CN117812755A - Decoding MBS address information in received MBS information - Google Patents

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to decoding MBS address information among received MBS information. In one aspect of the disclosure, a method, computer-readable medium, and apparatus are provided. The apparatus may be a UE. The UE sends a request message to the core network. The request message requests to join one or more requested Multicast Broadcast Service (MBS) sessions. The UE receives a response message from the core network. The response message contains MBS information indicating receipt of one or more licensed MBS sessions. The received MBS information includes a corresponding IP address type (IPAT) field. The IPAT field indicates a type of IP address corresponding to each of one or more licensed MBS sessions. The UE decodes an IP address corresponding to each of the one or more licensed MBS sessions according to the type indicated by the corresponding IPAT field.

Description

Decoding MBS address information in received MBS information

Cross Reference to Related Applications

The present application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application No.63/377,732, entitled "DECODING FOR MBSADDRESS INFORMATION IN THE RECEIVED MBS INFORMATION," filed on 9 and 30, 2022, the entire contents of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference.

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates generally to communication systems, and more particularly, to techniques for obtaining information of Multicast Broadcast Service (MBS) sessions at a User Equipment (UE).

Background

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, and broadcast. A typical wireless communication system may employ multiple-access techniques capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources. Examples of such multiple-access techniques include Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems, time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) systems, frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) systems, single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, and time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) systems.

These multiple access techniques have been employed in various telecommunications standards to provide a common protocol that enables different wireless devices to communicate on a municipal, national, regional, or even global level. An example of a telecommunication standard is the 5G New Radio (NR). The 5G NR is part of the continuous mobile broadband evolution promulgated by the third generation partnership project (3 GPP) to meet new demands associated with latency, reliability, security, scalability (e.g., internet of things (IoT)) and other demands. Some aspects of 5G NR may be based on the 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard. Further improvements in the 5G NR technology are needed. These improvements are also applicable to other multiple access technologies and telecommunication standards employing these technologies.

Disclosure of Invention

The following presents a simplified summary of one or more aspects in order to provide a basic understanding of such aspects. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated aspects, and is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of all aspects nor delineate the scope of any or all aspects. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

In one aspect of the disclosure, a method, computer-readable medium, and apparatus are provided. The apparatus may be a UE. The UE sends a request message to the core network. The request message requests to join one or more requested Multicast Broadcast Service (MBS) sessions. The UE receives a response message from the core network. The response message contains MBS information indicating receipt of one or more licensed MBS sessions. The received MBS information includes a corresponding IP address type (IPAT) field. The IPAT field indicates a type of IP address corresponding to each of one or more licensed MBS sessions. The UE decodes an IP address corresponding to each of the one or more licensed MBS sessions according to the type indicated by the corresponding IPAT field.

In one aspect of the disclosure, a method, computer-readable medium, and apparatus are provided. The apparatus may be a core network entity. The core network entity receives a request message from a User Equipment (UE). The request message requests to join one or more requested Multicast Broadcast Service (MBS) sessions. The core network entity encodes a response message containing the received MBS information. The received MBS information indicates one or more licensed MBS sessions to which the UE is to join based on the request message. The received MBS information includes a corresponding IP address type (IPAT) field. The IPAT field indicates a type of IP address corresponding to each of one or more licensed MBS sessions. The core network entity sends the coded response message to the UE.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, one or more aspects comprise the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following description and the annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative features of the one or more aspects. These features are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of various aspects may be employed and this description is intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communication system and an access network.

Fig. 2 is a diagram illustrating a base station in an access network in communication with a UE.

Fig. 3 illustrates an exemplary logical architecture of a distributed access network.

Fig. 4 illustrates an exemplary physical architecture of a distributed access network.

Fig. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a DL center slot.

Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of UL center slots.

Fig. 7 is a diagram illustrating a UE requesting to join one or more MBS sessions.

Fig. 8 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary received MBS container information element.

Fig. 9 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary received MBS information sub-element.

Fig. 10 is a diagram illustrating a sequence of information of MBS sessions in which a UE obtains a license from a base station.

Fig. 11 is a flowchart of a method (procedure) for decoding a response message containing received MBS information indicating one or more licensed MBS sessions.

Fig. 12 is a flowchart of a method (procedure) for transmitting a response message containing MBS information indicating reception of one or more licensed MBS sessions.

Detailed Description

The detailed description set forth below in connection with the appended drawings is intended as a description of various configurations and is not intended to represent the only configurations in which the concepts described herein may be practiced. The detailed description includes specific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understanding of the various concepts. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the concepts may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known structures and components are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the concepts.

Aspects of a telecommunications system will now be presented with reference to various apparatus and methods. These apparatus and methods will be described in the following detailed description and illustrated in the figures by various blocks, components, circuits, processes, algorithms, etc. (collectively referred to as "elements"). These elements may be implemented using electronic hardware, computer software, or any combination thereof. Whether such elements are implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system.

As an example, an element, or any portion of an element, or any combination of elements, may be implemented as a "processing system" that includes one or more processors. Examples of processors include microprocessors, microcontrollers, graphics Processing Units (GPUs), central Processing Units (CPUs), application processors, digital Signal Processors (DSPs), reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) processors, system on a chip (SOC), baseband processors, field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), programmable Logic Devices (PLDs), state machines, gating logic, discrete hardware circuits, and other suitable hardware configured to perform the various functionalities described throughout this disclosure. One or more processors in a processing system may execute software. Software should be construed broadly to mean instructions, instruction sets, code segments, program code, programs, subroutines, software components, applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executables, threads of execution, procedures, functions, and the like, whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, and the like.

