Method and apparatus of transmitting and receiving messages by a-IOT device in wireless communication system

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a method of performing operations for an ambient internet of things (A-IOT) device in a wireless communication system. In particular, the method includes steps of receiving an A-IOT paging message including information related to a plurality of access occasions associated with the A-IOT paging message; selecting one of the plurality of access occasions associated with the A-IOT paging message; based on a reception of an access trigger message related to the selected access occasion, transmitting an access random ID message including a random ID field; and based on a random ID response message being received until a reception of at least one subsequent access trigger message and based on a value of a random ID field included in the random ID response message being identical with a value of the random ID field included in the access random ID message, considering a contention resolution completed successfully and transmitting a D2R message.

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS OF TRANSMITTING AND RECEIVING MESSAGES BY A-IOT DEVICE IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a wireless communication system, and more particularly, to a method of transmitting and receiving messages by an Ambient Internet of Things (A-IOT) device in a wireless communication system and an apparatus therefor.

[0002] Introduction of new radio communication technologies has led to increases in the number of user equipments (UEs) to which a base station (BS) provides services in a prescribed resource region, and has also led to increases in the amount of data and control information that the BS transmits to the UEs. Due to typically limited resources available to the BS for communication with the UE(s), new techniques are needed by which the BS utilizes the limited radio resources to efficiently receive / transmit uplink / downlink data and / or uplink / downlink control information. In particular, overcoming delay or latency has become an important challenge in applications whose performance critically depends on delay / latency.

[0003] Accordingly, an object of the present disclosure is to provide a method of transmitting and receiving messages by an Ambient Internet of Things (A-IOT) device in a wireless communication system and an apparatus therefor.

[0004] The object of the present disclosure can be achieved by the method for performing operations of an ambient internet of things (A-IOT) device in a wireless communication system, comprising the steps of receiving an A-IOT paging message including information related to a plurality of access occasions associated with the A-IOT paging message; selecting one of the plurality of access occasions associated with the A-IOT paging message; based on a reception of an access trigger message related to the selected access occasion, transmitting an access random ID message including a random ID field; and based on a random ID response message being received until a reception of at least one subsequent access trigger message and based on a value of a random ID field included in the random ID response message being identical with a value of the random ID field included in the access random ID message, considering a contention resolution completed successfully and transmitting a D2R message.

[0005] Further, it is suggested an ambient internet of things (A-IOT) device in a wireless communication system comprising at least one processor; and at least one computer memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the UE reader to perform operations comprising: receiving an A-IOT paging message including information related to a plurality of access occasions associated with the A-IOT paging message; selecting one of the plurality of access occasions associated with the A-IOT paging message; based on a reception of an access trigger message related to the selected access occasion, transmitting an access random ID message including a random ID field; and based on a random ID response message being received until a reception of at least one subsequent access trigger message and based on a value of a random ID field included in the random ID response message being identical with a value of the random ID field included in the access random ID message, considering a contention resolution completed successfully and transmitting a D2R message.

[0006] Preferably, based on the reception of the at least one subsequent access trigger message, the contention resolution is considered to be completed unsuccessfully.

[0007] Preferably, based on considering the contention resolution completed unsuccessfully, the A-IOT device monitors a subsequent A-IOT paging message.

[0008] Preferably, based on the random ID response message being received before the reception of at least one subsequent access occasion trigger message, the A-IOT device sets an Access Stratum layer identifier (AS ID) based on the Msg2.

[0009] Preferably, based on the random ID response message being received after the reception of the subsequent access occasion trigger message, the AS ID is maintained.

[0010] Preferably, the A-IOT paging message including information related to a number of the at least one subsequent access trigger message.

[0011] It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the effects that can be achieved through the present disclosure are not limited to what has been particularly described hereinabove and other advantages of the present disclosure will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description.

[0012] According to the present disclosure, the A-IOT device can determine the contention resolution failure as early as possible. With this, the power saving gain is achieved. Considering that the A-IOT device has a limited battery capacity, the power saving is an important in A-IOT scenario. Further, the A-IOT device can properly update the AS ID for the scheduling. With the proper update of the AS ID, the A-IOT device can properly transmit the response for the command message without collision.

[0013] Effects obtainable from the present disclosure may be non-limited by the above mentioned effect. And, other unmentioned effects can be clearly understood from the following description by those having ordinary skill in the technical field to which the present disclosure pertains.

[0014] The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the present disclosure, illustrate embodiments of the present disclosure and together with the description serve to explain the principle of the present disclosure:

[0015] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a communication system 1 to which implementations of the present disclosure is applied;

[0016] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating examples of communication devices which can perform a method according to the present disclosure;

[0017] FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a frame structure in a 3GPP based wireless communication system;

[0018] FIG. 4 illustrates an example of protocol stacks in a third generation partnership project (3GPP) based wireless communication system;

[0019] FIG. 5 illustrates a data flow example in the 3GPP new radio (NR) system;

[0020] FIG. 6 illustrates an example of PDSCH time domain resource allocation by PDCCH, and an example of PUSCH time resource allocation by PDCCH;

[0021] FIG. 7 illustrates an example of physical layer processing at a transmitting side;

[0022] FIG. 8 illustrates an example of physical layer processing at a receiving side;

[0023] FIG. 9 shows a general procedure of A-IOT service;

[0024] FIG. 10 shows an example of access procedures of the A-IOT device;

[0025] FIG. 11 shows a format of Access Random ID message;

[0026] FIG. 12 shows a format of Random ID Response message;

[0027] FIG. 13 shows the first problematic case considered in the first embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0028] FIG. 14 shows the second problematic case considered in the first embodiment of the present disclosure

[0029] FIG. 15 shows an example of configuration for the access occasion;

[0030] FIG. 16 ~ FIG. 18 shows examples of operations for the Msg2 Reception Timer (MRT) according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0031] FIG. 19 shows an example of operations according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0032] FIG. 20 shows an example of performing re-access procedure according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0033] FIG. 21 shows an example of performing access procedures according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0034] FIG. 22 shows the problematic case considered in the second embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0035] FIG. 23 shows an example of operations according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure; and

[0036] FIG. 24 shows a flow chart for operations performed by the A-IOT device according to the present disclosure.

[0037] Reference will now be made in detail to the exemplary implementations of the present disclosure, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The detailed description, which will be given below with reference to the accompanying drawings, is intended to explain exemplary implementations of the present disclosure, rather than to show the only implementations that can be implemented according to the disclosure. The following detailed description includes specific details in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present disclosure. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present disclosure may be practiced without such specific details.

[0038] The following techniques, apparatuses, and systems may be applied to a variety of wireless multiple access systems. Examples of the multiple access systems include a code division multiple access (CDMA) system, a frequency division multiple access (FDMA) system, a time division multiple access (TDMA) system, an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) system, a single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) system, and a multicarrier frequency division multiple access (MC-FDMA) system. CDMA may be embodied through radio technology such as universal terrestrial radio access (UTRA) or CDMA2000. TDMA may be embodied through radio technology such as global system for mobile communications (GSM), general packet radio service (GPRS), or enhanced data rates for GSM evolution (EDGE). OFDMA may be embodied through radio technology such as institute of electrical and electronics engineers (IEEE) 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, or evolved UTRA (E-UTRA). UTRA is a part of a universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS). 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) long term evolution (LTE) is a part of evolved UMTS (E-UMTS) using E-UTRA. 3GPP LTE employs OFDMA in DL and SC-FDMA in UL. LTE-advanced (LTE-A) is an evolved version of 3GPP LTE.

[0039] For convenience of description, implementations of the present disclosure are mainly described in regards to a 3GPP based wireless communication system. However, the technical features of the present disclosure are not limited thereto. For example, although the following detailed description is given based on a mobile communication system corresponding to a 3GPP based wireless communication system, aspects of the present disclosure that are not limited to 3GPP based wireless communication system are applicable to other mobile communication systems.For terms and technologies which are not specifically described among the terms of and technologies employed in the present disclosure, the wireless communication standard documents published before the present disclosure may be referenced. For example, the following documents may be referenced.

[0040] 3GPP LTE

[0041] - 3GPP TS 36.211: Physical channels and modulation

[0042] - 3GPP TS 36.212: Multiplexing and channel coding

[0043] - 3GPP TS 36.213: Physical layer procedures

[0044] - 3GPP TS 36.214: Physical layer; Measurements

[0045] - 3GPP TS 36.300: Overall description

[0046] - 3GPP TS 36.304: User Equipment (UE) procedures in idle mode

[0047] - 3GPP TS 36.314: Layer 2 - Measurements

[0048] - 3GPP TS 36.321: Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol

[0049] - 3GPP TS 36.322: Radio Link Control (RLC) protocol

[0050] - 3GPP TS 36.323: Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP)

[0051] - 3GPP TS 36.331: Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol

[0052] 3GPP NR (e.g. 5G)

[0053] - 3GPP TS 38.211: Physical channels and modulation

[0054] - 3GPP TS 38.212: Multiplexing and channel coding

[0055] - 3GPP TS 38.213: Physical layer procedures for control

[0056] - 3GPP TS 38.214: Physical layer procedures for data

[0057] - 3GPP TS 38.215: Physical layer measurements

[0058] - 3GPP TS 38.300: Overall description

[0059] - 3GPP TS 38.304: User Equipment (UE) procedures in idle mode and in RRC inactive state

[0060] - 3GPP TS 38.321: Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol

[0061] - 3GPP TS 38.322: Radio Link Control (RLC) protocol

[0062] - 3GPP TS 38.323: Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP)

[0063] - 3GPP TS 38.331: Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol

[0064] - 3GPP TS 37.324: Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP)

[0065] - 3GPP TS 37.340: Multi-connectivity; Overall description

[0066] In the present disclosure, a user equipment (UE) may be a fixed or mobile device. Examples of the UE include various devices that transmit and receive user data and / or various kinds of control information to and from a base station (BS). In the present disclosure, a BS generally refers to a fixed station that performs communication with a UE and / or another BS, and exchanges various kinds of data and control information with the UE and another BS. The BS may be referred to as an advanced base station (ABS), a node-B (NB), an evolved node-B (eNB), a base transceiver system (BTS), an access point (AP), a processing server (PS), etc. Especially, a BS of the UMTS is referred to as a NB, a BS of the enhanced packet core (EPC) / long term evolution (LTE) system is referred to as an eNB, and a BS of the new radio (NR) system is referred to as a gNB.

[0067] In the present disclosure, a node refers to a point capable of transmitting / receiving a radio signal through communication with a UE. Various types of BSs may be used as nodes irrespective of the terms thereof. For example, a BS, a node B (NB), an e-node B (eNB), a pico-cell eNB (PeNB), a home eNB (HeNB), a relay, a repeater, etc. may be a node. In addition, the node may not be a BS. For example, the node may be a radio remote head (RRH) or a radio remote unit (RRU). The RRH or RRU generally has a lower power level than a power level of a BS. Since the RRH or RRU (hereinafter, RRH / RRU) is generally connected to the BS through a dedicated line such as an optical cable, cooperative communication between RRH / RRU and the BS can be smoothly performed in comparison with cooperative communication between BSs connected by a radio line. At least one antenna is installed per node. The antenna may include a physical antenna or an antenna port or a virtual antenna.

[0068] In the present disclosure, the term “cell” may refer to a geographic area to which one or more nodes provide a communication system, or refer to radio resources. A "cell" of a geographic area may be understood as coverage within which a node can provide service using a carrier and a "cell" as radio resources (e.g. time-frequency resources) is associated with bandwidth (BW) which is a frequency range configured by the carrier. The "cell" associated with the radio resources is defined by a combination of downlink resources and uplink resources, for example, a combination of a downlink (DL) component carrier (CC) and an uplink (UL) CC. The cell may be configured by downlink resources only, or may be configured by downlink resources and uplink resources. Since DL coverage, which is a range within which the node is capable of transmitting a valid signal, and UL coverage, which is a range within which the node is capable of receiving the valid signal from the UE, depends upon a carrier carrying the signal, the coverage of the node may be associated with coverage of the "cell" of radio resources used by the node. Accordingly, the term "cell" may be used to represent service coverage of the node sometimes, radio resources at other times, or a range that signals using the radio resources can reach with valid strength at other times.

[0069] In the present disclosure, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), and a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) refer to a set of time-frequency resources or resource elements (REs) carrying downlink control information (DCI), and a set of time-frequency resources or REs carrying downlink data, respectively. In addition, a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) and a physical random access channel (PRACH) refer to a set of time-frequency resources or REs carrying uplink control information (UCI), a set of time-frequency resources or REs carrying uplink data and a set of time-frequency resources or REs carrying random access signals, respectively.

[0070] In carrier aggregation (CA), two or more CCs are aggregated. A UE may simultaneously receive or transmit on one or multiple CCs depending on its capabilities. CA is supported for both contiguous and non-contiguous CCs. When CA is configured the UE only has one radio resource control (RRC) connection with the network. At RRC connection establishment / re-establishment / handover, one serving cell provides the non-access stratum (NAS) mobility information, and at RRC connection re-establishment / handover, one serving cell provides the security input. This cell is referred to as the Primary Cell (PCell). The PCell is a cell, operating on the primary frequency, in which the UE either performs the initial connection establishment procedure or initiates the connection re-establishment procedure. Depending on UE capabilities, Secondary Cells (SCells) can be configured to form together with the PCell a set of serving cells. An SCell is a cell providing additional radio resources on top of Special Cell. The configured set of serving cells for a UE therefore always consists of one PCell and one or more SCells. In the present disclosure, for dual connectivity (DC) operation, the term “special Cell” refers to the PCell of the master cell group (MCG) or the PSCell of the secondary cell group (SCG), and otherwise the term Special Cell refers to the PCell. An SpCell supports physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmission and contention-based random access, and is always activated. The MCG is a group of serving cells associated with a master node, comprising of the SpCell (PCell) and optionally one or more SCells. The SCG is the subset of serving cells associated with a secondary node, comprising of the PSCell and zero or more SCells, for a UE configured with DC. For a UE in RRC_CONNECTED not configured with CA / DC there is only one serving cell comprising of the PCell. For a UE in RRC_CONNECTED configured with CA / DC the term “serving cells” is used to denote the set of cells comprising of the SpCell(s) and all SCells.

