CN111034307A

CN111034307A - Improvements in or relating to paging in new radios

Info

Publication number: CN111034307A
Application number: CN201880055955.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 卡罗琳·加科特; 埃夫斯塔希奥斯·卡塔纳罗斯; 本尼·阿苏里; 罗恩·罗伊; 奥利维尔·马克; 米卡尔·贝尔吉
Original assignee: JRD Communication Shenzhen Ltd
Current assignee: JRD Communication Shenzhen Ltd
Priority date: 2017-09-11
Filing date: 2018-09-10
Publication date: 2020-04-17
Anticipated expiration: 2038-09-10
Also published as: GB201714552D0; GB2566316A; WO2019047958A1; CN111034307B

Abstract

A method of providing paging related transmissions to a UE operating in a wireless system operating in at least a beam scanning mode, the method comprising: sending the paging-related transmission to the UE on an associated transmission beam.

Description

Improvements in or relating to paging in new radios

Technical Field

The present application relates to wireless communication systems, and more particularly to apparatus and methods for operating a wireless communication system, and particularly, but not exclusively, to improvements in or relating to paging in New Radio (NR).

Background

Wireless communication systems, such as third generation (3G) mobile telephone standards and techniques are well known. The 3G standards and technologies were developed by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3 GPP). Third generation wireless communications were developed to support macro cellular mobile telephone communications. Communication systems and networks are evolving towards broadband mobile systems.

The third generation partnership project has developed a so-called Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, i.e., an Evolved Universal terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), in which one or more macrocells are supported by a base station eNodeB or eNB (Evolved NodeB). Recently, LTE has further evolved towards so-called 5G or NR (New Radio technology) systems, in which one or more macrocells are supported by a base station gN.

NR requires on the one hand the provision of a paging design with similar functionality as currently provided by LTE. This means that beam scanning overhead (beam sweeping overhead) for paging in the NR needs to be considered.

The present application uses the following notation, PI is used to indicate a Paging Indication (Paging Indication) transmitted on a NR Physical Dedicated Control Channel (PDCCH); the PM indicates a paging message (paging message) transmitted on an NR Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH).

Paging in LTE is designed as follows:

the UE in IDLE mode (IDLE mode) wakes up periodically and monitors the PDCCH in the Paging Period (PO) of the Paging Frame (PF) in order to detect the presence of PM.

PO is one subframe that can carry PDCCH addressed PM.

PF is a radio frame that may contain one or more POs.

PO and PF are derived from the UE-ID and Network (NW) configuration (Discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle and parameter nB, i.e. the number of paging periods per DRX cycle).

-the UE in idle mode wakes up every 32, 64, 128, 256 radio frame.

From the NW perspective, different UEs may be distributed in different POs and PFs.

Figure 1 shows an example of paging configuration in LTE.

PDCCH scrambled by Paging Radio Network Temporary Identity (P-RNTI) in Common-Synchronization Signaling (SS) is used for scheduling PM.

All enbs in the tracking area transmit the same PM.

Since paging requirements of NRs should be similar, NRs should support similar paging functions as in LTE. However, in the case of NR multi-beam operation, for UEs using different Tx beams (i.e. using beam scanning operation), it would be necessary to transmit the PM multiple times. This is because the gNB does not know exactly where the UE is in the network and, moreover, the gNB does not know the best transmission (Tx) beam for the UE. This will result in:

increase UE power consumption.

If the UE in idle or inactive state does not know the paging Downlink Control Information (DCI) resource location, which is the UE transmitting through the appropriate Tx beam, the UE will need to stay awake and perform DCI blind detection during the beam scanning transmission of the paging DCI, which consumes power.

Increase paging transmission overhead.

PM transmission overhead will increase since beam scanning transmissions on certain beams, i.e. PM transmissions, will not reach the target UE.

Fig. 2 and 3 show two examples of PM transmissions for multi-beam based operation, respectively, where the PM transmissions are beam scanned on continuous and discontinuous resources, respectively.

A comparison between LTE paging capacity requirements and millimeter wave (mmW) paging capacity requirements is parsed based on the parameters given in the table below.

The DL paging overhead can be calculated by using the following formula 1:

in LTE, each set of SS bursts includes only one SS block. However, in mmW, each set of SS pulses may have up to 64 SS blocks.

On the other hand, LTE has a 20MHz bandwidth, while component carriers of mmW may have a 100MHz bandwidth. In addition, the spectrum efficiency at the edge of the LTE cell is 0.1 bps/Hz. Simulation results indicate that the cell edge of the NR may reach 0.225 bps/Hz.

