Method and apparatus for random access in wireless communication system

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a 5G communication system or a 6G communication system for supporting higher data rates beyond a 4G communication system such as LTE. According to an example embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a method performed by a UE comprising: receiving first configuration information related to a first-random access; receiving downlink control information (DCI) including availability indication information related to a first-RO subset and / or a first-PO associated with the first-RO subset; transmitting a PRACH based on the first-RO subset that is available and transmitting a PUSCH based on a first-PO that is available and associated with the first-RO subset.

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR RANDOM ACCESS IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

[0001] The present application relates to the field of wireless communications, and more specifically, to a method and an apparatus for a random access.

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

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

[0004] In order to accomplish such a high data rate and an ultra-low latency, it has been considered to implement 6G communication systems in a terahertz band (for example, 95GHz to 3THz bands). It is expected that, due to severer path loss and atmospheric absorption in the terahertz bands than those in mmWave bands introduced in 5G, technologies capable of securing the signal transmission distance (that is, coverage) will become more crucial. It is necessary to develop, as major technologies for securing the coverage, radio frequency (RF) elements, antennas, novel waveforms having a better coverage than orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), beamforming and massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO), full dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antennas, and multiantenna transmission technologies such as large-scale antennas. In addition, there has been ongoing discussion on new technologies for improving the coverage of terahertz-band signals, such as metamaterial-based lenses and antennas, orbital angular momentum (OAM), and reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS).

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

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

[0007] In order to efficiently utilize PRACH resources, PRACH resources preconfigured by the base station (e.g., network side) need to be activated or notified through signaling that the preconfigured PRACH resources are available before they may be used.

[0008] According to an example embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a method performed by a UE comprising: receiving first configuration information related to a first-random access; receiving downlink control information (DCI) including availability indication information related to a first-RO subset and / or a first-PO associated with the first-RO subset; transmitting a PRACH based on the first-RO subset that is available and transmitting a PUSCH based on a first-PO that is available and associated with the first-RO subset.

[0009] FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless network according to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0010] FIG. 2a illustrates example wireless transmit path according to the present disclosure;

[0011] FIG. 2b illustrates example wireless receive path according to the present disclosure;

[0012] FIG. 3a illustrates an example UE according to the present disclosure;

[0013] FIG. 3b illustrates an example gNB according to the present disclosure;

[0014] FIG. 3c shows a schematic diagram of a 4-step random access procedure according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0015] FIG. 3d shows a schematic diagram of a frequency-domain resource group;

[0016] FIG. 3e shows a schematic diagram of an anchor carrier and a supplementary carrier according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0017] FIG. 4 shows a schematic diagram of a method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0018] FIG. 5 shows schematic diagrams of determining the first-PRACH slot by methods according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0019] FIG. 6 shows schematic diagrams of determining the first-PRACH slot by methods according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0020] FIG. 7 shows schematic diagrams of determining the first-PRACH slot by methods according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0021] FIG. 8 shows schematic diagrams of determining the first-PRACH slot by methods according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0022] FIG. 9 shows a schematic structural diagram of a user equipment according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0023] FIG. 10 shows a schematic structural diagram of a network side device according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0024] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a method performed by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:

[0025] receiving first configuration information related to a first-random access, the first configuration information including first information related to first-random access occasions (ROs) related to a type 2 random access, first mask information and second information related to first physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) occasions (POs) related to the type 2 random access;

[0026] receiving downlink control information (DCI) including availability indication information related to a first-RO subset and / or a first-PO associated with the first-RO subset;

[0027] transmitting a physical random access channel (PRACH) based on the first-RO subset that is available and transmitting a PUSCH based on a first-PO that is available and associated with the first-RO subset,

[0028] wherein the first-RO subset is determined based on the first information and the first mask information, the first-PO associated with the first-RO subset is determined according to the first-RO subset and the second information, and at least one of the first-RO subset or the first-PO associated with the first-RO subset is indicated as available according to the DCI.

[0029] In an implementation, the first-PO associated with the first-RO subset is determined based on a first-PUSCH slot determined according to a first-PRACH slot that includes at least one first-RO in the first-RO subset and first offset information indicating an offset of the first-PUSCH slot with respect to the first-PRACH slot,

[0030] wherein the first offset information is included in the second information.

[0031] In an implementation, the first-PO associated with the first-RO subset is one of the first-POs determined based on the second information.

[0032] In an implementation, the method further comprising: receiving second configuration information related to a second-random access, the second configuration information including third information associated with second-ROs and fourth information associated with second-POs,

[0033] wherein a first-PRACH slot in which the first-RO subset is located includes at least one first-RO associated with a synchronization signal physical broadcast channel block (SSB) index, and / or

[0034] the first-PRACH slot in which the first-RO subset is located includes at least one valid first-RO and / or valid second-RO.

[0035] In an implementation, if resources of a first-RO and a second-PO overlap, the first-RO is a valid first-RO and the second-PO is an invalid PO.

[0036] In an implementation, a first-PO associated with the first-RO subset is a valid first-PO,

[0037] wherein the first-PO is considered the valid first-PO if the first-PO does not overlap with any of: a valid first-RO, a valid second-RO and a valid second-PO.

[0038] In an implementation, the first mask information indicates a first time duration, and the first-RO subset includes first-ROs within the first time duration.

[0039] In an implementation, consecutive N_p preambles from valid first-ROs in each first-PRACH slot including at least one first-RO in the first-RO subset are mapped to a valid first-PO and an associated demodulation reference signal (DMRS) resource,

[0040] where N_p=ceil(T_preamble / T_PUSCH),

[0041] where ceil denotes a ceiling function,

[0042] T_ preamble is determined based on valid first-ROs in each first time duration,

[0043] T_ PUSCH is determined based on the valid first-POs in each first time duration.

[0044] In an implementation, the first time duration includes at least one of:

[0045] one or more consecutive first-PRACH association periods;

[0046] one or more consecutive first-PRACH association pattern periods;

[0047] one or more consecutive first-PRACH configuration periods;

[0048] one or more consecutive SSB to a first-PRACH mapping cycles;

[0049] predetermined one or more time units; and

[0050] one or more consecutive second-PRACH configuration periods.

[0051] In an implementation, third configuration information related to the first-random access is determined based on the second configuration information related to the second-random access.

[0052] In an implementation, transmitting PRACH based on the first-RO subset and transmitting PUSCH based on the first-PO associated with the first-RO subset comprises:

[0053] selecting a RO for transmitting the PRACH, the selected RO being a first-RO in the first-RO subset and / or a second-RO,

[0054] selecting a PO associated with the selected RO for transmitting the PUSCH.

[0055] In an implementation, the first configuration information further comprises configuration information related to a type 1 random access,

[0056] wherein the first-RO subset includes first-ROs shared with the type 1 random access.

[0057] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a method performed by a base station in a communication system, the method comprising:

[0058] transmitting first configuration information related to a first-random access, the first configuration information including first information related to first-random access occasions (ROs) related to a type 2 random access, first mask information and second information related to first-POs related to the type 2 random access;

[0059] transmitting downlink control information (DCI) including availability indication information related to a first-RO subset and / or a first-PO associated with the first-RO subset; and

[0060] receiving a PRACH and a PUSCH, wherein the PRACH is transmitted based on the first-RO subset that is available and the PUSCH is transmitted based on a first-PO that is available and associated with the first-RO subset,

[0061] wherein the first-RO subset is determined based on the first information and the first mask information, the first-PO associated with the first-RO subset is determined according to the first-RO subset and the second information, and the first-RO subset and / or the first-PO associated with the first-RO subset is indicated as available according to the DCI.

[0062] In an implementation, the first-PO associated with the first-RO subset is determined based on a first-PUSCH slot determined according to a first-PRACH slot that includes at least one first-RO in the first-RO subset and first offset information indicating an offset of the first-PUSCH slot with respect to the first-PRACH slot,

[0063] wherein the first offset information is included in the second information.

[0064] In an implementation, the first-PO associated with the first-RO subset is a first-PO associated with the first-RO subset among the first-POs determined based on the second information.

[0065] In an implementation, the method further comprising transmitting second configuration information related to a second-random access, the second configuration information comprising third information associated with second-ROs and fourth information associated with second-POs,

[0066] wherein a first-PRACH slot in which the first-RO subset is located includes at least one first-RO associated with an SSB index, and / or

[0067] the first-PRACH slot in which the first-RO subset is located includes at least one valid first-RO and / or valid second-RO.

[0068] In an implementation, if resources of a first-RO and a second-PO overlap, the first-RO is a valid first-RO and the second-PO is an invalid PO.

[0069] In an implementation, a first-PO associated with the first-RO subset is a valid first-PO,

[0070] wherein a first-PO is considered a valid first-PO if it does not overlap with any of: a valid first-RO, a valid second-RO, a valid second-PO.

[0071] In an implementation, the first mask information indicates a first time duration, and the first-RO subset includes first-ROs within the first time duration.

[0072] In an implementation, consecutive N_p preambles from valid first-ROs in each first-PRACH slot including at least one first-RO in the first-RO subset are mapped to a valid first-PO and an associated DMRS resource,

[0073] where N_p=ceil(T_preamble / T_PUSCH),

[0074] where ceil denotes a ceiling function,

[0075] T_preamble is determined based on valid first-ROs in each first time duration,

[0076] T_PUSCH is determined based on valid first-POs in each first time duration.

[0077] In an implementation, the first time duration includes at least one of:

[0078] one or more consecutive first-PRACH association periods;

[0079] one or more consecutive first-PRACH association pattern periods;

[0080] one or more consecutive first-PRACH configuration periods;

[0081] one or more consecutive SSB to a first-PRACH mapping cycles;

[0082] predetermined one or more time units;

[0083] one or more consecutive second-PRACH configuration periods.

[0084] In an implementation, third configuration information related to the first-random access is determined based on the second configuration information related to the second-random access.

[0085] In an implementation, transmitting PRACH based on the first-RO subset and transmitting PUSCH based on a first-PO associated with the first-RO subset comprises:

[0086] selecting a RO for transmitting the PRACH, the selected RO being a first-RO in the first-RO subset and / or a second-RO,

[0087] selecting a PO associated with the selected RO for transmitting PUSCH.

[0088] In an implementation, the first configuration information further comprises configuration information related to type 1 first-random access,

[0089] wherein the first-RO subset includes first-ROs shared with the type 1 first-random accesses.

[0090] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, comprising:

[0091] a transceiver configured to transmit and / or receive signals;

[0092] at least one processor configured to control the UE to perform the method according to embodiments od the present disclosure.

[0093] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a network side device in a wireless communication system, comprising:

[0094] a transceiver configured to transmit and / or receive signals;

[0095] at least one processor configured to control the network side device to perform the method according to embodiments od the present disclosure.

[0096] The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings is provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of various embodiments of the present disclosure as defined by the claims and their equivalents. It includes various specific details to assist in that understanding but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary. Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications of the various embodiments described herein may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. In addition, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions may be omitted for clarity and conciseness.

[0097] The terms and words used in the following description and claims are not limited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by the inventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following description of various embodiments of the present disclosure is provided for illustration purpose only and not for the purpose of limiting the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

[0098] It is to be understood that the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, reference to "a component surface" includes reference to one or more of such surfaces.

[0099] The term "include" or "may include" refers to the existence of a corresponding disclosed function, operation or component which may be used in various embodiments of the present disclosure and does not limit one or more additional functions, operations, or components. The terms such as "include" and / or "have" may be construed to denote a certain characteristic, number, step, operation, constituent element, component or a combination thereof, but may not be construed to exclude the existence of or a possibility of addition of one or more other characteristics, numbers, steps, operations, constituent elements, components or combinations thereof.

[0100] The term "or" used in various embodiments of the present disclosure includes any or all of combinations of listed words. For example, the expression "A or B" may include A, may include B, or may include both A and B.

[0101] Unless defined differently, all terms used herein, which include technical terminologies or scientific terminologies, have the same meaning as that understood by a person skilled in the art to which the present disclosure belongs. Such terms as those defined in a generally used dictionary are to be interpreted to have the meanings equal to the contextual meanings in the relevant field of art, and are not to be interpreted to have ideal or excessively formal meanings unless clearly defined in the present disclosure.

[0102] In order to meet the increasing demand for wireless data communication services since the deployment of 4G communication systems, efforts have been made to develop improved 5G or pre-5G communication systems. Therefore, 5G or pre-5G communication systems are also called "Beyond 4G networks" or "Post-LTE systems".

[0103] In order to achieve a higher data rate, 5G communication systems are implemented in higher frequency (millimeter, mmWave) bands, e.g., 60 GHz bands. In order to reduce propagation loss of radio waves and increase a transmission distance, technologies such as beamforming, massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), full-dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antenna, analog beamforming and large-scale antenna are discussed in 5G communication systems.

[0104] In addition, in 5G communication systems, developments of system network improvement are underway based on advanced small cell, cloud radio access network (RAN), ultra-dense network, device-to-device (D2D) communication, wireless backhaul, mobile network, cooperative communication, coordinated multi-points (CoMP), reception-end interference cancellation, etc.

[0105] In 5G systems, hybrid FSK and QAM modulation (FQAM) and sliding window superposition coding (SWSC) as advanced coding modulation (ACM), and filter bank multicarrier (FBMC), non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) and sparse code multiple access (SCMA) as advanced access technologies have been developed.

[0106] The various embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied to various communication systems, such as: global system for mobile communications (GSM) system, code division multiple access (CDMA) system, broadband code division multiple access (WCDMA) system, general packet radio service (GPRS), long term evolution (LTE) system, LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) systems, LTE time division duplex (TDD) systems, universal mobile telecommunications systems (UMTS), worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) communication systems, 5th generation (5G) systems or new radio (NR), etc. In addition, the various embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied to future oriented communication technologies.

[0107] FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless network 100 according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the wireless network 100 shown in FIG. 1 is for illustration only. Other embodiments of the wireless network 100 may be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0108] The wireless network 100 includes a gNodeB (gNB) 101, a gNB 102, and a gNB 103. gNB 101 communicates with gNB 102 and gNB 103. gNB 101 also communicates with at least one Internet Protocol (IP) network 130, such as the Internet, a private IP network, or other data networks.

[0109] Depending on a type of the network, other well-known terms such as "base station" or "access point" may be used instead of "gNodeB" or "gNB". For convenience, the terms "gNodeB" and "gNB" are used in this patent document to refer to network infrastructure components that provide wireless access for remote terminals. And, depending on the type of the network, other well-known terms such as "mobile station", "user station", "remote terminal", "wireless terminal" or "user apparatus" may be used instead of "user equipment" or "UE". For convenience, the terms "user equipment" and "UE" are used in this patent document to refer to remote wireless devices that wirelessly access the gNB, no matter whether the UE is a mobile device (such as a mobile phone or a smart phone) or a fixed device (such as a desktop computer or a vending machine).