[0071] The MCG is a group of serving cells associated with a master BS which terminates at least S1-MME, and the SCG is a group of serving cells associated with a secondary BS that is providing additional radio resources for the UE but is not the master BS. The SCG includes a primary SCell (PSCell) and optionally one or more SCells. In DC, two MAC entities are configured in the UE: one for the MCG and one for the SCG. Each MAC entity is configured by RRC with a serving cell supporting PUCCH transmission and contention based Random Access. In the present disclosure, the term SpCell refers to such cell, whereas the term SCell refers to other serving cells. The term SpCell either refers to the PCell of the MCG or the PSCell of the SCG depending on if the MAC entity is associated to the MCG or the SCG, respectively.

[0072] In the present disclosure, monitoring a channel refers to attempting to decode the channel. For example, monitoring a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) refers to attempting to decode PDCCH(s) (or PDCCH candidates).

[0073] In the present disclosure, “C-RNTI” refers to a cell RNTI, “SI-RNTI” refers to a system information RNTI, “P-RNTI” refers to a paging RNTI, “RA-RNTI” refers to a random access RNTI, “SC-RNTI” refers to a single cell RNTI”, “SL-RNTI” refers to a sidelink RNTI, “SPS C-RNTI” refers to a semi-persistent scheduling C-RNTI, and “CS-RNTI” refers to a configured scheduling RNTI.

[0074] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a communication system 1 to which implementations of the present disclosure is applied.

[0075] Three main requirement categories for 5G include (1) a category of enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), (2) a category of massive machine type communication (mMTC), and (3) a category of ultra-reliable and low latency communications (URLLC).

[0076] Partial use cases may require a plurality of categories for optimization and other use cases may focus only upon one key performance indicator (KPI). 5G supports such various use cases using a flexible and reliable method.

[0077] eMBB far surpasses basic mobile Internet access and covers abundant bidirectional work and media and entertainment applications in cloud and augmented reality. Data is one of 5G core motive forces and, in a 5G era, a dedicated voice service may not be provided for the first time. In 5G, it is expected that voice will be simply processed as an application program using data connection provided by a communication system. Main causes for increased traffic volume are due to an increase in the size of content and an increase in the number of applications requiring high data transmission rate. A streaming service (of audio and video), conversational video, and mobile Internet access will be more widely used as more devices are connected to the Internet. These many application programs require connectivity of an always turned-on state in order to push real-time information and alarm for users. Cloud storage and applications are rapidly increasing in a mobile communication platform and may be applied to both work and entertainment. The cloud storage is a special use case which accelerates growth of uplink data transmission rate. 5G is also used for remote work of cloud. When a tactile interface is used, 5G demands much lower end-to-end latency to maintain user good experience. Entertainment, for example, cloud gaming and video streaming, is another core element which increases demand for mobile broadband capability. Entertainment is essential for a smartphone and a tablet in any place including high mobility environments such as a train, a vehicle, and an airplane. Other use cases are augmented reality for entertainment and information search. In this case, the augmented reality requires very low latency and instantaneous data volume.

[0078] In addition, one of the most expected 5G use cases relates a function capable of smoothly connecting embedded sensors in all fields, i.e., mMTC. It is expected that the number of potential IoT devices will reach 204 hundred million up to the year of 2020. An industrial IoT is one of categories of performing a main role enabling a smart city, asset tracking, smart utility, agriculture, and security infrastructure through 5G.

[0079] URLLC includes a new service that will change industry through remote control of main infrastructure and an ultra-reliable / available low-latency link such as a self-driving vehicle. A level of reliability and latency is essential to control a smart grid, automatize industry, achieve robotics, and control and adjust a drone.

[0080] 5G is a means of providing streaming evaluated as a few hundred megabits per second to gigabits per second and may complement fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) and cable-based broadband (or DOCSIS). Such fast speed is needed to deliver TV in resolution of 4K or more (6K, 8K, and more), as well as virtual reality and augmented reality. Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) applications include almost immersive sports games. A specific application program may require a special network configuration. For example, for VR games, gaming companies need to incorporate a core server into an edge network server of a network operator in order to minimize latency.

[0081] Automotive is expected to be a new important motivated force in 5G together with many use cases for mobile communication for vehicles. For example, entertainment for passengers requires high simultaneous capacity and mobile broadband with high mobility. This is because future users continue to expect connection of high quality regardless of their locations and speeds. Another use case of an automotive field is an AR dashboard. The AR dashboard causes a driver to identify an object in the dark in addition to an object seen from a front window and displays a distance from the object and a movement of the object by overlapping information talking to the driver. In the future, a wireless module enables communication between vehicles, information exchange between a vehicle and supporting infrastructure, and information exchange between a vehicle and other connected devices (e.g., devices accompanied by a pedestrian). A safety system guides alternative courses of a behavior so that a driver may drive more safely drive, thereby lowering the danger of an accident. The next stage will be a remotely controlled or self-driven vehicle. This requires very high reliability and very fast communication between different self-driven vehicles and between a vehicle and infrastructure. In the future, a self-driven vehicle will perform all driving activities and a driver will focus only upon abnormal traffic that the vehicle cannot identify. Technical requirements of a self-driven vehicle demand ultra-low latency and ultra-high reliability so that traffic safety is increased to a level that cannot be achieved by human being.

[0082] A smart city and a smart home / building mentioned as a smart society will be embedded in a high-density wireless sensor network. A distributed network of an intelligent sensor will identify conditions for costs and energy-efficient maintenance of a city or a home. Similar configurations may be performed for respective households. All of temperature sensors, window and heating controllers, burglar alarms, and home appliances are wirelessly connected. Many of these sensors are typically low in data transmission rate, power, and cost. However, real-time HD video may be demanded by a specific type of device to perform monitoring.

[0083] Consumption and distribution of energy including heat or gas is distributed at a higher level so that automated control of the distribution sensor network is demanded. The smart grid collects information and connects the sensors to each other using digital information and communication technology so as to act according to the collected information. Since this information may include behaviors of a supply company and a consumer, the smart grid may improve distribution of fuels such as electricity by a method having efficiency, reliability, economic feasibility, production sustainability, and automation. The smart grid may also be regarded as another sensor network having low latency.

[0084] Mission critical application (e.g. e-health) is one of 5G use scenarios. A health part contains many application programs capable of enjoying benefit of mobile communication. A communication system may support remote treatment that provides clinical treatment in a faraway place. Remote treatment may aid in reducing a barrier against distance and improve access to medical services that cannot be continuously available in a faraway rural area. Remote treatment is also used to perform important treatment and save lives in an emergency situation. The wireless sensor network based on mobile communication may provide remote monitoring and sensors for parameters such as heart rate and blood pressure.

[0085] Wireless and mobile communication gradually becomes important in the field of an industrial application. Wiring is high in installation and maintenance cost. Therefore, a possibility of replacing a cable with reconstructible wireless links is an attractive opportunity in many industrial fields. However, in order to achieve this replacement, it is necessary for wireless connection to be established with latency, reliability, and capacity similar to those of the cable and management of wireless connection needs to be simplified. Low latency and a very low error probability are new requirements when connection to 5G is needed.

[0086] Logistics and freight tracking are important use cases for mobile communication that enables inventory and package tracking anywhere using a location-based information system. The use cases of logistics and freight typically demand low data rate but require location information with a wide range and reliability.

[0087] Referring to FIG. 1, the communication system 1 includes wireless devices, base stations (BSs), and a network. Although FIG. 1 illustrates a 5G network as an example of the network of the communication system 1, the implementations of the present disclosure are not limited to the 5G system, and can be applied to the future communication system beyond the 5G system.

[0088] The BSs and the network may be implemented as wireless devices and a specific wireless device 200a may operate as a BS / network node with respect to other wireless devices.

[0089] The wireless devices represent devices performing communication using radio access technology (RAT) (e.g., 5G New RAT (NR)) or Long-Term Evolution (LTE)) and may be referred to as communication / radio / 5G devices. The wireless devices may include, without being limited to, a robot 100a, vehicles 100b-1 and 100b-2, an eXtended Reality (XR) device 100c, a hand-held device 100d, a home appliance 100e, an Internet of Things (IoT) device 100f, and an Artificial Intelligence (AI) device / server 400. For example, the vehicles may include a vehicle having a wireless communication function, an autonomous driving vehicle, and a vehicle capable of performing communication between vehicles. The vehicles may include an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) (e.g., a drone). The XR device may include 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) mounted in a vehicle, a television, a smartphone, a computer, a wearable device, a home appliance device, a digital signage, a vehicle, a robot, etc. The hand-held device may include a smartphone, a smartpad, a wearable device (e.g., a smartwatch or a smartglasses), and a computer (e.g., a notebook). The home appliance may include a TV, a refrigerator, and a washing machine. The IoT device may include a sensor and a smartmeter.

[0090] In the present disclosure, the wireless devices 100a to 100f may be called user equipments (UEs). A user equipment (UE) may include, for example, a cellular phone, a smartphone, a laptop computer, a digital broadcast terminal, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a portable multimedia player (PMP), a navigation system, a slate personal computer (PC), a tablet PC, an ultrabook, a vehicle, a vehicle having an autonomous traveling function, a connected car, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), an artificial intelligence (AI) module, a robot, an augmented reality (AR) device, a virtual reality (VR) device, a mixed reality (MR) device, a hologram device, a public safety device, an MTC device, an IoT device, a medical device, a FinTech device (or a financial device), a security device, a weather / environment device, a device related to a 5G service, or a device related to a fourth industrial revolution field. The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) may be, for example, an aircraft aviated by a wireless control signal without a human being onboard. The VR device may include, for example, a device for implementing an object or a background of the virtual world. The AR device may include, for example, a device implemented by connecting an object or a background of the virtual world to an object or a background of the real world. The MR device may include, for example, a device implemented by merging an object or a background of the virtual world into an object or a background of the real world. The hologram device may include, for example, a device for implementing a stereoscopic image of 360 degrees by recording and reproducing stereoscopic information, using an interference phenomenon of light generated when two laser lights called holography meet. The public safety device may include, for example, an image relay device or an image device that is wearable on the body of a user. The MTC device and the IoT device may be, for example, devices that do not require direct human intervention or manipulation. For example, the MTC device and the IoT device may include smartmeters, vending machines, thermometers, smartbulbs, door locks, or various sensors. The medical device may be, for example, a device used for the purpose of diagnosing, treating, relieving, curing, or preventing disease. For example, the medical device may be a device used for the purpose of diagnosing, treating, relieving, or correcting injury or impairment. For example, the medical device may be a device used for the purpose of inspecting, replacing, or modifying a structure or a function. For example, the medical device may be a device used for the purpose of adjusting pregnancy. For example, the medical device may include a device for treatment, a device for operation, a device for (in vitro) diagnosis, a hearing aid, or a device for procedure. The security device may be, for example, a device installed to prevent a danger that may arise and to maintain safety. For example, the security device may be a camera, a CCTV, a recorder, or a black box. The FinTech device may be, for example, a device capable of providing a financial service such as mobile payment. For example, the FinTech device may include a payment device or a point of sales (POS) system. The weather / environment device may include, for example, a device for monitoring or predicting a weather / environment.

[0091] The wireless devices 100a to 100f may be connected to the network 300 via the BSs 200. An AI technology may be applied to the wireless devices 100a to 100f and the wireless devices 100a to 100f may be connected to the AI server 400 via the network 300. The network 300 may be configured using a 3G network, a 4G (e.g., LTE) network, a 5G (e.g., NR) network, and a beyond-5G network. Although the wireless devices 100a to 100f may communicate with each other through the BSs 200 / network 300, the wireless devices 100a to 100f may perform direct communication (e.g., sidelink communication) with each other without passing through the BSs / network. For example, the vehicles 100b-1 and 100b-2 may perform direct communication (e.g. Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) / Vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication). The IoT device (e.g., a sensor) may perform direct communication with other IoT devices (e.g., sensors) or other wireless devices 100a to 100f.

[0092] Wireless communication / connections 150a and 150b may be established between the wireless devices 100a to 100f / BS 200-BS 200. Herein, the wireless communication / connections may be established through various RATs (e.g., 5G NR) such as uplink / downlink communication 150a and sidelink communication 150b (or D2D communication). The wireless devices and the BSs / the wireless devices may transmit / receive radio signals to / from each other through the wireless communication / connections 150a and 150b. For example, the wireless communication / connections 150a and 150b may transmit / receive signals through various physical channels. To this end, at least a part of various configuration information configuring processes, various signal processing processes (e.g., channel encoding / decoding, modulation / demodulation, and resource mapping / demapping), and resource allocating processes, for transmitting / receiving radio signals, may be performed based on the various proposals of the present disclosure.

[0093] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating examples of communication devices which can perform a method according to the present disclosure.