Based on these data, the DL paging overhead for LTE and mmW is shown in fig. 4. The maximum paging rate of LTE, 6400 UEs per second, consumes approximately 13% of the DL capacity. In mmW networks, the DL capacity requirement for the same paging rate is much higher, reaching 73% of the DL capacity for 64 SS blocks. This is 5-6 times higher than the corresponding DL capacity requirement for paging in LTE networks.

Various proposals have been made to address the problems associated with paging and the overhead it uses. The proposals proposed to date have essentially failed to provide an effective and practical solution. There is a need to solve the problems associated with paging in NRs.

It is an object of the present application to seek to address at least some of the salient problems in the field.

Disclosure of Invention

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

In a first aspect, the present application provides a method of providing paging-related transmissions to a UE operating in a wireless system operating in at least a beam scanning mode, the method comprising: sending the paging-related transmission to the UE on an associated transmission beam.

Preferably, the paging related transmission is integrated into at least one of a paging indication, a paging message, and a combination thereof.

Preferably, the paging related transmission is transmitted through at least one of a paging indication, a higher layer configuration, a beam alignment procedure, and based on a previously used transmission beam.

Preferably, the paging indicator indicates a schedule for delivering the paging message.

Preferably, the schedule includes at least one of time and frequency.

Preferably, the signalling of the associated transmission beam may be 2 × log₂At least one of a start index and an end index of L-bit wrap around and a bitmap of L-bits, where L is a number of beams.

Preferably, if the UE is in an inactive state or an idle state, the UE is directed to a specific beam of a specific cell for paging.

Preferably, one or more UEs are in a static or semi-static position.

Preferably, if the UE is converted from the connected state to the idle state or the inactive state, the UE configured by the network to monitor the paging message on the aligned beam saves the last aligned beam for paging monitoring, and the UE becomes aligned with the beam.

Preferably, if the UE is beam-aligned, the paging indication includes resource allocation of a paging message, and the UE beam is aligned on the same beam indicated by the paging indication, the UE acquires the paging message, otherwise, the UE ignores the paging indication.

Preferably, the UE is considered to be beam misaligned if the UE is no longer monitoring the aligned beam during an idle state or an inactive state.

Preferably, if the UE is not aligned to the beam, the paging indicator does not include resource allocation of the paging message, and the UE is still in the coverage of the cell where the beam is aligned last time, the UE ignores the paging indicator, otherwise, the UE seeks to obtain another method for paging.

Preferably, the other method includes at least one of a random access procedure and a reply with a special signal.

Preferably, if the UE is in the idle mode, the core network provides the last aligned beam to the UE through the interface.

Preferably, the interface includes at least one of an NG interface and an Xn interface.

Preferably, the relevant beam for paging message transmission is derived by the gNB and the UE according to the gNB indication in the PHY channel and the last beam acknowledged by the UE.

Preferably, the PHY channel is any one of PDSCH and PUCCH.

Preferably, the last relevant beam is listed and recorded by the base station and the UE.

Preferably, the number of last relevant beams is sent to the UE through higher layer configuration.

Preferably, a UE that acquires the paging indication and recognizes that a paging message may be associated therewith but that it cannot receive the paging message may connect to the base station to retrieve the paging message.

Preferably, the paging message is transmitted on at least one of a single beam or a plurality of beams, rather than on all beams.

Preferably, the local beam sweep occurs between the nearest correlation beam to the next second nearest correlation beam.

Preferably, the paging indicator is transmitted on at least one of a single cell or a plurality of cells in the tracking area.

Preferably, the paging indication does not include resource allocation for paging messages.

The UE uses the paging indication to determine whether the paging message is related thereto.

Preferably, in case of beam scanning, the resource allocation on the beam on which the paging message is not transmitted may be null.

Preferably, when the paging indication is an omni-directional transmission, the resource allocation includes a beam identification for the paging message transmission.

Preferably, the paging related transmission comprises a paging indication and a paging message.

Preferably, one or more UEs are in a static or semi-static position.

Preferably, if the UE is converted from the connected state to the idle state or the inactive state, the UE configured by the network to monitor one or more paging related transmissions on the aligned beam for paging monitoring saves the last aligned beam for paging monitoring.

Preferably, if the UE is in the idle mode, the core network provides a final aligned beam to the UE through an interface.

Preferably, the interface comprises at least one NG interface, and Xn is the interface.