[0110] gNB 102 provides wireless broadband access to the network 130 for a first plurality of User Equipments (UEs) within a coverage area 120 of gNB 102. The first plurality of UEs include a UE 111, which may be located in a Small Business (SB); a UE 112, which may be located in an enterprise (E); a UE 113, which may be located in a WiFi Hotspot (HS); a UE 114, which may be located in a first residence (R); a UE 115, which may be located in a second residence (R); a UE 116, which may be a mobile device (M), such as a cellular phone, a wireless laptop computer, a wireless PDA, etc. GNB 103 provides wireless broadband access to network 130 for a second plurality of UEs within a coverage area 125 of gNB 103. The second plurality of UEs include a UE 115 and a UE 116. In some embodiments, one or more of gNBs 101-103 may communicate with each other and with UEs 111-116 using 5G, Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-A, WiMAX or other advanced wireless communication technologies.

[0111] The dashed lines show approximate ranges of the coverage areas 120 and 125, and the ranges are shown as approximate circles merely for illustration and explanation purposes. It should be clearly understood that the coverage areas associated with the gNBs, such as the coverage areas 120 and 125, may have other shapes, including irregular shapes, depending on configurations of the gNBs and changes in the radio environment associated with natural obstacles and man-made obstacles.

[0112] As will be described in more detail below, one or more of gNB 101, gNB 102, and gNB 103 include a 2D antenna array as described in embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, one or more of gNB 101, gNB 102, and gNB 103 support codebook designs and structures for systems with 2D antenna arrays.

[0113] Although FIG. 1 illustrates an example of the wireless network 100, various changes may be made to FIG. 1. The wireless network 100 may include any number of gNBs and any number of UEs in any suitable arrangement, for example. Furthermore, gNB 101 may directly communicate with any number of UEs and provide wireless broadband access to the network 130 for those UEs. Similarly, each gNB 102-103 may directly communicate with the network 130 and provide direct wireless broadband access to the network 130 for the UEs. In addition, gNB 101, 102 and / or 103 may provide access to other or additional external networks, such as external telephone networks or other types of data networks.

[0114] FIGs. 2a and 2b illustrate example wireless transmission and reception paths according to the present disclosure. In the following description, the transmission path 200 may be described as being implemented in a gNB, such as gNB 102, and the reception path 250 may be described as being implemented in a UE, such as UE 116. However, it should be understood that the reception path 250 may be implemented in a gNB and the transmission path 200 may be implemented in a UE. In some embodiments, the reception path 250 is configured to support codebook designs and structures for systems with 2D antenna arrays as described in embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0115] The transmission path 200 includes a channel coding and modulation block 205, a Serial-to-Parallel (S-to-P) block 210, a size N Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) block 215, a Parallel-to-Serial (P-to-S) block 220, a cyclic prefix addition block 225, and an up-converter (UC) 230. The reception path 250 includes a down-converter (DC) 255, a cyclic prefix removal block 260, a Serial-to-Parallel (S-to-P) block 265, a size N Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) block 270, a Parallel-to-Serial (P-to-S) block 275, and a channel decoding and demodulation block 280.

[0116] In the transmission path 200, the channel coding and modulation block 205 receives a set of information bits, applies coding (such as Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) coding), and modulates the input bits (such as using Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) or Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM)) to generate a sequence of frequency-domain modulated symbols. The Serial-to-Parallel (S-to-P) block 210 converts (such as demultiplexes) serial modulated symbols into parallel data to generate N parallel symbol streams, where N is a size of the IFFT / FFT used in gNB 102 and UE 116. The size N IFFT block 215 performs IFFT operations on the N parallel symbol streams to generate a time-domain output signal. The Parallel-to-Serial block 220 converts (such as multiplexes) parallel time-domain output symbols from the Size N IFFT block 215 to generate a serial time-domain signal. The cyclic prefix addition block 225 inserts a cyclic prefix into the time-domain signal. The up-converter 230 modulates (such as up-converts) the output of the cyclic prefix addition block 225 to an RF frequency for transmission via a wireless channel. The signal may also be filtered at a baseband before switching to the RF frequency.

[0117] The RF signal transmitted from gNB 102 arrives at UE 116 after passing through the wireless channel, and operations in reverse to those at gNB 102 are performed at UE 116. The down-converter 255 down-converts the received signal to a baseband frequency, and the cyclic prefix removal block 260 removes the cyclic prefix to generate a serial time-domain baseband signal. The Serial-to-Parallel block 265 converts the time-domain baseband signal into a parallel time-domain signal. The Size N FFT block 270 performs an FFT algorithm to generate N parallel frequency-domain signals. The Parallel-to-Serial block 275 converts the parallel frequency-domain signal into a sequence of modulated data symbols. The channel decoding and demodulation block 280 demodulates and decodes the modulated symbols to recover the original input data stream.

[0118] Each of gNBs 101-103 may implement a transmission path 200 similar to that for transmitting to UEs 111-116 in the downlink, and may implement a reception path 250 similar to that for receiving from UEs 111-116 in the uplink. Similarly, each of UEs 111-116 may implement a transmission path 200 for transmitting to gNBs 101-103 in the uplink, and may implement a reception path 250 for receiving from gNBs 101-103 in the downlink.

[0119] Each of the components in FIGs. 2a and 2b may be implemented using only hardware, or using a combination of hardware and software / firmware. As a specific example, at least some of the components in FIGs. 2a and 2b may be implemented in software, while other components may be implemented in configurable hardware or a combination of software and configurable hardware. For example, the FFT block 270 and IFFT block 215 may be implemented as configurable software algorithms, in which the value of the size N may be modified according to the implementation.

[0120] Furthermore, although described as using FFT and IFFT, this is only illustrative and should not be interpreted as limiting the scope of the present disclosure. Other types of transforms may be used, such as Discrete Fourier transform (DFT) and Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform (IDFT) functions. It should be understood that for DFT and IDFT functions, the value of variable N may be any integer (such as 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.), while for FFT and IFFT functions, the value of variable N may be any integer which is a power of 2 (such as 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, etc.).

[0121] Although FIGs. 2a and 2b illustrate examples of wireless transmission and reception paths, various changes may be made to FIGs. 2a and 2b. For example, various components in FIGs. 2a and 2b may be combined, further subdivided or omitted, and additional components may be added according to specific requirements. Furthermore, FIGs. 2a and 2b are intended to illustrate examples of types of transmission and reception paths that may be used in a wireless network. Any other suitable architecture may be used to support wireless communication in a wireless network.

[0122] FIG. 3a illustrates an example UE 116 according to the present disclosure. The embodiment of UE 116 shown in FIG. 3a is for illustration only, and UEs 111-115 of FIG. 1 may have the same or similar configuration. However, a UE has various configurations, and FIG. 3a does not limit the scope of the present disclosure to any specific implementation of the UE.

[0123] UE 116 includes an antenna 301, a radio frequency (RF) transceiver 302, a transmission (TX) processing circuit 303, a microphone 304, and a reception (RX) processing circuit 305. UE 116 also includes a speaker 306, a controller / processor 307, an input / output (I / O) interface 308, an input device(s) 309, a display 310, and a memory 311. The memory 311 includes an operating system (OS) 312 and one or more applications 313.

[0124] The RF transceiver 302 receives an incoming RF signal transmitted by a gNB of the wireless network 100 from the antenna 301. The RF transceiver 302 down-converts the incoming RF signal to generate an intermediate frequency (IF) or baseband signal. The IF or baseband signal is transmitted to the RX processing circuit 305, where the RX processing circuit 305 generates a processed baseband signal by filtering, decoding and / or digitizing the baseband or IF signal. The RX processing circuit 305 transmits the processed baseband signal to speaker 306 (such as for voice data) or to controller / processor 307 for further processing (such as for web browsing data).

[0125] The TX processing circuit 303 receives analog or digital voice data from microphone 304 or other outgoing baseband data (such as network data, email or interactive video game data) from controller / processor 307. The TX processing circuit 303 encodes, multiplexes, and / or digitizes the outgoing baseband data to generate a processed baseband or IF signal. The RF transceiver 302 receives the outgoing processed baseband or IF signal from the TX processing circuit 303 and up-converts the baseband or IF signal into an RF signal transmitted via the antenna 301.

[0126] The controller / processor 307 may include one or more processors or other processing devices and execute an OS 312 stored in the memory 311 in order to control the overall operation of UE 116. For example, the controller / processor 307 may control the reception of forward channel signals and the transmission of backward channel signals through the RF transceiver 302, the RX processing circuit 305 and the TX processing circuit 303 according to well-known principles. In some embodiments, the controller / processor 307 includes at least one microprocessor or microcontroller.

[0127] The controller / processor 307 is also capable of executing other processes and programs residing in the memory 311, such as operations for channel quality measurement and reporting for systems with 2D antenna arrays as described in embodiments of the present disclosure. The controller / processor 307 may move data into or out of the memory 311 as required by an execution process. In some embodiments, the controller / processor 307 is configured to execute the application 313 based on the OS 312 or in response to signals received from the gNB or the operator. The controller / processor 307 is also coupled to an I / O interface 308, where the I / O interface 308 provides UE 116 with the ability to connect to other devices such as laptop computers and handheld computers. I / O interface 308 is a communication path between these accessories and the controller / processor 307.

[0128] The controller / processor 307 is also coupled to the input device(s) 309 and the display 310. An operator of UE 116 may input data into UE 116 using the input device(s) 309. The display 310 may be a liquid crystal display or other display capable of presenting text and / or at least limited graphics (such as from a website). The memory 311 is coupled to the controller / processor 307. A part of the memory 311 may include a random access memory (RAM), while another part of the memory 311 may include a flash memory or other read-only memory (ROM).

[0129] Although FIG. 3a illustrates an example of UE 116, various changes may be made to FIG. 3a. For example, various components in FIG. 3a may be combined, further subdivided or omitted, and additional components may be added according to specific requirements. As a specific example, the controller / processor 307 may be divided into a plurality of processors, such as one or more central processing units (CPUs) and one or more graphics processing units (GPUs). Furthermore, although FIG. 3a illustrates that the UE 116 is configured as a mobile phone or a smart phone, UEs may be configured to operate as other types of mobile or fixed devices.

[0130] FIG. 3b illustrates an example gNB 102 according to the present disclosure. The embodiment of gNB 102 shown in FIG. 3b is for illustration only, and other gNBs of FIG. 1 may have the same or similar configuration. However, a gNB has various configurations, and FIG. 3b does not limit the scope of the present disclosure to any specific implementation of a gNB. It should be noted that gNB 101 and gNB 103 may include the same or similar structures as gNB 102.

[0131] As shown in FIG. 3b, gNB 102 includes a plurality of antennas 370a-370n, a plurality of RF transceivers 372a-372n, a transmission (TX) processing circuit 374, and a reception (RX) processing circuit 376. In certain embodiments, one or more of the plurality of antennas 370a-370n include a 2D antenna array. gNB 102 also includes a controller / processor 378, a memory 380, and a backhaul or network interface 382.

[0132] RF transceivers 372a-372n receive an incoming RF signal from antennas 370a-370n, such as a signal transmitted by UEs or other gNBs. RF transceivers 372a-372n down-convert the incoming RF signal to generate an IF or baseband signal. The IF or baseband signal is transmitted to the RX processing circuit 376, where the RX processing circuit 376 generates a processed baseband signal by filtering, decoding and / or digitizing the baseband or IF signal. RX processing circuit 376 transmits the processed baseband signal to controller / processor 378 for further processing.

[0133] The TX processing circuit 374 receives analog or digital data (such as voice data, network data, email or interactive video game data) from the controller / processor 378. TX processing circuit 374 encodes, multiplexes and / or digitizes outgoing baseband data to generate a processed baseband or IF signal. RF transceivers 372a-372n receive the outgoing processed baseband or IF signal from TX processing circuit 374 and up-convert the baseband or IF signal into an RF signal transmitted via antennas 370a-370n.

[0134] The controller / processor 378 may include one or more processors or other processing devices that control the overall operation of gNB 102. For example, the controller / processor 378 may control the reception of forward channel signals and the transmission of backward channel signals through the RF transceivers 372a-372n, the RX processing circuit 376 and the TX processing circuit 374 according to well-known principles. The controller / processor 378 may also support additional functions, such as higher-level wireless communication functions. For example, the controller / processor 378 may perform a Blind Interference Sensing (BIS) process such as that performed through a BIS algorithm, and decode a received signal from which an interference signal is subtracted. A controller / processor 378 may support any of a variety of other functions in gNB 102. In some embodiments, the controller / processor 378 includes at least one microprocessor or microcontroller.

[0135] The controller / processor 378 is also capable of executing programs and other processes residing in the memory 380, such as a basic OS. The controller / processor 378 may also support channel quality measurement and reporting for systems with 2D antenna arrays as described in embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the controller / processor 378 supports communication between entities such as web RTCs. The controller / processor 378 may move data into or out of the memory 380 as required by an execution process.

[0136] The controller / processor 378 is also coupled to the backhaul or network interface 382. The backhaul or network interface 382 allows gNB 102 to communicate with other devices or systems through a backhaul connection or through a network. The backhaul or network interface 382 may support communication over any suitable wired or wireless connection(s). For example, when gNB 102 is implemented as a part of a cellular communication system, such as a cellular communication system supporting 5G or new radio access technology or NR, LTE or LTE-A, the backhaul or network interface 382 may allow gNB 102 to communicate with other gNBs through wired or wireless backhaul connections. When gNB 102 is implemented as an access point, the backhaul or network interface 382 may allow gNB 102 to communicate with a larger network, such as the Internet, through a wired or wireless local area network or through a wired or wireless connection. The backhaul or network interface 382 includes any suitable structure that supports communication through a wired or wireless connection, such as an Ethernet or an RF transceiver.

[0137] The memory 380 is coupled to the controller / processor 378. A part of the memory 380 may include an RAM, while another part of the memory 380 may include a flash memory or other ROMs. In certain embodiments, a plurality of instructions, such as the BIS algorithm, are stored in the memory. The plurality of instructions are configured to cause the controller / processor 378 to execute the BIS process and decode the received signal after subtracting at least one interference signal determined by the BIS algorithm.

[0138] As will be described in more detail below, the transmission and reception paths of gNB 102 (implemented using RF transceivers 372a-372n, TX processing circuit 374 and / or RX processing circuit 376) support aggregated communication with FDD cells and TDD cells.

[0139] Although FIG. 3b illustrates an example of gNB 102, various changes may be made to FIG. 3b. For example, gNB 102 may include any number of each component shown in FIG. 3a. As a specific example, the access point may include many backhaul or network interfaces 382, and the controller / processor 378 may support routing functions to route data between different network addresses. As another specific example, although shown as including a single instance of the TX processing circuit 374 and a single instance of the RX processing circuit 376, gNB 102 may include multiple instances of each (such as one for each RF transceiver).

[0140] The time domain unit (also called time unit) in the embodiment of the present disclosure may be: an OFDM symbol, an OFDM symbol group (consisting of multiple OFDM symbols), a slot, a slot group (consisting of multiple slots)), a subframe, a subframe group (consisting of multiple subframes), a system frame, a system frame group (consisting of multiple system frames); it may also be in absolute time units, such as 1 millisecond, 1 second, etc.; the time unit may also be a combination of multiple granularities, such as N1 slots plus N2 OFDM symbols.