[0094] Referring to FIG. 2, a first wireless device 100 and a second wireless device 200 may transmit / receive radio signals to / from an external device through a variety of RATs (e.g., LTE and NR). In FIG. 2, {the first wireless device 100 and the second wireless device 200} may correspond to {the wireless device 100a to 100f and the BS 200} and / or {the wireless device 100a to 100f and the wireless device 100a to 100f} of FIG. 1.

[0095] The first wireless device 100 may include one or more processors 102 and one or more memories 104 and additionally further include one or more transceivers 106 and / or one or more antennas 108. The processor(s) 102 may control the memory(s) 104 and / or the transceiver(s) 106 and may be configured to implement the functions, procedures, and / or methods described in the present disclosure. For example, the processor(s) 102 may process information within the memory(s) 104 to generate first information / signals and then transmit radio signals including the first information / signals through the transceiver(s) 106. The processor(s) 102 may receive radio signals including second information / signals through the transceiver 106 and then store information obtained by processing the second information / signals in the memory(s) 104. The memory(s) 104 may be connected to the processor(s) 102 and may store a variety of information related to operations of the processor(s) 102. For example, the memory(s) 104 may store software code including commands for performing a part or the entirety of processes controlled by the processor(s) 102 or for performing the procedures and / or methods described in the present disclosure. Herein, the processor(s) 102 and the memory(s) 104 may be a part of a communication modem / circuit / chip designed to implement RAT (e.g., LTE or NR). The transceiver(s) 106 may be connected to the processor(s) 102 and transmit and / or receive radio signals through one or more antennas 108. Each of the transceiver(s) 106 may include a transmitter and / or a receiver. The transceiver(s) 106 may be interchangeably used with radio frequency (RF) unit(s). In the present invention, the wireless device may represent a communication modem / circuit / chip.

[0096] The second wireless device 200 may include one or more processors 202 and one or more memories 204 and additionally further include one or more transceivers 206 and / or one or more antennas 208. The processor(s) 202 may control the memory(s) 204 and / or the transceiver(s) 206 and may be configured to implement the functions, procedures, and / or methods described in the present disclosure. For example, the processor(s) 202 may process information within the memory(s) 204 to generate third information / signals and then transmit radio signals including the third information / signals through the transceiver(s) 206. The processor(s) 202 may receive radio signals including fourth information / signals through the transceiver(s) 106 and then store information obtained by processing the fourth information / signals in the memory(s) 204. The memory(s) 204 may be connected to the processor(s) 202 and may store a variety of information related to operations of the processor(s) 202. For example, the memory(s) 204 may store software code including commands for performing a part or the entirety of processes controlled by the processor(s) 202 or for performing the procedures and / or methods described in the present disclosure. Herein, the processor(s) 202 and the memory(s) 204 may be a part of a communication modem / circuit / chip designed to implement RAT (e.g., LTE or NR). The transceiver(s) 206 may be connected to the processor(s) 202 and transmit and / or receive radio signals through one or more antennas 208. Each of the transceiver(s) 206 may include a transmitter and / or a receiver. The transceiver(s) 206 may be interchangeably used with RF unit(s). In the present invention, the wireless device may represent a communication modem / circuit / chip.

[0097] Hereinafter, hardware elements of the wireless devices 100 and 200 will be described more specifically. One or more protocol layers may be implemented by, without being limited to, one or more processors 102 and 202. For example, the one or more processors 102 and 202 may implement one or more layers (e.g., functional layers such as PHY, MAC, RLC, PDCP, RRC, and SDAP). The one or more processors 102 and 202 may generate one or more Protocol Data Units (PDUs) and / or one or more Service Data Unit (SDUs) according to the functions, procedures, proposals, and / or methods disclosed in the present disclosure. The one or more processors 102 and 202 may generate messages, control information, data, or information according to the functions, procedures, proposals, and / or methods disclosed in the present disclosure. The one or more processors 102 and 202 may generate signals (e.g., baseband signals) including PDUs, SDUs, messages, control information, data, or information according to the functions, procedures, proposals, and / or methods disclosed in the present disclosure and provide the generated signals to the one or more transceivers 106 and 206. The one or more processors 102 and 202 may receive the signals (e.g., baseband signals) from the one or more transceivers 106 and 206 and acquire the PDUs, SDUs, messages, control information, data, or information according to the functions, procedures, proposals, and / or methods disclosed in the present disclosure.

[0098] The one or more processors 102 and 202 may be referred to as controllers, microcontrollers, microprocessors, or microcomputers. The one or more processors 102 and 202 may be implemented by hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof. As an example, one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), one or more Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), one or more Digital Signal Processing Devices (DSPDs), one or more Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs), or one or more Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) may be included in the one or more processors 102 and 202. The functions, procedures, proposals, and / or methods disclosed in the present disclosure may be implemented using firmware or software and the firmware or software may be configured to include the modules, procedures, or functions. Firmware or software configured to perform the functions, procedures, proposals, and / or methods disclosed in the present disclosure may be included in the one or more processors 102 and 202 or stored in the one or more memories 104 and 204 so as to be driven by the one or more processors 102 and 202. The functions, procedures, proposals, and / or methods disclosed in the present disclosure may be implemented using firmware or software in the form of code, commands, and / or a set of commands.

[0099] The one or more memories 104 and 204 may be connected to the one or more processors 102 and 202 and store various types of data, signals, messages, information, programs, code, instructions, and / or commands. The one or more memories 104 and 204 may be configured by Read-Only Memories (ROMs), Random Access Memories (RAMs), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memories (EPROMs), flash memories, hard drives, registers, cash memories, computer-readable storage media, and / or combinations thereof. The one or more memories 104 and 204 may be located at the interior and / or exterior of the one or more processors 102 and 202. The one or more memories 104 and 204 may be connected to the one or more processors 102 and 202 through various technologies such as wired or wireless connection.

[0100] The one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may transmit user data, control information, and / or radio signals / channels, mentioned in the methods and / or operational flowcharts of the present disclosure, to one or more other devices. The one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may receive user data, control information, and / or radio signals / channels, mentioned in the functions, procedures, proposals, methods, and / or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure, from one or more other devices. For example, the one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may be connected to the one or more processors 102 and 202 and transmit and receive radio signals. For example, the one or more processors 102 and 202 may perform control so that the one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may transmit user data, control information, or radio signals to one or more other devices. The one or more processors 102 and 202 may perform control so that the one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may receive user data, control information, or radio signals from one or more other devices. The one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may be connected to the one or more antennas 108 and 208 and the one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may be configured to transmit and receive user data, control information, and / or radio signals / channels, mentioned in the functions, procedures, proposals, methods, and / or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure, through the one or more antennas 108 and 208. In the present disclosure, the one or more antennas may be a plurality of physical antennas or a plurality of logical antennas (e.g., antenna ports). The one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may convert received radio signals / channels etc. from RF band signals into baseband signals in order to process received user data, control information, radio signals / channels, etc. using the one or more processors 102 and 202. The one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may convert the user data, control information, radio signals / channels, etc. processed using the one or more processors 102 and 202 from the base band signals into the RF band signals. To this end, the one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may include (analog) oscillators and / or filters. For example, the transceivers 106 and 206 can up-convert OFDM baseband signals to a carrier frequency by their (analog) oscillators and / or filters under the control of the processors 102 and 202 and transmit the up-converted OFDM signals at the carrier frequency. The transceivers 106 and 206 may receive OFDM signals at a carrier frequency and down-convert the OFDM signals into OFDM baseband signals by their (analog) oscillators and / or filters under the control of the transceivers 102 and 202.

[0101] In the implementations of the present disclosure, a UE may operate as a transmitting device in uplink (UL) and as a receiving device in downlink (DL). In the implementations of the present disclosure, a BS may operate as a receiving device in UL and as a transmitting device in DL. Hereinafter, for convenience of description, it is mainly assumed that the first wireless device 100 acts as the UE, and the second wireless device 200 acts as the BS, unless otherwise mentioned or described. For example, the processor(s) 102 connected to, mounted on or launched in the first wireless device 100 may be configured to perform the UE behaviour according to an implementation of the present disclosure or control the transceiver(s) 106 to perform the UE behaviour according to an implementation of the present disclosure. The processor(s) 202 connected to, mounted on or launched in the second wireless device 200 may be configured to perform the BS behaviour according to an implementation of the present disclosure or control the transceiver(s) 206 to perform the BS behaviour according to an implementation of the present disclosure.

[0102] In the present disclosure, at least one memory (e.g. 104 or 204) may store instructions or programs that, when executed, cause at least one processor, which is operably connected thereto, to perform operations according to some embodiments or implementations of the present disclosure.

[0103] In the present disclosure, a computer readable storage medium stores at least one instructions or computer programs that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations according to some embodiments or implementations of the present disclosure.

[0104] In the present disclosure, a processing device or apparatus may comprise at least one processor, and at least one computer memory connectable to the at least one processor and storing instructions that, when executed, cause the at least one processor to perform operations according to some embodiments or implementations of the present disclosure.

[0105] FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a frame structure in a 3GPP based wireless communication system.

[0106] The frame structure illustrated in FIG. 3 is purely exemplary and the number of subframes, the number of slots, and / or the number of symbols in a frame may be variously changed. In the 3GPP based wireless communication system, OFDM numerologies (e.g., subcarrier spacing (SCS), transmission time interval (TTI) duration) may be differently configured between a plurality of cells aggregated for one UE. For example, if a UE is configured with different SCSs for cells aggregated for the cell, an (absolute time) duration of a time resource (e.g. a subframe, a slot, or a TTI) including the same number of symbols may be different among the aggregated cells. Herein, symbols may include OFDM symbols (or CP-OFDM symbols), SC-FDMA symbols (or discrete Fourier transform-spread-OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) symbols).

[0107] Referring to FIG. 5, downlink and uplink transmissions are organized into frames. Each frame has Tf= 10 ms duration. Each frame is divided into two half-frames, where each of the half-frames has 5 ms duration. Each half-frame consists of 5 subframes, where the duration Tsfper subframe is 1 ms. Each subframe is divided into slots and the number of slots in a subframe depends on a subcarrier spacing. Each slot includes 14 or 12 OFDM symbols based on a cyclic prefix (CP). In a normal CP, each slot includes 14 OFDM symbols and, in an extended CP, each slot includes 12 OFDM symbols. The numerology is based on exponentially scalable subcarrier spacing △f = 2u*15 kHz. The following table shows the number of OFDM symbols per slot, the number of slots per frame, and the number of slots per for the normal CP, according to the subcarrier spacing △f = 2u*15 kHz.

[0108]

[0109] The following table shows the number of OFDM symbols per slot, the number of slots per frame, and the number of slots per for the extended CP, according to the subcarrier spacing △f = 2u*15 kHz.

[0110]

[0111] A slot includes plural symbols (e.g., 14 or 12 symbols) in the time domain. For each numerology (e.g. subcarrier spacing) and carrier, a resource grid of Nsize,ugrid,x*NRBscsubcarriers and Nsubframe,usymbOFDM symbols is defined, starting at common resource block (CRB) Nstart,ugridindicated by higher-layer signaling (e.g. radio resource control (RRC) signaling), where Nsize,ugrid,xis the number of resource blocks in the resource grid and the subscript x is DL for downlink and UL for uplink. NRBscis the number of subcarriers per resource blocks. In the 3GPP based wireless communication system, NRBscis 12 generally. There is one resource grid for a given antenna port p, subcarrier spacing configuration u, and transmission direction (DL or UL). The carrier bandwidth Nsize,ugridfor subcarrier spacing configuration u is given by the higher-layer parameter (e.g. RRC parameter). Each element in the resource grid for the antenna port p and the subcarrier spacing configuration u is referred to as a resource element (RE) and one complex symbol may be mapped to each RE. Each RE in the resource grid is uniquely identified by an index k in the frequency domain and an index l representing a symbol location relative to a reference point in the time domain. In the 3GPP based wireless communication system, a resource block is defined by 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain.

[0112] In the 3GPP NR system, resource blocks are classified into CRBs and physical resource blocks (PRBs). CRBs are numbered from 0 and upwards in the frequency domain for subcarrier spacing configuration u. The center of subcarrier 0 of CRB 0 for subcarrier spacing configuration u coincides with 'point A' which serves as a common reference point for resource block grids. In the 3GPP NR system, PRBs are defined within a bandwidth part (BWP) and numbered from 0 to NsizeBWP,i-1, where i is the number of the bandwidth part. The relation between the physical resource block nPRBin the bandwidth part i and the common resource block nCRBis as follows: nPRB= nCRB+ NsizeBWP,i, where NsizeBWP,iis the common resource block where bandwidth part starts relative to CRB 0. The BWP includes a plurality of consecutive resource blocks. A carrier may include a maximum of N (e.g., 5) BWPs. A UE may be configured with one or more BWPs on a given component carrier. Only one BWP among BWPs configured to the UE can active at a time. The active BWP defines the UE’s operating bandwidth within the cell’s operating bandwidth.

[0113] NR frequency bands are defined as 2 types of frequency range, FR1 and FR2. FR2 is may also called millimeter wave(mmW). The frequency ranges in which NR can operate are identified as described in Table 3.

[0114]

[0115] FIG. 4 illustrates an example of protocol stacks in a 3GPP based wireless communication system.

