides wireless backhaul. For example, a relay may refer to any intermediate point, and in the case of a sidelink relay where a terminal functions as a relay, it may collectively refer to a terminal-to-network (U2N) relay and a terminal-to-terminal (U2U) relay. For example, an RF repeater may correspond to a node that performs simple signal amplification and forwarding functions, and in the case of a network-controlled repeater, it may adjust transmit / receive settings based on information provided by the network as well as signal amplification and forwarding. For example, an NTN node may correspond to a satellite or aircraft that provides NTN coverage that is difficult for a terrestrial network to provide. In addition to these examples, various intermediate points can be introduced to improve network topology.

[0100] Referring to FIG. 1, a split RAN can support the division of a base station into one centralized unit (CU) and one or more distributed units (DU). The CU and DU may correspond to logical units. The CU may be further divided into a control plane (CP) portion and one or more user plane (UP) portions. Since a failure in the CU-CP affects not only the CU-UP but also the DU, various intermediate points may be introduced to compensate for this.

[0101] An intermediate point may correspond to a terminal or a base station depending on its relative relationship with other nodes. For example, an IAB node may include a mobile-termination (MT) portion and a DU. The MT can connect the IAB node to a donor node. The DU of the IAB node may serve other terminals or connect to other IAB nodes to provide multi-hop wireless backhaul to terminals. In other words, an IAB node may correspond to a base station in its relative relationship with user-side nodes and to a terminal in its relative relationship with network-side nodes.

[0102] In some examples of this specification, the description of a terminal may apply equally to an intermediate point corresponding to a terminal in relation to a network-side endpoint as well as to a user-side endpoint. Similarly, in some examples of this specification, the description of a base station may apply equally to an intermediate point corresponding to a base station in relation to a user-side endpoint as well as to a network-side endpoint. However, in most cases where there is no additional description of the operation of three or more entities, the communication entities in this specification are briefly described by the term terminal and / or base station (or first node and / or second node), wherein the term terminal and / or base station (or first node and / or second node) is interpreted to include or replace any endpoint or any intermediate point in relation to other nodes.

[0103] That is, for the sake of brevity of description in some examples of this specification, the subject of the operation may be referred to as a base station and / or terminal (or a first node and / or a second node). Additionally, the term base station and / or terminal (or a first node and / or a second node) may be interpreted or substituted as in the following examples: for example, the base station (or the first node) and the terminal (or the second node) may correspond to a first endpoint and a second endpoint, respectively; may correspond to an endpoint and an intermediate point, respectively; may correspond to an intermediate point and an endpoint, respectively; or may correspond to a first intermediate point and a second intermediate point, respectively.

[0104] In this specification, there may be no intermediate points between the base station and the terminal, or there may be one or more. If intermediate points exist, the intermediate points may correspond to IAB nodes, relays, RF repeaters, NTN (non-terrestrial network) nodes, or nodes supporting other functions. The intermediate points may be nodes with a fixed location or nodes with an indefinite location.

[0105] FIG. 2 illustrates a communication system applicable to the present disclosure.

[0106] The communication system (100) of FIG. 2 includes a wireless device (110), a network device (120), and a network (130). Here, the wireless device (110) refers to a device that performs communication using wireless access technology (e.g., LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A pro, NR, 5G, 5G-A, 6G) and may be referred to as a communication / wireless / 5G / 6G device. Although not limited thereto, the wireless device (110) may include a robot (110a), a vehicle (110b-1, 110b-2), an XR (extended reality) device (110c), a hand-held device (110d), a home appliance (110e), an IoT (Internet of Thing) device (110f), and an AI (artificial intelligence) device / server (110g). For example, the vehicle may include a vehicle equipped with wireless communication capabilities, an autonomous vehicle, a vehicle capable of performing inter-vehicle communication, etc. Here, the vehicle (110b-1, 110b-2) may include an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) (e.g., a drone). The XR device (110c) includes an augmented reality (AR) / virtual reality (VR) / mixed reality (MR) device and may be implemented in the form of a head-mounted device (HMD), a head-up display (HUD) equipped in a vehicle, a television, a smartphone, a computer, a wearable device, a home appliance, digital signage, a vehicle, a robot, etc. The portable device (110d) may include a smartphone, a smartpad, a wearable device (e.g., a smartwatch, smart glasses), a computer (e.g., a laptop, etc.). The home appliance (110e) may include a TV, a refrigerator, a washing machine, etc. The IoT device (110f) may include a sensor, a smart meter, etc. The wireless device (110) may correspond to a terminal (or first node) or an intermediate point.The network device (120) may correspond to a base station (or a second node) or another intermediate point. For example, the network device (120) may also be implemented as a wireless device (110), and a specific wireless device (120a) may operate as a network device (120) to another wireless device (110).

[0107] Wireless devices (110a to 110f) can be connected to a network (130) through a network device (120). AI technology may be applied to the wireless devices (110a to 110f), and the wireless devices (110a to 110f) can be connected to an AI server (110g) through the network (130). The network (130) can be configured using a 3G network, a 4G (e.g., LTE) network, a 5G (e.g., NR) network, or a 6G network. The wireless devices (110a to 110f) may communicate with each other through the network device (120) / network (130), but may also communicate directly (e.g., sidelink communication) without going through the network device (120) / network (130). For example, vehicles (110b-1, 110b-2) can communicate directly (e.g., V2V (vehicle to vehicle) / V2X (vehicle to everything) communication). Additionally, an IoT device (110f) (e.g., a sensor) can communicate directly with another IoT device (e.g., a sensor) or other wireless devices (110a to 110f).

[0108] Wireless communication / connection (150a, 150b, 150c) can be established between wireless devices (110a to 110f) / network devices (120) and between network devices (120). Here, wireless communication / connection can be established through various wireless access technologies such as uplink / downlink communication (150a), sidelink communication (150b) (or D2D communication), and communication between network devices (150c) (e.g., relay, IAB (integrated access backhaul)). Through wireless communication / connection (150a, 150b, 150c), wireless devices and network devices / wireless devices, and network devices and network devices can transmit / receive wireless signals to / from each other. For example, wireless communication / connection (150a, 150b, 150c) can transmit / receive signals through various physical channels. To this end, based on the various descriptions of the present disclosure, at least some of the following may be performed: a process for setting various configuration information for the transmission / reception of a wireless signal, a process for various signal processing (e.g., channel encoding / decoding, modulation / demodulation, resource mapping / demapping, etc.), a resource allocation process, etc.

[0109] FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a wireless device that can be applied to the present disclosure.

[0110] Referring to FIG. 3, the wireless device (200) can transmit and receive wireless signals through various wireless access technologies (e.g., LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A pro, NR, 5G, 5G-A, 6G). The wireless device (200) includes at least one processor (202) and at least one memory (204), and may additionally include at least one transceiver (206) and / or at least one antenna (208).

[0111] The processor (202) controls the memory (204) and / or the transceiver (206) and may be configured to implement the descriptions, functions, procedures, proposals, methods, and / or sequences of operation disclosed in this document. For example, the processor (202) may process information within the memory (204) to generate a first information / signal and then transmit a wireless signal containing the first information / signal through the transceiver (206). Additionally, the processor (202) may receive a wireless signal containing a second information / signal through the transceiver (206) and then store information obtained from the signal processing of the second information / signal in the memory (204). The memory (204) may be connected to the processor (202) and may store various information related to the operation of the processor (202). For example, memory (204) may store software code containing instructions for performing some or all of the processes controlled by the processor (202) or for performing the descriptions, functions, procedures, proposals, methods, and / or sequences of operations disclosed in this document. Here, the processor (202) and memory (204) may be part of a communication modem / circuit / chip designed to implement wireless communication technology. A transceiver (206) may be connected to the processor (202) and may transmit and / or receive wireless signals through at least one antenna (208). The transceiver (206) may include a transmitter and / or receiver. The transceiver (206) may be interchangeable with an RF (radio frequency) unit. In this disclosure, a wireless device may mean a communication modem / circuit / chip.

[0112] Hereinafter, hardware elements of the wireless device (200) will be described in more detail. Although not limited thereto, at least one protocol layer may be implemented by at least one processor (202). For example, at least one processor (202) may implement at least one layer (e.g., functional layers such as PHY (physical), MAC (media access control), RLC (radio link control), PDCP (packet data convergence protocol), RRC (radio resource control), and SDAP (service data adaptation protocol). At least one processor (202) may generate at least one PDU (Protocol Data Unit) and / or at least one SDU (service data unit) according to the descriptions, functions, procedures, proposals, methods and / or operation sequences disclosed in this document. At least one processor (202) may generate messages, control information, data, or information according to the descriptions, functions, procedures, proposals, methods and / or operation sequences disclosed in this document. At least one processor (202) may generate a signal (e.g., baseband signal) including a PDU, SDU, message, control information, data, or information according to the functions, procedures, proposals, and / or methods disclosed in this document and provide it to at least one transceiver (206). At least one processor (202) may receive a signal (e.g., baseband signal) from at least one transceiver (206) and may obtain a PDU, SDU, message, control information, data, or information according to the descriptions, functions, procedures, proposals, methods, and / or operation sequences disclosed in this document.

[0113] At least one processor (202) may be referred to as a controller, microcontroller, microprocessor, or microcomputer. At least one processor (202) may be implemented by hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof. For example, at least one application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), at least one digital signal processor (DSP), at least one digital signal processing device (DSPD), at least one programmable logic device (PLD), or at least one field programmable gate array (FPGA) may be included in at least one processor (202). The descriptions, functions, procedures, proposals, methods, and / or operation sequences disclosed in this document may be implemented using firmware or software, and the firmware or software may be implemented to include modules, procedures, functions, etc. Firmware or software configured to perform the descriptions, functions, procedures, proposals, methods, and / or operation sequences disclosed in this document may be included in at least one processor (202) or stored in at least one memory (204) and driven by at least one processor (202). The descriptions, functions, procedures, proposals, methods, and / or flowcharts disclosed in this document may be implemented using firmware or software in the form of code, instructions, and / or sets of instructions.

[0114] At least one memory (204) may be connected to at least one processor (202) and may store various forms of data, signals, messages, information, programs, codes, instructions, and / or commands. At least one memory (204) may be composed of ROM (read-only memory), RAM (random access memory), EPROM (erasable programmable read-only memory), flash memory, hard drive, registers, cache memory, computer read storage media, and / or combinations thereof. At least one memory (204) may be located inside and / or outside of at least one processor (202). Additionally, at least one memory (204) may be connected to at least one processor (202) via various technologies, such as wired or wireless connections.

[0115] At least one transceiver (206) may transmit user data, control information, wireless signals / channels, etc., as mentioned in the methods and / or operation flowcharts, etc. of this document to at least one other device. At least one transceiver (206) may receive user data, control information, wireless signals / channels, etc., as mentioned in the descriptions, functions, procedures, proposals, methods and / or operation flowcharts, etc. disclosed in this document from at least one other device. For example, at least one transceiver (206) may be connected to at least one processor (202) and may transmit and receive wireless signals. For example, at least one processor (202) may control at least one transceiver (206) to transmit user data, control information, or wireless signals to at least one other device. Additionally, at least one processor (202) may control at least one transceiver (206) to receive user data, control information, or wireless signals from at least one other device. Additionally, at least one transceiver (206) may be connected to at least one antenna (208), and at least one transceiver (206) may be configured to transmit and receive user data, control information, wireless signals / channels, etc., as described in the descriptions, functions, procedures, proposals, methods, and / or operation sequence diagrams disclosed in this document through at least one antenna (208). In this document, at least one antenna may be a plurality of physical antennas or a plurality of logical antennas (e.g., antenna ports). At least one transceiver (206) may convert the received wireless signals / channels, etc., from RF band signals to baseband signals in order to process the received user data, control information, wireless signals / channels, etc., using at least one processor (202). At least one transceiver (206) may convert the processed user data, control information, wireless signals / channels, etc., from baseband signals to RF band signals using at least one processor (202).To this end, at least one transceiver (206) may include an (analog) oscillator and / or filter.

[0116] The components of the wireless device described with reference to FIG. 3 may be referred to by other terms in terms of their function. For example, the processor (202) may be referred to as the control unit, the transceiver (206) as the communication unit, and the memory (204) as the storage unit. In some cases, the communication unit may be used to mean at least a part of the processor (202) and the transceiver (206).

[0117] The structure of the wireless device described with reference to FIG. 3 can be understood as the structure of at least part of various devices. For example, the structure of the wireless device illustrated in FIG. 3 may be at least part of the various devices described with reference to FIG. 2 (e.g., robot (110a), vehicle (110b-1, 110b-2), XR device (110c), portable device (110d), home appliance (110e), IoT device (110f), AI device / server (110g)). Furthermore, according to various embodiments, the device may include other components in addition to the components illustrated in FIG. 3.

[0118] For example, the device may be a portable device such as a smartphone, smartpad, wearable device (e.g., smart watch, smart glasses), or portable computer (e.g., laptop, etc.). In this case, the device may further include at least one of a power supply unit that supplies power and includes a wired / wireless charging circuit, a battery, etc., an interface unit that includes at least one port for connection with another device (e.g., audio input / output port, video input / output port), and an input / output unit for inputting and outputting video information / signals, audio information / signals, data, and / or information input by a user.

[0119] For example, the device may be a mobile device such as a mobile robot, vehicle, train, manned / unmanned aerial vehicle (AV), or ship. In this case, the device may further include at least one of a drive unit comprising at least one of an engine, motor, power train, wheel, brake, and steering device of the device; a power supply unit that supplies power and includes a wired / wireless charging circuit, battery, etc.; a sensor unit that senses state information, environmental information, and user information of the device or its surroundings; an autonomous driving unit that performs functions such as path maintenance, speed control, and destination setting; and a position measurement unit that acquires position information of the moving body through a GPS (global positioning system) and various sensors.

[0120] For example, the device may be an XR device such as an HMD, a HUD (head-up display) equipped in a vehicle, a television, a smartphone, a computer, a wearable device, a home appliance, digital signage, a vehicle, a robot, etc. In this case, the device may further include at least one of a power supply unit that supplies power and includes a wired / wireless charging circuit, a battery, etc., an input / output unit that acquires control information, data, etc. from the outside and outputs a generated XR object, and a sensor unit that senses state information, environment information, and user information of the device or the surroundings of the device.

[0121] For example, the device may be a robot that can be classified into industrial, medical, household, military, etc., depending on the purpose or field of use. In this case, the device may further include at least one of a sensor unit that senses state information, environmental information, and user information of the device or its surroundings, and a drive unit that performs various physical actions, such as moving robot joints.

[0122] For example, the device may be an AI device such as a TV, projector, smartphone, PC, laptop, digital broadcasting terminal, tablet PC, wearable device, set-top box (STB), radio, washing machine, refrigerator, digital signage, robot, vehicle, etc. In this case, the device may further include at least one of an input unit that acquires various types of data from the outside, an output unit that generates output related to sight, hearing, or touch, a sensor unit that senses state information, environmental information, and user information of the device or its surroundings, and a training unit that learns a model composed of an artificial neural network using training data.

[0123] The structure of the wireless device exemplified in FIG. 3 may be understood as part of a terminal (or first node), or part of an intermediate point, or part of a base station (or second node). If the device exemplified in FIG. 3 is a base station (or second node), the device may further include a wired transceiver for front haul and / or back haul communication. However, if the front haul and / or back haul communication is based on wireless communication, at least one transceiver (206) exemplified in FIG. 3 is used for front haul and / or back haul communication, and the wired transceiver may not be included.

[0124] FIG. 4 illustrates a communication procedure between a first node (e.g., a terminal) and a second node (e.g., a base station) applicable to the present disclosure.