[0141] The frequency domain unit (also called frequency unit) in the embodiment of the present disclosure may be: a subcarrier, a subcarrier group (composed of multiple subcarriers), a resource block (resource block, RB), which may also be called a physical resource block (PRB), a resource block group (composed of multiple RBs), a bandwidth part (BWP), a bandwidth part group (composed of multiple BWPs), a band / carrier, a band group / carrier group; it may also be in absolute frequency domain units, such as 1 Hz, 1 kHz, etc.; the frequency domain unit may also be a combination of multiple granularities, such as M1 PRBs plus M2 subcarriers.

[0142] The exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0143] The text and drawings are provided as examples only to aid the reader in understanding the present disclosure. They are not intended, nor should they be construed, to limit the scope of the disclosure in any way. Although certain embodiments and examples have been provided, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art, based upon this disclosure, that changes may be made to the embodiments and examples shown without departing from the scope of the disclosure.

[0144] Those skilled in the art will understand that, as used herein, the singular forms "a," "an," "the," and "the" may include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. It should be further understood that the term "comprising" used in the specification of this application refers to the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements and / or components, but does not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, Integers, steps, operations, elements, components and / or groups thereof. It will be understood that when we refer to an element as being "connected" or "coupled" to another element, it may be directly connected or coupled to the other element or intervening elements may also be present. Further, "connected" or "coupled" as used herein may include wirelessly connected or wirelessly coupled. As used herein, the term "and / or" includes all or any units and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

[0145] It will be understood by those skilled in the art that, unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this application belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the prior art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless specifically defined herein.

[0146] Those skilled in the art may understand that the "terminal" and "terminal device" used here include both devices that are wireless signal receivers, devices that only have wireless signal receivers without transmitting capabilities, and devices that are of receiving and transmitting hardware, devices that have receiving and transmitting hardware capable of bidirectional communication over a bidirectional communication link. Such devices may include: cellular or other communications devices with single or multi-line displays or without multi-line displays; a PCS (Personal Communications Service), which may combine voice, data processing, facsimile and / or data communications capabilities; a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) that may include a radio frequency receiver, pager, Internet / intranet access, Web browser, notepad, calendar and / or a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver; a conventional laptop and / or palmtop computer or other device having and / or including a radio frequency receiver. As used herein, a "terminal", "terminal device" may be portable, transportable, installed in a vehicle (aeronautical, maritime, and / or land), or adapted and / or configured to operate locally, and / or in a distributed fashion, at any other location on earth and / or space. The "terminal" and "terminal device" used here may also be a communication terminal, an Internet terminal, a music / video playback terminal, such as a PDA, an MID (Mobile Internet Device) and / or a mobile phone with music / video playback function, or a smart TV, a set-top box and other devices.

[0147] The term "transmit" in the present disclosure may be used interchangeably with "send", "report", "notify", etc. without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0148] The text and drawings are provided as examples only to aid the reader in understanding the present disclosure. They are not intended, nor should they be construed, to limit the scope of the disclosure in any way. Although certain embodiments and examples have been provided, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art, based upon this disclosure, that changes may be made to the embodiments and examples shown without departing from the scope of the disclosure.

[0149] The transmission link of the wireless communication system mainly includes: a downlink communication link from 5G gNB to user equipment (UE), and an uplink communication link from UE to the network.

[0150] Nodes used for positioning measurement in wireless communication systems, such as current wireless communication systems, include: UEs that initiate positioning request messages, location management function (LMF) for UE positioning and positioning assistance data delivery, gNB or transmission-reception point (TRP) that broadcasts positioning assistance data and performs uplink positioning measurement, and UEs for downlink positioning measurement. In addition, the method of the present disclosure may also be extended to application in other communication systems, such as automotive communication (V2X), for example, sidelink communication, in which case the transmission-reception point or UE may be any device in V2X.

[0151] Transmission in the wireless communication system includes: transmission from the base station (gNB) to the user equipment (UE) (called downlink transmission), the corresponding slot is called a downlink slot, and transmission from the UE to the base station (called uplink transmission), the corresponding slot is called an uplink slot.

[0152] In wireless communication systems, such as LTE or NR systems, a 2-step or 4-step random access process is used to establish the link between the device and the base station. The base station periodically transmits the synchronization signal and broadcast channel to the user through the synchronization signal block (SSB, synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block, or called a first downlink reference signal), and the periodicity is the synchronization signal block periodicity (SSB periodicity), or called the synchronization signal block burst periodicity (SSB burst periodicity). At the same time, the base station will configure a random access configuration period (Physical random access channel configuration period, PRACH configuration period), and configure a certain number of random access transmission occasions (also called random access occasions, PRACH transmission occasion or PRACH occasion, RO) within this periodicity.

[0153] In New Radio (NR) communication systems, before radio resource control is established, such as during the random access procedure, the performance of random access directly affects the user experience. In legacy wireless communication systems, such as LTE and LTE-Advanced, or in 5G or NR systems, the random access procedure is applied to multiple scenarios such as establishing initial links, cell handover, re-establishing uplink links, RRC connection reestablishment, etc., and it is divided into contention-based random access and contention-free random access according to whether the user monopolizes the preamble sequence resource. Since in contention-based random access, each user selects a preamble sequence from the same preamble sequence resources when trying to establish an uplink link, multiple users may select the same preamble sequence and transmit it to the base station. Therefore, the collision resolution mechanism is an important research direction in random access. How to reduce the probability of collision and how to quickly resolve collisions that have occurred are key indicators that affect the performance of random access.

[0154] Random access includes 4-step random access (4-Step RACH, also known as type 1 random access) and 2-step random access (2-Step RACH, also known as type 2 random access).

[0155] FIG. 3c shows a schematic diagram of a 4-step random access procedure according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the contention-based random access procedure is divided into four steps, as shown in FIG. 3c. In the first step (STEP 1), the UE randomly selects a preamble sequence (also interchangeably referred to as "preamble" herein) from a preamble sequence resource pool and transmits it to the base station. The base station performs correlation detection on the received signal to identify the preamble sequence transmitted by the UE. In the second step (STEP 2), the base station transmits a Random Access Response (RAR) to the UE. The RAR may include a random access preamble sequence identifier, a timing advance indication determined based on the time delay estimation between the UE and the base station, a temporary cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI), and / or Time-frequency resources allocated for the next uplink transmission (time-frequency resources may refer to time domain resources and / or frequency domain resources). The UE is to search for the PDCCH carrying this feedback based on the RA-RNTI associated with the PRACH occasion where the random access preamble sequence is transmitted. The RA-RNTI associated with the PRACH occasion (e.g., RO) in which the random access preamble sequence is transmitted may be based on the index of the first OFDM symbol of the PRACH occasion, the index of the first slot of the PRACH occasion in the system frame, the index of the PRACH occasion in frequency domain, the UL carrier used for random access preamble transmission. For example, RA-RNTI may be calculated according to the following formula:

[0156] RA-RNTI = 1 + s_id + 14 t_id + 14 80 f_id + 14 80 8 ul_carrier_id,

[0157] where s_id is the index of the first OFDM symbol of the PRACH occasion (0 s_id < 14), t_id is the index of the first slot of the PRACH occasion in the system frame (0 t_id < 80), where the subcarrier spacing used to determine t_id is based on the value of μ for μ = {0, 1, 2, 3}, t_id is the index of the 120 kHz slot containing the PRACH occasion in the system frame (0 t_id < 80) for μ = {5, 6}, f_id is the index of the PRACH occasion in frequency domain (0 f_id < 8), UL_carrier_id is the UL carrier used for random access preamble transmission (0 for NUL carrier and 1 for SUL carrier).

[0158] In the third step (STEP 3), the user transmits a third message (message 3, Msg3) to the base station based on the information in the RAR. Msg3 contains information such as user terminal identification and RRC link request, where the user terminal identification is unique to the user and is used to resolve conflicts; In the fourth step (STEP 4), the base station transmits a conflict resolution identifier to the user, including the identifier of the user terminal that wins the conflict resolution. After detecting its own identifier, the user upgrades the temporary C-RNTI to C-RNTI, transmits an ACK signal to the base station, completes the random access procedure, and waits for the scheduling of the base station. Otherwise, the user will start a new random access procedure after a time delay.

[0159] In 2-step random access, contention-based random access includes the following two steps:

[0160] Step 1: UE transmits an uplink message MsgA to the base station, the message may include the content of PRACH and PUSCH transmission;

[0161] Step 2: After receiving MsgA, the base station transmits a downlink message MsgB to the UE, the message includes RAR and may be used for contention resolution.

[0162] In addition, 2-step random access may also include contention-free random access. The contention-free random access also includes the steps of the UE transmitting an MsgA and the base station transmitting an MsgB, wherein the preamble sequence included in the MsgA is not randomly selected but assigned by the base station.

[0163] The physical random access procedure of a UE is triggered in the following cases:

[0164] 1. higher layer requests PRACH transmission

[0165] 2. triggered by PDCCH order

[0166] 3. triggered by L1 / L2 triggered mobility (LTM) cell handover command MAC CE

[0167] The configuration of PRACH transmission by the higher layer includes the following:

[0168] 1. configuration of PRACH transmission on the cell;

[0169] 2. related preamble index, preamble subcarrier spacing, target PRACH transmit power, RA-RNTI where applicable, and PRACH resources of the cell.

[0170] 3. If the UE needs to perform repeated PRACH transmission, configure the number of preamble repetitions for PRACH transmission.

[0171] For the contention-free random access procedure, since the base station knows the user identity, a preamble sequence may be allocated to the user. Therefore, when transmitting the preamble sequence, the user does not need to randomly select a sequence, but uses the assigned preamble sequence. After detecting the allocated preamble sequence, the base station will transmit a corresponding random access response, including timing advance and uplink resource allocation information. After receiving the random access response, the user considers that the uplink synchronization has been completed and waits for further scheduling by the base station. Therefore, the contention-free random access procedure only includes two steps: step one is transmitting the preamble sequence; step two is transmitting a random access response.

[0172] For example, the random access procedure applies to the following scenarios:

[0173] 1. Initial access in RRC_IDLE;

[0174] 2. Re-establish RRC connection;

[0175] 3. Cell handover;

[0176] 4. Downlink data arrives in the RRC connected state and a random access procedure is requested (when the uplink is asynchronous);

[0177] 5. Uplink data arrives in the RRC connected state and a random access procedure is requested (when the uplink is asynchronous or no resources are allocated to the scheduling request in the PUCCH resources);

[0178] 6. Positioning.

[0179] Among the configured ROs, valid ROs may be determined therefrom based on a method for determining validity of a RO, satisfying that all SSBs may be mapped onto the corresponding valid ROs within an association period. In an SSB to RO mapping cycle, all SSBs in exactly one SSB period may be mapped to the required random access resources. There may be one or more mapping cycles in an association period. An SSB to RO association pattern period includes one or more association periods, and the SSB to RO association pattern in each association pattern period is the same.

[0180] The base station may configure a random access configuration period (for example, PRACH configuration period), and a certain number of ROs are configured within the period. By using a certain validity determination method or validity rule, valid ROs are determined from the configured ROs, satisfying that all SSBs may be mapped to the corresponding valid ROs within an association period (a certain length of time), and all SSBs within exactly one SSB period may be mapped to the required random access resources in an SSB-to-RO mapping cycle. There may be one or more mapping cycles in an association period. One SSB to RO association pattern period includes one or more association periods, and the SSB to RO mapping pattern in each association pattern period is the same.

[0181] In describing a wireless communication system and in the present disclosure described below, higher layer signaling or higher layer signal may be a signal transfer method for transferring information from a base station to a terminal through a downlink data channel in physical layer or from the terminal to the base station through an uplink data channel in physical layer, and examples of the signal transfer method may include a signal transfer method for transferring information through radio resource control (RRC) signaling, packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) signaling, or a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE).

[0182] In the following description of the present disclosure, higher layer signaling may be signaling corresponding to at least one or a combination of one or more of the following signaling.

[0183] -MIB (Master Information Block)

[0184] -SIB (System Information Block) or SIB X (X = 1, 2, ...)

[0185] -RRC signaling

[0186] -MAC CE

[0187] Physical layer (Layer 1 (L1)) signaling may be signaling corresponding to at least one or a combination of one or more of the following signaling.

[0188] -PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel)

[0189] -DCI (Downlink Control Information)

[0190] -UE specific DCI

[0191] -Group common DCI

[0192] -Common DCI

[0193] -Scheduling DCI (e.g., DCI for scheduling downlink or uplink data)

[0194] -Non-scheduling DCI (e.g., DCI other than DCI for scheduling downlink or uplink data)

[0195] -PUCCH (Physical Uplink Control Channel)

[0196] -UCI (Uplink Control Information)

[0197] In embodiments of the present disclosure, uplink control signaling may include physical layer signaling and / or higher layer signaling. As described above, physical layer signaling may include UCI and / or PUCCH, and higher layer signaling may include RRC signaling and / or MAC CE.

[0198] In embodiments of the present disclosure, downlink control signaling may include physical layer signaling and / or higher layer signaling. As described above, physical layer signaling may include one or more of PDCCH, DCI, UE-specific DCI, group-common DCI, common DCI, scheduling DCI (e.g., DCI for scheduling downlink or uplink data), non-scheduling DCI, and higher layer signaling may include one or more of MIB, SIB or SIB X (X = 1, 2,...), RRC signaling, or MAC CE. Therefore, "configuring or indicating X by downlink control signaling" will be understood as configuring or indicating X by physical layer signaling, or configuring or indicating X by higher layer signaling, or configuring or indicating X by a combination of higher layer signaling and physical layer signaling.

[0199] Random access as an important research direction of communication system, how to improve performance of random access of a user is an urgent problem to be solved.

[0200] It should be noted that the problems that may be solved by the present disclosure are not limited to the problems mentioned in the above and following descriptions, but may also solve all problems that may actually be solved according to the technical essence of the present disclosure. In addition, embodiments of the present disclosure do not necessarily solve all or each of the above problems. The technical problems actually solved by the present disclosure are determined according to the essence of the technical solutions of the present disclosure.

[0201] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present disclosure and the technical effects produced by the technical solutions of the present disclosure will be described below through the description of several exemplary implementations. It should be pointed out that the following embodiments may be referred to, referenced or combined with each other, and the same terms, similar features, similar implementation steps, etc. in different embodiments will not be described repeatedly.

[0202] The network may configure respective random access resources, e.g. dedicated random access resources or so-called additional random access resources, for certain features, e.g. network energy saving (NES). A method of performing random access in case random access resources are configured for other features (e.g., NES) needs to be considered. According to an example embodiment of the present disclosure, a method for random access in a system in which random access resources are configured for other features (e.g., NES) is proposed, such as at least some aspects of random access resource configuration, SSB to RO (SSB-RO) mapping, random access resource availability indication based on downlink control information (DCI), random access resource determination, random access resource availability reference point, and random access resource availability validity duration.

[0203] It should be noted that the problems that may be solved by the present disclosure are not limited to the problems mentioned in the above and following descriptions, but may also solve all problems that may actually be solved according to the essence of the technology of the present disclosure, nor do they necessarily solve all or every problem described. The scope of the present disclosure is presented by the technical essence disclosed therein.