[0116] In particular, FIG. 4(a) illustrates an example of a radio interface user plane protocol stack between a UE and a base station (BS) and FIG. 4(b) illustrates an example of a radio interface control plane protocol stack between a UE and a BS. The control plane refers to a path through which control messages used to manage call by a UE and a network are transported. The user plane refers to a path through which data generated in an application layer, for example, voice data or Internet packet data are transported. Referring to FIG. 4(a), the user plane protocol stack may be divided into a first layer (Layer 1) (i.e., a physical (PHY) layer) and a second layer (Layer 2). Referring to FIG. 4(b), the control plane protocol stack may be divided into Layer 1 (i.e., a PHY layer), Layer 2, Layer 3 (e.g., a radio resource control (RRC) layer), and a non-access stratum (NAS) layer. Layer 1, Layer 2 and Layer 3 are referred to as an access stratum (AS).

[0117] The NAS control protocol is terminated in an access management function (AMF) on the network side, and performs functions such as authentication, mobility management, security control and etc.

[0118] In the 3GPP LTE system, the layer 2 is split into the following sublayers: medium access control (MAC), radio link control (RLC), and packet data convergence protocol (PDCP). In the 3GPP New Radio (NR) system, the layer 2 is split into the following sublayers: MAC, RLC, PDCP and SDAP. The PHY layer offers to the MAC sublayer transport channels, the MAC sublayer offers to the RLC sublayer logical channels, the RLC sublayer offers to the PDCP sublayer RLC channels, the PDCP sublayer offers to the SDAP sublayer radio bearers. The SDAP sublayer offers to 5G Core Network quality of service (QoS) flows.

[0119] In the 3GPP NR system, the main services and functions of SDAP include: mapping between a QoS flow and a data radio bearer; marking QoS flow ID (QFI) in both DL and UL packets. A single protocol entity of SDAP is configured for each individual PDU session.

[0120] In the 3GPP NR system, the main services and functions of the RRC sublayer include: broadcast of system information related to AS and NAS; paging initiated by 5G core (5GC) or NG-RAN; establishment, maintenance and release of an RRC connection between the UE and NG-RAN; security functions including key management; establishment, configuration, maintenance and release of signalling radio bearers (SRBs) and data radio bearers (DRBs); mobility functions (including: handover and context transfer; UE cell selection and reselection and control of cell selection and reselection; Inter-RAT mobility); QoS management functions; UE measurement reporting and control of the reporting; detection of and recovery from radio link failure; NAS message transfer to / from NAS from / to UE.

[0121] In the 3GPP NR system, the main services and functions of the PDCP sublayer for the user plane include: sequence numbering; header compression and decompression: ROHC only; transfer of user data; reordering and duplicate detection; in-order delivery; PDCP PDU routing (in case of split bearers); retransmission of PDCP SDUs; ciphering, deciphering and integrity protection; PDCP SDU discard; PDCP re-establishment and data recovery for RLC AM; PDCP status reporting for RLC AM; duplication of PDCP PDUs and duplicate discard indication to lower layers. The main services and functions of the PDCP sublayer for the control plane include: sequence numbering; ciphering, deciphering and integrity protection; transfer of control plane data; reordering and duplicate detection; in-order delivery; duplication of PDCP PDUs and duplicate discard indication to lower layers.

[0122] The RLC sublayer supports three transmission modes: Transparent Mode (TM); Unacknowledged Mode (UM); and Acknowledged Mode (AM). The RLC configuration is per logical channel with no dependency on numerologies and / or transmission durations. In the 3GPP NR system, the main services and functions of the RLC sublayer depend on the transmission mode and include: Transfer of upper layer PDUs; sequence numbering independent of the one in PDCP (UM and AM); error correction through ARQ (AM only); segmentation (AM and UM) and re-segmentation (AM only) of RLC SDUs; reassembly of SDU (AM and UM); duplicate detection (AM only); RLC SDU discard (AM and UM); RLC re-establishment; protocol error detection (AM only).

[0123] In the 3GPP NR system, the main services and functions of the MAC sublayer include: mapping between logical channels and transport channels; multiplexing / demultiplexing of MAC SDUs belonging to one or different logical channels into / from transport blocks (TB) delivered to / from the physical layer on transport channels; scheduling information reporting; error correction through HARQ (one HARQ entity per cell in case of carrier aggregation (CA)); priority handling between UEs by means of dynamic scheduling; priority handling between logical channels of one UE by means of logical channel prioritization; padding. A single MAC entity may support multiple numerologies, transmission timings and cells. Mapping restrictions in logical channel prioritization control which numerology(ies), cell(s), and transmission timing(s) a logical channel can use. Different kinds of data transfer services are offered by MAC. To accommodate different kinds of data transfer services, multiple types of logical channels are defined i.e. each supporting transfer of a particular type of information. Each logical channel type is defined by what type of information is transferred. Logical channels are classified into two groups: Control Channels and Traffic Channels. Control channels are used for the transfer of control plane information only, and traffic channels are used for the transfer of user plane information only. Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH) is a downlink logical channel for broadcasting system control information, paging Control Channel (PCCH) is a downlink logical channel that transfers paging information, system information change notifications and indications of ongoing PWS broadcasts, Common Control Channel (CCCH) is a logical channel for transmitting control information between UEs and network and used for UEs having no RRC connection with the network, and Dedicated Control Channel (DCCH) is a point-to-point bi-directional logical channel that transmits dedicated control information between a UE and the network and used by UEs having an RRC connection. Dedicated Traffic Channel (DTCH) is a point-to-point logical channel, dedicated to one UE, for the transfer of user information. A DTCH can exist in both uplink and downlink. In Downlink, the following connections between logical channels and transport channels exist: BCCH can be mapped to BCH; BCCH can be mapped to downlink shared channel (DL-SCH); PCCH can be mapped to PCH; CCCH can be mapped to DL-SCH; DCCH can be mapped to DL-SCH; and DTCH can be mapped to DL-SCH. In Uplink, the following connections between logical channels and transport channels exist: CCCH can be mapped to uplink shared channel (UL-SCH); DCCH can be mapped to UL-SCH; and DTCH can be mapped to UL-SCH.

[0124] FIG. 5 illustrates a data flow example in the 3GPP NR system.

[0125] In FIG. 5, “RB” denotes a radio bearer, and “H” denotes a header. Radio bearers are categorized into two groups: data radio bearers (DRB) for user plane data and signalling radio bearers (SRB) for control plane data. The MAC PDU is transmitted / received using radio resources through the PHY layer to / from an external device. The MAC PDU arrives to the PHY layer in the form of a transport block.

[0126] In the PHY layer, the uplink transport channels UL-SCH and RACH are mapped to physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) and physical random access channel (PRACH), respectively, and the downlink transport channels DL-SCH, BCH and PCH are mapped to physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), physical broad cast channel (PBCH) and PDSCH, respectively. In the PHY layer, uplink control information (UCI) is mapped to PUCCH, and downlink control information (DCI) is mapped to PDCCH. A MAC PDU related to UL-SCH is transmitted by a UE via a PUSCH based on an UL grant, and a MAC PDU related to DL-SCH is transmitted by a BS via a PDSCH based on a DL assignment.

[0127] In order to transmit data unit(s) of the present disclosure on UL-SCH, a UE shall have uplink resources available to the UE. In order to receive data unit(s) of the present disclosure on DL-SCH, a UE shall have downlink resources available to the UE. The resource allocation includes time domain resource allocation and frequency domain resource allocation. In the present disclosure, uplink resource allocation is also referred to as uplink grant, and downlink resource allocation is also referred to as downlink assignment. An uplink grant is either received by the UE dynamically on PDCCH, in a Random Access Response, or configured to the UE semi-persistently by RRC. Downlink assignment is either received by the UE dynamically on the PDCCH, or configured to the UE semi-persistently by RRC signaling from the BS.

[0128] In UL, the BS can dynamically allocate resources to UEs via the Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) on PDCCH(s). A UE always monitors the PDCCH(s) in order to find possible grants for uplink transmission when its downlink reception is enabled (activity governed by discontinuous reception (DRX) when configured). In addition, with Configured Grants, the BS can allocate uplink resources for the initial HARQ transmissions to UEs. Two types of configured uplink grants are defined: Type 1 and Type 2. With Type 1, RRC directly provides the configured uplink grant (including the periodicity). With Type 2, RRC defines the periodicity of the configured uplink grant while PDCCH addressed to Configured Scheduling RNTI (CS-RNTI) can either signal and activate the configured uplink grant, or deactivate it; i.e. a PDCCH addressed to CS-RNTI indicates that the uplink grant can be implicitly reused according to the periodicity defined by RRC, until deactivated.

[0129] In DL, the BS can dynamically allocate resources to UEs via the C-RNTI on PDCCH(s). A UE always monitors the PDCCH(s) in order to find possible assignments when its downlink reception is enabled (activity governed by DRX when configured). In addition, with Semi-Persistent Scheduling (SPS), the BS can allocate downlink resources for the initial HARQ transmissions to UEs: RRC defines the periodicity of the configured downlink assignments while PDCCH addressed to CS-RNTI can either signal and activate the configured downlink assignment, or deactivate it. In other words, a PDCCH addressed to CS-RNTI indicates that the downlink assignment can be implicitly reused according to the periodicity defined by RRC, until deactivated.

[0130] <Resource allocation by PDCCH (i.e. resource allocation by DCI)>

[0131] PDCCH can be used to schedule DL transmissions on PDSCH and UL transmissions on PUSCH, where the downlink control information (DCI) on PDCCH includes: downlink assignments containing at least modulation and coding format (e.g., modulation and coding scheme (MCS) index IMCS), resource allocation, and hybrid-ARQ information related to DL-SCH; or uplink scheduling grants containing at least modulation and coding format, resource allocation, and hybrid-ARQ information related to UL-SCH. The size and usage of the DCI carried by one PDCCH are varied depending on DCI formats. For example, in the 3GPP NR system, DCI format 0_0 or DCI format 0_1 is used for scheduling of PUSCH in one cell, and DCI format 1_0 or DCI format 1_1 is used for scheduling of PDSCH in one cell.

[0132] FIG. 6 illustrates an example of PDSCH time domain resource allocation by PDCCH, and an example of PUSCH time resource allocation by PDCCH.

[0133] Downlink control information (DCI) carried by a PDCCH for scheduling PDSCH or PUSCH includes a value m for a row index m+1 to an allocation table for PDSCH or PUSCH. Either a predefined default PDSCH time domain allocation A, B or C is applied as the allocation table for PDSCH, or RRC configured pdsch-TimeDomainAllocationList is applied as the allocation table for PDSCH. Either a predefined default PUSCH time domain allocation A is applied as the allocation table for PUSCH, or the RRC configured pusch-TimeDomainAllocationList is applied as the allocation table for PUSCH. Which PDSCH time domain resource allocation configuration to apply and which PUSCH time domain resource allocation table to apply are determined according to a fixed / predefined rule (e.g. Table 5.1.2.1.1-1 in 3GPP TS 38.214 v15.3.0, Table 6.1.2.1.1-1 in 3GPP TS 38.214 v15.3.0).

[0134] Each indexed row in PDSCH time domain allocation configurations defines the slot offset K0, the start and length indicator SLIV, or directly the start symbol S and the allocation length L, and the PDSCH mapping type to be assumed in the PDSCH reception. Each indexed row in PUSCH time domain allocation configurations defines the slot offset K2, the start and length indicator SLIV, or directly the start symbol S and the allocation length L, and the PUSCH mapping type to be assumed in the PUSCH reception. K0 for PDSCH, or K2 for PUSCH is the timing difference between a slot with a PDCCH and a slot with PDSCH or PUSCH corresponding to the PDCCH. SLIV is a joint indication of starting symbol S relative to the start of the slot with PDSCH or PUSCH, and the number L of consecutive symbols counting from the symbol S. For PDSCH / PUSCH mapping type, there are two mapping types: one is Mapping Type A where demodulation reference signal (DMRS) is positioned in 3rd or 4th symbol of a slot depending on the RRC signaling, and other one is Mapping Type B where DMRS is positioned in the first allocated symbol.

[0135] The scheduling DCI includes the Frequency domain resource assignment field which provides assignment information on resource blocks used for PDSCH or PUSCH. For example, the Frequency domain resource assignment field may provide a UE with information on a cell for PDSCH or PUSCH transmission, information on a bandwidth part for PDSCH or PUSCH transmission, information on resource blocks for PDSCH or PUSCH transmission.

[0136] <Resource allocation by RRC>

[0137] As mentioned above, in uplink, there are two types of transmission without dynamic grant: configured grant Type 1 where an uplink grant is provided by RRC, and stored as configured grant; and configured grant Type 2 where an uplink grant is provided by PDCCH, and stored or cleared as configured uplink grant based on L1 signaling indicating configured uplink grant activation or deactivation. Type 1 and Type 2 are configured by RRC per serving cell and per BWP. Multiple configurations can be active simultaneously only on different serving cells. For Type 2, activation and deactivation are independent among the serving cells. For the same serving cell, the MAC entity is configured with either Type 1 or Type 2.

[0138] A UE is provided with at least the following parameters via RRC signaling from a BS when the configured grant type 1 is configured:

[0139] - cs-RNTI which is CS-RNTI for retransmission;

[0140] - periodicity which provides periodicity of the configured grant Type 1;

[0141] - timeDomainOffset which represents offset of a resource with respect to SFN=0 in time domain;

[0142] - timeDomainAllocation value m which provides a row index m+1 pointing to an allocation table, indicating a combination of a start symbol S and length L and PUSCH mapping type;

[0143] - frequencyDomainAllocation which provides frequency domain resource allocation; and

[0144] - mcsAndTBS which provides IMCS representing the modulation order, target code rate and transport block size. Upon configuration of a configured grant Type 1 for a serving cell by RRC, the UE stores the uplink grant provided by RRC as a configured uplink grant for the indicated serving cell, and initialise or re-initialise the configured uplink grant to start in the symbol according to timeDomainOffset and S (derived from SLIV), and to reoccur with periodicity. After an uplink grant is configured for a configured grant Type 1, the UE considers that the uplink grant recurs associated with each symbol for which: [(SFN * numberOfSlotsPerFrame (numberOfSymbolsPerSlot) + (slot number in the frame × numberOfSymbolsPerSlot) + symbol number in the slot] = (timeDomainOffset * numberOfSymbolsPerSlot + S + N * periodicity) modulo (1024 * numberOfSlotsPerFrame * numberOfSymbolsPerSlot), for all N >= 0.