Preferably, the or each associated beam of the paging indication and paging message transmission is configured in dependence on at least one of a last aligned beam and a number of last aligned beams.

Preferably, the transmission is on the last used beam.

Preferably, the related beams for paging indication and paging message transmission are derived by the gNB and the UE according to the final beam confirmed by the gNB indication and the UE.

Preferably, the last relevant transmission beam is listed and recorded by the base station and the UE.

Preferably, the number of last relevant beams is sent to the UE via a higher layer configuration.

Preferably, the paging indication and the paging message are transmitted on at least one of a single beam or a plurality of beams, rather than on all beams.

Preferably, the paging indication is derived from one or more of: omni-directional transmission with repeated transmissions, wide beam transmission with repeated transmissions, narrow beam scanning, and system frame number transmission.

Preferably, the repeated transmission may be in either the time domain or the frequency domain, or a combination of both.

In a second aspect, the present application provides a base station capable of performing the method of the first aspect of the present application.

In a third aspect, the present application provides a user equipment capable of performing the method of the first aspect of the present application.

In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon computer readable instructions adapted to be loaded by a processor to perform the method of the first aspect of the present application.

The non-transitory computer readable storage medium may include at least one of a hard disk, a Compact disc Read Only Memory (CD-ROM), an optical Memory, a magnetic Memory, a Read Only Memory (ROM), a Programmable Read Only Memory (PROM), an Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EPROM), an Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM), and a Flash Memory.

Drawings

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. Elements in the figures have been simplified and are not necessarily drawn to scale. For ease of understanding, reference numerals have been included in the various figures.

Fig. 1 is a simplified diagram of a paging configuration in LTE according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2 is a simplified diagram of a reasonable paging transmission design based on multi-beam operation provided by an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a simplified diagram of a reasonable paging transmission design for beam scanning on discontinuous resources according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a comparison graph of paging overhead between LTE and MMW networks provided in the embodiments of the present application.

Detailed Description

The embodiments described herein are only a few embodiments of the present application and not all embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present application.

The present application relates to wireless communication systems with paging mechanisms. The paging procedure with beam scanning operation provides enhanced coverage for the remote UE, either when the carrier frequency is higher and the transmitted signal decays faster with distance (e.g., in mmW).

The present application also provides a method for reducing the signaling overhead of a paging procedure in a wireless system that utilizes beam scanning through a partial to complete tracking procedure. In addition, the minimum paging delay and the UE power consumption are reduced through partial tracking (partial tracking), and the reliability of paging is maintained through defining back to full tracking (full tracking).

In general, the present application reduces the beam scanning overhead for paging transmissions by a partial to full tracking procedure using only PM or using the associated transmit beams of PI and PM. The minimum paging delay and the UE power consumption are reduced through local tracking, and the reliability of paging is maintained through defining the fallback to complete tracking. In this application, both the PI and the PM may be referred to as paging related transmissions.

Two local tracking methods are discussed below.

In the first approach, the PI is transmitted in all spatial directions, while the PM is transmitted only on the relevant beams, which are provided to the UE by an indication within the PI or according to a higher layer configuration and/or beam alignment procedure or according to the last used beam in the PHY. Thus, a UE acquiring a PI can recognize that a PM may be associated with it, but cannot receive it, in which case the UE connects to the gNB (e.g., through Random Access (RA) — thus, for potentially associated PMs, the UE receives the PM and connects if necessary, or does not receive the PM but connects.

In a second approach, both PI and PM are transmitted on the relevant beams, which are provided to the UE by higher layer configuration and/or beam alignment procedures or last used beams in the PHY. If the UE does not respond to the gNB accordingly (i.e. connects if paged), the paging procedure will fall back to the previous method or to the remaining partial tracking (PI and PM transmitted on other beams) or any other solution to provide full tracking.

Both methods will be described in detail below.

The local-to-full tracking of the present application is optimized for fixed location wireless devices (e.g., Customer Premises Equipment (CPE)) and low mobility UEs, but may be applied to all UEs. The gNB may collect statistics to characterize the mobility of the UE or decide whether to operate in the proposed mode or in the unreduced paging overhead mode based on application type or UE assistance information, which means transmitting PI and PM on all beams or using another paging method.

Advantages of the present application include reduced beam scanning overhead, reduced UE power consumption, and reduced minimum delay for paging transmissions. In addition, as described below, the present application does not require an additional connection before PM after PI to reduce PM overhead. The present application may also work with other proposals. This allows the gNB the freedom to decide which optimization is appropriate for which application.