[0204] For convenience of description, random access associated with a specific feature (e.g., NES) (e.g., random access resources configured for the specific feature may be used for random access and the specific feature) may be referred to as "first type random access" (or, simply, "first-random access"), and resource configured for the first-random access is referred to as "additional random access resource" (e.g., including additional RO) or "first-random access resource" (for example, may include first type random access occasion (RO) or first type RO or first-RO, etc.), where the first-random access resource may also include first-PO (PUSCH occasion, PO) or first type PO or first PUSCH occasion, etc.). Legacy random access or random access not associated with a specific feature (e.g., NES) may be called "normal random access" or "second-random access", and the resource corresponding to the second-random access is called "normal random access resource" (e.g., including normal RO), or "non-additional random access resource" (e.g., including non-additional RO) or "second-random access resource" (e.g., may include second-PRACH occasion or second type RO or second-RO, etc.), where the second-random access resource may also include second-PO or second type PO or second PUSCH occasion, etc.).

[0205] It should be noted that in this disclosure, PRACH is used as the uplink channel related to random access for description, but this is only exemplary, and PRACH may also be replaced by other uplink channels, such as physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), etc.

[0206] In the embodiment of the present disclosure, unless otherwise specified, the configuration information includes at least one of information configured by a base station, information indicated in received signaling, information configured by higher layer, preconfigured information, or predefined information. Further, the configuration information may also be a set of configuration information; may also be multiple sets of configuration information, and the UE or node may select one set of configuration information to use based on a predefined condition; may also be a set of configuration information, and the set of configuration information includes multiple subsets, and the UE or node may select a subset to use according to a predefined condition.

[0207] FIG. 4 shows a schematic diagram of a method 400 performed by a UE in a communication system provided according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 4, the method includes: steps S410, S420, S430, etc. It should be noted that at least one of the above operations may be omitted, or additional operations, for example, one or more operations in the methods described in various embodiments of the present disclosure, may be included.

[0208] As shown in FIG. 4, method 400 may include:

[0209] Step S410: UE receives configuration information related to first-random access;

[0210] Step S420: the UE obtains a first-RO subset and a first-PO according to the configuration information related to first-random access;

[0211] Step S430: The UE initiates random access on an available first-RO and / or first-PO, wherein availability indication of the first-RO and / or first-PO is provided by DCI detected by the UE.

[0212] In some embodiments, step S410 may further include the UE receiving configuration information related to second-random access, and the first-RO subset and the first-PO obtained in step S420 may be further obtained based on the configuration information related to second-random access.

[0213] For example, the DCI may include an availability indication of first-ROs and / or first-POs, or the DCI may include an availability indication of the first-RO subset and / or first-POs. For example, the DCI may be the first-DCI or the second DCI to be described below.

[0214] In an implementation, 1-bit indication information may be included in the DCI, for example, indication information "1" indicates that the first-RO is available, or the first-RO subset is available, or the first-RO subset and the first-PO associated with the first-RO subset are available, or the availability state of the first-RO is unchanged, or the availability state of the first-RO subset is unchanged, or the availability state of the first-RO subset and the first-PO associated with the first-RO subset is unchanged, and indication information "0" indicates the opposite meaning; or vice versa.

[0215] In an implementation, the availability indication in the DCI may apply to all cells of the UE, or all cells configured with the first-random access resource.

[0216] In an implementation, the availability indication in the DCI may apply to the cell in which the DCI is received, or to the first-RO subset and / or the first-PO determined by the UE.

[0217] In some implementations, if a serving cell is configured with multiple uplink carriers, for example, the multiple uplink carriers may include one or more normal uplink (NUL) carriers and / or one or more supplementary uplink (SUL) carriers, for example, when the serving cell is configured with two uplink carriers, including one NUL carrier and one SUL carrier, the first-indication field in the first-DCI and / or the second DCI (for indicating that the first-RO subset and / or the first-RO subset associated first-PO are available) is applicable to all uplink carriers of the serving cell at the same time; or, applicable to all uplink carriers configured with the first-random access resource of the serving cell at the same time (for a uplink carrier not configured with the first-random access resource, the UE ignores the first-indication field); alternatively, applicable to the uplink carrier indicated by the first-DCI and / or the second DCI, for example, the first-DCI and / or the second DCI may include information indicating the carrier or cell to which the first-indication field is applicable; alternatively, applicable to a uplink carrier configured with the first-random access resource among the uplink carriers indicated by the first-DCI and / or the second DCI.

[0218] In an implementation, the method for the first-DCI and / or the second DCI to indicate the uplink carrier may include: the first-DCI and / or the second DCI include 1 bit indicating NUL or SUL; alternatively, the first-DCI and / or the second DCI includes n bits indicating one uplink carrier among 2 ^ n uplink carriers; alternatively, the first-DCI and / or the second DCI includes n bits indicating one uplink carrier among 2 ^ n uplink carriers; alternatively, the first-DCI and / or the second DCI includes 1 bit indicating all uplink carriers in a set or list of uplink carriers configured by higher layer signaling.

[0219] It should be understood that in the embodiment of the present disclosure, the meaning of the UE monitoring DCI is equivalent to the UE monitoring the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring occasion to receive or detect DCI.

[0220] In addition, in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the meaning of the UE receiving or detecting DCI is equivalent to the UE receiving or detecting a DCI format. For example, the meaning of the UE receiving or detecting a first-DCI is equivalent to the UE receiving or detecting a first-DCI format, and the meaning of the UE receiving or detecting a second DCI format is equivalent to the UE receiving or detecting a second DCI format.

[0221] In addition, in the embodiment of the present disclosure, the meaning of the UE receiving a PDCCH order is equivalent to detecting a first-DCI format or receiving a first-DCI. For example, the first-DCI format or the first-DCI may be a DCI format or DCI related to the PDCCH order. In a non-limiting example, the first-DCI may be DCI format 1_0 scrambled with C-RNTI, and the DCI format 1_0 scrambled with C-RNTI includes a PDCCH order. In this disclosure, for the sake of expression convention, a first-DCI is sometimes also called a first-DCI format, which means the same meaning. For example, receiving a first-DCI or receiving a first-DCI format may both indicate receiving a DCI format 1_0 scrambled with C-RNTI, or indicate receiving other DCI formats scrambled with C-RNTI, or indicate receiving a DCI format related to a PDCCH order including availability indication information of a first-random access resource (e.g., including a first-RO), or indicate receiving a DCI format including availability indication information of a first-random access resource (e.g., including a first-RO) by a UE in a connected state, or indicate receiving a DCI format for triggering a contention-free random access (CFRA) or contention procedure based random access (CBRA) procedure including availability indication information of a first-random access resource (e.g., including a first-RO).

[0222] Similarly, for example, receiving a second DCI or receiving a second DCI format may indicate receiving a DCI format 1_0 scrambled with P-RNTI, or receiving other DCI formats scrambled with P-RNTI, or indicating receiving a DCI format including availability indication information of a first-random access resource (e.g., including a first-RO) by the UE in a non-connected state, or indicating receiving a DCI format for initiating a contention based random access (CBRA) procedure including availability indication information of a first-random access resource (e.g., including a first-RO).

[0223] In addition, in the embodiment of the present disclosure, the meaning of a field included in a DCI format is equivalent to the meaning of a field included in a DCI. For example, the indication / field / information included in a first-DCI format is equivalent to the indication / field / information included in a first-DCI.

[0224] Additionally, in the disclosed embodiments, the meaning of larger than or equal to is equivalent to no later than; or, no less than.

[0225] In addition, in the description of the present disclosure, for convenience of description, a physical random access channel occasion (PRACH occasion (RO), or random access occasion) is used as an example of a random access resource. It should be understood that this is only exemplary, and the random access resources described in the present disclosure may include various types of resources related to random access, such as ROs, preambles, etc. In view of this, the solution described in conjunction with a RO in the present disclosure may also include a solution of replacing the RO with a preamble or other types of random access resources without obvious collision or contradiction.

[0226] In addition, in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the meaning that the UE uses a random access resource (e.g., a first-RO and / or a second-RO) to make / initiate / perform random access is equivalent to the UE initiating random access according to the random access resource, that is, the UE selects the random access resource, and transmits PRACH or transmits PRACH preamble on the random access resource.

[0227] In some embodiments, the occasions at which the UE monitors the first-DCI and / or the second DCI may be determined based on configuration information, the configuration information may be received from the base station, or the configuration information may be pre-determined in the protocol.

[0228] In some embodiments, if the first-DCI and / or the second DCI indicate that the first-RO is available, the UE may select to select the first-RO to transmit the PRACH within a validity duration in which a first-RO is available.

[0229] It may be understood that in the embodiments of the present disclosure, sending / transmitting a random access preamble may be equivalently replaced by sending / transmitting a PRACH.

[0230] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the meaning of an available RO is equivalent to a RO available for transmitting a random access preamble or a RO available for transmitting a PRACH.

[0231] In some embodiments, the start of the validity duration in which a first-RO is available indicated by the first-DCI and / or the second DCI may be determined based on a related period to which the time when the first-DCI and / or the second DCI is detected belongs, for example, determined based on a period related to the first-random access resource to which the time when the first-DCI and / or the second DCI is detected belongs, or determined based on other periods configured by the system to which the time when the first-DCI and / or the second DCI is detected belongs; alternatively, the related period may also be a cycle related to paging, a cycle related to idle DRX (Idle-DRX) of a UE, a period dedicated to monitoring the first-DCI and / or the second DCI, etc.

[0232] For example, the start of the validity duration may be set to the end of a first-period in which the first-DCI and / or the second DCI is monitored (e.g., a paging-related cycle, a DRX-related cycle, a period dedicated to monitoring the first-DCI and / or the second DCI, etc.), the end of the last monitoring radio frame used to monitor the first-DCI and / or the second DCI in the first-period, the end of the last occasion associated with the last monitoring radio frame, the start of the next first-period, etc. Note that the above-mentioned "end" may also be replaced by "start", that is, the start of the validity duration may be determined based on the start of the first-period, the last monitoring radio frame, the last occasion.

[0233] For example, the start of the validity duration may be set to the start of a period related to the first-random access resource. For example, if the location where the first-DCI and / or the second DCI is received corresponds to a third-period of the first-random access resource, the start of the validity duration is set to the start, or the first RO, or the first valid RO, etc., of a third-period next to this third-period. For example, the third-period may be one of a PRACH configuration period, a first-RO configuration period, an association period from SSB to first-RO (SSB-first-RO), a mapping period or mapping cycle from SSB to first-RO (SSB-first-RO), an association pattern period from SSB to first-RO. In this way, it may be made simpler for the UE to select a random access resource (e.g., a RO).

[0234] In embodiments of the present disclosure, the meaning of SSB to first-PRACH (or described as SSB-first-PRACH) is equivalent to SSB to first-RO (or described as SSB-first-RO).

[0235] In some embodiments, the start of the validity duration may be determined based on a configured second-period. For example, the start of the validity duration may be set to the start of a second-period next to the second-period to which the time when the first-DCI and / or the second DCI is detected belongs.

[0236] Wherein, the second-period may be provided by higher layer RRC signaling configuration, and the second-period may be one or more default paging cycles (defaultPagingCycle), such as a multiple of a paging cycle. Optionally, the second-period is aligned with the start or end of the validity duration; Optionally, the second-period may be the same as a modification period related to system message change; boundaries of second-periods may be determined by SFN values, where SFN mod m = 0, where m is the number of radio frames included in a second-period;

[0237] In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the configuration related to the first-period, the second-period and the third-period may be provided by high-layer RRC signaling configuration, such as provided through system information (such as SIB1).

[0238] It should be understood that although the technical solutions in the present disclosure are described in conjunction with "start", "end", SFN, etc., the technical solutions of the present disclosure may also cover the cases where corresponding technology including a certain offset being added to the "start" or "end" or the SFN. All of these are not described in detail for convenience of description, but are also included within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0239] The start of the validity duration may be determined based on the configured second-period. For example, the start of the validity duration may be set to the start of the next second-period.

[0240] In the embodiment of the present disclosure, on the basis of not changing the second-random access resource, additional random access resources, such as the first-random access resource, may be configured for other features (for example, the network energy saving (NES) feature), and random access is performed in the case where random access resources are configured for other features (such as NES) to improve the performance of random access.

[0241] In an implementation, a UE is provided to receive downlink control information (DCI) transmitted by a base station to determine available or activated PRACH resources among preconfigured PRACH resources, where the preconfigured PRACH resources may be first-RO resource, its physical meaning is as the first-RO described in this disclosure.

[0242] In order to efficiently utilize PRACH resources, PRACH resources preconfigured by the base station (e.g., network side) (for example, preconfigured through higher layer RRC signaling) need to be activated or notified through signaling that the preconfigured PRACH resources are available before they may be used, which includes but is not limited to cell-common PRACH resources configured through system information, and / or dedicated PRACH resources configured through UE-dedicated signaling (for example, through RRC reconfiguration message), etc. That is, after the UE receives the configuration related to the PRACH resource, the UE cannot directly select the PRACH resource to perform the random access procedure (for example, transmit PRACH, or PRACH preamble). The UE needs to be further indicated through DCI that the configured PRACH resource is available before it may select the configured PRACH resources to perform the random access procedure; If the UE does not receive DCI indication information indicating that the configured PRACH resources are available, then the UE will not be able to use the above-mentioned preconfigured PRACH resources.

[0243] In addition, in the scenario of 2-step random access, first-random access resources may also be configured for the 2-step random access, including, for example, PRACH resources and PUSCH resources, such as first-ROs and first-POs associated with the first-ROs. The first-random access resources configured for 2-step random access may be potentially available resources that are activated or made available through an availability indication in DCI.

[0244] This may ensure that the DCI dynamically activates or notifies the UE of the available first-random access resources, ensuring that the number of resources matches the real-time load of the network, thereby avoiding the waste of the first-random access resources and shortening the time it takes for the base station to detect the first-random access resources, achieving network energy saving, avoiding network access congestion, and achieving efficient use of PRACH resources.

[0245] Note that the first-random access resource involved in this disclosure may also be replaced by a first-random access resource set, where the first-random access resource set (PRACH Resource Set) refers to a collection including a group of first-random access resources, which may also be called a first-random access resource collection. Optionally, a first-random access resource set may correspond to a first-random access resource-related configuration, for example, including configuration related to first-PRACH resources and configuration related to first-PUSCH resources, where a first PUSCH resources is associated with a first-PRACH resource. For example, a first PUSCH resource may be determined based on a first-PRACH resource and offset information. The configuration related to first-random access resources includes, for example, configuration related to PRACH time domain resources, configuration related to PRACH frequency domain resources, configuration related to PRACH preambles, configuration related to PUSCH time domain resources, configuration related to PUSCH frequency domain resources, time domain offset information between PUSCH resources and PRACH resources, etc. The configurations related to different first-random access resource sets may be different or partially the same, for example, the same in the configuration related to PRACH frequency domain resources and the configuration related to preambles; different in configurations of PRACH time domain resources, for example using different random access configuration indexes (e.g., higher layer parameter prach-ConfigurationIndex).