[0145] A UE is provided with at least the following parameters via RRC signaling from a BS when the configured gran Type 2 is configured:

[0146] - cs-RNTI which is CS-RNTI for activation, deactivation, and retransmission; and

[0147] - periodicity which provides periodicity of the configured grant Type 2. The actual uplink grant is provided to the UE by the PDCCH (addressed to CS-RNTI). After an uplink grant is configured for a configured grant Type 2, the UE considers that the uplink grant recurs associated with each symbol for which: [(SFN * numberOfSlotsPerFrame * numberOfSymbolsPerSlot) + (slot number in the frame * numberOfSymbolsPerSlot) + symbol number in the slot] = [(SFNstart time * numberOfSlotsPerFrame * numberOfSymbolsPerSlot + slotstart time * numberOfSymbolsPerSlot + symbolstart time) + N * periodicity] modulo (1024 × numberOfSlotsPerFrame * numberOfSymbolsPerSlot), for all N >= 0, where SFNstart time, slotstart time, and symbolstart timeare the SFN, slot, and symbol, respectively, of the first transmission opportunity of PUSCH where the configured uplink grant was (re-)initialised. numberOfSlotsPerFrame and numberOfSymbolsPerSlot refer to the number of consecutive slots per frame and the number of consecutive OFDM symbols per slot, respectively.

[0148] For configured uplink grants, the HARQ Process ID associated with the first symbol of a UL transmission is derived from the following equation:

[0149] HARQ Process ID = [floor(CURRENT_symbol / periodicity)] modulo nrofHARQ-Processes

[0150] where CURRENT_symbol = (SFN × numberOfSlotsPerFrame × numberOfSymbolsPerSlot + slot number in the frame × numberOfSymbolsPerSlot + symbol number in the slot), and numberOfSlotsPerFrame and numberOfSymbolsPerSlot refer to the number of consecutive slots per frame and the number of consecutive symbols per slot, respectively as specified in TS 38.211. CURRENT_symbol refers to the symbol index of the first transmission occasion of a repetition bundle that takes place. A HARQ process is configured for a configured uplink grant if the configured uplink grant is activated and the associated HARQ process ID is less than nrofHARQ-Processes.

[0151] For downlink, a UE may be configured with semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) per serving cell and per BWP by RRC signaling from a BS. Multiple configurations can be active simultaneously only on different serving cells. Activation and deactivation of the DL SPS are independent among the serving cells. For DL SPS, a DL assignment is provided to the UE by PDCCH, and stored or cleared based on L1 signaling indicating SPS activation or deactivation. A UE is provided with the following parameters via RRC signaling from a BS when SPS is configured:

[0152] - cs-RNTI which is CS-RNTI for activation, deactivation, and retransmission;

[0153] - nrofHARQ-Processes: which provides the number of configured HARQ processes for SPS;

[0154] - periodicity which provides periodicity of configured downlink assignment for SPS.

[0155] When SPS is released by upper layers, all the corresponding configurations shall be released.

[0156] After a downlink assignment is configured for SPS, the UE considers sequentially that the Nthdownlink assignment occurs in the slot for which: (numberOfSlotsPerFrame * SFN + slot number in the frame) = [(numberOfSlotsPerFrame * SFNstart time+ slotstart time) + N * periodicity * numberOfSlotsPerFrame / 10] modulo (1024 * numberOfSlotsPerFrame), where SFNstart timeand slotstart timeare the SFN and slot, respectively, of the first transmission of PDSCH where the configured downlink assignment was (re-)initialised.

[0157] For configured downlink assignments, the HARQ Process ID associated with the slot where the DL transmission starts is derived from the following equation:

[0158] HARQ Process ID = [floor (CURRENT_slot × 10 / (numberOfSlotsPerFrame × periodicity))] modulo nrofHARQ-Processes

[0159] where CURRENT_slot = [(SFN × numberOfSlotsPerFrame) + slot number in the frame] and numberOfSlotsPerFrame refers to the number of consecutive slots per frame as specified in TS 38.211.

[0160] A UE validates, for scheduling activation or scheduling release, a DL SPS assignment PDCCH or configured UL grant type 2 PDCCH if the cyclic redundancy check (CRC) of a corresponding DCI format is scrambled with CS-RNTI provided by the RRC parameter cs-RNTI and the new data indicator field for the enabled transport block is set to 0. Validation of the DCI format is achieved if all fields for the DCI format are set according to Table 4 or Table 5. Table 4 shows special fields for DL SPS and UL grant Type 2 scheduling activation PDCCH validation, and Table 5 shows special fields for DL SPS and UL grant Type 2 scheduling release PDCCH validation.

[0161]

[0162]

[0163] Actual DL assignment and actual UL grant, and the corresponding modulation and coding scheme are provided by the resource assignment fields (e.g. time domain resource assignment field which provides Time domain resource assignment value m, frequency domain resource assignment field which provides the frequency resource block allocation, modulation and coding scheme field) in the DCI format carried by the DL SPS and UL grant Type 2 scheduling activation PDCCH. If validation is achieved, the UE considers the information in the DCI format as valid activation or valid release of DL SPS or configured UL grant Type 2.

[0164] For UL, the processor(s) 102 of the present disclosure may transmit (or control the transceiver(s) 106 to transmit) the data unit of the present disclosure based on the UL grant available to the UE. The processor(s) 202 of the present disclosure may receive (or control the transceiver(s) 206 to receive) the data unit of the present disclosure based on the UL grant available to the UE.

[0165] For DL, the processor(s) 102 of the present disclosure may receive (or control the transceiver(s) 106 to receive) DL data of the present disclosure based on the DL assignment available to the UE. The processor(s) 202 of the present disclosure may transmit (or control the transceiver(s) 206 to transmit) DL data of the present disclosure based on the DL assignment available to the UE.

[0166] The data unit(s) of the present disclosure is(are) subject to the physical layer processing at a transmitting side before transmission via radio interface, and the radio signals carrying the data unit(s) of the present disclosure are subject to the physical layer processing at a receiving side. For example, a MAC PDU including the PDCP PDU according to the present disclosure may be subject to the physical layer processing as follows.

[0167] FIG. 7 illustrates an example of physical layer processing at a transmitting side.

[0168] The following tables show the mapping of the transport channels (TrCHs) and control information to its corresponding physical channels. In particular, Table 6 specifies the mapping of the uplink transport channels to their corresponding physical channels, Table 7 specifies the mapping of the uplink control channel information to its corresponding physical channel, Table 8 specifies the mapping of the downlink transport channels to their corresponding physical channels, and Table 9 specifies the mapping of the downlink control channel information to its corresponding physical channel.

[0169]

[0170]

[0171]

[0172]

[0173] <Encoding>

[0174] Data and control streams from / to MAC layer are encoded to offer transport and control services over the radio transmission link in the PHY layer. For example, a transport block from MAC layer is encoded into a codeword at a transmitting side. Channel coding scheme is a combination of error detection, error correcting, rate matching, interleaving and transport channel or control information mapping onto / splitting from physical channels.

[0175] In the 3GPP NR system, following channel coding schemes are used for the different types of TrCH and the different control information types.

[0176]

[0177]

[0178] For transmission of a DL transport block (i.e. a DL MAC PDU) or a UL transport block (i.e. a UL MAC PDU), a transport block CRC sequence is attached to provide error detection for a receiving side. In the 3GPP NR system, the communication device uses low density parity check (LDPC) codes in encoding / decoding UL-SCH and DL-SCH. The 3GPP NR system supports two LDPC base graphs (i.e. two LDPC base matrixes): LDPC base graph 1 optimized for small transport blocks and LDPC base graph 2 for larger transport blocks. Either LDPC base graph 1 or 2 is selected based on the size of the transport block and coding rate R. The coding rate R is indicated by the modulation coding scheme (MCS) index IMCS. The MCS index is dynamically provided to a UE by PDCCH scheduling PUSCH or PDSCH, provided to a UE by PDCCH activating or (re-)initializing the UL configured grant 2 or DL SPS, or provided to a UE by RRC signaling related to the UL configured grant Type 1. If the CRC attached transport block is larger than the maximum code block size for the selected LDPC base graph, the CRC attached transport block may be segmented into code blocks, and an additional CRC sequence is attached to each code block. The maximum code block sizes for the LDPC base graph 1 and the LDPC base graph 2 are 8448 bits and 3480 bits, respectively. If the CRC attached transport block is not larger than the maximum code block size for the selected LDPC base graph, the CRC attached transport block is encoded with the selected LDPC base graph. Each code block of the transport block is encoded with the selected LDPC base graph. The LDPC coded blocks are then individually rat matched. Code block concatenation is performed to create a codeword for transmission on PDSCH or PUSCH. For PDSCH, up to 2 codewords (i.e. up to 2 transport blocks) can be transmitted simultaneously on the PDSCH. PUSCH can be used for transmission of UL-SCH data and layer 1 / 2 control information. Although not shown in FIG. 8, the layer 1 / 2 control information may be multiplexed with the codeword for UL-SCH data.

[0179] <Scrambling and modulation>

[0180] The bits of the codeword are scrambled and modulated to generate a block of complex-valued modulation symbols.

[0181] <Layer mapping>

[0182] The complex-valued modulation symbols of the codeword are mapped to one or more multiple input multiple output (MIMO) layers. A codeword can be mapped to up to 4 layers. A PDSCH can carry two codewords, and thus a PDSCH can support up to 8-layer transmission. A PUSCH supports a single codeword, and thus a PUSCH can support up to 4-layer transmission.

[0183] <Transform precoding>

[0184] The DL transmission waveform is conventional OFDM using a cyclic prefix (CP). For DL, transform precoding (in other words, discrete Fourier transform (DFT)) is not applied.

[0185] The UL transmission waveform is conventional OFDM using a CP with a transform precoding function performing DFT spreading that can be disabled or enabled. In the 3GPP NR system, for UL, the transform precoding can be optionally applied if enabled. The transform precoding is to spread UL data in a special way to reduce peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) of the waveform. The transform precoding is a form of DFT. In other words, the 3GPP NR system supports two options for UL waveform: one is CP-OFDM (same as DL waveform) and the other one is DFT-s-OFDM. Whether a UE has to use CP-OFDM or DFT-s-OFDM is configured by a BS via RRC parameters.

[0186] <Subcarrier mapping>

[0187] The layers are mapped to antenna ports. In DL, for the layers to antenna ports mapping, a transparent manner (non-codebook based) mapping is supported and how beamforming or MIMO precoding is performed is transparent to the UE. In UL, for the layers to antenna ports mapping, both the non-codebook based mapping and a codebook based mapping are supported.

[0188] For each antenna port (i.e. layer) used for transmission of the physical channel (e.g. PDSCH, PUSCH), the complex-valued modulation symbols are mapped to subcarriers in resource blocks allocated to the physical channel.

[0189] <OFDM modulation>

[0190] The communication device at the transmitting side generates a time-continuous OFDM baseband signal on antenna port p and subcarrier spacing configuration u for OFDM symbol l in a TTI for a physical channel by adding a cyclic prefix (CP) and performing IFFT. For example, for each OFDM symbol, the communication device at the transmitting side may perform inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) on the complex-valued modulation symbols mapped to resource blocks in the corresponding OFDM symbol and add a CP to the IFFT-ed signal to generate the OFDM baseband signal.

[0191] <Up-conversion>

[0192] The communication device at the transmitting side up-convers the OFDM baseband signal for antenna port p, subcarrier spacing configuration u and OFDM symbol l to a carrier frequency f0 of a cell to which the physical channel is assigned.

[0193] The processors 102 and 202 in FIG. 2 may be configured to perform encoding, schrambling, modulation, layer mapping, transform precoding (for UL), subcarrier mapping, and OFDM modulation. The processors 102 and 202 may control the transceivers 106 and 206 connected to the processors 102 and 202 to up-convert the OFDM baseband signal onto the carrier frequency to generate radio frequency (RF) signals. The radio frequency signals are transmitted through antennas 108 and 208 to an external device.

[0194] FIG. 8 illustrates an example of physical layer processing at a receiving side.

[0195] The physical layer processing at the receiving side is basically the inverse processing of the physical layer processing at the transmitting side.

[0196] <Frequency down-conversion>

[0197] The communication device at a receiving side receives RF signals at a carrier frequency through antennas. The transceivers 106 and 206 receiving the RF signals at the carrier frequency down-converts the carrier frequency of the RF signals into the baseband in order to obtain OFDM baseband signals.

[0198] <OFDM demodulation>

[0199] The communication device at the receiving side obtains complex-valued modulation symbols via CP detachment and FFT. For example, for each OFDM symbol, the communication device at the receiving side removes a CP from the OFDM baseband signals and performs FFT on the CP-removed OFDM baseband signals to obtain complex-valued modulation symbols for antenna port p, subcarrier spacing u and OFDM symbol l.