[0125] The second node of FIG. 4 supports dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) and can provide connectivity to both nodes where 6G technology is implemented and nodes where pre-6G wireless communication technology (e.g., 5G, 4G) is implemented. That is, the first node of FIG. 4 may have 6G technology implemented or pre-6G wireless communication technology (e.g., 5G, 4G) implemented. Additionally, the first node and / or the second node may support full duplex mode as well as non-overlapping full duplex mode.

[0126] In FIG. 4, for the sake of simplicity of explanation, the first node and the second node are assumed to be a terminal and a base station, respectively, and the operation of the terminal (110) and the base station (120) transmitting and / or receiving data, and the operation performed prior to this, are illustrated. However, the operation of FIG. 4 is not limited to the operation between the terminal and the base station, but can be interpreted as the operation between the first node and the second node. Additionally, FIG. 4 illustrates the operation of direct transmission and reception of wireless signals between the terminal (110) and the base station (120), but there may be one or more intermediate points between the terminal (110) and the base station (120), and wireless signals may be transmitted and received via one or more intermediate points.

[0127] Referring to FIG. 4, the terminal (110) and the base station (120) can perform synchronization (401). For example, the terminal (110) performs an initial cell search operation. Specifically, the terminal (110) can detect a synchronization signal for at least one base station connection transmitted from the base station (120) according to a predefined rule. Here, the synchronization signal may include a plurality of synchronization signals classified according to structure or use (e.g., a first synchronization signal (e.g., a primary synchronization signal), a second synchronization signal (e.g., a secondary synchronization signal), etc.). Through this, the terminal (110) can identify the boundary of the unit (e.g., frame, subframe, slot and / or symbol) constituting the wireless signal transmission of the base station (120) and obtain information about the base station (120) (e.g., cell identifier).

[0128] The terminal (110) can obtain system information transmitted from the base station (120) (403). System information is information related to the attributes, characteristics, and / or capabilities of the base station (120) required to connect to the base station (120) and use the service, and can be classified according to content (e.g., whether it is essential for connection), transmission structure (e.g., channel used, whether it is provided on-demand), etc., and can be classified, for example, into first system information (e.g., MIB (master information block), primary system information), second system information (e.g., SIB (system information block), secondary system information), etc. If necessary, the terminal (110) may transmit a signal requesting system information prior to receiving the system information. However, the request and provision of system information may be performed after the random access procedure described later.

[0129] A terminal (110) and a base station (120) can perform a random access procedure (405). The terminal (110) can transmit and / or receive at least one message for a random access procedure (e.g., random access preamble, RAR (random access response) message, etc.) based on information related to the channel for the random access procedure of the base station (120) obtained through system information (e.g., channel location, channel structure, structure of supported preamble, etc.). For example, the terminal (110) can transmit a first message (e.g., preamble, MSG1) through the channel for the random access procedure, receive a second message (e.g., RAR message, MSG2), transmit a third message (e.g., MSG3) containing information related to the terminal (110) (e.g., identification information) to the base station (120) using scheduling information included in the second message, and receive a fourth message (e.g., MSG4) for contention resolution and / or connection establishment. As another example, the first message and the third message can be transmitted and received as a single message, or the second message and the fourth message can be transmitted and received as a single message.

[0130] The terminal (110) and the base station (120) can perform signaling of control information (407). Here, the control information can be defined in various layers, such as a layer that controls the connection (e.g., a radio resource control (RRC) layer), a layer that handles mapping between logical channels and transmission channels (e.g., a media access control (MAC) layer), and a layer that handles physical channels (e.g., a physical (PHY) layer). For example, the terminal (110) and the base station (120) can perform at least one of signaling to establish a connection, signaling to determine settings related to communication, and signaling to indicate allocated resources.

[0131] The terminal (110) and the base station (120) can transmit and / or receive data (409). In other words, the terminal (110) and the base station (120) can process, transmit and / or receive data based on the signaling of control information. For example, when transmitting data, the terminal (110) or the base station (120) can perform at least one of channel encoding, rate matching, scrambling, constellation mapping, layer mapping, waveform modulation, antenna mapping, and resource mapping on the information bits. Conversely, when receiving data, the terminal (110) or the base station (120) can perform at least one of signal extraction from resources, antenna-specific waveform demodulation, signal placement considering layer mapping, constellation demapping, descrambling, and channel decoding.

[0132] 6G System Core Technology

[0133] The 6G (wireless communication) system aims for (i) very high data rates per device, (ii) a very large number of connected devices, (iii) global connectivity, (iv) very low latency, (v) reduced energy consumption of battery-free IoT (internet of things) devices, (vi) ultra-reliable connectivity, and (vii) connected intelligence with machine learning capabilities. The vision of the 6G system can be four aspects: intelligent connectivity, deep connectivity, holographic connectivity, and ubiquitous connectivity.

[0134] As core implementation technologies for 6G systems, technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), THz (Terahertz) communication, optical wireless technology, FSO backhaul network, massive MIMO technology, blockchain, 3D networking, quantum communication, unmanned aerial vehicles, cell-free communication, wireless information and energy transfer (WIET), integration of sensing and communication, integration of access backhaul networks, holographic beamforming, big data analysis, and large intelligent surface (LIS) can be adopted.

[0135] artificial intelligence

[0136] The introduction of AI into communications can streamline and enhance real-time data transmission. AI can determine how complex target tasks are performed using numerous analyses. In other words, AI can increase efficiency and reduce processing latency. Time-consuming tasks such as handover, network selection, and resource scheduling can be performed instantly using AI. AI can also play a significant role in M2M, machine-to-human, and human-to-machine communication. Furthermore, AI can enable rapid communication in Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI). AI-based communication systems can be supported by metamaterials, intelligent structures, intelligent networks, intelligent devices, intelligent cognitive radios, self-sustaining wireless networks, and machine learning.

[0137] The following describes a functional framework for AI / ML operations.

[0138] Below, to provide a more specific explanation of AI (or AI / ML), terms may be defined as follows.

[0139] - Data collection: Data collected from network nodes, management entities, or terminals, serving as a basis for AI model training, data analysis, and inference.

[0140] - AI Model: A data-driven algorithm that applies AI technology to generate a set of outputs containing predictive information and / or decision parameters based on a set of inputs.

[0141] - AI / ML Training: An online or offline process of training an AI model by learning features and patterns that best represent data and acquire an AI / ML model trained for inference.

[0142] - AI / ML Inference: A process of making predictions or deriving decisions based on collected data and AI models using trained AI models.

[0143] Life Cycle Management (LCM) procedures for AI / ML models (i.e., model training, model deployment, model inference, model monitoring, model updating, etc.) can be classified into functionality-based LCM and model-based LCM. In functionality-based LCM, AI / ML models may not be identifiable within the network, and the network can direct the activation, deactivation, fallback, or switching of AI / ML functionality. In model-ID (identifier)-based LCM, AI / ML models can be identified within the network, and the network or terminal can activate, deactivate, select, or switch AI / ML models via the model ID.

[0144] Figure 5 illustrates a general functional architecture for an AI / ML model.

[0145] In particular, Figure 5 illustrates a general functional architecture related to both Functionality-based LCM and Model-based LCM. Some functions or some data / information / command flows (i.e., arrows) illustrated in Figure 5 may be omitted.

[0146] Referring to FIG. 5, a general functional framework may be configured to include a data collection function (10), a model training function (20), a management function (30), an inference function (40), and a model storage function (50).

[0147] The Data Collection function (10) is a function that provides input data to the Model Training function (20), Management function (30), and Inference function (40). The Data Collection function (10) performs data preparation based on raw data and can provide input data processed through data preparation. Examples of raw data may include received data / measurement data from terminals or other network entities, inference / output of AI / ML models, etc. The Data Collection function (10) may be performed by a single entity (e.g., terminal, network node, etc.) but may also be performed by multiple entities.

[0148] Here, training data (11) refers to data required as input for the AI / ML model training function (20). monitoring data (12) refers to data required as input for the management (30) of the AI / ML model or AI / ML function. inference data (13) refers to data required as input for the AI / ML inference function (30).

[0149] The Model Training function (20) is a function that performs AI / ML model training, validation, and testing, which can generate model performance metrics that can be used as part of the AI / ML model testing procedure. If necessary, the Model Training function (20) can perform data preparation (e.g., data pre-processing and cleaning, forming and transformation) based on the Training Data (11) delivered from the Data Collection function (10).

[0150] Trained / Updated Model (21): If there is a Model Storage function (50), it is used to transfer trained, validated, and tested AI / ML models to the Model Storage function (50) or to transfer updated versions of the models to the Model Storage function (50).

[0151] The Management function (30) is a function that supervises the operation of an AI / ML model or an AI / ML function. Additionally, the Management function (30) may make decisions to ensure appropriate inference operations based on data received from the Data Collection function (10) (i.e., Monitoring Data (12)) and / or data received from the Inference function (40) (i.e., Inference Output (41)).

[0152] Management Instruction (32) is information required as input to manage the Inference function (40). The relevant information may include the selection / (de)activation / switching of an AI / ML model or an AI / ML-based function, and may also include a fallback to a non-AI / ML operation (i.e., not relying on the inference process).

[0153] A Model Transfer / Delivery Request (33) can be used to request model(s) from Model Storage (50).

[0154] Performance Feedback / Retraining Request (31) refers to information required as input to Model Training function (20) (e.g., for the purpose of retraining or updating the model).

[0155] The inference function (40) is a function that provides output from the process of applying an AI / ML model or AI / ML function using data (i.e., inference data (13)) provided by the data collection (10) as input. Data preparation (e.g., data preprocessing and cleaning, formatting and transformation) may also be performed based on the inference data (13) delivered by the data collection (10). If necessary, the inference function (40) may also perform data preparation (e.g., data pre-processing and cleaning, forming and transformation) based on the inference data (13) provided by the data collection function (10).

[0156] Inference Output (41) is data used in the Management function (30) to monitor the performance of an AI / ML model or AI / ML function. Inference Output (41) may include the inference output of an AI / ML model generated by the Inference function (30), and the details of the inference output may vary depending on the use case.

[0157] The Model Storage function (50) is a function that stores a trained / updated model that can be used to perform the Inference function (40). The Model Storage function (50) exemplified in FIG. 5 can be used as a reference point (if any) applicable to protocol termination, model transmission / delivery, and related processes. Additionally, the Model Storage function (50) is an example and is not intended to restrict the storage location of the actual AI / ML model and may be omitted.

[0158] Model Transfer / Delivery (51) is used to transfer an AI / ML model to an inference function.

[0159] Cooperation levels can be defined as follows based on the capability of AI / ML functions among multiple nodes, and variations resulting from the combination of multiple levels or the separation of any one level are also possible.

[0160] Cat 0a) No collaboration framework: AI / ML algorithms are based on pure implementation and do not require changes to the wireless interface.

[0161] Cat 0b) This level corresponds to a framework that involves a wireless interface modified to fit efficient implementation-based AI / ML algorithms but without cooperation.

[0162] Cat 1) Inter-node support is involved to improve the AI / ML algorithms of each node. For example, this applies when a specific node receives support from other nodes (for training, adaptation, etc.) and vice versa. At this level, model exchange between network nodes is not required.

[0163] Cat 2) Collaborative AI / ML tasks can be performed among multiple nodes. This level requires the exchange of AI / ML model commands or network nodes.

[0164] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an overall functional framework for an AI / ML model, and all functions and / or all data / information / command signals illustrated in FIG. 5 may not be performed within a specific node, and only some may be performed.

[0165] AI / ML models can be classified into one-side models and two-side models depending on whether training and / or inference are performed on a single node or jointly / sequentially on multiple nodes.

[0166] A one-side model can refer to an AI / ML model where inference is performed entirely by a single node (e.g., a terminal or a network). Here, the training of the AI / ML model can also be performed entirely by a single node. The training and inference of the AI / ML model may be performed by the same node, or they may be performed by different nodes.

[0167] A two-side model can refer to an AI / ML model in which joint inference is performed across multiple nodes (e.g., terminals and networks). Joint inference means that inference is performed collaboratively across multiple nodes; for example, the first part of the inference may be performed by the first node, and the remainder by the second node. Two-side models can be classified into various types as follows, depending on the training method of the AI / ML model.

[0168] - First type: An AI / ML model can be trained on a single node. In this case, joint training can be performed. The trained model can then be distributed to other nodes / entities.

[0169] - Second type: Joint training of AI / ML models can be performed on multiple nodes / entities (e.g., networks and terminals). Joint training can mean that model generation (e.g., CSI generation) and model reconstruction (CSI compression by sub-use cases) are trained in the same loop for forward activation and backward gradient. In this type, joint training can include both simultaneous training (i.e., model generation training and model reconstruction training are performed simultaneously) and sequential training (i.e., model reconstruction training is performed after model generation training).

[0170] - Third Type: Separate training of AI / ML models can be performed at multiple nodes (e.g., networks and terminals). Separate training may mean that training starts sequentially at one node and continues at another node. In this case, if the first node performs the AI / ML model first and shares the training data with the second node, the second node can perform the AI / ML model using the shared training data. For example, training for the CSI generation part may be performed by the terminal, while CSI reconstruction may be performed by the network.

[0171] FIG. 6 illustrates a communication procedure between a first node (e.g., terminal) and a second node (e.g., base station) to which an AI / ML model is applied.

[0172] The operations described below may be explained / interpreted based on an AI / ML model as shown in FIG. 6 below, even without separate mention (i.e., without explicit mention of being by / based on / for an AI / ML model). Furthermore, unless specifically limited, the AI / ML model may correspond to a one-side model in which inference is performed entirely by a single node or a two-side model in which joint inference is performed by multiple nodes.

[0173] First signaling (601): In the following description, the signaling (e.g., information / data / channel / signal, etc.) or set of signaling between a specific node (e.g., terminal, network, etc.) and another node may be interpreted as the signaling or set of signaling of the first signaling (601) used to perform an operation based on an AI / ML model, even if not otherwise mentioned. For example, it may correspond to training data for training (i.e., creation and / or reconstruction) of the AI / ML model of FIG. 5, or to inference data used for inference of the AI / ML model, or to feedback for the AI / ML model. If, in this specification, signaling between nodes is not required prior to an operation based on an AI / ML model, the first signaling (601) may be omitted. In this specification, if a one-side model is used, the unidirectional / bidirectional signaling (set) in this specification may correspond to the signaling of the first signaling (601). Additionally, when a two-side model is used in the present specification, unidirectional / bidirectional signaling in the present specification may correspond to the first signaling (601), and repetitive signaling operation may also correspond to the first signaling (601).

[0174] For example, in AI / ML model-based beam management, when a base station predicts (i.e., infers) high-quality beam(s) based on an AI / ML model, the base station can receive quality / intensity information for multiple beams from the terminal. Additionally, when a terminal predicts (i.e., infers) high-quality beam(s) based on an AI / ML model, the terminal can receive multiple beams from the base station.

[0175] AI / ML model-based operation (602): In the following description, an operation (e.g., computation, selection, prediction, etc.) at a specific node (e.g., terminal, network, etc.) or a common operation (e.g., computation, selection, prediction, etc.) at multiple nodes (e.g., terminal, network, etc.) may correspond to an AI / ML model-based operation (602) based on one or more functions in the functional framework of the AI / ML model, even without separate mention. For example, it may correspond to the training (i.e., creation and / or reconstruction) of the AI / ML model of FIG. 5 or to the inference of the AI / ML model. When a one-side model is used, an operation performed by a single node in this specification may correspond to an AI / ML model-based operation (602), and when a two-side model is used, a common operation performed by multiple nodes in this specification may correspond to an AI / ML model-based operation (602).