[0246] In the embodiment of the present disclosure, a "frequency domain resource group" is used to refer to a section of continuous spectrum resources. The UE may transmit or receive physical channels and / or physical signals on the frequency domain resource group. It may be understood that a frequency domain resource group is a section of continuous spectrum resources that the UE may use to transmit or receive signals. As shown in FIG. 3d, the first downlink frequency domain resource group has a bandwidth of X MHz and includes X0 subcarriers, and the second downlink frequency domain resource group has a bandwidth of Y MHz and includes Y0 subcarriers. In some embodiments, there is a certain spacing between the highest indexed subcarrier of the first downlink frequency domain resource group and the lowest indexed subcarrier of the second downlink frequency domain resource group, for example, Z MHz. In some embodiments, the highest index subcarrier of the first downlink frequency domain resource group and the lowest index subcarrier of the second downlink frequency domain resource group may be continuous.

[0247] In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the frequency domain resource group may also be equivalently replaced by one of: carrier, bandwidth part (BWP), Carrier segment or Carrier segment, etc.

[0248] Hereinafter, for convenience of description, the first downlink frequency domain resource group may be referred to as the first frequency domain resource group, and the second downlink frequency domain resource group may be referred to as the second frequency domain resource group. Alternatively, the first frequency domain resource group includes a first uplink frequency domain resource group and a first downlink frequency domain resource group, and the second frequency domain resource group includes a second uplink frequency domain resource group and a second downlink frequency domain resource group.

[0249] In an implementation, the first-ROs and the second-ROs may be configured on the same or different frequency domain resource groups (such as carriers or uplink BWP resources). For example, for a scenario where multiple carriers (frequency domain resource groups) are deployed within a serving cell, functions of the multiple carriers may be different. For example, one carrier among the multiple carriers is called an anchor carrier, the second-ROs may be configured on the anchor carrier, and the first-ROs may be configured on a non-anchor carrier. Wherein the anchor carrier has at least one of the following functions:

[0250] (1) Provide initial synchronization and basic system information transmission for UEs in the cell. For example, at least Synchronization Signal (SS), physical broadcast channel, and first system information block should be periodically transmitted on the downlink anchor carrier. Among them, the synchronization signal includes primary synchronization signal (Primary SS, PSS) and secondary synchronization signal (Secondary SS, SSS). For example, the anchor carrier should at least transmit SSB and SIB1 for cell defining (CD);

[0251] (2) Provide initial random access function for UEs in the cell. For example, the uplink anchor carrier should be configured with cell-common physical random access channel resources;

[0252] (3) Provide mobility management function for UEs within the cell. For example, the UE performs measurements for Radio Resource Management (RRM) purposes only based on reference signals on the downlink anchor carrier (such as SSB and / or CSI-RS (Channel State Information-Reference Signal)), without performing RRM measurements on other carriers.

[0253] In order to achieve the above functions, the anchor carrier generally has a lower frequency and a larger coverage area than other carriers. In addition, the anchor carrier may also provide basic data transmission function for UEs in the cell, but since the bandwidth of the anchor carrier is generally small, the peak rate of data transmission provided is lower.

[0254] Carriers other than the anchor carrier may be used as a supplement to the anchor carrier and are therefore called supplementary carriers. For supplementary downlink carrier (SDL), the SDL is mainly used to supplement data transmission services, for example, data transmission services that provide higher peak rates than the anchor carrier; For a supplementary uplink carrier (SUL), the SUL is used to supplement data transmission services, and / or to supplement coverage, for example, to provide data transmission services with a higher peak rate than the anchor carrier, and / or provides wider coverage than the anchor carrier.

[0255] As shown in FIG. 3e, carrier f1 is the anchor carrier and may provide basic coverage and data transmission services for the cell. Carrier f2 and carrier f3 are supplementary carriers and may provide supplementary data services for hotspot areas in the cell.

[0256] In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the anchor carrier may also be called a primary carrier or a normal carrier and other technical terms, which may correspond to the above-mentioned first frequency domain resource group, and a supplementary carrier may also be called a non-anchor carrier, a secondary carrier, a data carrier and other technical terms, which may correspond to the above-mentioned second frequency domain resource group.

[0257] In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the technical solution is described with the first-ROs and the second-ROs being configured on the same frequency domain resource group (for example, the same carrier or uplink BWP resource). However, it should be noted that the scope of application of the technical solution provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure is not limited to this, but may also be applied to the case where the first-ROs and the second-ROs are configured in different frequency domain resource groups.

[0258] In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the scenarios in which the technical solution explained may be applied include the UE initiating 4-step random access or 2-step random access, and is also applicable to contention-based random access and contention-free random access (for example, the UE initiates a contention-free random access procedure according to a PDCCH order).

[0259] Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described from more aspects below in conjunction with some examples.

[0260] For example, in a possible implementation, in step 410, the UE receives configuration information related to first-random access and second-random access, wherein the configuration information related to first-random access includes configuration information related to first-ROs and first-POs; In an implementation, for example, the configuration information related to first-random access further includes first mask index information indicating first-ROs and / or the first-POs within a certain time range. The first mask index will be described in detail later.

[0261] In step 420, the UE obtains a first-RO subset according to the configuration information related to first-ROs, obtains first-POs according to the configuration information related to first-POs, the first-POs being associated with the first-RO subset;

[0262] In step 430, the UE initiates a random access on an available first-RO and / or first-PO, wherein an availability indication of the first-RO and / or the first-PO is provided by a first-DCI and / or a second DCI detected by the UE.

[0263] For example, the UE receives configuration information related to a first-PRACH resource (or written as a first-RO resource) and a first PUSCH resource (or written as a first-PO resource), and configuration information related to a second-PRACH resource (a second-RO resource) and / or a second PUSCH (a second-PO resource), where the second-RO resource does not need to be activated or indicated as available before it may be selected by the UE for transmitting PRACH, and the first-RO resource and the first-PO resource need to be activated or indicated as available before it may be selected by the UE for initiating random access.

[0264] In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the configured PRACH resources (such as RO resources) are divided into two categories according to whether it is necessary to indicate that the PRACH resources are available:

[0265] (1) The first-RO resource (which may be one or more, when multiple, it may be referred to as a first-RO resource set) which needs to be indicated as available before it may be selected by the UE for transmitting PRACH, i.e. the first-RO resource being configured does not mean being available and needs to be activated by signaling or indicated as available before it may be selected by the UE for transmitting PRACH.

[0266] (2) The second-RO resource (which may be one or more, when multiple, it may be referred to as a second-RO resource set) which may be selected by the UE for transmitting PRACH without being activated or indicated as available, i.e. the second-RO resource means available as long as it is configured and may be used for the UE to initiate random access;

[0267] Alternatively, the second-RO resource may be referred to as a default RO resource, an activation-free RO resource, a basic RO resource, a non-additional RO resource, or a normal RO resource, and the first-RO resource may be referred to as a non-default RO resource, an activation-required RO resource, an NES feature-related RO resource, an extra or additional RO resource. In practical applications, the RO resources configured by the base station may include both the above two types of RO resources to achieve a better compromise between reducing access delay and network energy saving.

[0268] In an implementation, similarly, depending on whether the PUSCH resource needs to be indicated as available, the PUSCH resource may be divided into a first-PUSCH resource (e.g., a first-PO) and a second-PUSCH resource (e.g., a second-PO), where the first-PO needs to be indicated as available before it may be used by the UE to transmit PUSCH, or a first-RO related to the first-PO needs to be indicated as available before the first-PO may be used by the UE to transmit PUSCH, and the second-PO does not need to be indicated as available before it may be used by the UE to transmit PUSCH.

[0269] In the embodiments of the present disclosure, unless it is described as one RO or multiple ROs, for example, the UE randomly selects one RO or a group of ROs for initiating a random access procedure, that is, the UE randomly selects one RO from one or more RO resources, then the RO resource or RO described in this disclosure refer to one or more PRACH occasions (ROs), and do not distinguish between singular and plural forms. The RO may be a first-RO and / or a second-RO.

[0270] In embodiments of the present disclosure, the PRACH configuration period corresponding to the first-random access, or the PRACH configuration period corresponding to the first-RO may be referred to as a first-RO configuration period, a first-configuration period or a first-PRACH configuration period or an SSB-first-PRACH configuration period or SSB-first-RO configuration period.

[0271] In embodiments of the present disclosure, an association period corresponding to the first-random access, or an association period corresponding to the first-RO may be called a first-association period or a first-PRACH association period or an SSB-first-PRACH association period or an SSB-first-RO association period.

[0272] In embodiments of the present disclosure, an association period corresponding to the first-random access, or an association period corresponding to the first-RO may be called a first-association period or a first-PRACH association period or an SSB-first-PRACH association period or an SSB-first-RO association period.

[0273] In embodiments of the present disclosure, an association pattern period corresponding to the first-random access, or an association pattern period corresponding to the first-RO may be called a first-association pattern period or a first-PRACH association pattern period or an SSB-first-PRACH association pattern period or an SSB-first-RO association pattern period.

[0274] In embodiments of the present disclosure, a PRACH configuration period corresponding to the second-random access, or a PRACH configuration period corresponding to the second-RO may be called a second configuration period or a second-PRACH configuration period or an SSB-second-PRACH configuration period or an SSB-second-RO configuration period.

[0275] In embodiments of the present disclosure, an association period corresponding to the second-random access, or an association period corresponding to the second-RO may be referred to as a second association period or a second-PRACH association period or an SSB-second-PRACH association period or an SSB-second-RO association period.

[0276] In embodiments of the present disclosure, an association pattern period corresponding to the second-random access, or an association pattern period corresponding to the second-RO may be called a second association pattern period or a second-PRACH association pattern period or an SSB-second-PRACH association pattern period or an SSB-second-RO association pattern period.

[0277] In embodiments of the present disclosure, a PRACH slot where a first-RO is located is called a first-PRACH slot, and a PRACH slot where a second-RO is located is called a second-PRACH slot. It should be noted that a first-RO and a second-RO may belong to the same PRACH slot at the same time, (for example, the first-RO and the second-RO do not overlap in time domain, such as in different symbols; or the first-RO and the second-RO overlap in time domain but not overlap in frequency domain; or the first-RO and the second-RO overlap in both time and frequency domains), then the PRACH slot may be called the first-PRACH slot or the second-PRACH slot or a shared PRACH slot or a special PRACH slot, etc.

[0278] In embodiments of the present disclosure, for example, a PUSCH slot determined according to the configuration information related to first-random access is written as a first-PUSCH slot, and a PUSCH slot determined according to the configuration information related to second-random access is written as a second-PUSCH slot.

[0279] In embodiments of the present disclosure, a time unit is also any one of one or more of the following: a radio frame; or a slot; or a half-frame; or a paging cycle; or a modification period; or a first-PRACH association period; or a first-PRACH association pattern period; or a first-PRACH configuration period; or an SSB-first-RO mapping cycle; or a first-RO.

[0280] In embodiments of the present disclosure, the UE may obtain configuration information related to random access through system information, for example, obtain the configuration related to second-ROs through IE RACH-ConfigCommon in the system information, or obtain the configuration related to first-ROs through IE addl-RACH-Config-Dyn in the system information (the first-ROs may be first-ROs used for 4-step random access).

[0281] In an implementation, the UE may obtain the configuration related to 2-step random access through the IE MsgA-ConfigCommon in the system information, including the configuration related to msgA PRACH (for example, provided by the IE rach-ConfigCommonTwoStepRA in the system information), and the configuration related to msgA PUSCH (for example, provided by the higher layer parameter IE msgA-PUSCH-Config in the system information), where the configuration related to msgA PRACH includes the configuration related to second-RO for 2-step random access, and the configuration related to msgA PUSCH includes the configuration related to second-PO (PUSCH occasion, PO) for 2-step random access, where the second-RO resource and the second-PO resource may be collectively referred to as the second-random access resource.

[0282] In an implementation, the UE may obtain the configuration related to 2-step random access that may be used for time domain adaptation through system information (e.g., through IE addl-MsgA-Config-Dyn in system information), that is, the random access resource related to 2-step random access (including first-ROs and first-POs) may be activated or available according to indication by the first-DCI and / or the second DCI, wherein the configuration related to 2-step random access for time domain adaptation includes configuration related to additional msgA PRACH (written as first-RO) (e.g., provided by IE rach-ConfigCommonTwoStepRA in system information) and configuration related to additional msgA PUSCH (e.g., provided by higher layer parameter IE msgA-PUSCH-Config in system information), wherein the configuration related to msgA PRACH includes configuration related to first-ROs for 2-step random access, the configuration related to msgA PUSCH includes configuration related to first-POs for 2-step random access, wherein the first-RO resource and the first-PO resource may be collectively referred to as first-random access resource.

[0283] In embodiments of the present disclosure, the first-ROs described in connection with the 2-step random access may be the first-ROs configured for the 2-step random access; or the first-ROs described in connection with the 2-step random access may be the first-ROs shared by the 2-step random access and the 4-step random access, for example, the shared first-ROs are a part of the first-ROs among the first-ROs for the 4-step random access.

[0284] In an implementation, the configuration information related to first-ROs includes configuration information related to first-ROs for 4-step and 2-step random accesses; the configuration information related to second-ROs includes configuration information related to second-ROs for 4-step and 2-step random accesses.

[0285] In embodiments of the present disclosure, the second-ROs described in connection with the 2-step random access may be the second-ROs configured for the 2-step random access; or the second-ROs described in connection with the 2-step random access may be the second-ROs shared by the 2-step random access and the 4-step random access, for example, the shared second-ROs are a part of the second-ROs among the second-ROs for the 4-step random access.

[0286] In an implementation, the UE considers first-RO resources determined based on the configuration information related to first-ROs as inactive first-RO resources and first-PO resources determined based on the configuration information related to first-POs as inactive first-PO resources before the UE receives the first-DCI and / or the second DCI, wherein the inactive first-RO resources and first-PO resources may be understood as an unavailable first-RO resources and unavailable first-PO resources, i.e. the UE cannot transmit a PRACH preamble on an inactive first-RO and / or transmit a PUSCH on an inactive first-PO to initiate a random access procedure.

[0287] In an implementation, when the first-RO resources and the first-PO resources are pre-configured or the UE is provided with configuration information of the first-RO resources and the first-PO resources by a system information IE addl-MsgA-Config-Dyn, the UE receives the first-DCI and / or the second DCI, which is used to indicate that the pre-configured first-RO resources and the first-PO resources are activated or available, for example, the first-DCI and / or the second DCI includes a first-RO availability indication field, which is used to indicate that one or more first-ROs (a first-RO subset) of the pre-configured first-RO resources are available or activated, and the first-POs associated with the one or more first-ROs are available or activated, wherein the configuration information related to the first-DCI and / or the second DCI may be obtained through system information (for example, through higher-layer RRC signalling). After receiving the first-DCI and / or the second DCI transmitted by the base station, the UE selects the available first-RO and / or second-RO and the available first-PO and / or second-PO to initiate the random access procedure (e.g. transmit PRACH on the available first-RO and / or second-RO, and / or transmit PUSCH on the available first-PO and / or second-PO).