It should be noted that the first deployments of 5G technology are expected to include not only fixed-location applications, but also most applications, and therefore optimization in view of the application characteristics would be very useful.

Embodiments of the present application will now be described in detail.

Two methods of local to full tracking are now proposed to reduce the beam scanning overhead for paging transmissions.

Based on the first method, in a paging request from a Core Network (CN), the gNB broadcasts/multicasts (broadcast/group-cast) PI according to one or more different delivery mechanisms:

(1) an omni-directional transmission with a repeated transmission,

(2) a wide beam (e.g. sector) transmission with (less) repeated transmissions,

(3) scanning narrow beams (e.g., for SS block transmissions), an

(4) The Transmission of a System Frame Number (SFN) includes a plurality of cells or a plurality of Transmission Reception Points (TRPs) serving the same cell. All relevant UEs camping on the cell transmitting the PI (e.g., according to the assigned PO) should be able to receive the system frame number.

The repeated transmission may occur in the time domain or in the frequency domain (e.g., by a higher aggregation level of the PDCCH) or a combination of both. Since the exact starting point of the repeated transmission may be lost at the UE side, it is proposed that the PI conveys the scheduled time/frequency (resource allocation) of the PM. If the PO defines the exact starting point for the repeated transmission, then no resource scheduling time may be needed. A more recent UE (closer to the paging gNB) will be able to identify faster that a PM may be relevant to it, but may not be able to receive a PM because it does not require all duplicate indications. Thus, at least these UEs may reduce power consumption and latency if the PM is transmitted before the end of the repeated PI transmission. The PM may be sent after the last PI repeat, or after the first PI transmission and before the last PI repeat. For the latter case, i.e., if the PM is transmitted after the first PI transmission and before the last PI repetition, the PI-acquiring UE may buffer the radio samples (radio samples) containing the PM transmission and then decode the PM according to the decoded PI. This will allow a UE in a good radio environment to acquire PI and PM with a shorter delay than normal.

The PI may signal the relevant beam transmitting the PM or may determine the relevant beam according to a higher layer configuration and/or a beam alignment procedure (e.g., the number of last aligned beams and/or the last aligned beam) or according to the last used beam in the PHY.

Indication of relevant beams for PM transmission in PI:

the indication of the relevant beam may be 2 × log of the start index (index) and the end index of the wrap-around₂L bits, where L is the number of beams, may also be a bitmap (bitmap) of L bits. For the former, one beam index requires 6 bits for 64 beams, and thus is 12 bits in total. For example, beams #0 to #63 will indicate all beams, beams #3 to #5 will indicate three beams starting from beam #3, and beams #5 to #3 will indicate all beams except for beam # 4. For the latter, a 64-bit bitmap for 64 beams.

If 16 UEs are paged based on the content of 16 Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identities (TMSI), the PM size may be, for example, about 90 bytes (720 bits). This means that the additional signaling for the relevant beams for PM transmission on the PI for reducing the number of PM for the beam is negligible compared to the reduced PM transmission overhead.

The important concept of this scheme is not to select the beam on which the PM will be transmitted (e.g., the last relevant transmit beam), but how to send the beam position to the PI, and the PM is transmitted in that beam without adding overhead.

For relevant beams based on higher layer configuration and/or beam alignment procedures and used for PM transmission:

for UEs in an inactive state or UEs in an idle state, which may be limited to static or semi-static location applications, the UE is directed to a particular beam of a particular cell for paging (e.g., through dedicated signaling or with the functionality of a UE _ ID).

Transitioning from a Radio Resource Control active (RRC _ Connected) state to a Radio Resource Control IDLE (RRC _ IDLE) or Radio Resource Control INACTIVE (RRC _ INACTIVE), a UE configured by the NW to monitor for PMs on aligned beams saves the last aligned beam for paging monitoring and should be considered "beam aligned". During RRC IDLE or RRC INACTIVE, a UE should be considered "beam misaligned" if it can no longer monitor the aligned beam. During PO, the UE should monitor the PI (all UEs).

If the UE is "beam aligned" and if the PI includes a resource allocation for PM, the UE beam is aligned to the same beam as indicated by the PI, then the UE will acquire the PM message. Otherwise, the UE will ignore the PI.

If the UE is "beam misaligned" and the PI does not include resource allocation for the PM, the UE will ignore the PI if the UE is still in the coverage of the same cell where the beam was last "aligned". Otherwise, the UE will fall back to another method of acquiring paging (e.g., perform RA or answer with a specific signal).

