PDCCH Monitoring Occasion Dropping for High-Frequency 5G NR
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Solution Overview
Problem
In 5G New Radio (NR) networks operating above 52.6 GHz, increasing subcarrier spacing to combat phase noise strains user equipment (UE) processing resources and power consumption due to reduced symbol duration, particularly in PDCCH monitoring.
Innovation Solution
Implement multi-slot PDCCH monitoring (MSM) with slot groups and window-based PDCCH MO dropping to alleviate processing strain, combined with multi-PDSCH/PUSCH scheduling and PxSCH repetition to optimize resource allocation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If subcarrier spacing is increased to provide robustness to phase noise, then communication robustness is improved, but symbol duration is reduced which increases UE processing load and power consumption
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides PDCCH monitoring into two separate search space groups (first SS group and second SS group) with different subcarrier spacings. The first SS group uses a first subcarrier spacing while the second SS group uses a second subcarrier spacing, allowing the UE to process control channels at different rates and reduce overall processing load during handover operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamic switching between different search space groups based on handover state. The UE transitions from monitoring the first SS group during active handover to the second SS group after handover completion, adapting the monitoring behavior to the current operational phase to optimize power consumption while maintaining communication robustness.
2Reliability
If subcarrier spacing is increased to provide robustness to phase noise, then communication robustness is improved, but symbol duration is reduced which increases UE processing resources strain
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments PDCCH monitoring into distinct search space groups with different subcarrier spacings. By separating the monitoring tasks into first SS group (with first SCS) and second SS group (with second SCS), the UE can allocate processing resources more efficiently and avoid the strain of processing all control channels at the higher subcarrier spacing rate simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different quality characteristics to different search space groups by assigning different subcarrier spacings to each group. The first SS group uses a subcarrier spacing optimized for handover monitoring while the second SS group uses a different subcarrier spacing for post-handover monitoring, allowing each group to have locally optimized processing requirements.
3Reliability
If PDCCH monitoring is performed in all slots to ensure reliable control channel reception, then communication reliability is maintained, but power consumption and processing load increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements periodic monitoring of PDCCH in the second search space group after handover completion, rather than continuous monitoring in all slots. This periodic approach maintains reliable control channel reception while significantly reducing power consumption and processing load during non-critical periods.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies partial monitoring action by focusing intensive monitoring on the first search space group during handover (when it's most critical) and using reduced/periodic monitoring on the second search space group afterward. This ensures reliability during critical phases while reducing overall power consumption during less critical phases.
Data Source
AI summary
A user equipment (UE) is configured to receive, from a network, search space set configurations to monitor physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) including multi-slot PDCCH monitoring parameters for search space sets in a first search space (SS) group and search space sets in a second SS group, the multi-slot PDCCH monitoring parameters including a number of slots X included in a slot group and a number of slots Y used for monitoring the first search space groups in a slot group, determine a length and a location of a monitoring occasion (MO) dropping window (MO-DW) based on a location of a second SS group MO and drop one or more first SS group MOs that fall within the MO-DW.