[0176] For example, in an AI / ML model-based BM, a base station can predict (i.e., infer) high-quality beam(s) based on an AI / ML model by using quality / intensity information for multiple beams received from a terminal as inference data. Additionally, a terminal can measure multiple beams received from a base station and predict (i.e., infer) high-quality beam(s) based on an AI / ML model by using the measurement results as inference data.

[0177] Second signaling (603): In the following description, signaling (e.g., information / data / channel / signal, etc.) or a set of signaling between a specific node (e.g., terminal, network, etc.) and another node may be interpreted as the second signaling (603) or a set of signaling generated as a result of an operation based on an AI / ML model, even without separate mention. For example, it may correspond to the output resulting from the inference of the AI / ML model of FIG. 5. If signaling between nodes is not required as a result of an operation based on an AI / ML model in this specification, the second signaling (603) may be omitted. If a one-side model is used in this specification, the unidirectional / bidirectional signaling (set) in this specification may correspond to the second signaling (603). Additionally, when a two-side model is used in this specification, unidirectional / bidirectional signaling in this specification may correspond to the second signaling (603), and repetitive signaling operation may also correspond to the second signaling (603).

[0178] For example, in an AI / ML model-based BM, the base station may transmit beam(s) predicted based on the AI / ML model as candidates to the terminal so that the terminal can determine the optimal beam. Additionally, the terminal may report the beam(s) predicted based on the AI / ML model to the base station to request the base station to transmit candidate beams as candidates for determining the optimal beam.

[0179] THz communication

[0180] Data transmission rates can be increased by expanding bandwidth. This can be achieved by using sub-THz communication with wide bandwidth and applying advanced large-scale MIMO technology. THz waves, also known as sub-millimeter radiation, generally refer to a frequency band between 0.1 THz and 10 THz with corresponding wavelengths ranging from 0.03 mm to 3 mm. The 100 GHz–300 GHz band range (Sub-THz band) is considered the primary portion of the THz band for cellular communication. Adding the Sub-THz band to the mmWave band increases 6G cellular communication capacity. Among the defined THz bands, the 300 GHz–3 THz band is located in the far-infrared (IR) frequency band. Although the 300 GHz–3 THz band is part of the broadband, it lies at the boundary of the broadband and immediately following the RF band. Therefore, this 300 GHz–3 THz band exhibits similarities to RF.

[0181] FIG. 7 illustrates an electromagnetic spectrum according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. The embodiment of FIG. 7 may be combined with various embodiments of the present disclosure. Key characteristics of THz communication include (i) a widely available bandwidth to support very high data transmission rates, and (ii) high path loss occurring at high frequencies (highly directional antennas are indispensable). The narrow beam width generated by highly directional antennas reduces interference. The small wavelength of THz signals allows a much larger number of antenna elements to be integrated into devices and BSs operating in this band. This enables the use of advanced adaptive array techniques that can overcome range limitations.

[0182] Transmitting system information (i.e., information related to the attributes, characteristics, and / or capabilities of the BS required to use the service, etc.) (e.g., MIB, SIB, etc.) in the THz frequency band can be inefficient because, in the case of the high frequency band, beam sweeping must be performed more frequently to cover the entire area of ​​the cell as the beam width becomes narrow. In particular, transmitting system information in this manner is even more inefficient when there are not many users in the cell. Accordingly, a system information transmission procedure as shown in FIG. 8 below may be used.

[0183] FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a procedure for transmitting system information for THz communication to which the present disclosure applies. Although this example is written with THz conditions in mind, it is also applicable to 6G communication environments where THz is not applied. Furthermore, the procedure exemplified in FIG. 8 can be combined with various embodiments of the present disclosure described below. For example, the embodiments described below may be performed based on the system information obtained by the procedure exemplified in FIG. 8.

[0184] Referring to FIG. 8, the base station can transmit system information of cell #1 through cell #2 (801). That is, the base station provides at least two cells, cell #1 uses the THz frequency band, and cell #2 uses a frequency band other than the THz frequency band. Here, the system information may include at least one information / state / parameter / setting generated at the higher layer and the physical layer, respectively. For example, at least one information / state / parameter / setting generated at the higher layer may include at least one of SFN, control information setting for SIB1 (e.g., PDCCH configuration for SIB1, etc.), information related to cell selection / entry (e.g., cell barring, cell re-selection, etc.), and subcarrier spacing, and at least one information / state / parameter / setting generated at the physical layer may include at least one of SFN, half frame indicator, and SSB index. However, this is merely an example, and system information may include information, status, parameters, and settings related to Cell #1 / Cell #2 generated at various types of physical layers / upper layers. To this end, as an example, Cell #1 and Cell #2 may have a secondary cell and primary cell relationship.

[0185] The UE can obtain synchronization for cell #1 (803). Synchronization can be obtained by detecting a synchronization signal. Generally, synchronization is obtained prior to receiving system information, but since the system information for cell #1 is received in cell #2, synchronization for cell #1 can be obtained after receiving system information. For example, the UE can obtain synchronization based on system information. However, unlike FIG. 8, synchronization may be obtained before step 801 according to other examples.

[0186] The UE can transmit a signal to connect to Cell #1 (805). For example, the signal may include information for connecting to Cell #1 (e.g., a random access preamble). The structure of the signal and the resources for transmitting the signal (e.g., a channel) can be identified through system information. Subsequently, the UE and the base station can perform a connection procedure to Cell #1 and perform communication (807). In this process, operations according to various embodiments described below may be performed.

[0187] The procedure described with reference to FIG. 8 may be performed when the UE (801) first connects to cell #1 of the base station. Alternatively, a similar procedure may be performed when the UE (801) handovers to cell #1 of the base station. However, in the case of a handover, the system information of cell #1 may be received from a cell of a different base station rather than cell #2 of the base station.

[0188] Communication in the THz band is expected to experience severe path loss, and to overcome this, terminals and base stations must use very sharp beams. The use of sharp beams means that terminals and base stations must perform beam control along with beamforming, and the number of beams used becomes very large. Therefore, it takes a very long time to align the transmit and receive beams between the base station and the terminal. In addition, if the beam alignment between the base station and the terminal is misaligned due to the movement of the terminal, time is frequently required to realign the beams, which may result in an unstable link. Accordingly, a beam management procedure as shown in Fig. 9 below may be used.

[0189] FIG. 9 illustrates a beam management procedure applicable to the present disclosure. FIG. 9 illustrates an example of a procedure for searching and / or selecting beams for THz communication, but is not limited to a THz environment and is applicable to a 6G communication environment. Additionally, the procedure exemplified in FIG. 9 may be combined with various embodiments of the present disclosure described below. Here, a beam may be interpreted as 'spatial (configuration) information', 'spatial domain filter', 'spatial domain transmission filter', 'spatial domain reception filter', or / and a term having an equivalent technical meaning capable of distinguishing a beam (e.g., Reference signal, SSB (Synchronization Signal Block) Index, TRP (transmission reception point), panel, cell, TP (transmission point), base station, control resource-related information (e.g., CORESET (control resource set)-related information, etc.).

[0190] Referring to FIG. 9, the base station can configure resources for beam management (901). Here, the resources may include at least one of time-frequency resources, channels, and spatial resources (e.g., antenna ports). For example, the base station may utilize a beam search signal (BSS) that is spatially separated from existing downlink signals / channels for beam search. Here, the BSS may be transmitted based on a dedicated port for beam search. The dedicated port may be a port different from the port for transmitting existing downlink signals / channels (e.g., synchronization signals (e.g., SSB, etc.), data channels (e.g., PDSCH, etc.)). BSS is a term defined for convenience of explanation, and the technical concept according to the present embodiment is not limited to the term BSS itself. That is, a signal transmitted based on a dedicated port defined / configured for beam search may be included in the technical concept according to the present embodiment.

[0191] The base station can transmit measurement signals using multiple transmission beams (903). For example, the measurement signals may include at least one of a reference signal and a synchronization signal. At this time, the measurement signals may be transmitted as many times as the number of beams required for measurement, and may be transmitted using a multi-beam transmission method that forms multiple beams simultaneously to reduce sweeping time. Here, multi-beam transmission may be performed based on at least one of a multi-panel, a sub-array, and a true time delay (TTD).

[0192] The UE can transmit a feedback signal to the base station (905). The feedback signal indicates at least one beam selected by the UE. The UE can select at least one preferred beam based on the received measurement signals. The UE and the base station can perform communication (907). At this time, the UE and the base station can perform communication using the previously selected beam. If channel reciprocity is established, the UE's transmission beam can also be determined through operations 903 and 905, so the UE's transmission can also be performed using the beam selected in operation 905. If channel reciprocity is not established, a procedure including the transmission of the UE's measurement signals and the transmission of the base station's feedback signal may be performed first to determine the UE's transmission beam. In operation 907, operations according to various embodiments described below may be performed.

[0193] Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC)

[0194] Wireless sensing is a technology that utilizes radio frequencies to determine the instantaneous linear velocity, angle, and distance (range) of an object, thereby obtaining information about the characteristics of the environment and / or objects within that environment. Since radio frequency sensing capabilities do not require connecting to objects via devices within a network, they can provide services for determining object locations without the need for devices. The ability to obtain range, velocity, and angle information from radio frequency signals can provide a wide range of new functions, such as various object detection, object recognition (e.g., vehicles, humans, animals, UAVs), and high-precision localization, tracking, and activity recognition. Wireless sensing services can provide information to various industries (e.g., unmanned aerial vehicles, smart homes, V2X, factories, railways, public safety, etc.) that enable applications such as intruder detection, assisted vehicle steering and navigation, trajectory tracking, collision avoidance, traffic management, and health and traffic management. In some cases, wireless sensing may utilize non-3GPP type sensors (e.g., radar, cameras) to further support 3GPP-based sensing. For example, the operation of a wireless sensing service, that is, the sensing operation, may depend on the transmission, reflection, and scattering processing of wireless sensing signals. Therefore, wireless sensing can provide an opportunity to enhance existing communication systems from communication networks into wireless communication and sensing networks.

[0195] FIG. 10 illustrates an example of a sensing operation according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The embodiment of FIG. 10 may be combined with various embodiments of the present disclosure. Specifically, FIG. 10(a) illustrates an example of sensing using a sensing receiver and a sensing transmitter at the same location (e.g., monostatic sensing), and FIG. 10(b) illustrates an example of sensing using a separated sensing receiver and a sensing transmitter (e.g., bistatic sensing).

[0196] For example, in a wireless communication system based on a 6G network of the present specification, referring to FIG. 10(a), the sensing transmitter and the sensing receiver may be configured to be included in a single base station (i.e., the same base station) or a single terminal (i.e., the same terminal). Alternatively, referring to FIG. 10(b), the sensing transmitter and the sensing receiver may be configured to be included in different base stations, in different terminals, or in a terminal and a base station, respectively.

[0197] In this regard, based on whether the sensing transmitter and the sensing receiver are each included in a base station or a terminal, the following six types of sensing modes can be defined.

[0198] - Mode 1: A mode in which the sensing transmitter and the sensing receiver are contained within a single base station (e.g., base station-based sensing mode in monostatic mode)

[0199] - Second mode: A mode in which the sensing transmitter is located in the first base station and the sensing receiver is located in a second base station different from the first base station (e.g., base station-based sensing mode in bistatic mode)

[0200] - 3rd Mode: A mode in which the sensing transmitter is located in the base station and the sensing receiver is located in the terminal (e.g., base station-terminal sensing mode)

[0201] - 4th Mode: A mode in which the sensing transmitter is included in the terminal and the sensing receiver is included in the base station (e.g., terminal-base station sensing mode)

[0202] - 5th Mode: A mode in which the sensing transmitter and the sensing receiver are contained in a single terminal (e.g., terminal-based sensing mode in monostatic mode)

[0203] - 6th mode: A mode in which the sensing transmitter is included in the first terminal and the sensing receiver is included in a second terminal different from the first terminal (e.g., terminal-based sensing mode in bistatic mode)

[0204] In a wireless communication system based on a 6G network of the present specification, one or more of the six types of sensing modes described above may be utilized independently or in combination.

[0205] In relation to the sensing operation in FIG. 10, the sensing transmission may transmit a sensing signal for sensing one or more objects (and / or the environment surrounding the objects). For example, the sensing signal may correspond to a radio (frequency) signal defined to be transmittable by a base station / terminal in a wireless communication system based on a 6G network of the present specification. The sensing receiver may receive a signal that is scattered / reflected by one or more objects (and / or the environment surrounding the objects) from the sensing signal transmitted from the sensing transmitter. In the sensing receiver, sensing data may be derived from the scattered / reflected signal, and sensing results may be generated / obtained through processing of the sensing data. Here, the sensing result may include characteristic information (e.g., location, distance, speed, angle, etc.) about one or more objects (and / or the environment surrounding the objects). The sensing result thus generated / acquired may be utilized for wireless sensing services (e.g., detection, tracking, etc. of objects and / or environments) provided by a wireless communication system based on a 6G network of the present specification, or may be provided / disclosed to a trusted third party.

[0206] Additionally, the sensing operation in FIG. 10 is described using a representative example of operation in a wireless communication system based on a 6G network, but it can be extended and applied to cases where terminals / base stations / signals based on previous generations (e.g., 4G, 5G, etc.) networks are utilized.

[0207] Additionally, with respect to the wireless sensing described in this specification, in a wireless communication system based on a 6G network of this specification, time / frequency resources for sensing operations and time / frequency resources for general communication (e.g., UL / DL / sidelink-based communication, etc.) may be scheduled / configured separately.

[0208] FIG. 11 illustrates a time / frequency resource for a sensing operation according to one embodiment of the present specification. The embodiment of FIG. 11 may be combined with various embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0209] Referring to FIG. 11, the time / frequency resources (hereinafter, sensing resources) for the aforementioned sensing operation (e.g., sensing operation based on FIG. 10) can be set / assigned separately from the time / frequency resources (hereinafter, communication resources) for general communication.

[0210] For example, as illustrated in FIG. 11, sensing resources may be configured / assigned in units of symbols in the time domain and / or in units of resource blocks in the frequency domain. Resources other than those configured / assigned to the sensing resources may be utilized as resources for general communication. That is, sensing resources and communication resources may be configured / assigned based on time-division multiplexing (TDM) and / or frequency-division multiplexing (FDM) methods in terms of base station / terminal operation. Additionally or alternatively, unlike that illustrated in FIG. 10, sensing resources may be configured / assigned based on other units in the time domain (e.g., slot, frame, absolute time (ms, us), etc.) and / or other units in the frequency domain (e.g., subcarrier, carrier, absolute frequency (MHz, GHz), etc.).

[0211] Additionally or alternatively, in relation to the setup / allocation / scheduling of resources for general communication described herein, it may be necessary to consider the relationship between said resources and the aforementioned sensing resources. For example, when setting / allocating resources for general communication according to the embodiments of the present disclosure, said resources may be set / allocated to rate-match or puncturing resource areas corresponding to the sensing resources. For example, when scheduling resources for general communication according to the embodiments of the present disclosure, said resources may be scheduled so as not to overlap with resource areas corresponding to the sensing resources. If resources for general communication and resource areas corresponding to the sensing resources are set / allocated / scheduled to overlap according to the embodiments of the present disclosure, either one or both operations may be dropped, skipped, or postponed based on priority, predefined rules, etc. That is, in the embodiments of this specification, resources related to general communication (e.g., resources for signals / channels related to UL / DL / Sidelink-based data / control, etc.) may be configured / assigned / scheduled so as not to overlap with the aforementioned sensing resources.