The following may occur. For a UE in RRC IDLE mode, the CN provides the UE with the last aligned beam over the NG/Xn interface. The gNB and NG-eNB are connected to the 5GC through NG interfaces. The gNB and ng-eNB are interconnected to each other by an Xn interface. The source gNB provides the final aligned beam of the UE to the target gNB over the Xn interface.

The relevant beams for PM transmission may be configured based on the last aligned beam and the number of last aligned beams.

For the relevant beam based on the last used beam in PHY and used for PM transmission:

the relevant beams for PM transmission are implicitly derived by the gNB and the UE from the last beam indicated by the gNB and acknowledged by the UE in the PHY channel (e.g., via PDSCH and PUCCH).

Finally, the relevant beams are listed and recorded by both the gNB and the UE. The number of last relevant beams may be signaled to the UE (e.g., by higher layer configuration).

The UE may connect to the gNB (e.g., perform an RA procedure), obtain the PI and determine that the PM may be related to it but cannot receive the PM.

For this approach, PM is transmitted on only a single beam or a few beams, but not on all beams. The order of the partial beam scans may be from the nearest to the next second nearest aligned beam/associated beam. Other schemes are possible.

The PI may be sent in a single cell in the tracking area or in multiple cells (possibly from different gnbs). The PI may not include a resource allocation for the PM (e.g., a PI sent by the gNB to the UE that does not include the associated beam, the UE indicating paging). The UE may use the indication to determine whether the PM is related to it (e.g., UE behavior in the beam alignment procedure described above). If the PI is scanned by a beam, the resource allocation may be null on beams that do not transmit PMs, and if the PI is transmitted omnidirectionally, the resource allocation may include a beam index for PM transmission.

According to a second method, in a paging request from the Core Network (CN), the gNB broadcasts/multicasts PI and PM transmissions on the relevant beams. If there is no acknowledgement from the UE side (i.e., the UE is not connected), the gNB may fall back to the first method or the remaining tracking (on beams not included in the local tracking of the second method to have full tracking) or any other solution.

The relevant beams for PI and PM transmission can be determined according to a higher layer configuration and/or beam alignment procedure, or according to the last used beam in a physical layer (PHY).

For relevant beams based on higher layer configuration and/or beam alignment procedures and used for PI and PM transmission:

Transitioning from RRC _ CONNECTED to RRC _ IDLE or RRC _ INACTIVE, a UE configured by the NW to monitor PI and PM on the aligned beams will save the last aligned beam for paging monitoring. During PO, the UE will monitor the PI (all UEs).

The following may occur. For a UE in RRC IDLE mode, the CN provides the UE with the last aligned beam over the NG/Xn interface. The source gNB provides the final aligned beam of the UE to the target gNB over the Xn interface.

The relevant beams for PI and PM transmission may be configured based on the number of last aligned beams and the last aligned beam.

For the relevant beams based on the last used beam in PHY and used for PI and PM transmission:

the relevant beams for PI and PM transmission are implicitly derived by the gNB and the UE from the last beam indicated by the gNB and acknowledged by the UE in the PHY channel (e.g., via PDSCH and PUCCH).

For the second approach, PI and PM are transmitted on only a single beam or a few beams, but not on all beams. The order of the partial beam scans may be from the nearest to the next second nearest aligned beam/associated beam. Other schemes are possible.

As a result, paging overhead due to beamforming in NR can be reduced for both methods.

For both methods, the NW may or may not configure the UE to use the proposed paging method, e.g., through dedicated signaling when the UE is connected to the RAN, or through system information broadcast signaling. The NW may also configure the fallback method, e.g. reconnect to the NW by RA or using other methods as described above.

The first and second methods are compared to the conventional beam sweep synchronized in NR as shown in the following table for reference. In theory, the same coverage can be achieved with omni-directional repeat transmissions and narrow beam scanning transmissions. A wide beam scan with fewer repeated transmissions is in between. For example, when the number of omni-directional repeated transmissions R is equal to the number of non-repeating beams L (where L is equal to the number of possible candidate SS block locations, L is 4 or 8 or 64 depending on the frequency range).

	First method	Second method	NR reference
				Indicating a relevant RO	R	1	L
Message dependent RO	1	1	L
				Backoff cost in no reception	RA	First method	Is free of
MCL flexibility	Is that	Whether or not	Whether or not
				Minimum paging delay	Medium and high grade	Shortest length	Longest length

The RO indicates a resource overhead.