[0200] <Subcarrier demapping>

[0201] The subcarrier demapping is performed on the complex-valued modulation symbols to obtain complex-valued modulation symbols of a corresponding physical channel. For example, the processor(s) 102 may obtain complex-valued modulation symbols mapped to subcarriers belong to PDSCH from among complex-valued modulation symbols received in a bandwidth part. For another example, the processor(s) 202 may obtain complex-valued modulation symbols mapped to subcarriers belong to PUSCH from among complex-valued modulation symbols received in a bandwidth part.

[0202] <Transform de-precoding>

[0203] Transform de-precoding (e.g. IDFT) is performed on the complex-valued modulation symbols of the uplink physical channel if the transform precoding has been enabled for the uplink physical channel. For the downlink physical channel and for the uplink physical channel for which the transform precoding has been disabled, the transform de-precoding is not performed.

[0204] <Layer demapping>

[0205] The complex-valued modulation symbols are de-mapped into one or two codewords.

[0206] <Demodulation and descrambling>

[0207] The complex-valued modulation symbols of a codeword are demodulated and descrambled into bits of the codeword.

[0208] <Decoding>

[0209] The codeword is decoded into a transport block. For UL-SCH and DL-SCH, either LDPC base graph 1 or 2 is selected based on the size of the transport block and coding rate R. The codeword may include one or multiple coded blocks. Each coded block is decoded with the selected LDPC base graph into a CRC-attached code block or CRC-attached transport block. If code block segmentation was performed on a CRC-attached transport block at the transmitting side, a CRC sequence is removed from each of CRC-attached code blocks, whereby code blocks are obtained. The code blocks are concatenated into a CRC-attached transport block. The transport block CRC sequence is removed from the CRC-attached transport block, whereby the transport block is obtained. The transport block is delivered to the MAC layer.

[0210] In the above described physical layer processing at the transmitting and receiving sides, the time and frequency domain resources (e.g. OFDM symbol, subcarriers, carrier frequency) related to subcarrier mapping, OFDM modulation and frequency up / down conversion can be determined based on the resource allocation (e.g., UL grant, DL assignment).

[0211] For uplink data transmission, the processor(s) 102 of the present disclosure may apply (or control the transceiver(s) 106 to apply) the above described physical layer processing of the transmitting side to the data unit of the present disclosure to transmit the data unit wirelessly. For downlink data reception, the processor(s) 102 of the present disclosure may apply (or control the transceiver(s) 106 to apply) the above described physical layer processing of the receiving side to received radio signals to obtain the data unit of the present disclosure.

[0212] For downlink data transmission, the processor(s) 202 of the present disclosure may apply (or control the transceiver(s) 206 to apply) the above described physical layer processing of the transmitting side to the data unit of the present disclosure to transmit the data unit wirelessly. For uplink data reception, the processor(s) 202 of the present disclosure may apply (or control the transceiver(s) 206 to apply) the above described physical layer processing of the receiving side to received radio signals to obtain the data unit of the present disclosure.

[0213]

[0214] <A-IOT (Internet of Things)>

[0215] Recently, IoT has attracted much attention in the wireless communication world. More things are expected to be interconnected for improving productivity efficiency and increasing comforts of life. Further reduction of size, complexity, and power consumption of IoT devices can enable the deployment of tens or even hundreds of billion IoT devices for various applications and provide added value across the entire value chain.

[0216] While, it is impossible to power all the IoT devices by battery that needs to be replaced or recharged manually, which leads to high maintenance cost, serious environmental issues, and even safety hazards for some use cases.

[0217] Most of the existing wireless communication devices are powered by battery that needs to be replaced or recharged manually. The automation and digitalization of various industries open numbers of new markets requiring new IoT technologies of supporting batteryless devices with no energy storage capability or devices with energy storage that do not need to be replaced or recharged manually. The form factor of such devices must be reasonably small to convey the validity of target use cases.

[0218] The A-IOT devices are either battery-less or with limited energy storage capability (i.e., using a capacitor) and the energy is provided through the harvesting of radio waves, light, motion, heat, or any other power source that could be seen suitable.

[0219] FIG. 9 shows a general procedure of A-IOT service.

[0220] For convenience, in FIG. 9, it is shown that the A-IOT device (910) receives / transmits signals from / to the A-IOT reader (920). While, in the present disclosure, the A-IOT device (910) comprises a UE. Further, the A-IOT reader (920) may comprise another UE or a network.

[0221] Referring to FIG. 9, considering the limited size and complexity required by practical applications for batteryless devices with no energy storage capability or devices with limited energy storage that do not need to be replaced or recharged manually, the output power of energy harvester is typically from 1μW to a few hundreds of μW. Existing cellular devices may not work well with energy harvesting due to their peak power consumption of higher than 10mW.

[0222] Due to the limited energy storage capability, the A-IOT device (910) performs transmission by means of backscattering. The backscattering transmission (950) uses energy which is picked up from a paging / inventory signal (930) by antenna. The picked up energy is then converted into tens to hundreds of microwatts of electricity. That is, the A-IOT device (910) performs the energy harvesting (940). The A-IOT device uses that power to modify and reflect the signal with encoded data. Antennas on other devices (i.e., reader, e.g., UE or network), in turn, detect that signal and can respond accordingly.

[0223] When the A-IOT device (910) receives a paging / inventory signal (930) from an reader (920), the A-IOT device (910) generates different response messages depending on what the paging / inventory signal (930) interrogates.

[0224] For example of logistics center, the paging / inventory signal may interrogate at least one of the followings:

[0225] - Tracking number

[0226] - Sender address

[0227] - Receiver address

[0228] All the above information are stored or pre-programmed in the A-IOT device memory, and based on the paging / inventory signal, the A-IOT transmits at least one of the information to the A-IOT reader by backscattering.

[0229] The response message may be in the form of following:

[0230] - Tracking number

[0231] - Tracking number + Sender address

[0232] - Tracking number + Receiver address

[0233] - Tracking number + Sender address + Receiver address

[0234] As the response message includes different information, the size of data that needs to be transmitted is different, and therefore the energy harvesting time to transmit the data would be different.

[0235]

[0236] <Procedures for A-IOT>

[0237] The A-IOT reader transmits an A-IOT Paging message to one or more A-IOT devices. The A-IOT reader may include the Paging ID field to select a specific device or a group of devices, or may not include Paging ID field to select all devices.

[0238] FIG. 10 shows an example of access procedures of the A-IOT device.

[0239] Referring to FIG, 19, the A-IOT device always monitors for the A-IOT Paging message, and determines whether the device is selected to initiate the access procedure.

[0240] Upon receiving the A-IOT Paging message, the A-IOT MAC entity of the A-IOT device shall initiate Contention-Based Random Access (CBRA) procedure.

[0241] If the CBRA procedure is initiated due to the reception of A-IOT Paging message, the device shall randomly select an access occasion from the access occasions configured in the A-IOT Paging message for D2R transmission of Access Random ID message, and the start of the access occasion may be provided by the A-IOT Paging message or a Access Trigger message. If needed, the device monitors for Access Trigger message until it has received a A-IOT Paging message.

[0242] Then, the A-IOT MAC entity shall apply the D2R Scheduling Info received in the A-IOT Paging message, generate a random number 'i' in the range: 0 ≤ i ≤ n-1, where n is the number of access occasions configured in the A-IOT Paging message, and select an access occasion corresponding to the random number i.

[0243] The access occasion can be selected according to a count-down behavior, which starts with the A-IOT Paging message, and continues with subsequent Access trigger message(s), until Access Random ID message is transmitted or next A-IOT Paging message is received. For this, the A-IOT MAC entity should select the access occasion from the access occasion(s) triggered by this Access Trigger message, and initiate the transmission of Access Random ID message.

[0244] FIG. 11 shows a format of Access Random ID message.

[0245] Referring to FIG. 11, the A-IOT MAC entity shall generate a 16-bit random number 'j' in the range: 0 ≤ j < 216, set the Random ID field to the ‘j’ in the Access Random ID message, and then instruct the physical layer to transmit the Access Random ID message using the selected access occasion and indicate the L1 parameters to the physical layer.

[0246]

[0247] Once the Access Random ID message is transmitted, the A-IOT device shall monitor for Random ID Response message.

[0248] FIG. 12 shows a format of Random ID Response message.

[0249] In FIG. 12, in Random ID Response message, following fields are defined:

[0250] - R2D Message Type: This field indicates the message type. This field of the Random ID Response message is set to 011.

[0251] - R2D TBS: This field indicates the TBS of this message. The value can be {1, 2, …, 124, 125} byte(s). The length of the field is 7 bits.

[0252] - D2R Scheduling Info: This field contains the physical layer parameters used for D2R transmission. The child fields are defined in clause 6.2.1.6. The length of the field is 24 bits.

[0253] - Frequency Index Present Indication (FIPI): This field indicates whether the Frequency Index field is present (when set to 1) in each ID entry or not (when set to 0). This field applies to all ID entries. The length of the field is 1 bit.

[0254] - The Random ID Response message includes an ID entry list, which consists of at most 8 ID entries with the following fields a)~d) included in each ID entry:

[0255] a) Frequency Index: This field indicates the small frequency shift factor value of the access occasion associated to the Echoed Random ID. The first codepoint (i.e., 000) presents the first value in {1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128}, the second codepoint (i.e., 001) presents the second value in {1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128}, and so on. The length of the field is 3 bits.

[0256] b) Echoed Random ID: The length of the field is 16 bits.

[0257] c) Access Stratum (AS) ID Presence Indication (AIPI): This field indicates whether a AS ID is assigned (when set to 1) for the corresponding Echoed Random ID or not (when set to 0). The length of the field is 1 bit.

[0258] d) Assigned AS ID: This field provides the value of assigned AS ID which is 16 bits, when AS ID Present Indication field is set to 1.

[0259] - Fill Bits: This field is of variable size and is optionally present. It can be used to pad for byte alignment (1-7 bits).

[0260]

[0261] Upon reception of Random ID Response message, when the device has no stored AS ID (i.e., initial reception of Random ID Response message), the A-IOT MAC entity shall consider this CBRA procedure is successful for each ID entry in Random ID Response message and initiate the D2R message transmission upon which the procedure of processing this Random ID Response message ends, if the value indicated by Echoed Random ID field is identical to the value of the Random ID field in the transmitted Access Random ID message and if the Frequency Index field is present (i.e., Frequency Index Present Indication is set to 1), and the small frequency shift factor indicated by the Frequency Index field matches the value of the small frequency shift factor used for the transmission of Access Random ID message.

[0262] In this case, if the Assigned AS ID field corresponding to the Echoed Random ID field is included (i.e., AS ID Present Indication field is set to 1), the A-IOT MAC entity shall set AS ID to the value indicated by the Assigned AS ID field and store the AS ID. However, if the Assigned AS ID field corresponding to the Echoed Random ID field is not included, the A-IOT MAC entity shall set AS ID to the value indicated by the Echoed Random ID field and store the AS ID.

[0263] Further, when the device has a stored AS ID, for each ID entry in the Random ID Response message, if the Assigned AS ID field corresponding to the Echoed Random ID field is included, and the value indicated by Assigned AS ID field is identical to the stored AS ID or if the Assigned AS ID field corresponding to the Echoed Random ID field is not included and the value indicated by Echoed Random ID field is identical to the stored AS ID, the A-IOT MAC entity shall initiate the D2R message transmission, upon which the procedure of processing this Random ID Response message ends.

[0264]

[0265] Upon initiation of the procedure corresponding to the A-IOT access procedure or reception of an R2D Upper Layer Data Transfer message which contains either the Data SDU field or the Received Data Size field set to 0, the A-IOT MAC entity shall apply the D2R Scheduling Info, received in the A-IOT Paging message with Access Type set to CFA or in the Random ID Response message or in the R2D Upper Layer Data Transfer message containing either the Data SDU field or the Received Data Size field set to 0, whichever triggered the initiation of the procedure.

[0266] When upper layer data is available to be transmitted, if the size of the resulting MAC PDU including the total upper layer data is smaller than or equal to the resource size given by the D2R TBS in the D2R Scheduling Info, the A-IOT MAC entity shall generate the D2R Upper Layer Data Transfer message, as follows:

[0267] - set the More Data Indication field to value 0;

[0268] - include SDU Length field and Data SDU field;

[0269] - if the size of the resulting MAC PDU including the total upper layer data is smaller than the resource size given by the D2R TBS in the D2R Scheduling Info, include the MAC Padding field.

[0270] Then, the A-IOT MAC entity shall instruct the physical layer to transmit the D2R Upper Layer Data Transfer message and indicate the L1 parameters to the physical layer.

[0271] Else (i.e., if the size of the resulting MAC PDU including the total upper layer data is larger than the resource size given by the D2R TBS in the D2R Scheduling Info), the A-IOT MAC entity shall initiate the segmentation procedure for the upper layer data SDU.

[0272] Further, if upper layer data is not available to be transmitted, the A-IOT MAC entity shall generate the D2R Upper Layer Data Transfer message, as follows:

[0273] - set the More Data Indication field to 0;

[0274] - set the SDU Length field to 0;

[0275] - if the size of the resulting MAC PDU including no upper layer data is smaller than the resource size given by the D2R TBS in the D2R Scheduling Info, include the MAC Padding field.

[0276] Then, the A-IOT MAC entity shall instruct the physical layer to transmit the D2R Upper Layer Data Transfer message and indicate the L1 parameters to the physical layer.

[0277]

[0278] Upon reception of an R2D Upper Layer Data Transfer message, when the device has a stored AS ID and the R2D Upper Layer Data Transfer message is addressed to the device (i.e., the value of AS ID field is identical to the stored AS ID), the A-IOT MAC entity shall forward the upper layer data SDU in the Data SDU field to upper layers and initiate the following D2R message transmission, if the Choice Indication field indicates that the Data SDU field is included (i.e., CI field set to 1).