[0212] Additionally, various channel modeling methods may be applied in relation to the wireless sensing described herein. Channel modeling related to sensing may mean constructing a path for transmitting and receiving sensing signals and / or scattered / reflected signals by considering the object to be sensed and / or the environment to which the object belongs. Since channel modeling may be related to the performance / requirements of sensing in a wireless communication system, it may be an important matter for verifying the validity of the sensing function.

[0213] Channels related to sensing can be classified into channels between an object (e.g., target of interest) and a sensing transmitter / receiver, and channels between the environment to which the object belongs and a sensing transmitter / receiver. In this regard, channel modeling related to sensing can be classified based on the sensing mode (e.g., the six types of modes mentioned above), whether it is an object or an environment, and / or sensing scenarios. For example, channel modeling for a target in a base station / terminal-based monostatic sensing mode, channel modeling for a target in a base station / terminal-based bistatic sensing mode, channel modeling for an environment in a base station / terminal-based monostatic sensing mode, and channel modeling for an environment in a base station / terminal-based bistatic sensing mode can be optimized and configured differently. For example, when various sensing scenarios are classified, they can be divided into channel modeling for detection, location, and tracking scenarios, channel modeling for motion recognition, and channel modeling for imaging / environment reconstruction scenarios. Additionally, channel modeling related to sensing may be based on statistical channel modeling techniques and / or deterministic channel modeling techniques. For example, modeling for sensing in a wireless communication system based on a 6G network of this specification may be based on stochastic geometry channel modeling techniques and / or hybrid with ray tracing channel modeling techniques. Here, the stochastic geometry channel model may be based on various statistical characteristics of the channel state. Furthermore, the hybrid channel model may be based on both ray tracing techniques and stochastic techniques.In the case of a hybrid approach, channels for objects requiring high accuracy and consistency (e.g., targets of interest) can be modeled using ray tracing techniques, while channels for the environment can be modeled using probabilistic techniques.

[0214] FIG. 12 illustrates a procedure related to a sensing operation according to one embodiment of the present specification. The embodiment of FIG. 12 may be combined with various embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0215] For example, in a wireless communication system based on a 6G network of the present specification, in the case of a sensing operation in which a terminal participates, the base station may need to verify (1205) the terminal's capability for the sensing operation. In this regard, the terminal may be configured to report capability information to the base station regarding whether it supports the sensing operation. Additionally, or alternatively, if the terminal is defined in advance in the specification as supporting the sensing operation, the procedure may be omitted. Furthermore, in the case of a sensing operation in which only the base station participates, the base station may be configured to report capability information regarding whether it supports the sensing operation to the entity setting / controlling its sensing operation (e.g., a network entity at the upper level / layer of the base station).

[0216] For example, a base station may perform signaling with a terminal to exchange configuration information related to a sensing operation. For example, the base station may set / instruct the terminal information regarding the mode of the sensing operation (e.g., based on the six types of modes mentioned above), the subject of the sensing operation (e.g., a sensing transmitter, a sensing receiver), the resource of the sensing operation (e.g., a sensing resource as shown in FIG. 11), the target of utilization of the sensing result (e.g., a type of wireless sensing service based on a 6G network, a trusted third party), and channel modeling for sensing (e.g., a channel between the base station / terminal and an object / environment) (1210). For example, the base station may receive such information from a network entity at the upper level / layer of the base station.

[0217] For example, a base station and / or terminal may perform a sensing operation on information set / instructed (1215). For example, the base station and / or terminal may perform procedures such as transmitting a sensing signal as described in FIG. 9 above, receiving scattered / reflected signals, deriving sensing data, obtaining a sensing result through processing the sensing data, and providing the sensing result, as a role of a sensing transmitter and / or a sensing receiver. For example, in the operation of the base station / terminal described in this specification, the sensing result provided through the sensing operation may be utilized.

[0218] < Network Energy Saving, NES >

[0219] Rel-18 Network Energy Saving Technology

[0220] Energy conservation in base stations is considered important in wireless communication systems, including 3GPP, as it contributes to building eco-friendly networks by reducing carbon emissions and lowering the operational expenditures (OPEX) of telecommunications operators. In particular, as the introduction of 5G communication demands high transmission rates, base stations must be equipped with a greater number of antennas and provide services through wider bandwidths and frequency bands. Consequently, recent studies indicate that the energy costs of base stations have reached 20% of total OPEX. Accordingly, 5G systems are adopting various technologies to reduce energy consumption under the name of Network Energy Savings (NES), and the standardization of related technologies is expected to continue.

[0221] With the application of NES technology, the base station can perform operations such as controlling on / off for a certain duration in the time axis, controlling transmit / receive resources for UE-common or UE-specific signals / channels, changing the amount of resources in the frequency axis, controlling transmission power, or turning on / off antenna ports, TRPs (transmission-reception points), etc. in the spatial domain.

[0222] Figure 13 illustrates an example of the operation procedure of a base station supporting NES technology.

[0223] Referring to FIG. 13, the base station can identify the NES solution(s) to be applied (1305). The NES solution(s) may be related to the control of signal transmission and reception (e.g., on / off), beam operation, handover procedures, channel measurement and reporting, etc. Which NES solution(s) to apply may be adaptively selected based on the current situation (e.g., cell load level, characteristics of connected terminals, etc.) or may be predefined. The base station that has identified the NES solution(s) can perform signaling for the NES (1310). The specific signaling procedure may vary depending on the identified NES solution(s). For example, the base station may transmit common information regarding the NES solution(s), transmit configuration information necessary for NES operation to at least one terminal, or transmit control information regarding the progress of the NES operation to at least one terminal. Additionally, the base station may receive capability information related to the NES from at least one terminal. Subsequently, the base station performs operations for the NES. At this time, the base station can perform operations for NES based on the signaling performed earlier (1315). That is, depending on the system information, configuration information, and control information transmitted through the signaling, the base station can turn on / off the transmission and reception of a specific signal, turn on / off elements of the spatial domain, or adjust resources for the transmission and reception of a measurement signal.

[0224] NES technology can be performed through a procedure as shown in Fig. 13. Examples of NES solutions that can be performed by a procedure as shown in Fig. 13 are as follows.

[0225] - Intra-system energy saving solution: A RAN node may request a neighboring RAN node to switch at least one SSB beam into its inactive cell, or perform paging using a limited set of beams to an inactive terminal (e.g., a stationary terminal).

[0226] - Inter-system energy saving solution: An NG-RAN node owning a capacity booster cell can autonomously switch the cell to an inactive state.

[0227] - SSB-less SCell solution: If no SSB or SMTC (SSB-based RRM measurement timing configuration) settings are provided for the SCell, the terminal can obtain timing reference and AGC sources from other serving cells. In FR1 or FR2, the base station can set up intra-band CA or inter-band CA including an SSB-less SCell, in which case SSB / SIB transmission can be triggered by the terminal's WUS (wake-up signal). Accordingly, as the period of common channels / signals such as SSB increases, the base station can remain in a sleep state for a longer period of time.

[0228] - Cell DTX / DRX Solution: To reduce the downlink transmit / uplink receive activity time of a base station, periodic cell DTX / DRX patterns (e.g., active and inactive periods) may be set commonly for terminals within a cell having the corresponding feature. Here, the cell DTX pattern and the cell DRX pattern may be set and activated separately, and up to two cell DTX / DRX patterns may be set per MAC entity. When cell DTX is set and activated, at least one of monitoring SPS opportunities or PDCCH monitoring may be suspended during the cell DTX inactive period. When cell DRX is set and activated, at least one of transmission from CG resources or SR transmission may be suspended during the cell DRX inactive period. Cell DTX / DRX may be enabled / disabled via RRC signaling or L1 group common signaling.

[0229] Parameters such as active duration and cycle may be set for the cell DTX / DRX. The active duration is the period during which the terminal waits to transmit an SR or CG after receiving a PDCCH or SPS opportunity, and the cycle specifies the periodic repetition of the active duration and the inactive duration. When both the cell DTX and cell DRX are set, parameters such as the active duration and cycle are common. If the base station recognizes an emergency call or public safety-related service (e.g., MPS or MCS), the network may release or disable the cell DTX / DRX settings so as not to affect the service. Additionally, at least some overlap is required between the active duration of the terminal's connected mode DRX and the active duration of the cell DTX / DRX. For example, the period of the terminal's connected mode DRX may be a multiple of the cell DTX / DRX period, or vice versa.

[0230] - Conditional Handover (CHO) Solution: A CHO procedure, performed in such a way that the execution of a handover is determined by the terminal, is used while NES technology is applied (e.g., when a cell enables or disables Cell DTX / DRX). In this case, the terminal may use an NES-specific CHO event to execute a CHO for a candidate cell, and as an additional triggering condition for this, the reception of a DCI that enables CHO condition(s) set as an NES event indication may be applied.

[0231] - Spatial and power domain adaptation solution: To support the gNB for transceiver muting and / or transmission power adaptation, the terminal may be configured to report multiple CSI entries in the CSI report based on multiple sub-configurations. Each sub-configuration corresponds to a spatial domain adaptation pattern (e.g., a subset of available spatial elements) and / or a data channel (e.g., PDSCH) and a power offset between CSI and RS. Depending on the application of the spatial and power domain adaptation solution, CSI configuration, measurement, and / or reporting behavior may be affected.

[0232]

[0233] Cell DTX / DRX

[0234] To operate the base station in sleep mode for a relatively long period without frequent wake-ups, base station DTX / DRX was proposed for NES purposes. The base station can reduce energy consumption by using DTX transmission under low system load conditions by setting cell DTX and setting the on-duration of terminals' C-DRX within the active period of cell DTX. Figure 14 illustrates an example of a procedure for cell DTX / DRX operation.

[0235] Referring to FIG. 14, the base station transmits system information to the terminal (1401), and the terminal checks information related to cell DTX / DRX (1402). For example, the system information may include MIB, SIB1, etc. In relation to NES technology, MIB may include information related to cell barring (e.g., cellBarred), and SIB1 may include information related to cell barring status (e.g., cellBarredNES). Specifically, if cellBarred included in the MIB is set to a value indicating that it is not barred (e.g., notBarred), the terminal may determine that the cell is not barred, regardless of whether it supports NES cell DTX / DRX. Conversely, if cellBarred included in the received MIB is set to a value indicating that the cell is barred (e.g., barred), a terminal that does not support NES cell DTX / DRX may determine that the cell is barred. However, if the terminal has the capability to support NES cell DTX / DRX, the terminal checks SIB1 to determine the cell blocking status. If cellBarred in the MIB is set to barred and cellBarredNES is absent in SIB1, the terminal supporting NES cell DTX / DRX treats the cell as blocked and can perform cell reselection to another cell. On the other hand, if cellBarred in the MIB is set to barred and cellBarredNES is included in SIB1, the terminal supporting NES cell DTX / DRX can determine that the cell is not blocked.

[0236] In the case of FIG. 14, the terminal has the capability to support NES cell DTX / DRX, and it is assumed that cellBarred in the MIB is set to notBarred or cellBarred in the MIB is set to barred, and cellBarredNES is included in SIB1. Accordingly, the terminal can perform a random access procedure to connect to the base station (1403) and then perform communication. At this time, the base station performs a cell DTX / DRX operation and transmits configuration information related to the cell DTX / DRX operation to the terminal (1404). The configuration information related to the cell DTX / DRX operation (e.g., CellDTXDRX-Config) includes at least one parameter related to the cell DTX / DRX, and may include, for example, at least one of an on-duration timer, a cycle start offset, a slot offset, a configuration type (e.g., DTX, DRX, or DTX-DRX), and an activation state of the DTX / DRX (e.g., active, inactive). In addition, the configuration information may further include information for receiving and interpreting control information related to cell DRX / DRX (e.g., DCI-related information).

[0237] Subsequently, the base station transmits control information related to cell DTX / DRX to the terminal (1405). The control information related to cell DTX / DRX may include DCI having a specified format (e.g., format 2_9). When an operation for a serving cell is set according to at least one of cell DTX operation and cell DRX operation by configuration information (e.g., cellDTXDRX-Config), the terminal can identify a set of search spaces (e.g., Type3-PDCCH CSS set) for monitoring PDCCH that transmits control information of the specified format during the active time through an upper layer parameter (e.g., SearchSpace), and obtain the location of information about the serving cell within the control information through an upper layer parameter (e.g., positionInDCI-cellDTRX). Then, the terminal can obtain the control information based on the identified set of search spaces and location.

[0238] Control information related to cell DTX / DRX may be used to indicate the activation or deactivation of cell DTX and / or cell DRX, and / or to provide an NES-mode indicator, and may include, for example, at least one block including a cell DTX / DRX indicator and an NES-mode indicator. In this case, when the serving cell is set to a supplementary uplink (SUL) carrier, the indication for the activation or deactivation of cell DRX by the cell DTX / DRX indicator may be applied to both the UL carrier and the SUL carrier.

[0239] Subsequently, the terminal and the base station can communicate based on the cell DTX / DRX (1406). Specifically, the base station can turn on / off the transmission and reception of signals according to the settings related to the cell DTX / DRX, and accordingly, the terminal can selectively monitor signals from the base station. During DTX-OFF, the base station enters sleep mode to reduce energy consumption. At this time, the base station DTX cycle can be aligned with the terminal DRX cycle. The base station DTX-ON can completely cover the terminal's DRX-ON. Furthermore, the base station can align the transmission of Xn / NG and the transmission of Uu for NES purposes. The DTX / DRX mechanism triggers the switching of reference signal resource set groups, and the base station can perform dormancy-like behavior of transmitting SSB, SIB, and CSI-RS sparingly or not transmitting them to reduce energy consumption. The terminal can receive downlink signals / channels sparingly or not receive them according to the base station's settings. Once the base station DTX / DRX operation is triggered, during the DTX / DRX OFF period, the terminal can discontinuously receive the corresponding CSI-RS, SSB, or PDCCH.

[0240] SSB-less SCell

[0241] Figure 15 illustrates an example of a procedure for CA operation using an SSB-less SCell.

[0242] Referring to FIG. 15, the base station transmits configuration information for SCell to the terminal. That is, the base station transmits configuration information for CA to provide services to the terminal through CA operation. Here, the CA operation may be intra-band CA or inter-band CA. For example, the configuration information for SCell may include information containing information for adding SCell (e.g., sCellToAddModList), and specifically, may include a cell index, physical cell identifier, information related to DL-UL settings, information related to BWP, information related to cell DTX / DRX, information related to downlink frequency (e.g., FrequencyInfoDL), etc. Subsequently, the terminal determines the settings for CA operation and can perform communication using the base station's PCell and SCell. At this time, the terminal can confirm that the SCell is an SSB-free SCell based on the information related to the downlink frequency included in the configuration information and can check the relevant parameters. For example, the terminal can determine that the SCell is an SSB-less SCell by confirming the existence of a parameter (e.g., SSBlessSCell) indicating that the SCell is an SSB-less SCell, and can determine the timing reference and AGC source for the SCell based on information about the reference cell (e.g., referenceCell). In the case of FIG. 15, the reference cell may be a PCell. Therefore, the terminal can use the PCell as the timing reference and AGC source for communication in the SCell.

[0243] Conditional Hand Over (CHO)

[0244] FIG. 16 illustrates an example of a Conditional HandOver (CHO) procedure. The order of the actions exemplified in FIG. 16 may vary depending on the case.

[0245] Referring to FIG. 16, the base station transmits configuration information for CHO to the terminal (1601). The configuration information for CHO may include information related to conditional reconfiguration (e.g., ConditionalReconfiguration, CondReconfigToAddModList) and information related to configuration for reporting (e.g., ReportConfigNR). Here, the information related to configuration for reporting may include information related to events related to reporting, identifiers of events (e.g., condEventId), information indicating whether it is an NES-specific CHO event (e.g., nesEvent), etc. In the example of FIG. 16, event information indicating that it is an NES-specific CHO event is received.