As can be seen from the table, the second method reduces the PI overhead, and both methods reduce the overhead of the PM. The cost of reducing overhead may be to support rollback procedures to full tracking. If the PI is transmitted in a repetitive manner, the Minimum Coupling Loss (MCL) can be more flexible (since the number of repetitions of the network and scheduling optimization can be adjusted). Both methods reduce the minimum paging delay.

For the second approach, in the example given in fig. 4, a reduction of overhead from 73% to 1.14% (in the best case, only one last relevant beam has no back-off) can be achieved according to equation 1. With the first approach, the evaluation is more complex since PI depends on more parameters than PM for a single TX overhead. These parameters include DL Control Information (DCI)/PI length and PDCCH aggregation level, DL-Shared Channel (SCH)/PM length and coding rate. However, in LTE, the PM length is much larger than the PI length, so the PI part can be ignored, with the conclusion that the overhead of the first approach may be slightly larger than that of the second approach.

The present application may be combined with other approaches. For example, the scheme of the present application may be combined with a scheme that proposes lossy compression and PI related SS block beam scanning. This will work well and bring some advantages.

The present application thus addresses the problem of beam scanning overhead for paging transmissions and can be easily implemented with existing solutions. It should be understood that low mobility UEs and fixed location applications will benefit most from the present application, but the present application is equally applicable to all UEs. In terms of standard implementation, the present solution can be implemented as the only solution, or can be implemented together with other solutions. In the latter case, the application may select which solution to use by the gNB based on the application characteristics of the UE, for example, based on historical mobility and paging rate, based on application type, or based on assistance information from the UE.

The proposed solution relates to any paging or related activity in any type of wireless network.

Although it is not described in detail that any device or apparatus forming part of a network may include at least one processor, memory unit, and communication interface, the processor, memory unit, and communication interface are configured to perform the methods of any aspect of the present application. Further options will be described below.

The signal processing functions in the embodiments of the present application, particularly the signal processing capabilities of the gNB and the UE, may be implemented by computing systems or architectures that are well known to those skilled in the art. The computing system may be a desktop, laptop or notebook computer, hand-held computing device (PDA, cell phone, palmtop, etc.), mainframe, server, client, or any other type of special or general purpose computing device as may be satisfactory or applicable to a given application or environment. The computing system may include one or more processors that may execute a general or special purpose processing engine such as, for example, a microprocessor, microcontroller or other control module.

The computing system may also include a main memory, such as a Random Access Memory (RAM) or other dynamic memory, for storing information and instructions to be executed by the processor. The main memory may also be used for storing temporary variables or other intermediate information during execution of instructions by the processor. The computing system may also include a Read Only Memory (ROM) or other static storage device for storing static information and instructions for execution by the processor.

The computing system may also include an information storage system including, for example, a media drive and a removable storage interface. The media drive may include a drive or other mechanism to support fixed or removable storage media, such as a hard disk drive, a floppy disk drive, a magnetic tape drive, an optical disk drive, a compact disk drive (CD) or Digital Video Drive (DVD) read-write drive (R or RW), or other fixed or removable media drive. The storage medium may include, for example, a hard disk, floppy disk, magnetic tape, optical disk, CD, DVD, or other fixed or removable medium that is read by and written to by a media drive. The storage media may include a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon particular computer software or data.

In alternative embodiments, the information storage system may include other similar components for allowing computer programs or other instructions or data to be loaded into the computing system. These components may include, for example, a removable storage unit and interface, such as a program cartridge and cartridge interface, a removable memory (e.g., a flash memory or other removable memory module) and memory slot, and other removable storage units and interfaces that allow software and data to be transferred from the removable storage unit to the computing system.

The computing system may also include a communication interface. The communication interface may be used to allow software and data to be transferred between the computing system and external devices. For example, the communication interfaces can include a modem, a network interface (such as an Ethernet or other network card), a communication port (such as a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port), a PCMCIA slot and card, and the like. Software and data transferred via the communications interface are in the form of signals which may be electronic, electromagnetic, optical or other signals capable of being received by the communications interface medium.

In this application, the terms "computer program product," "computer-readable medium," and the like are used generally to refer to tangible media, such as memory, storage devices, or storage units. These and other forms of computer-readable media may store one or more instructions for use by a processor, including a computer system, to cause the processor to perform specified operations. These instructions, which are generally referred to as "computer program code" (which may be grouped in the form of computer programs or other groupings), when executed, enable the computer system to perform functions of embodiments of the present application. It is noted that the code may directly cause the processor to perform specified operations, may be compiled to do so, and/or may be combined with other software, hardware, and/or firmware elements (e.g., libraries for performing standard functions) to do so.