[0288] [configuration related to first-random access]

[0289] The configuration information related to the first-random access may include first configuration information related to the first-random access, including, for example, first information related to first-ROs related to the type 2 first-random access, first mask information, and second information related to first-POs related to the type 2 first-random access. In an implementation, the first configuration information (or referred to as configuration information related to first-random access resource) includes a combination of one or more of the following:

[0290] (1) Time domain related configuration information of the first-random access resource (e.g., provided by the higher layer parameter addl-MsgA-Config-Dyn), the configuration information including a combination of one or more of the following:

[0291] 1. time domain related configuration information of first-RO resources:

[0292] 1) a random access configuration index of the first-random access (e.g., provided by the higher layer parameter PRACH-Config Index) (written as the first-random access configuration index), which is used for PRACH configuration of the time domain adaptive additional RACH resources (e.g., the first-ROs), from the configuration index, the first-random access preamble format, the random access configuration period (also referred to as the first-random access period), the number and locations of random access frames in the first-random access configuration period, the indexes of subframes or slots in a random access frame, the starting symbol location of the random access preamble in a subframe or slot, the number of random access slots in a random access subframe, the number of ROs in a random access slot, the number of occupied OFDM symbols in a RO, etc.) may be determined;

[0293] 2) a single PRACH mask (e.g., provided by a higher layer parameter PRACH-Mask-SubsetIdentification-Dyn) to indicate the additional PRACH resource subset (or referred to as a first-RO subset), the PRACH mask to identify or indicate the additional PRACH resource subset (e.g., the first-RO subset), the PRACH mask being applicable for the first-random access resource time domain adaptation based on DCI format 1_0, the cyclic redundancy check (CRC) of the DCI format 1_0 is scrambled by P-RNTI (written as the second-DCI format); or the CRC of DCI format 1_0 is scrambled by C-RNTI (written as the first-DCI format).

[0294] Without changing the physical meaning, the PRACH mask may be alternatively expressed as NES feature-related PRACH mask, or NES PRACH mask, or first-RO mask, or first mask, or first mask information, or first mask index, or first mask index information, etc.

[0295] The first-RO mask is used to determine a first-PRACH resource subset (written as the first-RO subset) among the first-PRACH resources configured according to the above higher layer parameter.

[0296] In an implementation, the first-RO mask may be implemented by means of a first-RO mask index (written as a first mask index), for example, by means of a look-up table, wherein the first-RO mask index of n bits may indicate one indication of 2^n indications included in the table, the indication may identify a first-RO subset among the first-ROs configured by the higher layer parameter, the first-RO subset may be used for the PRACH transmission, and the first-ROs included in the first-RO subset determined according to the first-RO mask index are valid first-ROs.

[0297] In addition, in an implementation, the first-RO subset determined according to the first-RO mask are potentially available ROs. Whether the first-RO subset may be used by the UE for PRACH transmission needs to be determined according to other steps. For example, if the first-DCI or the second-DCI indicates that the first-RO subset is available or activated, the first-ROs in the first-RO subset may actually be used by the UE for PRACH transmission. The first-RO subset determined according to the first mask index described below may represent the potentially available first-RO subset (that is, the UE may only select the first-ROs in the first-RO subset to transmit PRACH after the first-DCI or the second-DCI indicates that the first-RO subset is available); alternatively, in other implementations, the first-RO subset determined according to the first mask index described below may represent the first-RO subset that are actually available (i.e., the UE does not need the first-DCI or the second-DCI to indicate that the first-RO subset is available, and the UE may directly select the first-ROs of the first-RO subset to transmit the PRACH).

[0298] In an implementation, unless otherwise specified, it may be considered that all ROs in the first-RO subset determined according to the first-RO mask index are valid ROs.

[0299] 2.Time domain related configuration information of first-PO resources:

[0300] 1) a first time offset, which is the time offset of the PUSCH slot where first-PO resources are located relative to the start of each first-PRACH slot, in units of the number of slots;

[0301] 2) the number of first-PUSCH slots that contain one or more first-POs, wherein each first-PUSCH slot has the same time domain resource allocation;

[0302] 3) the number of first-POs in time domain in each first-PUSCH slot, wherein first-POs including a guard gap are consecutively arranged in time domain of the first-PUSCH slot;

[0303] 4) a guard gap between the first-Pos, in units of symbols;

[0304] 5) indicates a combination of starting symbol, length, and PUSCH mapping type selected from a time domain resource allocation (TDRA) table;

[0305] 6) an index value for the first first-PO, the index value provides a valid combination of starting symbol, length and mapping type (encoded by start and length indicator value (SLIV));

[0306] (2) Frequency domain related configuration information of the first-random access resources, including a combination of one or more of the following:

[0307] 1. frequency domain related configuration of first-RO resources, comprising a combination of one or more of:

[0308] 1) the number of first-ROs frequency division multiplexed (FDMed) in a single time instance (e.g., provided by a higher layer parameter msg1-FDM);

[0309] 2) the frequency start of the first-ROs, i.e. the (frequency) offset of the first-RO lowest in frequency domain relative to physical resource block 0 (PRB 0) (e.g. provided by the higher layer parameter msg1-FrequencyStart);

[0310] The first-ROs in other frequency domain locations are calculated based on the location of the first-RO lowest in frequency domain, the size of the frequency domain resource occupied by a first-RO, and / or the frequency domain gap between the first-ROs;

[0311] 2. frequency domain related configuration of first-PO resources, comprising a combination of one or more of the following:

[0312] 1) an offset of the first-PO lowest in frequency domain with respect to PRB 0;

[0313] 2) the first number of POs frequency division multiplexed in the same time instance;

[0314] 3) the number of PRBs occupied by each first-PO;

[0315] 4) PRB-level guard band between the first-POs frequency division multiplexed;

[0316] (3) a mapping ratio (e.g., indicating the number of SSBs mapped on one first-RO (e.g., provided by the higher layer parameter ssb-perRACH-Occasion) of SSB to first-RO (SSB-first-RO);

[0317] (4) DMRS-related configuration of first-POs (e.g., first-msgA PUSCH):

[0318] 1) an indication field indicating the number of DMRS symbols, e.g., indicating whether the DMRS is single-symbol or double-symbol;

[0319] 2) an indication field indicating the location of additional DM-RS;

[0320] 3) an index indication field indicating a code division multiplexing (CDM) group.

[0321] (5) the number of ports used by each CDM group;

[0322] (6) the number of DMRS sequences for the first-POs;

[0323] In an implementation, all of the described first-ROs may be replaced with valid first-ROs, for example, an RO judged to be valid through validity judgment among all the first-ROs is the valid first-RO.

[0324] In an implementation, when one first-RO overlaps a valid second-RO in time and frequency domains, the first-RO is treated as an invalid RO before SSB-first-RO mapping.

[0325] In an implementation, the first mask is applied after the first-RO validity judgment and the SSB-to-first-RO mapping. The first-ROs determined according to the first mask are valid ROs that do not overlap with a second-RO, i.e., an RO that overlaps with a second-RO is regarded as an invalid RO and is not indicated by the first mask or is not included in the first-ROs determined according to the first mask.

[0326] [configuration related to second-random access]

[0327] The configuration information related to the second-random access may include second configuration information related to the second-random access, for example, including third information related to second-ROs related to the second-random access and fourth information related to second-POs related to the second-random access. In an implementation, the second configuration information (or referred to as configuration information related to second-random access resource) includes a combination of one or more of the following:

[0328] 1) time domain related configuration information of second-random access resources,

[0329] For example, the time domain related configuration of second-RO resources: including a random access configuration index (written as the second-random access configuration index); mapping cycle of SSB-second-RO (mapping of SSB to second-random access resource); an association period of SSB-second-RO; an association pattern period of SSB-second-RO, etc.;

[0330] further including time domain related configuration of second-PO resources: including a single time offset relative to a start of each second-PRACH slot containing a valid second-RO, in units of the number of slots; the number of slots containing one or more second-POs; the number of second-POs in time domain in each slot; a guard gap between the second-POs, in units of symbols; 5) indicates a combination of starting symbol, length, and PUSCH mapping type selected from a time domain resource allocation (TDRA) table; an index value for the first second-PO, the index value provides a valid combination of starting symbol, length and mapping type (encoded by SLIV);

[0331] 2) frequency domain related configuration information of a second-random access resource,

[0332] For example, frequency domain related configuration of the second-RO resources, including the number of second-ROs frequency division multiplexed in a single time instance; the frequency start of the first-RO, i.e. the (frequency) offset of the second-RO lowest in frequency domain relative to physical resource block 0 (PRB 0);

[0333] further including frequency domain related configuration of second-PO resources, including an offset of the second-PO lowest in frequency domain with respect to PRB 0; the number of second-POs frequency division multiplexed in the same time instance; the number of PRBs occupied by each second-PO; a PRB-level guard band between the second-POs frequency division multiplexed;

[0334] 3) a mapping ratio (e.g., indicating the number of SSBs mapped on one second-RO) of SSB to second-RO (SSB-second-RO).

[0335] 4) DMRS related configuration of second-POs (e.g., second-msgA PUSCH):

[0336] 1) indicates the number of DMRS symbols; an indication field indicating a location of additional DM-RS; an index indication field indicating a code division multiplexing (CDM) group;

[0337] (5) the number of ports used by each CDM group;

[0338] (6) the number of DMRS sequences of the second-POs;

[0339] In an implementation, a part of the configuration information related to the first-random access (for example, the third configuration information related to the first-random access) may be based on the second configuration information related to the second-random access. For example, the time domain and / or frequency domain related configuration of the first-PO resource may be the same or partially the same as the related configuration of the second-PO resource, for example, when one or more of the time domain and / or frequency domain related configuration information of the first-PO resource is not configured, the second-PO resource related configuration may be used by default (if the second-PO resource is configured). For example, the DMRS-related configuration of the second-PO may be used by default as the DMRS-related configuration of the first-PO; For example, the number of DMRS sequences of the first-PO is equal to the number of DMRS sequences of the second-PO. For another example, the time domain related configuration and / or the frequency domain related configuration of the first-PO uses the time domain related configuration and / or the frequency domain related configuration of the second-PO. The benefit of using the second-PO related configuration by default is that the higher layer signaling overhead for the first-PO related configuration may be reduced.

[0340] [2-step and 4-step random access sharing ROs]

[0341] In an implementation, for a 2-step random access procedure (e.g., a Type 2 random access procedure), the UE may initiate a 2-step random access procedure on some or all of the first-ROs in the first-RO subset configured for a 4-step random access procedure (e.g., a Type 1 random access procedure), e.g., transmit a PRACH on the first-RO. Specifically, the UE may determine the first-ROs that may be used to initiate the 2-step random access according to the first-RO subset and a PRACH mask index (or referred to as second mask information, for example, provided through a higher layer parameter msgA-SSB-SharedRO-MaskIndex), wherein the PRACH mask index indicates, for each SSB, a first-RO subset shared with the 2-step random access among the subset of first-ROs for the 4-step random access (the first-RO subset shared with the 2-step random access among the subset of first-ROs for the 4-step random access is a set of first-ROs consisting of one or more first-ROs determined according to the PRACH mask index). The UE may perform PRACH transmission on the first-RO set shared by the above 4-step random access and 2-step random access associated with the same SSB index within an SSB-first-RO mapping cycle. The method of determining the set of first-ROs shared by the 4-step random access and the 2-step random access by using the PRACH mask index to indicate part of the first-ROs in the subset of first-ROs is advantageous in that since the first-ROs in the subset of first-ROs are valid first-ROs, the UE and the network do not need to make additional validity judgmenton the shared first-ROs configured for the 2-step random access, the network may flexibly configure a certain number of valid first-ROs, and the implementation complexity of determining the valid shared first-ROs for the UE and the network is low.

[0342] [Validity judgment criteria]

[0343] In an implementation, a first-PO is considered as a valid first-PO when the first-PO does not overlap in time and frequency with one or more of the following:

[0344] 1) a valid first-RO;

[0345] 2) a valid second-RO;

[0346] 3) a valid second-PO.

[0347] In an implementation, a first-PO is considered a valid first-PO when the first-PO does not overlap in time and frequency with any one or more of the following:

[0348] 1) a valid first-RO;

[0349] 2) a valid second-RO;

[0350] 3) a valid second-PO.

[0351] In an implementation, a first-PO is considered to be an invalid first-PO if the first-PO overlaps in time and frequency with any of:

[0352] 1) a valid first-RO;

[0353] 2) a valid second-RO;

[0354] 3) a valid second-PO.

[0355] In an implementation, if a first-RO overlaps with a second-PO in time and frequency, it is considered that the first-RO is a valid RO and the second-PO is an invalid PO. For example, the priority of a RO, which may be a first-RO and / or a second-RO, may be considered to be higher than the priority of a PO, which may be a first-PO and / or a second-PO. The beneficial effect is that when time-frequency resources of a RO and a PO conflict, RO resources of a high priority may ensure that there are sufficient RO resources in the network for the UE to transmit random access preambles, ensuring the UE's random access performance.

[0356] In an implementation, the first-POs for PUSCH transmission may be defined or determined by, for example, frequency resources and time resources, and the first-PO is associated with DMRS resources, wherein the frequency resources and time resources of the first-PO are determined according to the time domain-related and frequency domain-related configurations of first-POs described in the present disclosure, and the DMRS resources are determined according to the DMRS-related configuration of first-POs described in the present disclosure. One or more first-POs are included in a first-PUSCH slot. Alternatively, the first-PO may be determined based on a first-RO subset, for example, the first-PUSCH slot in which the first-PO is located is determined based on each first-PRACH slot in which the first-RO subset is located and a first time offset. The first-POs may be determined based on the determined first-PUSCH slot and configuration information related to first-POs.

[0357] In an implementation, the UE determines a first-PUSCH slot associated with each first-PRACH slot, where each first-PRACH slot is a first-PRACH slot determined according to the first mask index, for example, the first-PRACH slot includes at least one first-RO in a first-RO subset, where the first-RO subset is determined according to the first-ROs determined according to the first-random access configuration index and the first mask index; alternatively, the first-PRACH slot is a first-PRACH slot indicated by the first mask index; alternatively, the first-PRACH slot is a first-PRACH slot included in a first time duration indicated by the first mask index; alternatively, the first-PRACH slot is a first-PRACH slot in which the first-ROs included in the first time duration indicated by the first mask index is located or belongs. The UE determines the starting or the first PUSCH slot including a first-PO (e.g., the first first-PO) in the activated uplink BWP according to the start of each first-PRACH slot and a first time offset relative to the start (included in the configuration information related to first-random access), where the first time offset (in units of, for example, the number of slots in activated uplink BWP) is a single offset of the start of the starting PUSCH slot relative to the start of the PUSCH slot including the start of each first-PRACH slot, and the first-slot is determined by a first time offset associated with the first-PRACH slot.

[0358] [Determine the first-PUSCH slot based on the first-RO subset]

[0359] In some embodiments, in step 420, the UE determines the first-PO based on a first-RO subset and configuration information (e.g., a first time offset) associated with the first-PO, wherein the first-RO subset is determined based on a first mask, and ROs within the first-RO subset are valid first-ROs.

[0360] Since only the first-ROs included in the first-RO subset that are indicated as available by the DCI are the ROs that the UE may actually select for transmitting PRACH, and the associated first-POs determined or configured according to the ROs in the first-RO subset are the POs that the UE may select for transmitting PUSCH, so the UE determines the first-PUSCH slot associated with a first-PRACH slot according to the first-PRACH slot determined based on the first mask, which helps the network optimize the configuration of the 2-step random access resource, improving the random access efficiency and resource utilization of the network. Moreover, the network does not need to detect PUSCH on all PUSCH slots, but only needs to detect PUSCH on the first-POs associated with the first-RO subset, and the network has more chances to enter sleep, which helps to achieve network energy saving.