[0246] The base station transmits information to the terminal that enables NES-specific CHO execution conditions (1602). The information that enables NES-specific CHO execution conditions may be transmitted via control information of a specified format (e.g., DCI format 2_9). The information that enables NES-specific CHO execution conditions may be referred to as an NES-mode indicator, and, for example, as 1-bit information, an associated upper layer parameter (e.g., nesEvent) is set, and if the serving cell of the associated block in the corresponding DCI is the primary cell, it indicates that NES-specific CHO execution conditions are enabled.

[0247] Subsequently, the terminal performs a measurement (1603) and transmits the measurement report to the base station (1604). The base station determines the CHO based on the measurement report and performs signaling for a handover request with adjacent base stations indicated by the measurement report (1606). The base station determines the adjacent base stations that have affirmed admission through signaling as candidate base stations and transmits information about the candidate base stations to the terminal (1607). Accordingly, the terminal evaluates the CHO execution conditions for the candidate base stations (1608). Accordingly, when a candidate cell satisfying the conditions is determined, the terminal detaches from the old cell and synchronizes with the new cell (1609). At this time, since the terminal has previously received event information indicating that it is an NES-specific CHO event and has also received information enabling the NES-specific CHO execution conditions, it can determine whether the event is satisfied. In other words, when an NES-mode indicator is received through a lower layer and conditional triggering configuration information (e.g., condTriggerConfig) includes information indicating that it is an NES-specific CHO event (e.g., nesEvent), the terminal determines that an event associated with a corresponding measurement identifier (e.g., measId) is satisfied, and accordingly, can determine that the CHO execution condition is satisfied.

[0248] NES Enhancement

[0249] In 3GPP NR release 19, discussions on NES enhancement are scheduled to take place, and (1) on-demand SSB, (2) on-demand SIB1 transmission and (3) adaptation of common signal / channel transmissions are being considered as major targets.

[0250] (1) On-demand SSB

[0251] A method to reduce energy consumption can be discussed in which the base station transmits an SSB to a specific cell through an on-demand SSB process, and does not transmit an SSB to that cell when the on-demand SSB process is not present. In existing NR systems, it was difficult to reduce energy consumption even when the base station had no data to receive or send, as SSBs had to be transmitted periodically at all times for purposes such as time / frequency synchronization or RRM measurement. Considering this, the base station's energy consumption can be reduced by allowing it to refrain from transmitting SSBs and only perform transmissions when the on-demand SSB process is involved. This on-demand SSB process can be triggered through one of the following methods.

[0252] 1) The terminal requests the base station's SSB transmission by transmitting an uplink signal / channel (e.g., PRACH, PUCCH, PUSCH, SRS, etc. in an NR system).

[0253] 2) Base Station (or TRP) #1 requests SSB transmission from Base Station (or TRP) #2 via an interface between base stations (e.g., the Xn interface in an NR system) or backhaul signaling.

[0254] 3) Signal whether the corresponding SSB is transmitted via Scell ​​activation / deactivation signaling

[0255] Considering coexistence with existing NR terminals, the on-demand SSB operation for connected mode terminals and SCells in Release 19 is limited, but in future releases or next-generation communication systems, on-demand SSB operation (for SSB transmission on a PCell) may be defined considering inactive or idle mode terminals or initial connected terminals. Additionally, carrier aggregation (CA) including the SCell may be applied to both intra-band CA and inter-band CA, and the SSB on the SCell transmitted through the on-demand SSB process may be utilized for at least time / frequency synchronization, L1 / L3 measurement, SCell activation, and other functionalities.

[0256] (2) On-demand SIB1 transmission

[0257] A method to reduce energy consumption can be discussed in which the base station transmits a SIB1 for a specific cell through an on-demand SIB1 process, and does not transmit the SIB1 for that cell when the on-demand SIB1 process is not present. In existing NR systems, it was difficult to reduce energy consumption even when the base station had no data to receive or send, because it was always necessary to periodically provide a SIB1 containing system information and random access information for initial access or idle mode terminals to connect to a cell. Considering this, the base station's energy consumption can be reduced by allowing it to refrain from transmitting SIB1 and only transmit it when the on-demand SIB1 process is involved. The base station's SIB1 transmission can be triggered by the terminal transmitting an uplink signal / channel (e.g., PRACH in an NR system), and specifically, the following scenarios can be considered, but may not be limited to them.

[0258] 1) Scenario 1: As shown in FIG. 17 (a), a terminal that receives an SSB (and / or other downlink signal / channel) at cell #1 and recognizes that SIB1 is not being transmitted on cell #1 can trigger the transmission of SIB1 by transmitting a signal requesting SIB1 (for convenience, the signal is referred to as WUS, wake-up signal) based on information provided by the SSB (and / or other downlink signal / channel) and / or pre-determined information. A base station that receives the WUS can transmit a specific DL signal / channel on cell #1 in response, or transmit SIB1 on cell #1 (or without transmitting the DL signal / channel).

[0259] 2) Scenario 2: As shown in FIG. 17 (b), a terminal that receives an SSB (and / or other downlink signal / channel such as SIB1) at cell #1 and realizes that SIB1 is not being transmitted on cell #2 may attempt to camp-on through cell #2. Based on the information provided in the received SSB (and / or other downlink signal / channel such as SIB1) and / or predetermined information, the terminal may transmit a signal requesting SIB1 (i.e., WUS) onto cell #1 to trigger the transmission of SIB1 to cell #2. Upon receiving the WUS, the base station may transmit a specific DL signal / channel (on cell #1 or cell #2) in response, or transmit SIB1 to cell #1 or cell #2 (or without transmitting the DL signal / channel).

[0260] 3) Scenario 3: As in Fig. 17(c), a terminal that receives an SSB (and / or other downlink signal / channel such as SIB1) on cell #1 and realizes that SIB1 is not being transmitted on cell #2 may attempt to camp-on through cell #2. The terminal may trigger the transmission of SIB1 for cell #2 by transmitting a signal requesting SIB1 (i.e., WUS) on cell #2 based on the information provided in the received SSB (and / or other downlink signal / channel such as SIB1) and / or predetermined information. A base station that receives the WUS may transmit a specific DL signal / channel (on cell #1 or cell #2) in response, or transmit SIB1 for cell #2 on cell #1 or cell #2 (or without transmitting the DL signal / channel).

[0261] (3) Adaptation of common signal / channel transmissions

[0262] Methods to reduce energy consumption by controlling common signal / channel transmissions such as SSB, PRACH, and paging can be discussed. While completely turning off the SSB can significantly reduce the energy consumption of the base station, the absence of an SSB that performs functions such as time / frequency synchronization or RRM measurement may result in unstable operation for the corresponding cell from the terminal's perspective. Considering this, energy saving effects for the base station can be achieved by changing the transmission pattern of the SSB (e.g., transmission period, period per SSB candidate index(es), SSB candidate index(es) transmitted within one transmission period, transmission power, etc.) depending on the situation.

[0263] In the case of PRACH resources, in the case of contention-based random access, energy consumption can increase because the base station always attempts to receive from the configured PRACH resources since it is unknown when the terminal will transmit PRACH. Considering this, the energy of the base station can be saved by applying methods to adjust the amount of PRACH resources (for example, by adjusting the period of the PRACH resources, by pre-configuring PRACH resource set #1 and set #2 and adjusting the amount of resources through instructions such as turning on only one set or turning on both sets, or by providing the amount of PRACH resources corresponding to each SSB index in a uniform or non-uniform manner).

[0264] In the case of paging, conventionally, paging frames (PF) and / or paging occasions (PO) were distributed along the time axis within a DRX cycle (or paging cycle), and terminals attempted to receive paging at specific PF / POs derived from their ID-based formulas. From the base station's perspective, if it intended to transmit paging to multiple terminals simultaneously, it was necessary to transmit paging while frequently interrupting the system. To reduce the resulting energy consumption of the base station, it is possible to consider placing the PF and / or PO for paging reception as close to the time axis as possible, or placing them using different frequency axis resources within the same timeframe.

[0265]

[0266] <RACH 설정>

[0267] RACH configuration may refer to one or more of RACH-ConfigCommon, RACH-ConfigCommonTwoStepRA, RACH-ConfigDedicated, RACH-ConfigGeneric, RACH-ConfigGenericTwoStepRA, and RACH-ConfigTwoTA of the NR standard TS 38.331 specification, and is referred to for convenience as RACH config or RACH configuration.

[0268] RACH occasions (ROs) on a specific time / frequency can be configured through RACH configuration. In the present invention, RACH configuration can also be used as an RO. Additionally, by configuring / instructing the terminal with an RCI (RACH configuration index), the base station can configure the PRACH preamble format, the time axis position of the RO (e.g., the period / offset of the RO or the RACH slot containing the RO, the frame / subframe / slot / symbol index where the RO or the RACH slot containing the RO starts or is included), and the duration of the RO or the RACH slot containing the RO.

[0269] Based on this configuration, Cat 1 RO and Cat 2 RO can be distinguished from NES in the present disclosure.

[0270] Cat 1 RO: This is an RO configured for legacy terminals. Legacy terminals refer to 3GPP NR standard Release 19 terminals and terminals prior to 3GPP NR standard Release 19 that do not support RACH adaptation features introduced in 3GPP NR standard Release 19 NES.

[0271] Cat 2 RO: This is an RO that can be configured for NES purposes. Specifically, from the perspective of the base station, energy can be saved by pre-configuring Cat 1 RO and Cat 2 RO and, while operating Cat 1 RO by default, additionally controlling the activation / deactivation (or on / off) of Cat 2 RO. Preferably, it can be configured to have different time and / or frequency resources compared to Cat 1 RO. It can be configured by the same RCI as Cat 1 RO but with different time and / or frequency resources.

[0272] For example, one or more of the values ​​such as frame-unit period(s) of a RACH slot containing a Cat 2 RO, frame-unit offset(s) of a RACH slot containing a Cat 2 RO, etc., may be additionally set, and the period / offset(s) may be values ​​that are set separately and may be values ​​that are set as delta values ​​from the period / offset for a Cat 1 RO.

[0273] As another example, separate frequency-related parameters for Cat 2 ROs can be additionally set (e.g., frequency axis RB level offset between the minimum RO in the frequency domain from the UL BWP PRB index 0 set via msg1-FrequencyStart, and the number of ROs being FDMed set via msg1-FDM).

[0274] As another example, the preceding examples may be applied to additionally set a (time axis) muting pattern / masking pattern that determines (or considers) some Cat 2 RO resources as invalid (i.e., invalid) among virtual Cat 2 RO resources with different time and / or frequency resources from Cat 1 RO. With such a muting pattern / masking pattern applied, the remaining ROs excluding those determined to be invalid may be determined as Cat 2 ROs. Alternatively, a separate time resource parameter may not be applied. If Cat 1 RO and Cat 2 RO overlap (partially or entirely on the time / frequency axis), the terminal may determine that the Cat 1 RO is valid and the Cat 2 RO is invalid.

[0275] A terminal may receive a Cat 2 RO configured for a single serving cell (or a single BWP or a single TRP). The terminal may receive a signal from the base station regarding whether the Cat 2 RO is valid or whether it is active or inactive. Such signaling methods may include higher-layer signaling such as RRC signaling, MAC CE, DCI, etc. Alternatively, after receiving a signal that the Cat 2 RO is valid or active, if a certain timer (the value of the timer may be a predefined or set / instructed value) expires, the terminal may determine that the Cat 2 RO is invalid or inactive.

[0276] From an NES perspective, Cat 1 RO and Cat 2 RO can be distinguished using NES alt-1 or NES alt-2 as shown below.

[0277] - NES alt-1: Sets Cat 1 RO and Cat 2 RO by the same RCI.

[0278] At this time, the Cat 2 RO may be configured through a RACH setting identical to the RACH setting configured for the Cat 1 RO, or through a separate RACH setting. At this time, the RAPID (random access preamble identifier) ​​range for the CBRA (contention-based random access) of each Cat 1 RO and the RAPID range for the CBRA of each Cat 2 RO may be the same. The Cat 2 RO may be determined by applying the time / frequency parameters and / or muting pattern / omission pattern described in the above Cat 2 RO description to the ROs corresponding to the RCI value.

[0279] - NES alt-2: Sets Cat 1 RO and Cat 2 RO by different RCIs.

[0280] At this time, the Cat 2 RO can be configured through the same RACH setting as the Cat 1 RO, or through a separate RACH setting. The Cat 2 RO can be determined by applying time / frequency parameters and / or muting patterns / omission patterns to the ROs corresponding to the RCI values ​​configured for the Cat 2 RO.

[0281] In the present disclosure, RACH adaptation means switching the on / off or enabled / disabled state of a Cat 2 RO. Instructions for such switching may be provided from the base station to the terminal by one or a combination of RRC signing / MAC-CE / DCI.

[0282] Meanwhile, Cat A RO and Cat B RO can be distinguished from full duplex or SBFD (Sub-Band Full Duplex) perspectives. Hereinafter, full duplex or SBFD (Sub-Band Full Duplex) will be referred to as SBFD.

[0283] - Cat A RO: This is the RO configured for legacy terminals.

[0284] (From the perspective of SBFD) A legacy terminal may refer to a terminal that lacks the capability to support SBFD of a base station / terminal. In this case, a Cat A RO may be determined as an RO that can be used by both a legacy terminal and a terminal with the capability to support SBFD (hereinafter referred to as an SBFD-aware terminal) (or an RO assigned to a slot / symbol area set / determined as UL / flexible by upper layer signaling).

[0285] For example, if an SBFD symbol is assigned to a flexible slot / symbol area (not set to DL / UL) by the tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon parameter and an RO is set on the SBFD symbol, the RO may be a Cat A RO because it can be used by both SBFD-aware terminals and legacy terminals.

[0286] - Cat B RO: An RO configured for full duplex or SBFD use at a base station / terminal. For the convenience of explanation below, it is assumed that a Cat B RO is an RO configured for SBFD use.

[0287] Specifically, Cat B RO can be determined as an RO that can only be used by an SBFD-aware terminal (or an RO assigned to an area configured as an SBFD slot / symbol within a slot / symbol(s) configured / determined as DL by upper layer signaling or connected via DL-flexible). The base station has the advantage of reducing the latency required for initial connection or data transmission, etc., by providing the SBFD-aware terminal with a large amount of time-axis available resources for uplink transmission, including PRACH.

[0288] Cat B RO can be configured to have different time and / or frequency resources compared to Cat A RO.

[0289] For example, one or more of the values ​​such as frame-unit period(s) of a RACH slot containing Cat B RO, frame-unit offset(s) of a RACH slot containing Cat B RO may be additionally set, and the period / offset(s) may be values ​​that are set separately and may be values ​​that are set as delta values ​​from the period / offset for Cat A RO.

[0290] Separate frequency-related parameters for Cat B ROs (e.g., frequency axis RB level offset between the lowest PRB index of the UL subband and the minimum RO in the frequency domain, and the number of ROs that are FDMed within the UL subband) may be additionally set. Alternatively, the terminal may reinterpret frequency-related parameters for Cat A RO settings to include them within the UL subband, or determine that an RO belonging to the UL subband (or UL usable PRB) is valid, and determine that an RO not belonging to the UL subband (or UL usable PRB) is invalid.