[0279] Else if the Choice Indication field indicates that the Received Data Size field is included (i.e., CI field set to 0), the A-IOT MAC entity shall initiate the D2R message transmission procedure if the Received Data Size field is set to 0. However, if the Received Data Size field is not set to 0, the A-IOT MAC entity shall initiate the D2R segmentation procedure using this information.

[0280] When the device has no stored AS ID, CFA procedure has been performed in the current procedure, if the Choice Indication field indicates that the Data SDU field is included, the A-IOT MAC entity shall set AS ID to the value indicated by the AS ID field and store the AS ID, forward the upper layer data SDU in the Data SDU field to upper layers, and initiate the following D2R message transmission.

[0281]

[0282] <First Embodiment>

[0283] According to 3GPP standard, it is introduced that the A-IOT device performs the re-access procedure when the contention resolution is failed. From the A-IOT point of view, the A-IOT device determines whether to successfully perform the contention resolution based on the reception of the random number in Msg2 (i.e., random ID response message) which was transmitted in Msg1 (i.e., access random ID message). More specifically, the A-IOT device transmits the Msg1 (i.e., access random ID message) containing a random ID field being set to a random number. Then, the A-IOT device monitors the PRDCH to receive Msg2 (i.e., random ID response message). If the A-IOT device receives the Msg2 (i.e., random ID response message) containing the same random number transmitted in Msg1 (i.e., access random ID message), the A-IOT device considers that the contention resolution is successfully finished.

[0284] Hereinafter, for convenience, the access random ID message is referred to the Msg1, and the random ID response message is referred to as the Msg2.

[0285] Considering the contention resolution success case, the A-IOT device determines the contention resolution failure when the Msg2 is not received or different random number in Msg2 is received. For the Msg2 missing case, there are two problematic cases.

[0286] The first problematic case is that the A-IOT device does not receive the Msg2. And, the second problematic case is that the A-IOT reader does not receive the Msg1 from the A-IOT device.

[0287] FIG. 13 shows the first problematic case considered in the first embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0288] Referring to FIG. 13, the A-IOT reader can send a Msg2 to a specific device for the random ID, if it doesn’t receive Msg3 (i.e., D2R message) from that ID. In other words, the A-IOT device should monitor the PRDCH for a long time considering the Msg2 retransmission for request the Msg3 transmission. In FIG. 13, the monitoring duration of PRDCH for Msg2 reception is expressed to Msg2 reception duration. The Msg1 resource indication or the access trigger message indicates the location of the Msg1 resource in the time / frequency domain to the A-IOT device. For convenience, the access trigger message is hereinafter referred to as the Msg1 resource indication.

[0289] FIG. 14 shows the second problematic case considered in the first embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0290] Referring to FIG. 14, even if the A-IOT device does not know whether the Msg1 is successfully transmitted or not, the A-IOT device monitors the PRDCH for a long time to receive the Msg2 retransmission. However, in this case, the A-IOT device can receive a new Msg1 resource indication from the A-IOT reader. This is because, from the A-IOT reader point of view, it is reasonable to transmit the new Msg1 resource indication to start the new procedure since Msg1 is not transmitted from any A-IOT device. In this case, the A-IOT device can consider the contention resolution failure.

[0291] Considering the above two problematic cases, the A-IOT device need to determine the contention resolution failure when the Msg1 resource indication is received from the A-IOT reader during the Msg2 reception duration. In addition, to manage the Msg2 reception duration, the timer may be needed.

[0292] According to the first embodiment of the present disclosure, if the A-IOT device receives the Msg1 resource indication from the A-IOT reader before the completion of the contention resolution, the A-IOT device considers the contention resolution failure. Then, the A-IOT device performs the re-access procedure.

[0293] The A-IOT device receives an A-IOT paging message. If the A-IOT paging contains a paging identifier associated with the A-IOT device, the A-IOT device performs the access procedure. The paging identifier associated with the A-IOT device can be a group identifier or dedicated A-IOT device identifier. In the A-IOT paging message, the number of Msg1 resources is included. Based on the number of Msg1 resources (number of access occasions), the A-IOT devices randomly selects an access occasion. In addition, the A-IOT paging message can contain the frequency list for uplink transmission.

[0294] Specifically, the A-IOT device is associated with at least one group identifier. In other words, the A-IOT device is belonging to at least one group. Further, the Msg1 resource indication is used to indicate the start of the access occasion. It means that the Nth access occasion is calculated based on the reception of Msg1 resource indication.

[0295] FIG. 15 shows an example of configuration for the access occasion.

[0296] Referring to FIG. 15, the Msg1 resource indication (i.e., the access trigger message) is used to indicate the start of the access occasion. It means that the Nth access occasion is calculated based on the reception of Msg1 resource indication. For example, if the A-IOT device receives the first Msg1 resource indication, the A-IOT device considers that this access occasion is the first access occasion. After that, if the A-IOT device receives the second Msg1 resource indication, the A-IOT device considers that this access occasion is the second access occasion.

[0297] The Msg1 resource indication and the A-IOT paging message can be received on the PRDCH (i.e., in NR, PDCCH). The access occasion can be variable duration. The access occasion duration is the time between reception of the Msg1 resource indication and the reception of next Msg1 resource indication.

[0298] Alternatively, the access occasion duration can be fixed. In this case, the duration of the access occasion can be indicated in the A-IOT paging message. Based on this information, the A-IOT device can calculate the Nth access occasion.

[0299] Alternatively, in Msg1 resource indication, the access occasion number can be included. In this case, the A-IOT device can identify Nth access occasion based on the Msg1 resource indication.

[0300] After selection of the access occasion, the A-IOT device transmits the Msg1 containing random number on the Msg1 resource after reception of the Msg1 resource indication. After transmitting the Msg1 transmission, the A-IOT device starts a Msg2 Reception Timer (MRT).

[0301] More specifically, the duration of the MRT can be contained in the A-IOT paging message or Msg1 resource indication. Alternatively, the duration of MRT can be pre-defended. The number of Msg2 retransmission can be considered to determine the duration of the MRT. While running the MRT, the A-IOT device mandatorily monitors the PRDCH.

[0302] FIG. 16 ~ FIG. 18 shows examples of operations for the Msg2 Reception Timer (MRT) according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0303] Referring to FIG. 16, the MRT is started when the Msg1 is transmitted. Further, the is started after transmitting Msg1 and TD2R_min has escaped shown in FIG. 17. TD2R_min is an offset value. This value can be pre-defined or can be indicated in the A-IOT paging message or Msg1 resource indication.

[0304] Referring to FIG. 18, the MRT is stopped when the Msg2 is received or is stopped when the Msg2 is received if the Msg2 contains the same random number transmitted in Msg1. Or, the MRT is stopped when the Msg1 resource indication or A-IOT paging message is received.

[0305] Specifically, TR2D_min may be defined as minimum time between a R2D transmission and the corresponding D2R transmission following it. Further, TD2R_min may be defined as minimum time between a D2R transmission and the corresponding R2D transmission following it.

[0306] The A-IOT device considers the contention resolution failure if the following conditions are met:

[0307] i) the MRT expires; or

[0308] ii) the Msg1 resource indication or A-IOT paging message is received while running the MRT; or

[0309] iii) the random number in received Msg2 is different with the random number transmitted in Msg1.

[0310] After completion of the contention resolution, the A-IOT device transmits the Msg3 containing the A-IOT device identifier.

[0311] In addition, the MRT can be started multiple times if the Msg2 is not received while running the MRT. For this case, the maximum Msg2 retransmission is included in A-IOT paging message. If the maximum Msg2 retransmission is indicated to two, the A-IOT reader transmits the Msg2 two times if the Msg3 is not received. For this case, the A-IOT device manages a count value. The COUNTER value is increased at expiring MRT. If the COUNTER value is equal to or larger than the maximum Msg2 retransmission, the A-IOT device considers the contention resolution failure. The initial COUNTER value is zero. The COUNTER value is initiated when the random access is triggered, A-IOT paging message is received, or Msg1 resource indication is received.

[0312] In this case, even if the MRT expires, the A-IOT device does not consider that the contention resolution failure happens. In addition, if the MRT expires, the A-IOT device restarts the MRT after escaping the time associated with TR2D_R2D_min or TD2R_D2R_min.

[0313] FIG. 19 shows an example of operations according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0314] In FIG. 19, it is assumed that the A-IOT device receives the A-IOT paging message containing maximum Msg2 retransmission = 2.

[0315] Referring to FIG. 19, the A-IOT device receives the Msg1 resource indication, and the A-IOT device transmits the Msg1 containing the random number. After that, the A-IOT device starts the MRT after transmitting Msg1 and the first offset has escaped (COUNTER = 0). While running the MRT duration, the A-IOT device does not receive the Msg2. At expiry of the MRT, the A-IOT device increases the COUNTER (COUNTER = 1). Then, the A-IOT device restarts MRT after second offset has escaped.

[0316] While running MRT, the A-IOT device does not receive the Msg2. At expiry of the MRT, the A-IOT device increases the COUNTER (COUNTER = 2). Since the COUNTER value is equal to the maximum Msg2 retransmission, the A-IOT device considers that the contention resolution failure happens.

[0317] If the A-IOT device determines the contention resolution failure, the A-IOT device performs the re-access procedure. The re-access procedure is performed when the subsequent A-IOT paging message is received.

[0318] FIG. 20 shows an example of performing re-access procedure according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure. Referring to FIG. 20, it is shown that the A-IOT device performs the re-access procedure based on receiving the subsequent A-IOT paging message. From the A-IOT device point of view, there is not much difference between the first A-IOT paging message and the subsequent A-IOT paging. The difference between them may be the number of Msg1 resources.

[0319] FIG. 21 shows an example of performing access procedures according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0320] Referring to FIG. 21, the A-IOT device receives an A-IOT paging message including a group identifier associated with the A-IOT device. The A-IOT device randomly selects the access occasion. In this case, the A-IOT device selects the access occasion = 3. The A-IOT device randomly generates a random number and transmits the Msg1 containing the random number after reception of the Msg1 resource indication for 3rd access occasion.

[0321] After transmitting the Msg1, the A-IOT device starts MRT. While running the MRT, the A-IOT device receives the Msg1 resource indication for 4th access occasion. Then, the A-IOT device considers the contention resolution failure and stops the MRT, and the A-IOT device performs the re-access procedure.

[0322] The A-IOT device the subsequent A-IOT paging message including the group identifier associated with the A-IOT device, the A-IOT device performs the re-access procedure. In this case, the A-IOT device randomly selects the access occasion = 1. Then, the A-IOT device randomly generates a random number and transmits the Msg1 containing the random number after reception of the Msg1 resource indication for 1st access occasion.

[0323] After transmitting the Msg1, the A-IOT device starts MRT. While running the MRT, the A-IOT device receives Msg2 containing the same random number transmitted in Msg1. Then, the A-IOT device considers that the contention resolution is successfully completed and stops the MRT, and the A-IOT device transmits Msg3 containing the A-IOT device identifier.

[0324]

[0325] According to the first embodiment of the present disclosure, the A-IOT device can determine the contention resolution failure as early as possible. With this, the power saving gain is achieved. Considering that the A-IOT device has a limited battery capacity, the power saving is an important in A-IOT scenario.

[0326]

[0327] <Second Embodiment>

[0328] According to 3GPP standard, the following text is captured for Msg2 reception as Table 12.

[0329]

[0330] However, the above text causes a problem to wrongly update the AS ID even after the contention resolution successful. This is because the A-IOT device always receives the Random ID Response message once the Random ID message is transmitted if a Random ID Response message is received.

[0331] FIG. 22 shows the problematic case considered in the second embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0332] Referring to FIG. 22, the A-IOT device#1 and the A-IOT device#2 receive an Msg1 resource indication (or R2D trigger message or Access Occasion Trigger message), then the A-IOT device#1 transmits the Random ID message (i.e., Msg1) containing the random number = 10.

[0333] In FIG. 22, it is shown that the A-IOT device#1 receives the Random ID Response message, (i.e., Msg2) containing the random number = 10 without assigned AS ID. Since the random number = 10 is contained in Random ID response message, the A-IOT device#1 updates the AS ID to 10. Then, A-IOT device#1 considers the contention resolution as successfully completed.

[0334] Next, the A-IOT device#1 and the A-IOT device#2 receive an Msg1 resource indication, and the A-IOT device#2 transmits the Random ID message containing the random number = 10.

[0335] The A-IOT device#2 receives the Random ID Response message containing the random number = 10 with assigned AS ID = 11. Since the random number = 10 is contained in Random ID response message, the A-IOT device#2 updates the AS ID to 11. Then, A-IOT device#2 considers the contention resolution as successfully completed. In this case, since the Random ID Response message is a broadcast message, the A-IOT device#1 can receive the Random ID Response message transmitted for the A-IOT device#2. Thus, the device#1 updates the AS ID to 11 because Random ID Response message containing the random number = 10 that is same random number transmitted in the Random ID message before.

[0336] In FIG. 22, the A-IOT device#1 and A-IOT device#2 transmits the R2D message for the response of the Random ID response message, but this R2D message is not transmitted due to collision. Thus, the A-IOT reader transmits the NACK feedback containing the AS ID = 11. In this case, the A-IOT device#1 and A-IOT device#2 performs the re-access procedure. The re-access means that the A-IOT device triggers the random access procedure after reception of the next A-IOT paging message.