The non-computer readable medium may comprise at least one from the group of: hard disks, Compact disk Read Only memories (CD-ROMs), optical storage devices, magnetic storage devices, Read Only Memories (ROMs), Programmable Read Only Memories (PROMs), Erasable Programmable Read Only Memories (EPROMs), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memories (EEPROMs), and flash memories (flashmemories).

In embodiments implemented by software, the software may be stored in a computer-readable medium and loaded into the computing system using, for example, a removable storage drive. A control module (e.g., software instructions or executable computer program code) executed by a processor in a computer system causes the processor to perform functions as described herein.

Further, the present application may be applied in any circuit for performing signal processing functions in a network element. For example, it is further contemplated that a semiconductor manufacturer may employ the innovative concepts in the design of a stand-alone device, which may be a microcontroller (DSP) of a digital signal processor, an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), and/or any other subsystem element.

For clarity of description, the foregoing description has described embodiments of the present application with reference to a single processing logic. However, the present application may equally well implement signal processing functions by means of a plurality of different functional units and processors. Thus, references to specific functional units are only to be seen as references to suitable means for providing the described functionality rather than indicative of a strict logical, physical structure or organization.

Aspects of the present application may be implemented in any suitable form including hardware, software, firmware or any combination of these. The present application may optionally be implemented, at least partly, as computer software, a computer software component, such as an FPGA device, running on one or more data processors and/or digital signal processors or configurable modules. Thus, the elements and components of an embodiment of the application may be physically, functionally and logically implemented in any suitable way. Indeed the functionality may be implemented in a single unit, in a plurality of units or as part of other functional units.

Although the present application has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments, the above-described preferred embodiments are not intended to limit the present application, and the scope of the present application is defined by the following claims. Furthermore, while descriptions of features related to particular embodiments may appear, one skilled in the art may, in light of the present disclosure, appreciate various features of such embodiments. In the claims, the term "comprising" does not exclude the presence of other elements or steps.

Further, although individually listed, a plurality of means, elements or method steps may be implemented by e.g. a single unit or processor. Furthermore, although different features may comprise different claims, these may possibly advantageously be combined, and the inclusion in different claims does not imply that a combination of features is not feasible and/or advantageous. Likewise, the inclusion of a feature in one set of claims does not imply a limitation to this set of claims, but rather indicates that the feature is equally applicable to other claim categories, as appropriate.

Further, the ordering of features in the claims does not imply that the features must be performed in a particular order, and in particular the order of individual steps in a method claim does not imply that the steps must be performed in this order. Rather, the steps may be performed in any suitable order. Furthermore, singular references do not exclude a plurality. Thus, the singular forms "a", "an", "first", "second", etc. do not exclude the plural forms.

Although the present application has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments, the above-described preferred embodiments are not intended to limit the present application, and the scope of the present application is defined by the following claims. Furthermore, while descriptions of features related to particular embodiments may appear, one skilled in the art may, in light of the present disclosure, appreciate various features of such embodiments. In the claims, the term "comprising" or "including" does not exclude the presence of other elements.

Claims

1. A method of providing paging related transmissions to a user equipment, UE, operating in a wireless system operating in at least a beam scanning mode, the method comprising:

sending the paging-related transmission to the UE on an associated transmission beam.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the paging related transmission is fused to at least one of a paging indication, a paging message, and a combination thereof.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the paging related transmission is sent by at least one of a paging indication, a higher layer configuration, a beam alignment procedure, and based on a previously used transmission beam.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein paging indicates a schedule for delivering paging messages.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the schedule comprises at least one of time and frequency.

6. A method according to any of claims 3 to 5, wherein the signalling of the relevant transmission beams is 2 × log of the starting and ending indices of the wrap around₂At least one of L bits and a bitmap of L bits, where L is a number of beams.

7. The method according to any of claims 3 to 5, wherein the UE is directed to a specific beam of a specific cell for paging if the UE is in an inactive state or idle state.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein one or more UEs are in a static or semi-static location.