[0291] As another example, the preceding examples may be applied to additionally set a (time axis) muting pattern / masking pattern that invalidates some Cat B RO resources among virtual Cat B RO resources with different time and / or frequency resources from Cat A RO. With such a muting pattern / masking pattern applied, the remaining ROs excluding the invalidated ROs may be determined as Cat B ROs. Alternatively, a separate time resource parameter may not be applied. If Cat A RO and Cat B RO overlap (partially or entirely on the time / frequency axis), the terminal may determine that Cat A RO is valid and Cat B RO is invalid.

[0292] The terminal performs SSB-to-RO mapping for the above Cat A ROs (i.e., mapping the corresponding SSB index for each RO or preamble index within the RO) and SSB-to-RO mapping for Cat B ROs separately. That is, the terminal performs SSB-to-RO mapping for Cat A ROs and separately performs SSB-to-RO mapping for Cat B ROs.

[0293] A terminal can be configured with Cat B RO for one serving cell (or one BWP or one TRP), and SBFD-aware terminals can be allowed to transmit RACH through Cat B RO.

[0294] Additionally, RACH adaptation for Cat B RO may be introduced, which means switching the on / off or enabled / disabled state of Cat B RO. Such switching instructions may be provided from the base station to the terminal by one or a combination of RRC signaling, MAC-CE, and DCI.

[0295] From an SBFD perspective, Cat A RO and Cat B RO can be distinguished using the following SBFD opt-1 or SBFD opt-2.

[0296] - SBFD opt-1: Set Cat A RO and Cat B RO to the same RCI value.

[0297] Cat B RO can be configured through the same RACH setting as the Cat A RO, or through a separate RACH setting. In this case, the RAPID range for CBRA of each Cat A RO and the RAPID range for CBRA of each Cat B RO may be the same. Cat B RO can be determined by applying the time / frequency parameters and / or muting pattern / omission pattern described in the above Cat B RO description to the ROs corresponding to the RCI values.

[0298] - SBFD opt-2: Sets Cat A RO and Cat B RO to different RCI values.

[0299] Cat B RO can be configured through the same RACH setting as the Cat A RO, or through a separate RACH setting. Cat B RO can be determined by applying time / frequency parameters and / or muting patterns / omission patterns to ROs corresponding to the RCI values ​​configured for Cat B RO.

[0300]

[0301] (1) RACH Occasion (RO) setting

[0302] Table 1 below is part of the PRACH resource configuration table for each RCI defined in the 3GPP NR TS 38.211 document. In particular, Table 1 assumes that the frequency band is FR1 (Frequency Range 1) and the Unpaired Spectrum.

[0303]

[0304] FIG. 18 illustrates an example of setting Cat 1 RO and Cat 2 RO and determining validity according to the present disclosure.

[0305] In Fig. 18, it is assumed that the base station sets up the Cat 2 RO using NES alt-2 (i.e., a method of setting up the Cat 1 RO and Cat 2 RO by different RCIs).

[0306] Referring to FIG. 18, the RCI value for Cat 1 RO can be set to 160 and the RCI value for Cat 2 RO can be set to 162. In this case, referring to Table 1, Cat 1 RO is set in slot 9 of every frame and Cat 2 RO is set in slot 4 / slot 9 of every frame; however, since Cat 1 RO and Cat 2 RO overlap in slot 9, ultimately only Cat 1 RO can be determined (or considered valid) to be valid in that slot 9. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 18, Cat 1 RO can be set in slot 9 of every frame and Cat 2 RO can be set in slot 4 of every frame.

[0307] FIG. 19 illustrates an example of setting Cat A RO and Cat B RO and determining validity according to the present disclosure.

[0308] In Fig. 19, it is assumed that the base station sets the Cat B RO using SBFD opt-1 (i.e., a method of setting the Cat A RO and Cat B RO to the same RCI value).

[0309] Referring to Fig. 19, 153 can be configured as an RCI for Cat A RO and Cat B RO. Referring to Table 1, ROs can be configured in slot 8 / slot 9 of every odd index frame. As shown in Fig. 19, the RO configured in slot 9 assigned to the UL slot can be used by legacy terminals as well, so it becomes a Cat A RO, and the RO configured in slot 8 assigned to the SBFD slot can be used only by SBFD-aware UEs as it becomes a Cat B RO.

[0310]

[0311] If the base station operates Cat 2 RO and Cat B RO simultaneously, the following four combinations of configuration methods may be possible.

[0312] - NES alt-1 + SBFD opt-1

[0313] - NES alt-2 + SBFD opt-1

[0314] - NES alt-1 + SBFD opt-2

[0315] - NES alt-2 + SBFD opt-2

[0316] In addition, if both Cat 2 RO and Cat B RO are configured, up to 4 types of RO can be generated as shown below.

[0317] - Type 1 RO: This is an RO configured for a terminal that has no capability related to SBFD support and also has no capability related to RACH adaptation support. It may refer to the RO common to both Cat 1 RO and Cat A RO.

[0318] - Type 2 RO: Among the ROs configured for the SBFD-aware terminal (i.e., Cat B ROs), it is an RO to which RACH adaptation is not applied. It may refer to an RO among the Cat B ROs to which RACH adaptation is not applied. Alternatively, it may refer to an RO among the Cat B ROs described above that includes only a Cat 1 RO (or excludes a Cat 2 RO).

[0319] - Type 3 RO: For base stations / terminals without SBFD support capabilities (Cat A RO), this is an RO configured for NES purposes (or to which RACH adaptation can be applied). It may refer to an RO among Cat 2 ROs that can be used by both SBFD-aware terminals and legacy terminals (in terms of SBFD operation). Alternatively, it may refer to an RO among Cat 2 ROs that includes only Cat A ROs (or excludes Cat B ROs).

[0320] - Type 4 RO: For SBFD-aware terminals, this is an RO configured for NES purposes (or to which RACH adaptation can be applied) for Cat B ROs. It may refer to an RO among the Cat 2 ROs described above that can only be used by SBFD-aware terminals. Alternatively, it may refer to the intersection of Cat 2 ROs and Cat B ROs, that is, an RO that is both a Cat 2 RO and a Cat B RO.

[0321] In addition, depending on the capabilities of the terminal, the following operations may be considered.

[0322] - For a terminal that has no capability for RACH adaptation support for NES and no capability for SBFD support: The terminal performs the RA procedure using a Type 1 RO (regardless of whether the Cat 2 RO is enabled or disabled).

[0323] - For SBFD-aware terminals lacking capability for RACH adaptation support for NES: The terminal performs the RA procedure using Type 1 RO and / or Type 2 RO (regardless of whether Cat 2 RO is enabled or disabled).

[0324] - For a terminal that has capability for RACH adaptation support for NES but lacks capability for SBFD support: If Cat 2 RO is not enabled, the terminal performs the RA procedure using a Type 1 RO, and if Cat 2 RO is enabled, it performs the RA procedure using a Type 1 RO and / or a Type 3 RO.

[0325] - For an SBFD-aware terminal with capability for RACH adaptation support for NES: the terminal performs the RA procedure using a Type 1 RO and / or a Type 2 RO when the Cat 2 RO is not enabled, and performs the RA procedure using a Type 1 RO and / or a Type 2 RO and / or a Type 3 RO and / or a Type 4 RO when the Cat 2 RO is enabled.

[0326] Below, specific RO setting methods and RO type determination methods according to the combination of NES alt-1 / NES alt-2 and SBFD opt-1 / SBFD opt-2 are explained in [Method #1] through [Method #4].

[0327] [Method #1] Method for configuring RO and determining RO type using the NES alt-1 + SBFD opt-1 combination:

[0328] Method #1 is a method for setting up ROs for both NES and SBFD purposes through a single common RCI. The specific method for determining ROs for each type is as follows.

[0329] (1-1) Type 1 RO Determination Method

[0330] Basically, it can be similar to the Cat A RO determination method. That is, among the ROs corresponding to the configured RCI, it can be determined as an RO that can be used by both legacy terminals (from the perspective of SBFD operation) and SBFD-aware terminals (or an RO assigned to a slot / symbol area configured / determined as UL / flexible by upper layer signaling).

[0331] (1-2) Type 2 RO Determination Method

[0332] Basically, it can be similar to the Cat B RO determination method. That is, among the ROs corresponding to the configured RCI, it can be determined as an RO that can only be used by the SBFD-aware terminal (or an RO assigned to a slot / symbol area configured / determined as UL / flexible by upper layer signaling).

[0333] (1-3) Type 3 RO Determination Method

[0334] Type 3 RO Determination Alt-1: For ROs belonging to Type 1 RO, time / frequency related parameters (applied to Cat 2 ROs relative to Cat 1 ROs) and / or (time axis) muting patterns / masking patterns are applied, and the RO to which the parameters / patterns are applied can be determined as Type 3 RO. Additionally, if the RO to which the parameters / patterns are applied is an RO that can only be used by SBFD-aware terminals (or an RO that cannot be used by legacy terminals (from an SBFD perspective)), the terminal may determine (or consider) that RO is invalid and determine the remaining RO(s) as Type 3 ROs.

[0335] Type 3 RO Determination Alt-2: For all ROs corresponding to the configured RCI (i.e., without distinguishing whether they are Type 1 ROs or Type 2 ROs), time / frequency related parameters (applied to Cat 2 ROs relative to Cat 1 ROs) and / or (time axis) muting patterns / masking patterns are applied, and the ROs to which the parameters / patterns are applied can be determined as Type 3 ROs. Additionally, if the ROs to which the parameters / patterns are applied are ROs that can only be used by SBFD-aware terminals (or ROs that cannot be used by legacy terminals (from an SBFD perspective)), the terminal may determine (or consider) that RO is invalid and determine the remaining RO(s) as Type 3 ROs.

[0336] (1-4) Type 4 RO Determination Method

[0337] Type 4 RO Determination Alt-1: For ROs belonging to Type 2 RO, time / frequency related parameters (applied to Cat 2 ROs relative to Cat 1 ROs) and / or (time axis) muting patterns / masking patterns are applied, and the RO to which the parameters / patterns are applied can be determined as a Type 4 RO. Additionally, if the RO to which the parameters / patterns are applied is an RO that can be used by both legacy terminals and SBFD-aware terminals (from the perspective of SBFD operation) (or an RO assigned to a slot / symbol area set / determined as UL / flexible by upper layer signaling), the terminal may determine (or consider) that RO is invalid and determine the remaining RO(s) as Type 4 ROs.

[0338] Type 4 RO Determination Alt-2: For all ROs corresponding to the configured RCI (i.e., without distinguishing whether they are Type 1 ROs or Type 2 ROs), time / frequency related parameters (applied to Cat 2 ROs relative to Cat 1 ROs) and / or (time axis) muting patterns / masking patterns are applied, and the ROs to which the parameters / patterns are applied can be determined as Type 4 ROs. Additionally, if the ROs to which the parameters / patterns are applied are ROs that can be used by both legacy terminals and SBFD-aware terminals (from the perspective of SBFD operation) (or ROs assigned to slot / symbol areas configured / determined as UL / flexible by upper layer signaling), the terminal may determine (or consider) that RO is invalid and determine the remaining RO(s) as Type 4 ROs.

[0339]

[0340] Characteristically, Type 3 RO determination Alt-1 and Type 4 RO determination Alt-1 have the advantage of determining Type 3 RO and Type 4 RO by considering the terminal's SBFD support capabilities. On the other hand, Type 3 RO determination Alt-2 and Type 4 RO determination Alt-2 can help determine relatively more (valid) ROs by determining Type 3 RO and Type 4 RO without considering the terminal's SBFD support capabilities.

[0341]

[0342] FIG. 20 illustrates an example of setting ROs by type and determining validity according to the present disclosure.

[0343] Referring to Fig. 20, NES RO and SBFD RO can be assigned by setting a common RCI value of 153.

[0344] Referring to Table 1, since 153 is set as the RCI, ROs (i.e., RO#1 and RO#2) can be located within slot index 8 / slot index 9 of odd-index frames. Additionally, by applying time / frequency-related parameters (applied to Cat 2 ROs relative to Cat 1 ROs) and / or (time axis) muting / masking patterns, ROs (i.e., RO#1' and RO#2') can be located within slot index 3 / slot index 4 of even-index frames. The method for determining the RO for each type for these ROs is as follows.

[0345] - Type 1 RO determination: Among RO#1 and RO#2, RO#2 located in the UL (single) slot can be determined as Type 1 RO.

[0346] - Type 2 RO determination: Among RO#1 and RO#2, RO#1 located in the SBFD slot can be determined as Type 2 RO.

[0347] - Type 3 RO determinations can be classified into Alt-1 and Alt-2.

[0348] i) Type 3 RO determination Alt-1: For RO#2 belonging to Type 1 RO, RO#2' with the corresponding parameter / pattern applied can be determined as Type 3 RO.

[0349] ii) Type 3 RO determination Alt-2: (Without distinguishing Type 1) For both RO#1 and RO#2, RO#1' and RO#2' are determined by applying the corresponding parameters / patterns. At this time, since RO#1' is located in the SBFD slot and can be utilized only by SBFD-aware terminals, only RO#2' can be determined as Type 3 RO.

[0350] - Type 4 RO determinations can also be classified into Alt-1 and Alt-2.

[0351] i) Type 4 RO determination Alt-1: For RO#1 belonging to Type 2 RO, RO#1' with the corresponding parameter / pattern applied can be determined as Type 4 RO.

[0352] ii) Type 4 RO Determination Alt-2: For both RO#1 and RO#2 (without distinction of Type 2), RO#1' and RO#2' are determined by applying the corresponding parameters / patterns. At this time, since RO#2' is located in the UL slot and can be utilized by both SBFD-aware terminals and legacy terminals (from an SBFD perspective), only RO#1' can be determined as a Type 4 RO.

[0353]

[0354] FIG. 21 illustrates another example of setting ROs by type and determining validity according to the present disclosure.

[0355] Referring to Fig. 21, NES RO and SBFD RO can be assigned by setting a common RCI value of 153.

[0356] Specifically, referring to Table 1, since 153 is set as the RCI, ROs (i.e., RO#1 and RO#2) can be located within slot index 8 / slot index 9 of odd-index frames. Additionally, by applying time / frequency-related parameters (applied to Cat 2 ROs relative to Cat 1 ROs) and / or (time axis) muting / masking patterns, ROs (i.e., RO#1' and RO#2') can be located within slot index 4 / slot index 5 of even-index frames. The method for determining the RO for each type for these ROs is as follows.

[0357] - Type 1 RO determination: Among RO#1 and RO#2, RO#2 located in the UL (single) slot can be determined as Type 1 RO.

[0358] - Type 2 RO determination: Among RO#1 and RO#2, RO#1 located in the SBFD slot can be determined as Type 2 RO.

[0359] - Type 3 RO determinations can be classified into Alt-1 and Alt-2.

[0360] i) Type 3 RO determination Alt-1: For RO#2 belonging to Type 1 RO, the terminal determines RO#2' by applying the corresponding parameter / pattern. At this time, since RO#2' is located in the SBFD slot and can be utilized only by SBFD-aware terminals, the terminal may determine that there is no RO belonging to Type 3 RO.

[0361] ii) Type 3 RO determination Alt-2: (without distinguishing Type 1) For both RO#1 and RO#2, RO#1' and RO#2' are determined by applying the corresponding parameters / patterns. At this time, since RO#2' is located in the SBFD slot and can be utilized only by SBFD-aware terminals, the terminal can determine only RO#1' as a Type 3 RO.

[0362] - Type 4 RO determination can also be divided into Alt-1 and Alt-2.