[0337] Finally, the A-IOT device#1 and A-IOT device#2 receive a command message addressed by the AS ID = 11. However, both A-IOT devices does not process the command message because they will perform the random access procedure again after reception of the next A-IOT paging message.

[0338] From a A-IOT service perspective, the collision can happen due to wrong update of the AS ID. Thus, how to prevent the above problem should be introduced. Note that, the AS ID is used for the scheduling purpose. So, the A-IOT reader should contain the AS ID in the command message, i.e., Msg4, Msg6.

[0339] In the second embodiment of the present disclosure, it is suggested that the A-IOT device should update AS ID when receiving the Random ID Response message between the time after transmitting the Random ID message and the time before receiving the Msg1 resource indication or the paging message.

[0340] In the second embodiment of the present disclosure, the following terminologies are used:

[0341] A) The A-IOT paging message: This message is used to trigger whether the service is started or not. In this case, the number of Msg1 resources (i.e., the number of access occasions) and paging ID associated with the A-IOT device can be included. The first message of the Msg1 resource indication (i.e., access trigger message) can be merged into A-IOT paging message.

[0342] B) The Msg1 resource indication message or the access trigger message: This message is used to indicate the Msg1 resource (i.e., the access occasion) in the time / frequency domain to transmit the Random ID message.

[0343] C) The Random ID message: This message is used to transmit the random number generated by the A-IOT device

[0344] D) The Random ID Response message: This message is used to respond the Random ID message. In this message, the following information can be included.

[0345] - The random number: The random number can be used for the AS ID. In addition, the multiple random number can be contained in the Random ID Response message.

[0346] - Assigned AS ID: If this field exists, the A-IOT device updates the AS ID to the assigned AS ID instead of random number.

[0347] It is expected that the A-IOT reader may indicate whether the random number is used for the AS ID or assigned AS ID is used for the AS ID.

[0348] Hereinafter, for convenience, the Msg1 resource is referred to the access occasion, and the Msg1 resource indication message is referred to as the access trigger message.

[0349]

[0350] If the A-IOT device receives the A-IOT paging message, the A-IOT device randomly selects the Msg1 resource within indicated number of Msg1 resources in the A-IOT paging message. If the A-IOT device receives the Msg1 resource indication message for the selected Msg1 resource, the A-IOT device generates a random number, and the A-IOT device transmits the Random ID message containing generated the random number.

[0351] After transmitting the Random ID message, the A-IOT device receives a Random ID Response message. If the same random number transmitted in the Random ID message is contained in the Random ID Response message, the A-IOT device considers the contention resolution as successful. Then, if there is an indication to update the AS ID to the assigned AS ID, the A-IOT device updates the AS ID to the assigned AS ID. Otherwise, if the there is an indication not to update the AS ID to the assigned AS ID, the A-IOT device updates the AS ID to the random number transmitted in the Random ID message. Note that the indication to update / not to update the AS ID can indicate the presence / absence of the assigned AS ID field.

[0352] In addition, if the same random number transmitted in the Random ID message is not contained in the random ID Response message, the A-IOT device does not update the AS ID.

[0353] After that, the A-IOT device transmits the R2D message containing the A-IOT device ID for the response of the Random ID Response message.

[0354] After updating the AS ID, the A-IOT device receives the Random ID Response message containing the same random number transmitted in Random ID message again due to transmission failure of the D2R message containing the A-IOT device ID. In this case, the A-IOT device may or may not update the AS ID.

[0355]

[0356] However, if the A-IOT device receives the Random ID Response message containing the same random number transmitted in Randon ID message after receiving the next Msg1 resource indication message, the A-IOT device does not update the AS ID because the stored AS ID is the same as the AS ID needed to be updated. In addition, the A-IOT device does not transmit the D2R message for the response of Random ID Response message.

[0357] The A-IOT ignores the Random ID Response message after receiving the next Msg1 resource indication message or next A-IOT paging message. In other words, the A-IOT device monitors the PRDCH for reception of Random ID Response message between the time after transmitting the Random ID message and the time before receiving the Msg1 resource indication message or next A-IOT paging message.

[0358]

[0359] The A-IOT device releases the stored AS ID

[0360] - when the NACK feedback for the A-IOT device is received;

[0361] - when the A-IOT paging message associated with the A-IOT device is received;

[0362] - when the A-IOT device is turned off;

[0363] - when it is considered that AS ID is valid for a certain duration. For this, the A-IOT device can start a timer after updating the AS ID or receiving the Random ID Response message.

[0364] The meaning of “the A-IOT device releases the stored AS ID” can be interpreted as the A-IOT device considers the stored AS ID as invalid. In addition, the meaning of “the A-IOT device updates the AS ID” can be interpreted as the A-IOT device considers the stored AS ID valid after being updated.

[0365] In addition, the AS ID can be updated by the explicit R2D message. For this, the R2D message for AS ID update is used. In this message, two AS IDs are contained. The first AS ID is the AS ID stored in the A-IOT device, and the second AS ID is the AS ID to be updated. If the A-IOT device receives the R2D message for AS ID update, the A-IOT device checks whether or not the first AS ID is the same as the stored AS ID. If stored AS ID and the first AS ID are the same, the AS ID in the A-IOT device is updated to the second AS ID.

[0366] Alternatively, the A-IOT device updates the AS ID only when the running a timer. The timer is started after transmitting the Random ID message. After expiry of the timer, the A-IOT device does not update the AS ID even if the A-IOT device receives the Random ID Response message containing the same random number transmitted in the Random ID message. This timer can be stopped when Msg1 resource indication message is received or A-IOT paging message is received. The duration of the timer is pre-defined in the specification or is configured in the paging message or the Msg1 resource indication message. This timer can be used to receive the Random ID Response. It means that the A-IOT device receives the Random ID Response only when the running a timer.

[0367] FIG. 23 shows an example of operations according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0368] Referring to FIG. 23, it is shown that the A-IOT device#1 and the A-IOT device#2 receive an Msg1 resource indication, and the A-IOT device#1 transmits the Random ID message containing the random number = 10. Then, the A-IOT device#1 receives the Random ID Response message containing the random number = 10 without assigned AS ID. Since the random number = 10 is contained in Random ID response message, the A-IOT device#1 updates the AS ID to 10, and A-IOT device#1 considers the contention resolution as successfully completed. Then, the A-IOT device#1 transmits the R2D message (i.e., Msg3) for the response of the Random ID response message. In this case, since the A-IOT device#2 does not transmit the Random ID message to the A-IOT reader, the A-IOT device#2 ignores the Random ID Response message.

[0369] Next, in FIG. 23, it is shown that the A-IOT device#1 and the A-IOT device#2 receive an Msg1 resource indication, and the A-IOT device#2 transmits the Random ID message containing the random number = 10. Then, the A-IOT device#2 receives the Random ID Response message containing the random number = 10 with assigned AS ID = 11. Since the random number = 10 is contained in Random ID response message, the A-IOT device#2 updates the AS ID to 11. Then, A-IOT device#2 considers the contention resolution as successfully completed. Then, the A-IOT device#2 transmits the R2D message, i.e., Msg3, for the response of the Random ID response message

[0370] In addition, the A-IOT device#1 does not update the AS ID because Random ID Response message containing the random number = 10 is received after reception Msg1 resource indication. In addition, the A-IOT device#1 does not transmit the D2R message for the response of the Random ID response message.

[0371] Next, in FIG. 23, it is shown that the A-IOT device#1 and A-IOT device#2 receive a command message addressed by the AS ID = 10, the A-IOT device#2 ignores the command message because the stored AS ID in the A-IOT device#2 = 11. In addition, the A-IOT device#1 processes the received command message and transmits the response of the command message.

[0372] Finally, the A-IOT device#1 and A-IOT device#2 receive a command message addressed by the AS ID = 11, the A-IOT device#1 ignores the command message because the stored AS ID in the A-IOT device#1 = 10. In addition, the A-IOT device#2 processes the received command message and transmits the response of the command message.

[0373] Note that when to transmitting the command message is up to the A-IOT reader implementation.

[0374]

[0375] For the second embodiment of the present disclosure, proposed texts are as follow Table 13 and Table 14.

[0376]

[0377]

[0378] According to the second embodiment of the present disclosure, the A-IOT device can properly update the AS ID for the scheduling. With the proper update of the AS ID, the A-IOT device can properly transmit the response for the command message without collision.

[0379]

[0380] FIG. 24 shows a flow chart for operations performed by the A-IOT device according to the present disclosure.

[0381] Referring to FIG. 24, at S2401, the A-IOT device receives an A-IOT paging message. Preferably, the A-IOT paging message includes information related to a plurality of access occasions associated with the A-IOT paging message.

[0382] Next, at S2403, the A-IOT device selects one of the plurality of access occasions associated with the A-IOT paging message.

[0383] Upon a reception of an access trigger message related to the selected access occasion, the A-IOT device transmits, an access random ID message including a random ID field at S2405.

[0384] Then, at S2407, the A-IOT device monitors a random ID response message until a reception of at least one subsequent access trigger message. Here, the A-IOT paging message including information related the at least one subsequent access trigger message. Preferably, the information related the at least one subsequent access trigger message comprises the number of the at least one subsequent access trigger message.

[0385] If the random ID response message is received before the reception of the at least one subsequent access trigger message and if a value of a random ID field included in the random ID response message is identical with a value of the random ID field included in the access random ID message, the A-IOT device considering a contention resolution completed successfully and transmits a D2R message at S2409. That is, if the at least one subsequent access trigger message is received without receiving the random ID response message, the contention resolution is considered to be completed unsuccessfully.

Claims

1.A method comprising:receiving, by an ambient internet of things (A-IOT) device, an A-IOT paging message including information related to a plurality of access occasions associated with the A-IOT paging message;selecting, by the A-IOT device, one of the plurality of access occasions associated with the A-IOT paging message;based on a reception of an access trigger message related to the selected access occasion, transmitting, by the A-IOT device, an access random ID message including a random ID field; andbased on a random ID response message being received until a reception of at least one subsequent access trigger message and based on a value of a random ID field included in the random ID response message being identical with a value of the random ID field included in the access random ID message, considering, by the A-IOT device, a contention resolution completed successfully and transmitting a D2R message.2.The method of claim 1, wherein, based on the reception of the at least one subsequent access trigger message, the contention resolution is considered to be completed unsuccessfully.3.The method of claim 2, further comprising:based on considering the contention resolution completed unsuccessfully, monitoring, by the A-IOT device, a subsequent A-IOT paging message .4.The method of claim 1, further comprising:based on the random ID response message being received before the reception of at least one subsequent access occasion trigger message, setting, by the A-IOT device, an Access Stratum layer identifier (AS ID) based on the Msg25.The method of claim 1, wherein, based on the random ID response message being received after the reception of the subsequent access occasion trigger message, the AS ID is maintained.6.The method of claim 1, wherein the A-IOT paging message including information related to a number of the at least one subsequent access trigger message.7.An ambient internet of things (A-IOT) device in a wireless communication system, the UE reader comprising:at least one processor; andat least one computer memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the A-IOT device to perform operations comprising:receiving an A-IOT paging message including information related to a plurality of access occasions associated with the A-IOT paging message;selecting one of the plurality of access occasions associated with the A-IOT paging message;based on a reception of an access trigger message related to the selected access occasion, transmitting an access random ID message including a random ID field; andbased on a random ID response message being received until a reception of at least one subsequent access trigger message and based on a value of a random ID field included in the random ID response message being identical with a value of the random ID field included in the access random ID message, considering a contention resolution completed successfully and transmitting a D2R message.8.The -IOT device of claim 7, wherein, based on the reception of the at least one subsequent access trigger message, the contention resolution is considered to be completed unsuccessfully.9.The A-IOT device of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise:based on considering the contention resolution completed unsuccessfully, monitoring a subsequent A-IOT paging message.10.The A-IOT device of claim 7, wherein the operations further comprise:based on the random ID response message being received before the reception of at least one subsequent access occasion trigger message, setting an Access Stratum layer identifier (AS ID) based on the Msg211.The A-IOT device of claim 7, wherein, based on the random ID response message being received after the reception of the subsequent access occasion trigger message, the AS ID is maintained.12.The A-IOT device of claim 7, wherein the A-IOT paging message including information related to a number of the at least one subsequent access trigger message.13.An apparatus for an ambient internet of things (A-IOT) device, the apparatus comprising:at least one processor; andat least one computer memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the A-IOT device to perform operations comprising:receiving an A-IOT paging message including information related to a plurality of access occasions associated with the A-IOT paging message;selecting one of the plurality of access occasions associated with the A-IOT paging message;based on a reception of an access trigger message related to the selected access occasion, transmitting an access random ID message including a random ID field; andbased on a random ID response message being received until a reception of at least one subsequent access trigger message and based on a value of a random ID field included in the random ID response message being identical with a value of the random ID field included in the access random ID message, considering a contention resolution completed successfully and transmitting a D2R message.14.A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising program instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause an ambient internet of things (A-IOT) device to perform operations comprising:receiving an A-IOT paging message including information related to a plurality of access occasions associated with the A-IOT paging message;selecting one of the plurality of access occasions associated with the A-IOT paging message;based on a reception of an access trigger message related to the selected access occasion, transmitting an access random ID message including a random ID field; andbased on a random ID response message being received until a reception of at least one subsequent access trigger message and based on a value of a random ID field included in the random ID response message being identical with a value of the random ID field included in the access random ID message, considering a contention resolution completed successfully and transmitting a D2R message.

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