[0361] In a possible implementation, the UE may determine the first PUSCH slot including the first first-PO (written as the first-slot) in the active uplink BWP according to the first-PRACH slot determined based on the first mask and the first time offset associated with the first-PRACH slot (for example, the unit is the number of slots in the active uplink BWP). In addition, according to the higher layer parameter value Ns related to the number of consecutive PUSCH slots (for example, included in the configuration information related to first-POs, for example provided according to nrofSlotsMsgA-PUSCH), and the first-slot, the consecutive Ns first-PUSCH slots including the first-slot may be determined, and the consecutive Ns first-PUSCH slots are said to be associated with the first-PRACH slot.

[0362] Specifically, the UE may determine the start of the first-slot based on the start of each first-PRACH slot and a first time offset, where the first time offset is a single time offset of the start of the first-slot relative to the start of a PUSCH slot including the start of each first-PRACH slot,

[0363] Wherein, in a possible implementation, the first-PRACH slot includes at least one first-RO belonging to the first-RO subset. For convenience of description, one or more first-PRACH slots including at least one first-RO belonging to the first-RO subset are called a first-subset of first-PRACH slots (referred to as a first-subset for short), that is, each first-PRACH slot included in a first-subset includes at least one first-RO, and the at least one first-RO belongs to the first-RO subset.

[0364] Alternatively, in another possible implementation, the first-PRACH slot includes at least one first-RO belonging to a first-RO subset, and the first-RO is associated with an SSB index. For convenience of description, one or more first-PRACH slots including at least one first-RO belonging to the first-RO subset and associated to an SSB index are referred to as a second-subset of first-PRACH slots (referred to as the second-subset for short), that is, each first-PRACH slot included in a second-subset includes at least one first-RO, the at least one first-RO belongs to the first-RO subset, and the at least one first-RO is associated with an SSB index(es).

[0365] In an implementation, the first-RO subset belongs to one or more first-association periods, wherein for each first-association period, if there is still a set of first-ROs or PRACH preambles not mapped toN_Tx^SSB indexes within that first-association period after an integer number of SSB index to first-RO mapping cycle, these first-ROs or preambles shall not be associated to any SSB index, wherein a first-RO mapped to a SSB index is referred to as a first-RO associated with a SSB index, and the UE obtainsN_Tx^SSB (i.e. number of SSB transmissions) by receiving a parameter value ssb-PositionsInBurst in SIB1 or RRC dedicated signaling (e.g. Serving Cell Common Configuration, ServingCellConfigCommon) or SSB configuration for multi-carrier / additional physical cell ID (SSB-MTC-AdditionalPCI).

[0366] As an example, FIG. 5 shows an example of determining the first-PUSCH slot based on the first-RO subset and the first time offset. In the figure, four radio frames (radio frames 0, 1, 2, 3), each radio frame includes 10 slots (numbered from slots 0 to 9), where the PRACH configuration period corresponding to the first-ROs (i.e., the first-configuration period) is 10 milliseconds, slot 4 and slot 9 in each radio frame are the first-PRACH slots, and each first-PRACH slot includes one first-RO. Specifically, a slot 4 of the radio frame 0 is a shared PRACH slot, that is, a first-RO and a second-RO exist in the slot at the same time, and the first-RO and the second-RO in the slot 4 of the radio frame 0 overlap in time domain and frequency domain resources, the first-RO is regarded as an invalid first-RO, and the slot 4 is a first-PRACH slot including the invalid first-RO. Two SSBs, namely SSB indexes 0 and 1, are configured according to the higher layer parameter, and the SSB indexes are associated with valid first-ROs. As one example, the first mask indicates the first first-association period (e.g., SSB-first-PRACH association period 1 as shown in the figure), then the UE determines valid first-ROs in the first first-association period (i.e., SSB-first-PRACH association period 1) as ROs in the first-RO subset according to the first mask, wherein a first-PRACH slot comprising at least one first-RO in the first-RO subset is a first-PRACH slot belonging to the first-set. According to (the time domain location of) each first-PRACH slot in the first-set including the first-RO subset, and a first time offset (for example, the first time offset is 1 slot in FIG. 5), the UE may determine (the time domain location of) a first-PUSCH slot relative to each first-PRACH slot in the first-set. Note that the first-ROs included in a first-PRACH slot not belonging to the first-set are considered as muted first-ROs, e.g. the first-PRACH slots in radio frame 2 and radio frame 3 in SSB-first-PRACH association period 2 are first-PRACH slots not belonging to the first-set. After the first time offset relative to the first-PRACH slots that do not belong to the first-set, there is no corresponding first-PUSCH slot.

[0367] As an example, FIG. 6 shows another example of determining the first-PUSCH slot based on the first-RO subset and the first time offset. In the figure, four radio frames (radio frames 0, 1, 2, 3), each radio frame includes 10 slots (numbered from slots 0 to 9), where the PRACH configuration period corresponding to the first-ROs (i.e., the first-configuration period) is 10 milliseconds, slot 4 and slot 9 in each radio frame are the first-PRACH slots, and each first-PRACH slot includes one first-RO. Specifically, a slot 4 of the radio frame 0 is a shared PRACH slot, that is, a first-RO and a second-RO exist in the slot at the same time, and the first-RO and the second-RO in the slot 4 of the radio frame 0 overlap in time domain and frequency domain resources, the first-RO is regarded as an invalid first-RO, and the slot 4 is a first-PRACH slot including the invalid first-RO. Two SSBs, namely SSB indexes 0 and 1, are configured according to the higher layer parameter, and the SSB indexes are associated with valid first-ROs. As one example, the first mask indicates the first first-association period (e.g., SSB-first-PRACH association period 1 as shown in the figure), then the UE determines valid first-ROs in the first first-association period (i.e., SSB-first-PRACH association period 1) as ROs in the first-RO subset according to the first mask, wherein a first-PRACH slot comprising at least one first-RO associated with an SSB index in the first-RO subset is a first-PRACH slot belonging to a second-set. According to (the time domain location of) each first-PRACH slot in the second-set including a part of or all of the first-ROs in the first-RO subset (note that, a first-PRACH slot included in the second-set includes at least one first-RO associated with an SSB index), and a first time offset (for example, the first time offset is 1 slot in FIG. 6), the UE may determine (the time domain location of) a first-PUSCH slot relative to each first-PRACH slot in the second-set. Note that the first-ROs not belonging to the second-set are considered as muted first-ROs and / or first-ROs not associated with an SSB index, e.g. the first-PRACH slots in radio frame 2 and radio frame 3 in SSB-first-PRACH association period 2 are the first-PRACH slots not belonging to the second-set; for another example, the first-PRACH slot corresponding to slot 9 of radio frame 1 in SSB-first-PRACH association period 1 is a first-PRACH slot that does not belong to the second-set (the first-PRACH slot does not include a first-RO associated with an SSB index, or none of first-ROs included is associated with an SSB index), there is no corresponding first-PUSCH slot after the first time offset relative to the first-PRACH slot that does not belong to the second-set.

[0368] [Based on the first-RO subset and the first mask, determine the first-PUSCH slot subset]

[0369] In some embodiments, in step 420, the UE may also determine first-PUSCH slots, or a first-PUSCH slot subset according to first-PRACH slots, the configuration information related to first-POs (for example, the first time offset relative to the first-PRACH slot) and the first mask, where the first-PRACH slots are determined according to the first-random access configuration index (that is, the first mask is not applied, or is determined not according to the first mask).

[0370] The beneficial effect of determining the first-PUSCH slot subset according to the first mask is that the network does not need to detect PUSCH on all PUSCH slots, but only needs to detect PUSCH on the first-PO included in the first-PUSCH slot subset, the network has more chances to go to sleep, which helps achieve network energy saving.

[0371] In the embodiment, the UE may determine a first-PO according to the first-PRACH slot and the first time offset relative to the first-PRACH slot. Specifically, in a possible implementation, the UE may determine the first slot including the first first-PO in the active uplink BWP (written as the first-slot) according to each first-PRACH slot and the first time offset associated with each first-PRACH slot (for example, the unit is the number of slots in the active uplink BWP). In addition, according to the higher layer parameter value Ns related to the number of consecutive PUSCH slots (for example, provided according to nrofSlotsMsgA-PUSCH), and the first-slot, the consecutive Ns first-PUSCH slots including the first-slot may be determined, and the consecutive Ns first-PUSCH slots are called to be related to the first-PRACH slot.

[0372] For example, in a possible implementation, if at least one of the following conditions is met:

[0373] 1) the first-PRACH slot includes at least one valid first-RO; or,

[0374] 2) the first-PRACH slot includes at least one valid second-RO; or,

[0375] 3) the first-PRACH slot includes at least one valid second-RO, and all of the first-ROs in the first-PRACH slot and the valid second-RO overlap in time and frequency domains at the same time; or,

[0376] 4) the first-PRACH slot includes at least one valid second-RO, and there is no first-RO in the first-PRACH slot that does not overlap with a second-RO in both time and frequency domains,

[0377] the UE may determine the start of each first-slot based on the start of each first-PRACH slot and the first time offset, where the first time offset is a single time offset of the start of the first-slot relative to the start of a PUSCH slot including the start of each first-PRACH slot.

[0378] In some embodiments, the UE may determine the first-PUSCH slot subset based on first-PUSCH slots and the first mask.

[0379] For example, in a possible implementation, the first-PUSCH slot subset includes first-PUSCH slots associated with each first-PRACH slot in the above first-subset, and is determined based on the first-PUSCH slots and the high-layer parameter value Ns related to the number of consecutive PUSCH slots (for example, provided according to nrofSlotsMsgA-PUSCH). Specifically, each first-PRACH slot in the first-subset is associated with the first-PUSCH slot in the manner that the UE may determine the start of the first-PUSCH slot (the above-mentioned first-slot) according to the start of each first-PRACH slot and the first time offset, in addition, according to the higher layer parameter value Ns related to the number of consecutive PUSCH slots (for example, provided according to nrofSlotsMsgA-PUSCH), and the first-slot, consecutive Ns first-PUSCH slots including the first-slot may be determined, and the consecutive Ns first-PUSCH slots are said to be related to the first-PRACH slot. The first time offset is a single time offset of the start of the first-slot relative to the start of the PUSCH slot including the start of each first-PRACH slot.

[0380] Or, in another possible implementation, the first-PUSCH slot subset includes first-PUSCH slots associated with each first-PRACH slot in the above-mentioned second-subset, and is based on the first-PUSCH slots and the high-layer parameter value Ns related to the number of consecutive PUSCH slots (for example, provided according to nrofSlotsMsgA-PUSCH). Specifically, each first-PRACH slot in the second-subset is associated with the first-PUSCH slot in the manner that the UE may determine the start of the first-PUSCH slot (the above-mentioned first-slot) according to the start of each first-PRACH slot and the first time offset, in addition, according to the higher layer parameter value Ns related to the number of consecutive PUSCH slots (for example, provided according to nrofSlotsMsgA-PUSCH), and the first-slot, consecutive Ns first-PUSCH slots including the first-slot may be determined, and the consecutive Ns first-PUSCH slots are said to be related to the first-PRACH slot. The first time offset is the time offset of the start of the first-slot relative to the start of a PUSCH slot including the start of each first-PRACH slot.

[0381] As an example, FIG. 7 shows an example of determining the first-PUSCH slot subset based on first-PUSCH slots and the first mask. In the figure, four radio frames (radio frames 0, 1, 2, 3), each radio frame includes 10 slots (numbered from slots 0 to 9), where the PRACH configuration period corresponding to the first-RO (ie, the first-configuration period) is 10 milliseconds, and the slot 4 and slot 9 in each radio frame are the first-PRACH slots, and each first-PRACH slot includes a first-RO. Specifically, a slot 4 of the radio frame 0 is a shared PRACH slot, that is, a first-RO and a second-RO exist at the same time, and the first-RO and the second-RO in the slot 4 of the radio frame 0 overlap in time domain and frequency domain resources, and the first-RO is regarded as an invalid first-RO. Two SSBs, SSB0 and SSB1, are associated to valid first-ROs. As an example, the first mask indicates the first first-association period (for example, SSB-first-PRACH association period 1 shown in the figure), and the UE determines valid first-ROs in the first first-association period (i.e., SSB-first-PRACH association period 1) are the ROs in the first-RO subset according to the first mask, and according to (the time domain location of) each first-PRACH slot in the first-set including the first-RO subset, and the first time offset (for example, the first time offset in FIG. 7 is 1 slot), the UE may determine (the time domain location of) the corresponding PUSCH slot relative to each first-PRACH slot in the first-set, and according to the time domain location of the PUSCH, and Ns = 2 (that is, the two consecutive slots including the PUSCH slot include first-POs), two consecutive first-PUSCH slots after a first-PRACH slot may be determined, the first-PUSCH slots are included in the first-PUSCH slot subset. It should be noted that first-PUSCH slots that do not belong to the first-PUSCH slot subset (for example, the first-PUSCH slots corresponding to first-PRACH slots that do not belong to the first-set in radio frame 2 and radio frame 3) are considered as muted PUSCH slots or invalid PUSCH slots.

[0382] As an example, FIG. 8 shows another example of determining the first-PUSCH slot subset based on first-PUSCH slots and the first mask. In the figure, four radio frames (radio frames 0, 1, 2, 3), each radio frame includes 10 slots (numbered from slots 0 to 9), where the PRACH configuration period corresponding to the first-RO (i.e., the first-configuration period) is 10 milliseconds, slot 4 and slot 9 in each radio frame are first-PRACH slots, and each first-PRACH slot includes a first-RO. Specifically, a slot 4 of the radio frame 0 is a shared PRACH slot, that is, a first-RO and a second-RO exist at the same time, and the first-RO and the second-RO in the slot 4 of the radio frame 0 overlap in time domain and frequency domain resources, and the first-RO is regarded as an invalid first-RO. Two SSBs, SSB0 and SSB1, are associated with valid first-ROs, and slot 9 in radio frame 1 does not include a first-RO associated with an SSB index. As an example, the first mask indicates the first first-association period (for example, SSB-first-PRACH association period 1 shown in the figure), and the UE determines valid first-ROs in the first first-association period (i.e., SSB-first-PRACH association period 1) are ROs in the first-RO subset according to the first mask, and according to (the time domain location of) each first-PRACH slot in the second-set including the first-RO subset, and the first time offset (for example, the first time offset in FIG. 8 is 1 slot), the UE may determine the corresponding PUSCH slot (or its time domain location) relative to each first-PRACH slot in the first-set, and according to the time domain location of the PUSCH, and Ns = 2 (that is, the two consecutive slots including the PUSCH slot include first-POs), the two consecutive first-PUSCH slots after a first-PRACH slot may be determined, the first-PUSCH slots are included in the first-PUSCH slot subset. It should be noted that first-PUSCH slots that do not belong to the first-PUSCH slot subset (for example, the first-PUSCH slots corresponding to the first-PRACH slots that do not belong to the first-set in radio frame 2 and radio frame 3) are considered as muted PUSCH slots or invalid PUSCH slots, and the first-PUSCH slot subset does not include slot 9 in radio frame 1 because this slot does not include a first-RO associated with an SSB index.