[0363] i) Type 4 RO Determination Alt-1: For RO#1 belonging to Type 2 RO, the terminal determines RO#1' by applying the corresponding parameter / pattern. At this time, since RO#1' is located in the UL slot and can be utilized by both the SBFD-aware terminal and the legacy terminal (from the SBFD perspective), the terminal can determine that there is no RO belonging to Type 4 RO.

[0364] ii) Type 4 RO Determination Alt-2: For both RO#1 and RO#2 (without distinguishing between Type 2), RO#1' and RO#2' are determined by applying the corresponding parameters / patterns. At this time, since RO#1' is located in the UL slot and can be utilized by both SBFD-aware terminals and legacy terminals (from an SBFD perspective), the terminal can determine only RO#2' as a Type 4 RO.

[0365] Meanwhile, in determining the frequency position of Type 2 RO and Type 4 RO (i.e., RO on the SBFD symbol), the terminal (similar to the Cat B RO) may reinterpret frequency-related parameters to ensure they are included within the UL subband, or determine that an RO belonging to the UL subband (or UL usable PRB) is valid, and determine that an RO not belonging to the UL subband (or UL usable PRB) is invalid. Such frequency position determination can be extended and applied not only to the method but also to other methods in the present invention.

[0366] Additionally, to reduce the complexity of the terminal that may arise from the existence of multiple ROs of different types, the base station may be configured to determine that all or some of the Type 3 ROs and Type 4 ROs (e.g., a specific type of RO among the Type 3 ROs or Type 4 ROs, or some ROs among the ROs belonging to each type) are valid. For example, if the Type 4 RO is configured to be determined as an invalid RO, the terminal may not utilize the Type 4 RO even if it receives a signaling that the Cat 2 RO is activated.

[0367] Alternatively, a rule that a specific type of RO is invalid or undefined may be specified in advance. For example, when Type 4 RO Decision Alt-1 or Type 4 RO Decision Alt-2 is applied (or when Type 3 RO Decision Alt-1 or Type 3 RO Decision Alt-2 is applied), in order to reduce the complexity of the terminal that may arise from having multiple ROs of different types, those ROs may be restricted to not be defined.

[0368] Such limitations on the validity or definition of a specific type of RO may be extended to other methods in the present invention.

[0369]

[0370] [Method #2] Method for configuring RO and determining RO type using the NES alt-2 + SBFD opt-1 combination:

[0371] In Method #2, the terminal can receive two RCI #A and RCI #B configurations from the base station. Specifically, the terminal can receive Cat 1 RO (for NES purposes), Cat A RO (for SBFD purposes), and Cat B RO configurations via RCI #A. Additionally, the terminal can receive Cat 2 RO (for NES purposes) configurations via RCI #B. Based on this, the specific method for determining the RO for each type is as follows.

[0372] - Type 1 RO Determination Method

[0373] The Type 1 RO determination method may be basically similar to the Cat A RO determination method. That is, among the ROs corresponding to the configured RCI #A, the Type 1 RO may be determined as an RO that can be used by both legacy terminals (from the perspective of SBFD operation) and SBFD-aware terminals (or an RO assigned to a slot / symbol area configured / determined as UL / flexible by upper layer signaling).

[0374] - Type 2 RO Determination Method

[0375] The Type 2 RO determination method may be basically similar to the Cat B RO determination method. That is, among the ROs corresponding to the configured RCI #A, the Type 2 RO may be determined as an RO that can only be used by the SBFD-aware terminal (or an RO assigned to a slot / symbol area configured / determined as UL / flexible by upper layer signaling).

[0376] - Type 3 RO Determination Method

[0377] Type 3 RO may be determined as an RO that can be used by both legacy terminals (in terms of SBFD operation) and SBFD-aware terminals (or assigned to a slot / symbol area set / determined to UL / flexible by upper layer signaling), among ROs corresponding to RCI #B (or ROs to which time / frequency parameters and / or muting patterns / omission patterns in the above Cat 2 RO description have been applied to ROs corresponding to RCI #B values).

[0378] - Type 4 RO Determination Method

[0379] Type 4 RO may be determined as an RO that can only be used by SBFD-aware terminals (or an RO assigned to a slot / symbol area set / determined to UL / flexible by upper layer signaling), among the ROs corresponding to RCI #B (or additionally ROs to which the time / frequency parameters and / or muting / omission patterns in the Cat 2 RO description above have been applied to the ROs corresponding to RCI #B values).

[0380]

[0381] [Method #3] Method for configuring RO and determining RO type using the NES alt-1 + SBFD opt-2 combination:

[0382] The terminal can receive two RCI #A and RCI #B configurations from the base station. Through RCI #A, the terminal can configure Cat 1 RO and Cat 2 RO (for NES purposes) and Cat A RO (for SBFD purposes). Additionally, the terminal can configure Cat B RO (for SBFD purposes) through RCI #B. Based on this, the specific method for determining the RO for each type is as follows.

[0383] - Type 1 RO Determination Method

[0384] The Type 1 RO determination method may be similar to the Cat A RO determination method. That is, among the ROs corresponding to the configured RCI #A, it may be determined as an RO that can be used by both legacy terminals (from the perspective of SBFD operation) and SBFD-aware terminals (or an RO assigned to a slot / symbol area configured / determined as UL / flexible by upper layer signaling).

[0385] - Type 2 RO Determination Method

[0386] The Type 2 RO determination method may be similar to the Cat B RO determination method. That is, among the ROs corresponding to the configured RCI #B, it may be determined as an RO that can only be used by the SBFD-aware terminal (or an RO assigned to a slot / symbol area configured / determined as UL / flexible by upper layer signaling). Or it may refer to all ROs corresponding to RCI #B.

[0387] - Type 3 RO determinations can be classified into Alt-1 and Alt-2.

[0388] i) Determination of Type 3 RO Alt-1: The terminal may apply time / frequency-related parameters (applied to Cat 2 ROs relative to Cat 1 ROs) and / or (time axis) muting patterns / masking patterns to ROs belonging to Type 1 ROs, and determine the ROs to which the parameters / patterns are applied as Type 3 ROs. Additionally, if the ROs to which the parameters / patterns are applied are ROs that can only be used by SBFD-aware terminals (or ROs that cannot be used by legacy terminals (from an SBFD perspective)), the terminal may determine (or consider) that RO is invalid and determine the remaining RO(s) as Type 3 ROs.

[0389] ii) Determination of Type 3 RO Alt-2: The terminal may apply time / frequency-related parameters and / or (time axis) muting patterns / masking patterns to both Type 1 RO and Type 2 RO, and determine the RO to which such parameters / patterns are applied as Type 3 RO. Additionally, if the RO to which such parameters / patterns are applied is an RO that can only be used by SBFD-aware terminals (or an RO that cannot be used by legacy terminals (from an SBFD perspective)), the RO may be determined (or considered) invalid, and the remaining RO(s) may be determined as Type 3 ROs. In this case, the values ​​for such parameters / patterns may be reused from the values ​​set with RCI #A, or may be set / applied separately (i.e., applying the values ​​set with RCI #A to Type 1 RO and the values ​​set with RCI #B to Type 2 RO).

[0390] - Type 4 RO determinations can be classified into Alt-1 and Alt-2.

[0391] i) Determination of Type 4 RO Alt-1: For ROs belonging to Type 2 RO, time / frequency-related parameters and / or (time axis) muting patterns / masking patterns may be applied, and the RO to which such parameters / patterns are applied may be determined as a Type 4 RO. Additionally, if the RO to which such parameters / patterns are applied is an RO that can be used by both legacy terminals (from the perspective of SBFD operation) and SBFD-aware terminals (or an RO assigned to a slot / symbol area set / determined as UL / flexible by upper layer signaling), then that RO may be determined (or considered) invalid, and the remaining RO(s) may be determined as Type 4 ROs. In this case, the values ​​for such parameters / patterns may be values ​​reused from those set with RCI #A or values ​​separately set with RCI #B.

[0392] ii) Determination of Type 4 RO Alt-2: For both Type 1 RO and Type 2 RO, time / frequency related parameters and / or (time axis) muting patterns / masking patterns may be applied, and the RO to which such parameters / patterns are applied may be determined as Type 4 RO. Additionally, if the RO to which such parameters / patterns are applied is an RO that can be used by both legacy terminals (from the perspective of SBFD operation) and SBFD-aware terminals (or an RO assigned to a slot / symbol area set / determined as UL / flexible by upper layer signaling), then that RO may be determined (or considered) invalid, and the remaining RO(s) may be determined as Type 4 RO. In this case, the values ​​for such parameters / patterns may be reused from the values ​​set with RCI #A, or may be set / applied separately (i.e., applying the values ​​set with RCI #A to Type 1 RO and the values ​​set with RCI #B to Type 2 RO).

[0393]

[0394] [Method #4] Method for configuring RO and determining RO type using the NES alt-2 + SBFD opt-2 combination:

[0395] According to Method #4, the terminal can receive three RCIs—RCI #A, RCI #B, and RCI #C—from the base station. Through RCI #A, the terminal can receive Cat 1 RO (for NES purposes) and Cat A RO (for SBFD purposes). Additionally, the terminal can receive Cat B RO (for SBFD purposes) through RCI #B. Furthermore, the terminal can receive Cat 2 RO (for NES purposes) through RCI #C. Depending on the base station configuration (or a predefined rule), RCI #B and RCI #C may be identical. Based on this, the specific method for determining the RO for each type is as follows.

[0396] - Type 1 RO Determination Method

[0397] The Type 1 RO determination method may be basically similar to the Cat A RO determination method. That is, among the ROs corresponding to the configured RCI #A, the Type 1 RO may be determined as an RO that can be used by both legacy terminals (from the perspective of SBFD operation) and SBFD-aware terminals (or an RO assigned to a slot / symbol area configured / determined as UL / flexible by upper layer signaling).

[0398] - Type 2 RO Determination Method

[0399] The method for determining a Type 2 RO can be basically similar to the method for determining a Cat B RO. That is, among the ROs corresponding to the configured RCI #B, the Type 2 RO can be determined as the RO that can only be used by the SBFD-aware terminal (or the RO assigned to the slot / symbol area configured / determined as UL / flexible by upper layer signaling). Alternatively, all ROs corresponding to RCI #B can be determined as the Type 2 RO.

[0400] - Type 3 RO Determination Method

[0401] Type 3 RO can be determined as an RO that can be used by both legacy terminals and SBFD-aware terminals (from the perspective of SBFD operation) among the ROs corresponding to RCI #C (or an RO assigned to a slot / symbol area set / determined as UL / flexible by upper layer signaling).

[0402] - Type 4 RO Determination Method

[0403] Type 4 RO may be determined as an RO that can only be used by SBFD-aware terminals among the ROs corresponding to RCI #C (or an RO assigned to a slot / symbol area set / determined as UL / flexible by upper layer signaling).

[0404]

[0405] Since allowing all four combinations proposed by the above methods may not be desirable considering signaling complexity and terminal implementation complexity, only specific combinations of methods may be allowed. For example, only configurations by combinations corresponding to [Method #1], [Method #2], and [Method #3] may be allowed, and configurations by combinations corresponding to [Method #4] may not be allowed. Alternatively, only configurations by combinations corresponding to [Method #2] and [Method #3] may be allowed, and configurations by combinations corresponding to [Method #1] and [Method #4] may not be allowed.

[0406]

[0407] FIG. 22 is a diagram illustrating the operation of UE and BS for setting ROs by type and determining validity according to the present disclosure.

[0408] Referring to Fig. 22, in S2205, the UE can report NES and SBFD-related UE capabilities to BS.

[0409] Subsequently, in S2210, BS transmits common or individual RCI(s) to UE, and through the methods corresponding to [Method #1] to [Method #4] described above, ROs for NES and SBFD purposes can be established.

[0410] Subsequently, in S2215, the UE determines an RO for each type based on its capability as described in [Method #1] through [Method #4], and in S2220, the UE can perform a PRACH transmission by utilizing available PRACH resources within the ROs for each type.

[0411] FIG. 23 illustrates the flow of a method performed by a UE to set ROs by type and determine validity according to one embodiment.

[0412] Referring to Fig. 23, in S2305, the UE can report NES and SBFD-related UE capabilities.

[0413] Afterward, common or individual RCI(s) are received from the UE in S2310, and ROs for NES and SBFD purposes can be set through the methods corresponding to [Method #1] to [Method #4] described above.

[0414] Subsequently, in S2315, the UE determines an RO for each type based on its capability as described in [Method #1] through [Method #4], and in S2320, the UE can perform a PRACH transmission by utilizing available PRACH resources within the ROs for each type.

[0415] FIG. 24 illustrates the flow of a method performed by BS for setting ROs by type and determining validity according to one embodiment.

[0416] Referring to FIG. 24, at S2405, BS receives NES and SBFD related UE capabilities, and at S2410, BS transmits common or individual RCI(s) for the UE, thereby enabling the establishment of ROs for NES and SBFD purposes through methods corresponding to [Method #1] to [Method #4] described above.

[0417] Afterwards, BS can receive the transmitted PRACH by utilizing available PRACH resources within the ROs among the ROs of each type determined in [Method #1] to [Method #4] based on the UE's capability in S2415.

[0418]

[0419] (2) SSB mapping by RO type

[0420] The terminal may report capability signaling related to NES and SBFD to the base station. The base station may provide RACH configuration(s) for NES and SBFD (of the terminal / base station) through the above-described [Method #1] to [Method #4] by setting common or individual RCI(s). Accordingly, the terminal may determine ROs for each type by applying the above-described [Method #1] to [Method #4] based on its capability, and may perform PRACH transmission by utilizing PRACH resources within available ROs among the determined ROs for each type.

[0421] In performing SSB to RO mapping, the terminal can perform SSB to RO mapping for each type of RO. That is, depending on the capability of each terminal, the following SSB to RO mapping can be performed.

[0422]

[0423] - For terminals that do not have the capability for RACH adaptation support (for NES) and do not have the capability for SBFD support, SSB to RO mapping is performed only for Type 1 RO. Then, the terminal performs the RA procedure using Type 1 RO (regardless of whether Cat 2 RO is enabled or disabled).

[0424] - For SBFD-aware terminals that lack capability for RACH adaptation support (for NES use), SSB to RO mapping is performed for Type 1 RO, and separately, SSB to RO mapping is performed for Type 2 RO. Then, RA procedures are performed using Type 1 RO and / or Type 2 RO (regardless of whether Cat 2 RO is enabled or disabled).

[0425] - For a terminal that has capability for RACH adaptation support (for NES) and lacks capability for SBFD support of the base station / terminal, SSB to RO mapping is performed for the Type 1 RO, and separately, SSB to RO mapping is performed for the Type 3 RO. Then, if the Cat 2 RO is not enabled, the RA procedure is performed using the Type 1 RO, and if the Cat 2 RO is enabled, the RA procedure is performed using the Type 1 RO and / or the Type 3 RO.

[0426] - For a terminal that has capability for RACH adaptation support (for NES purposes) and capability related to SBFD support of the base station / terminal, SSB to RO mapping is performed separately for each type of RO. That is, the terminal performs SSB to RO mapping for Type 1 RO, separately performs SSB to RO mapping for Type 2 RO, separately performs SSB to RO mapping for Type 3 RO, and separately performs SSB to RO mapping for Type 4 RO. Then, if Cat 2 RO is not activated, the RA procedure is performed using Type 1 RO and / or Type 2 RO, and if Cat 2 RO is activated, the RA procedure is performed using Type 1 RO and / or Type 2 RO and / or Type 3 RO and / or Type 4 RO.

[0427]

[0428] If a specific type of RO does not exist due to base station configuration or predefined rules, SSB to RO mapping for that type may not be performed.