9. The method according to claim 7 or 8, wherein if the UE transitions from the connected state to the idle state or the inactive state, the UE configured by the network to monitor the paging message on the aligned beam saves the last aligned beam for paging monitoring, and the UE becomes beam aligned.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the UE obtains a paging message if the UE is beam aligned, the paging indicator comprises a resource allocation for a paging message, and the UE beam is aligned on a same beam represented by the paging indicator, otherwise the UE ignores the paging indicator.

11. The method of claim 9 or 10, wherein the UE is considered to be beam misaligned if the UE is no longer monitoring the aligned beam during an idle state or an inactive state.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein if the UE is out of beam alignment, the paging indicator does not include resource allocation for paging messages, and the UE is still in the coverage of the cell where the beam is aligned last time, the UE ignores the paging indicator, otherwise the UE seeks another method for obtaining paging.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the other methods comprise at least one of a random access procedure and an acknowledgement with a special signal.

14. The method according to any of claims 3 to 5, wherein the core network provides the final aligned beam to the UE over the interface if the UE is in idle mode.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the interface comprises at least one of a NG interface and an Xn interface.

16. The method of any of claims 3 to 5, wherein the relevant beams for transmission of the paging message are derived by the gNB and the UE from the gNB indication in the PHY channel and the last beam acknowledged by the UE.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the PHY channel is any one of a PDSCH and a PUCCH.

18. The method according to claim 16 or 17, characterized in that the last relevant beam is listed and recorded by the base station and the UE.

19. The method according to any of claims 16 to 18, wherein the number of last relevant beams is sent to the UE via a higher layer configuration.

20. A method according to any one of claims 2 to 19, wherein a UE which obtains a paging indication and identifies that a paging message may be associated therewith but which cannot receive said paging message, can connect to the base station to retrieve the paging message.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the paging message is transmitted on at least one of a single beam or a plurality of beams, but not on all beams.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the local beam sweep occurs between a nearest correlation beam to a next second nearest correlation beam.

23. The method of any of claims 20 to 22, wherein the paging indicator is sent on at least one of a single cell or a plurality of cells in a tracking area.

24. The method according to any of claims 20 to 23, wherein the paging indication does not comprise a resource allocation of a paging message.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein the UE uses the paging indication to determine whether the paging message is related thereto.

26. The method according to any of claims 20 to 25, wherein in case of beam scanning, the resource allocation on the beam on which no paging message is sent may be null.

27. The method according to any of claims 20 to 26, wherein the resource allocation comprises a beam identity for the paging message transmission when the paging indication is an omni-directional transmission.

28. The method according to any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the paging related transmission comprises a paging indication and a paging message.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein if the UE is in an inactive state or an idle state, the UE is directed to a specific beam of a specific cell for paging.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein one or more UEs are in a static or semi-static location.

31. The method according to any of claims 28 to 30, wherein a UE configured by a network to monitor one or more paging related transmissions on aligned beams for paging monitoring saves a last aligned beam for paging monitoring if the UE transitions from a connected state to an idle state or an inactive state.

32. The method according to any of claims 28 to 31, wherein if the UE is in idle mode, the core network provides the UE with a final aligned beam over an interface.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the interface comprises at least one NG interface, and Xn is the interface.

34. The method according to any of claims 28 to 33, wherein the or each relevant beam for the paging indication and paging message transmission is configured according to at least one of a last aligned beam and a number of last aligned beams.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the transmission is on a last used beam.

36. The method according to any of claims 28 to 35, wherein the relevant beams for paging indication and paging message transmission are derived by the gNB and the UE from the gNB indication and the last beam acknowledged by the UE.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein a last related transmission beam is listed and recorded by the base station and the UE.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the number of last related beams is signaled to the UE via a higher layer configuration.

39. The method of any of claims 36 to 38, wherein the paging indication and the paging message are transmitted on at least one of a single beam or a plurality of beams, but not on all beams.

40. The method according to any of claims 2 or 3 to 39, wherein the paging indication is derived from one or more of: omni-directional transmission with repeated transmissions, wide beam transmission with repeated transmissions, narrow beam scanning, and system frame number transmission.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein the repeated transmission may occur in either of the time domain or the frequency domain, or a combination thereof.

42. The method according to any of claims 1 to 41, wherein the radio access network is a new radio network/5G network.

43. A user equipment, UE, comprising a processor, a memory unit and a communication interface, wherein the processor, the memory unit and the communication interface are configured to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 42.

44. A user equipment, UE, comprising a processor, a memory unit and a communication interface, wherein the processor, the memory unit and the communication interface are configured to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 42.

45. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer-readable instructions adapted to be loaded by a processor to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 42.