[0383] In an implementation, according to each first-PRACH slot in the first-set or the second-set, first-POs included in Ns consecutive first-PUSCH slots associated with the first-PRACH slot may be determined, wherein each of the Ns consecutive first-PUSCH slots includes one or more first-POs.

[0384] [PRACH being mapped to first-PO]

[0385] [Calculate mapping ratio based on first-ROs without being applied the first mask]

[0386] In an implementation, the UE selects an available first-RO to transmit a PRACH preamble and transmits a PUSCH on a first-PO associated with the available first-RO. Alternatively, the UE selects an available first-RO to transmit a PRACH preamble, and transmits a PUSCH on a first-PO associated with the available first-RO and the PRACH preamble (index).

[0387] In an implementation, the UE selects an available first-RO to transmit a PRACH preamble and a first-PO to transmit PUSCH, wherein the available first-RO and the PRACH preamble (index) are associated with the first-PO in such a way that, from the valid first-ROs in the first-PRACH slot, consecutive N_ p preamble indexes are mapped to the valid first-PO and its associated DMRS resource in the following order:

[0388] Among them, the arranging rule for PRACHs are:

[0389] first, in increasing order of preamble indexes within a single first-RO;

[0390] second, in increasing order of frequency resource indexes for frequency multiplexed first-ROs

[0391] third, in increasing order of time resource indexes for time multiplexed first-ROs within a PRACH slot;

[0392] The mapped preamble indexes are further mapped to valid first-POs and associated DMRS resource thereof in the following order:

[0393] first, in increasing order of frequency resource indexesf_idfor frequency multiplexed first-POs;

[0394] second, in increasing order of DMRS resource indexes within a first-PO, where a DMRS resource indexDMRS_idis arranged first in an ascending order of a DMRS port index and second in an ascending order of a DMRS sequence index;

[0395] third, in increasing order of time resource indexest_id for time multiplexed first-POs within the same first-PUSCH slot;

[0396] fourth, in increasing order of indexes forNsfirst-PUSCH slots.

[0397] where,N_p is calculated as:N_p = ceil (T_preamble / T_pusch),

[0398] where T_preamble is the number of valid first-ROs per first time duration multiplied by the number of preambles per valid first-RO;

[0399] where T_pusch is the number of valid first-POs per first-PUSCH configuration per first time duration multiplied by the number of DMRS resource indices per valid first-PO.

[0400] Wherein the DMRS resource-related configuration of the first-POs and the number of preambles per first-RO are provided by a higher layer parameter.

[0401] In a possible implementation, the first time duration may be at least one of:

[0402] 1) one or an integer number p of consecutive first-PRACH association periods;

[0403] 2) one or an integer number p of consecutive first-PRACH association pattern periods;

[0404] 3) one or an integer number p of consecutive first-PRACH configuration periods;

[0405] 4) one or an integer number p of consecutive SSB-first-RO mapping cycles;

[0406] 5) a fixed time length, such as 160ms, or 320ms, etc.

[0407] 6) one or an integer number p of consecutive second-PRACH configuration periods;

[0408] Among them, p is an integer greater than or equal to 2.

[0409] Alternatively, in another possible implementation, the first time duration may also be a duration including the first-RO subset determined according to the first mask.

[0410] For example, the first time duration includes one or more first-PRACH association periods within a first-PRACH association pattern period indicated by the first mask index. For example, a PRACH association pattern period includes K first-PRACH association periods. For example, according to an n-bit first mask index, 2^n cases may be indicated, where the 2^n cases include at least one of:

[0411] 1) The first half of K association periods;

[0412] 2) The second half of K association periods;

[0413] 3) the first quarter of the K association periods;

[0414] 4) the second quarter of the K association periods;

[0415] 5) the third quarter of the K association periods;

[0416] 6) the fourth quarter of the K association periods;

[0417] 7) every even association period;

[0418] 8) every odd association period;

[0419] 9) the k-th association period, where k = 1, 2, 3, 4,..., K;

[0420] For another example, the first time duration includes one or more first-PRACH association pattern periods within a fifth-period indicated by the first mask index. Specifically, the fifth-period starting from frame 0 includes one or more association pattern periods. Preferably, the fifth-period may be predetermined by the protocol, such as 160 milliseconds, 320 milliseconds; Optionally, a fifth-period is equal to a multiple of the maximum value of the SSB-RO association pattern period, such as 160 milliseconds, 320 milliseconds, 480 milliseconds, 640 milliseconds, etc., and the multiple may be predetermined by the protocol or configured through higher layer signaling (such as RRC signaling); Optionally, the number of associated pattern periods included in a fifth-period is M_t, for example, M_t = 8 or 16, where M_t may be predetermined by the protocol or configured through high-layer signaling (such as RRC signaling). The first-PRACH association pattern period index s2 {1,2,...,S2} or s2 {0,2,...,S2-1} is incrementally numbered for the first-PRACH association pattern period starting from the first frame, or starting from frame 0, in a fifth-period, where S2 is the number of first-PRACH association pattern periods included in one fifth-period, and the first-PRACH association pattern period indexes may be reset in each fifth-period.

[0421] [DCI availability indication]

[0422] In an implementation, the first-DCI and / or the second-DCI includes an availability indication field for the first-RO subset,

[0423] In an implementation, the second-DCI format includes a combination of at least one or more of the following fields:

[0424] 1) a first-RO (an additional RO) availability indication (written as first-indication for simplicity)-(e.g. 1 bit). The first-indication field indicates that the first-RO subset is available or activated.

[0425] If first-ROs and first-POs are configured for the 2-step random access, the first-indication further indicates that the first-POs associated with the first-RO subset are available or activated. For example, the first-POs included in the first-PUSCH slot determined according to each first-PRACH slot included in the first-subset or the second-subset and the first time offset are available or activated first-POs.

[0426] 2) a random access type indication (written as second-indication for simplicity)-(e.g., 1 bit), this indication field indicates that the first-RO subset is for 4-step random access or 2-step random access.

[0427] In an implementation, the second-DCI format includes a first-indication field and a second-indication field, that is, the UE may obtain availability indication information for the first-ROs or the first-RO subset according to the detected second-DCI format, and the second-DCI format includes a P-RNTI scrambled CRC.

[0428] In an implementation, the second-indication may also be provided according to higher layer signaling, for example included in configuration related to 2-step random access.

[0429] In an implementation, the UE detects the first-DCI and / or the second-DCI, and determines the first-RO subset and the first-POs associated with the first-RO subset are available or activated based on the first-indication and the second-indication included in the detected first-DCI and / or the second-DCI, including at least one of the following cases:

[0430] 1) if the second-indication field indicates that the first-RO subset may be used for 2-step random access and the first-indication indicates that the first-RO subset is available, the UE considers first-POs associated with the first-RO subset as available or activated; and / or

[0431] 2) if the second-indication field indicates that the first-RO subset is for 4-step random access and the first-indication indicates that the first-RO subset is available, the UE considers the first-POs associated with the first-RO subset as not available or not activated; and / or,

[0432] 3) if the second-indication field indicates that the first-RO subset is for 4-step random access or 2-step random access, and the first-indication indicates that the first-RO subset is not available, the UE considers the first-POs associated with the first-RO subset as not available or not activated.

[0433] In an implementation method, unless otherwise specified, all involved ROs are valid ROs, and all involved POs are valid Pos

[0434] FIG. 9 shows a schematic structural diagram of a user equipment 900 according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure. Referring to FIG. 9, the user equipment 900 includes a transceiver 901 and a controller 902. The transceiver 901 is configured to transmit data or signals and to receive data or signals. The controller 902 is coupled with the transceiver 901 and configured to perform control such that the user equipment 900 performs a method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In an implementation, the user equipment 900 may also include a memory (not shown) on which computer-executable instructions are stored. When the instructions are executed by the controller 902, the user equipment 900 may perform at least one method corresponding to the above-mentioned embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0435] FIG. 10 shows a schematic structural diagram of a network side device 1000 (such as base station) according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure. Referring to FIG. 10, the network side device 1000 includes a transceiver 1001 and a controller 1002. The transceiver 1001 is configured to transmit data or signals and to receive data or signals. The controller 1002 is coupled with the transceiver 1001 and configured to perform control such that the network side device 1000 performs a method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In an implementation, the network side device 1000 may also include a memory (not shown) on which computer-executable instructions are stored. When the instructions are executed by the controller 1002, the network side device 1000 may perform at least one method corresponding to the above-mentioned embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0436] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the above illustrative embodiments are described herein and are not intended to be limiting. It should be understood that any two or more of the embodiments disclosed herein may be combined in any combination. Additionally, other embodiments may be utilized, and other changes may be made, without departing from the spirit and scope of the subject matter presented herein. It will be readily understood that the aspects of the present disclosure, as generally described herein, and illustrated in the figures, may be arranged, substituted, combined, separated, and designed in a wide variety of different configurations, all of which are contemplated herein.

[0437] Those of skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and steps described herein may be implemented as hardware, software, or combinations of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such design decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

[0438] The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described herein may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

[0439] The steps of a method or algorithm described herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. A software module may reside in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such that the processor may read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal. In the alternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a user terminal.

[0440] In one or more exemplary designs, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. Storage media may be any available media that may be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer.

[0441] The above descriptions are only exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure and are not intended to limit the scope of protection of the present disclosure, which is determined by the appended claims.

Claims

1.A method performed by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:receiving first configuration information related to a first-random access, the first configuration information including first information related to first-random access occasions (ROs) related to a type 2 random access, first mask information and second information related to first physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) occasions (POs) related to the type 2 random access;receiving downlink control information (DCI) including availability indication information related to a first-RO subset and / or a first-PO associated with the first-RO subset;transmitting a physical random access channel (PRACH) based on the first-RO subset that is available and transmitting a PUSCH based on a first-PO that is available and associated with the first-RO subset,wherein the first-RO subset is determined based on the first information and the first mask information, the first-PO associated with the first-RO subset is determined according to the first-RO subset and the second information, and at least one of the first-RO subset or the first-PO associated with the first-RO subset is indicated as available according to the DCI.2.The method of claim 1, wherein the first-PO associated with the first-RO subset is determined based on a first-PUSCH slot determined according to a first-PRACH slot that includes at least one first-RO in the first-RO subset and first offset information indicating an offset of the first-PUSCH slot with respect to the first-PRACH slot,wherein the first offset information is included in the second information.3.The method of claim 1, wherein the first-PO associated with the first-RO subset is one of first-POs determined based on the second information.4.The method of claim 1, further comprising:receiving second configuration information related to a second-random access, the second configuration information including third information associated with second-ROs and fourth information associated with second-POs,wherein a first-PRACH slot in which the first-RO subset is located includes at least one first-RO associated with a synchronization signal physical broadcast channel block (SSB) index, and / orthe first-PRACH slot in which the first-RO subset is located includes at least one valid first-RO and / or valid second-RO.5.The method of claim 4,wherein if resources of a first-RO and a second-PO overlap, the first-RO is a valid first-RO and the second-PO is an invalid PO.6.The method of claim 1, wherein a first-PO associated with the first-RO subset is a valid first-PO,wherein the first-PO is considered the valid first-PO if the first-PO does not overlap with any of: a valid first-RO, a valid second-RO and a valid second-PO.7.The method of claim 1, wherein the first mask information indicates a first time duration, and the first-RO subset includes first-ROs within the first time duration.8.The method of claim 7, wherein consecutive N_p preambles from valid first-ROs in each first-PRACH slot including at least one first-RO in the first-RO subset are mapped to a valid first-PO and an associated demodulation reference signal (DMRS) resource,where N_p=ceil(T_ preamble / T_ PUSCH),where ceil denotes a ceiling function,T_ preambleis determined based on valid first-ROs in each first time duration,T_ PUSCHis determined based on the valid first-POs in each first time duration.9.The method of claim 7, wherein the first time duration includes at least one of:one or more consecutive first-PRACH association periods;one or more consecutive first-PRACH association pattern periods;one or more consecutive first-PRACH configuration periods;one or more consecutive SSB to a first-PRACH mapping cycles;predetermined one or more time units; andone or more consecutive second-PRACH configuration periods.10.The method of claim 4,wherein third configuration information related to the first-random access is determined based on the second configuration information related to the second-random access.11.The method of claim 10, wherein transmitting PRACH based on the first-RO subset and transmitting PUSCH based on the first-PO associated with the first-RO subset comprises:selecting a RO for transmitting the PRACH, the selected RO being a first-RO in the first-RO subset and / or a second-RO,selecting a PO associated with the selected RO for transmitting the PUSCH.12.The method of claim 1, wherein the first configuration information further comprises configuration information related to a type 1 random access,wherein the first-RO subset includes first-ROs shared with the type 1 random access.13.A method performed by a base station in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:transmitting first configuration information related to a first-random access, the first configuration information including first information related to first-random access occasions (ROs) related to a type 2 random access, first mask information and second information related to first-physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) occasions (POs) related to the type 2 random access;transmitting downlink control information (DCI) including availability indication information related to a first-RO subset and / or a first-PO associated with the first-RO subset; andreceiving a physical random access channel (PRACH) and a PUSCH, wherein the PRACH is transmitted based on the first-RO subset that is available and the PUSCH is transmitted based on a first-PO that is available and associated with the first-RO subset,wherein the first-RO subset is determined based on the first information and the first mask information, the first-PO associated with the first-RO subset is determined according to the first-RO subset and the second information, and the first-RO subset and / or the first-PO associated with the first-RO subset is indicated as available according to the DCI.14.A user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the UE comprising:a transceiver; andat least one processor coupled with the transceiver and configured to:receive first configuration information related to a first-random access, the first configuration information including first information related to first-random access occasions (ROs) related to a type 2 random access, first mask information and second information related to first physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) occasions (POs) related to the type 2 random access,receive downlink control information (DCI) including availability indication information related to a first-RO subset and / or a first-PO associated with the first-RO subset,transmit a physical random access channel (PRACH) based on the first-RO subset that is available and transmitting a PUSCH based on a first-PO that is available and associated with the first-RO subset,wherein the first-RO subset is determined based on the first information and the first mask information, the first-PO associated with the first-RO subset is determined according to the first-RO subset and the second information, and the first-RO subset and / or the first-PO associated with the first-RO subset is indicated as available according to the DCI.15.A base station in a wireless communication system, the base station comprising:a transceiver; andat least one processor coupled with the transceiver and configured to:transmit first configuration information related to a first-random access, the first configuration information including first information related to first-random access occasions (ROs) related to a type 2 random access, first mask information and second information related to first-physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) occasions (POs) related to the type 2 random access,transmit downlink control information (DCI) including availability indication information related to a first-RO subset and / or a first-PO associated with the first-RO subset, andreceive a physical random access channel (PRACH) and a PUSCH, wherein the PRACH is transmitted based on the first-RO subset that is available and the PUSCH is transmitted based on a first-PO that is available and associated with the first-RO subset,wherein the first-RO subset is determined based on the first information and the first mask information, the first-PO associated with the first-RO subset is determined according to the first-RO subset and the second information, and the first-RO subset and / or the first-PO associated with the first-RO subset is indicated as available according to the DCI.

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