[0429] In addition, a common SSB to RO mapping may be applied to some (or all) of the RO types by base station settings or predefined rules. For example, if there is no distinction between Type 3 RO and Type 4 RO by base station settings, or if the terminal recognizes them as common Type RO, SSB to RO mapping may be performed for all ROs belonging to Type 3 RO and Type 4 RO (without distinguishing RO types).

[0430]

[0431] (3) Method for indicating a specific type of RO in CFRA

[0432] An RA procedure can be triggered through a specific DCI. For example, if the DCI format #1_0 of an NR system is scrambled by C-RNTI and the FDRA (frequency domain resource allocation) field is set to all zeros, it means that an RA procedure is triggered by a PDCCH command (order). Upon receiving the corresponding DCI, the terminal may attempt to transmit a PRACH using a specific PRACH preamble index from the designated RO. This process is called CFRA (particularly when the indicated PRACH preamble index is not all set to zeros, i.e., when the base station has designated a specific PRACH preamble to the terminal).

[0433] One of the methods for specifying a particular RO in an NR system is to specify a PRACH mask index. Specifically, one of the 16 PRACH mask indices can be specified in the corresponding DCI, as shown in Table 2 below, which is extracted from Section 7.4 of the NR standard TS 38.321. For example, if there are consecutive (up to 8) ROs corresponding to a single SSB index depending on the base station configuration, a specific RO can be assigned to the terminal by specifying a particular PRACH mask index as shown in Table 2 below. The terminal can receive the corresponding DCI and perform a CFRA operation using the specified RO within the first available mapping cycle.

[0434]

[0435] In this case, a specific field within the DCI that triggers the RA procedure can be utilized to indicate which type of RO to perform CFRA based on. The terminal can select an RO specified in the DCI from among the indicated types of ROs and perform a CFRA operation using the indicated PRACH preamble index within the RO.

[0436] The following are examples regarding specific fields within the DCI that trigger the RA procedure.

[0437]

[0438] Example 1) Indicating a specific type of RO through a 2-bit field:

[0439] A specific code point represented by the corresponding 2 bits (e.g., '00') may indicate a type 1 RO, another specific code point (e.g., '01') may indicate a type 2 RO, yet another specific code point (e.g., '10') may indicate a type 3 RO, and the remaining code point (e.g., '11') may indicate a type 4 RO.

[0440] In the base station settings, certain bits may be considered reserved, and the remaining bits may be used to indicate an RO belonging to a specific Cat. For example, if the base station / terminal SBFD related settings are configured and NES RACH adaptation is not configured, the first bit of the two bits (e.g., the first bit) may be considered reserved, and the second bit of the two bits that is not reserved (e.g., the second bit) may be used to indicate a Cat A RO or a Cat B RO. As another example, if the base station / terminal SBFD related settings are not configured and NES RACH adaptation is configured, the second bit (e.g., the second bit) may be considered reserved, and the first bit (e.g., the first bit) may be used to indicate a Cat 1 RO or a Cat 2 RO.

[0441] Alternatively, depending on the terminal's capability, a 2-bit field can be interpreted as follows.

[0442] - In the case of a terminal that has no capability for RACH adaptation support (for NES) and no capability for SBFD support of the base station / terminal, the 2 bits are reserved, that is, the terminal performs the RA procedure using Type 1 RO (regardless of whether Cat 2 RO is enabled or disabled).

[0443] - For an SBFD-aware terminal that lacks the capability for RACH adaptation support (for NES), one of the two bits is reserved, and for the remaining bit, if it is '0' (or '1'), a Type 1 RO is indicated, and if it is '1' (or '0'), a Type 2 RO is indicated. That is, if the remaining bit (not reserved) is indicated as '0' (or '1'), the RA procedure is performed using the Type 1 RO, and if the bit is indicated as '1' (or '0'), the RA procedure is performed using the Type 2 RO.

[0444] - In the case of a terminal that has capability for RACH adaptation support (for NES) but lacks capability for SBFD support of the base station / terminal, one of the two bits is reserved and the remaining bit can be instructed as a Type 1 RO if it is '0' (or '1') and a Type 3 RO if it is '1' (or '0'). That is, if the remaining bit (not reserved) is instructed as '0' (or '1'), the RA procedure is performed using a Type 1 RO, and if the remaining bit is instructed as '1' (or '0'), the RA procedure is performed using a Type 3 RO.

[0445] - For a terminal that has capability for RACH adaptation support (for NES) and capability related to SBFD support of the base station / terminal, for the corresponding 2 bits, a specific code point (e.g., '00') may indicate Type 1 RO, another code point (e.g., '01') may indicate Type 2 RO, yet another code point (e.g., '10') may indicate Type 3 RO, and the remaining code point (e.g., '11') may indicate Type 4 RO. The terminal performs the RA procedure using the RO of the indicated Type. Meanwhile, the last code point (e.g., '11') may be left in a reserved state, and the RO type may be indicated using only the other three code points.

[0446]

[0447] Example 2) Indicating a specific type of RO through a 1-bit field:

[0448] For the corresponding 1 bit, a specific code point (e.g., '0') may indicate a Type 1 RO, and another specific code point (e.g., '1') may indicate a Type 2 / 3 / 4 RO. That is, if the corresponding 1 bit is indicated as '0', the RA procedure is performed using a Type 1 RO, and if the corresponding 1 bit is indicated as '1', the RA procedure is performed using the leading RO among the Type 2 / 3 / 4 ROs (while satisfying the RO condition indicated by the corresponding DCI).

[0449] Depending on the base station settings, the Cat / type of the RO corresponding to each bit may differ. For example, if the base station / terminal SBFD related settings are configured and NES RACH adaptation is not configured, the bit may indicate a Cat A RO or a Cat B RO. As another example, if the base station / terminal SBFD related settings are not configured and NES RACH adaptation is configured, the bit may indicate a Cat 1 RO or a Cat 2 RO.

[0450] Alternatively, depending on the terminal's capability, it can be interpreted as follows.

[0451] - For a terminal that has no capability for RACH adaptation support (for NES) and no capability for SBFD support of the base station / terminal, the corresponding 1 bit is determined to be reserved. That is, the terminal performs the RA procedure using the Type 1 RO (regardless of whether the Cat 2 RO is enabled or disabled).

[0452] - For an SBFD-aware terminal that does not have the capability for RACH adaptation support (for NES), the corresponding 1 bit may be indicated as a Type 1 RO if it is '0' (or '1') and a Type 2 RO if it is '1' (or '0'). That is, the terminal performs the RA procedure using the Type 1 RO when the corresponding 1 bit is indicated as '0' (or '1'), and performs the RA procedure using the Type 2 RO when the corresponding 1 bit is indicated as '1' (or '0').

[0453] - For a terminal that has capability for RACH adaptation support (for NES) but lacks capability for SBFD support of the base station / terminal, if the corresponding 1 bit is '0' (or '1'), it may be indicated as a Type 1 RO, and if it is '1' (or '0'), it may be indicated as a Type 3 RO. That is, the terminal performs the RA procedure using the Type 1 RO when the corresponding 1 bit is indicated as '0' (or '1'), and performs the RA procedure using the Type 3 RO when the corresponding 1 bit is indicated as '1' (or '0').

[0454] - For a terminal that has capability for RACH adaptation support (for NES) and capability related to SBFD support of the base station / terminal, for the corresponding 1 bit, a specific code point (e.g., '0') may indicate a Type 1 RO, and the remaining code points (e.g., '1') may indicate a Type 2 / 3 / 4 RO. That is, if the corresponding 1 bit is indicated as '0' (or '1'), the terminal performs the RA procedure using the Type 1 RO, and if the corresponding 1 bit is indicated as '1' (or '0'), it performs the RA procedure using the leading RO among the Type 2 / 3 / 4 ROs (while satisfying the RO conditions indicated by the corresponding DCI).

[0455] The signaling method described in Examples 1 and 2 above can be extended to MAC-CE or RRC signaling that instructs RACH transmission. For example, when CFRA-related parameters are transmitted via a handover command, the handover command may be transmitted from the base station to the terminal via MAC-CE or RRC signaling, and a specific type of RO may be indicated / set using 1 bit or 2 bits. At this time, when the terminal performs the RA procedure for handover, the indicated type of RO may be utilized.

[0456]

[0457] FIG. 25 is a diagram illustrating the operation of a UE and a BS for SSB to RO mapping and DCI-based RA procedure execution according to the present disclosure.

[0458] Referring to Fig. 25, in S2505, the UE can report NES and SBFD-related UE capabilities to BS.

[0459] Subsequently, in S2510, BS transmits common or individual RCI(s) to UE, and through the methods corresponding to [Method #1] to [Method #4] described above, ROs for NES and SBFD purposes can be established.

[0460] Subsequently, in S2515, the UE performs individual SSB to RO mapping for each type of RO as described above.

[0461] In S2520, BS triggers the RA procedure (specifically, the CFRA procedure) to the UE via the DCI, and in S2525, the UE determines the RO using the 2-bit or 1-bit information contained in the DCI. Finally, in S2530, the UE can perform a PRACH transmission using the PRACH resources within the RO determined based on the DCI.

[0462] FIG. 26 illustrates the flow of a method performed by a UE for SSB to RO mapping and DCI-based RA procedure execution according to one embodiment.

[0463] Referring to Fig. 26, in S2605, the UE can report NES and SBFD-related UE capabilities.

[0464] Subsequently, in S2610, the UE receives common or individual RCI(s) and can set up ROs for NES and SBFD purposes through the methods corresponding to [Method #1] to [Method #4] described above. Subsequently, in S2615, the UE performs individual SSB to RO mapping for each type of RO as described above.

[0465] In S2620, the UE receives the DCI and triggers the RA procedure (specifically, the CFRA procedure). Subsequently, in S2625, the UE determines the RO using the 2-bit or 1-bit information contained in the DCI. Finally, in S2630, the UE can perform a PRACH transmission using the PRACH resources within the RO determined based on the DCI.

[0466] FIG. 27 illustrates the flow of a method performed by BS for SSB to RO mapping and DCI-based RA procedure execution according to one embodiment.

[0467] Referring to FIG. 27, in S2705, BS can receive NES and SBFD related UE capabilities.

[0468] Subsequently, in S2710, BS transmits common or individual RCI(s) to the UE, and through the methods corresponding to [Method #1] to [Method #4] described above, ROs for NES and SBFD purposes can be configured. The UE can perform individual SSB to RO mapping for each type of RO according to the common or individual RCI(s).

[0469] In S2715, BS transmits a DCI to trigger an RA procedure (specifically, a CFRA procedure). Subsequently, in S2720, BS can receive a PRACH on a PRACH resource within an RO determined based on the DCI. Preferably, the RO can be determined based on 2-bit information or 1-bit information included in the DCI.

[0470]

[0471] The embodiments described above are combinations of the components and features of the present disclosure in a specific form. Each component or feature should be considered optional unless otherwise explicitly stated. Each component or feature may be implemented in a form not combined with other components or features. Additionally, it is possible to construct embodiments of the present disclosure by combining some components and / or features. The order of operations described in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be changed. Some components or features of one embodiment may be included in another embodiment, or may be replaced with corresponding components or features of another embodiment. It is obvious that embodiments may be constructed by combining claims that are not explicitly related in the claims, or that they may be included as new claims by amendment after filing.

[0472] It is obvious to those skilled in the art that the present disclosure may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the features of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the foregoing detailed description should not be interpreted restrictively in all respects and should be considered illustrative. The scope of the present disclosure shall be determined by a reasonable interpretation of the appended claims, and all modifications within the equivalent scope of the present disclosure are included within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0473] The present disclosure may be used in a terminal, base station, or other equipment of a wireless mobile communication system.

Claims

1. In a method performed by UE (User Equipment), A step of receiving configuration information from a BS (Base Station) including information related to at least one first RO (Random access channel Occasion) and information related to at least one second RO; A step of determining at least one available RO among the at least one first RO and the at least one second RO based on UE capability; and Based on the above at least one available RO, the method comprises the step of transmitting a PRACH (Physical Random Access Channel) to the BS. method.

2. In Paragraph 1, The above at least one second RO is, Based on information related to the above at least one second RO, set from the above at least one first RO, method.

3. In Paragraph 2, The above at least one second RO is, Based on the above UE performance being related to SBFD (Sub-Band Full Duplex) non-support, the at least one second RO is configured by applying information related to the at least one first RO configured in the downlink time domain, method.

4. In Paragraph 1, The step of determining at least one available RO is, Based on the fact that the above UE performance is related to SBFD (Sub-Band Full Duplex) support, the step of determining at least one RO among the at least one first RO and the at least one second RO that is set in the SBFD support time region as an available RO, method.

5. In Paragraph 1, The step of determining at least one available RO is, A step comprising determining that at least one RO among the at least one first RO and the at least one second RO, which is set in the downlink time region, is an unavailable RO. method.

6. In Paragraph 1, The above at least one second RO includes at least one RO for NES (Network Energy Saving) support, method.

7. In Paragraph 1, The information related to at least one second RO mentioned above is, A comprising at least one of a muting pattern, a masking pattern, a time offset, or a frequency offset applied to at least one first RO. method.

8. In Paragraph 1, The above at least one first RO includes an RO that does not support both NES (Network Energy Saving) and SBFD (Sub-Band Full Duplex), and The above at least one second RO comprises an RO that supports at least one of the NES or the SBFD, method.

9. In Paragraph 1, The method further includes the step of receiving DCI (Downlink control information) that triggers an RA (Random Access) procedure from the above BS, and The above DCI is, Information including at least one RO based on UE performance among the at least one first RO and the at least one second RO, method.

10. In Paragraph 7, The step of transmitting the above PRACH is, A method comprising the step of transmitting the PRACH to the BS based on at least one RO indicated in the DCI among the at least one available RO. method.

11. In Paragraph 1, It further includes the step of reporting information related to the UE performance to the above BS, and The information regarding the above UE performance is, at least one of information regarding whether the above UE supports NES (Network Energy Saving) or information regarding whether the above UE supports SBFD (Sub-Band Full Duplex), method.

12. A computer-readable non-transitory recording medium storing a program for performing the method described in claim 1.

13. Regarding the device, At least one processor; and It includes at least one memory configured to store instructions that perform operations by being executed by the above-mentioned at least one processor, and The above operations are, A step of receiving configuration information from a BS (Base Station) including information related to at least one first RO (Random access channel Occasion) and information related to at least one second RO; A step of determining at least one available RO among the at least one first RO and the at least one second RO based on UE capability; and Based on the above at least one available RO, the method comprises the step of transmitting a PRACH (Physical Random Access Channel) to the BS. machinery and tools.

14. In Paragraph 13, The above device further includes a transmitter and receiver, and The above device is a UE (User Equipment), machinery and tools.

15. In Paragraph 13, The above device is a processing device configured to control UE (User Equipment), machinery and tools.

16. In a method performed by the BS (Base Station), A step of transmitting configuration information to a UE (User Equipment) including information related to at least one first RO (Random access channel Occasion) and information related to at least one second RO; and The method includes the step of receiving a PRACH (Physical Random Access Channel) from the above UE based on at least one available RO, and The above at least one available RO is determined based on UE performance (Capability) among the above at least one first RO and the above at least one second RO, method.

17. At the BS (Base Station), At least one processor; and It includes at least one memory configured to store instructions that perform operations by being executed by the above-mentioned at least one processor, and The above operations are, A step of transmitting configuration information to a UE (User Equipment) including information related to at least one first RO (Random access channel Occasion) and information related to at least one second RO; and The method includes the step of receiving a PRACH (Physical Random Access Channel) from the above UE based on at least one available RO, and The above at least one available RO is determined based on UE performance (Capability) among the above at least one first RO and the above at least one second RO, BS.

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