Thus, in one or more example aspects, the described functionality may be implemented in hardware, software, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or encoded as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer readable media includes computer storage media. A storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise Random Access Memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically Erasable Programmable ROM (EEPROM), optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage, other magnetic storage devices, combinations of the foregoing types of computer-readable media, or any other medium that can be used to store computer-accessible instructions or data structures.

Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communication system and an access network 100. A wireless communication system, also referred to as a Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN), includes a base station 102, a UE 104, an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) 160, and another core network 190 (e.g., a 5G core (5 GC)). Base station 102 may include a macrocell (high power cellular base station) and/or a small cell (low power cellular base station). The macrocell includes a base station. Small cells include femto cells, pico cells, and micro cells.

A base station 102 configured for 4G LTE (collectively referred to as evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN)) may interface with EPC 160 through a backhaul link 132 (e.g., S1 interface). A base station 102 configured for 5 GNRs, collectively referred to as a next generation RAN (NG-RAN), may interface with a core network 190 through a backhaul link 184. Among other functions, the base station 102 may perform one or more of the following functions: user data transfer, radio channel encryption and decryption, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection establishment and release, load balancing, distribution of non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, radio Access Network (RAN) sharing, multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services (MBMS), subscriber and device tracking, RAN Information Management (RIM), paging, positioning, and delivery of warning messages. Base stations 102 may communicate with each other directly or indirectly (e.g., through EPC 160 or core network 190) over backhaul link 134 (e.g., an X2 interface). The backhaul link 134 may be wired or wireless.

The base station 102 may communicate wirelessly with the UE 104. Each base station 102 may provide communication coverage for a corresponding geographic coverage area 110. There may be overlapping geographic coverage areas 110. For example, a small cell 102 'may have a coverage area 110' that overlaps with the coverage area 110 of one or more macro base stations 102. A network comprising both small cells and macro cells may be referred to as a heterogeneous network. The heterogeneous network may also include home evolved node B (eNB) (HeNB), which may provide services to a restricted group known as a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG). The communication link 120 between the base station 102 and the UE104 may include Uplink (UL) (also referred to as reverse link) transmissions from the UE104 to the base station 102 and/or Downlink (DL) (also referred to as forward link) transmissions from the base station 102 to the UE 104. Communication link 120 may use multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna techniques including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and/or transmit diversity. The communication link may be through one or more carriers. The base station 102/UE 104 may use up to X MHz (e.g., 5MHz, 10MHz, 15MHz, 20MHz, 100MHz, 400MHz, etc.) spectrum, with the bandwidth of each carrier allocated in carrier aggregation for transmission in each direction up to yxmhz (X component carriers) in total. The carriers may or may not be adjacent to each other. The allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to DL and UL (e.g., DL may be allocated more or fewer carriers than UL). The component carriers may include a primary component carrier and one or more secondary component carriers. The primary component carrier may be referred to as a primary cell (PCell) and the secondary component carrier may be referred to as a secondary cell (SCell).

Some UEs 104 may communicate with each other using a device-to-device (D2D) communication link 158. The D2D communication link 158 may use the DL/UL WWAN spectrum. The D2D communication link 158 may use one or more sidelink channels such as a Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel (PSBCH), a Physical Sidelink Discovery Channel (PSDCH), a Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH), and a Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH). D2D communication may be through various wireless D2D communication systems, such as FlashLinQ, wiMedia, bluetooth, zigBee, wi-Fi based on the IEEE 802.11 standard, LTE, or NR.

The wireless communication system may also include a Wi-Fi Access Point (AP) 150 that communicates with Wi-Fi Stations (STAs) 152 via a communication link 154 in the 5GHz unlicensed spectrum. When communicating in the unlicensed spectrum, STA 152/AP 150 may perform Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) prior to communication to determine whether a channel is available.

The small cell 102' may operate in licensed and/or unlicensed spectrum. When operating in unlicensed spectrum, the small cell 102' may employ NR and use the same 5GHz unlicensed spectrum as used by Wi-Fi AP 150. Small cells 102' employing NRs in the unlicensed spectrum may enhance coverage of the access network and/or increase capacity of the access network.

Base station 102, whether a small cell 102' or a large cell (e.g., macro base station), may comprise an eNB, a gndeb (gNB), or another type of base station. Some base stations, such as the gNB 180, may operate at millimeter wave (mmW) frequencies and/or near mmW frequencies in the traditional frequency spectrum below 6GHz, communicating with the UE 104. When the gNB 180 operates at frequencies of mmW or near mmW, the gNB 180 may be referred to as a mmW base station. Extremely High Frequency (EHF) is a part of the RF in the electromagnetic spectrum. The EHF has a wavelength in the range of 30GHz to 300GHz and between 1 mm to 10 mm. The radio waves in the frequency band may be referred to as millimeter waves. The near mmW may extend down to a frequency of 3GHz with a wavelength of 100 mm. The ultra-high frequency (SHF) band extends between 3GHz and 30GHz, also known as centimetre waves. Communications using mmW/near mmW radio frequency bands (e.g., 3GHz-300 GHz) have extremely high path loss and short distances. The mmW base station 180 may utilize beamforming 182 with the UE 104 to compensate for extremely high path loss and short distances.

The base station 180 may transmit the beamformed signals to the UE 104 in one or more transmit directions 108 a. The UE 104 may receive the beamformed signals from the base station 180 in one or more receive directions 108 b. The UE 104 may also transmit the beamformed signals in one or more transmit directions to the base station 180. The base station 180 may receive the beamformed signals from the UE 104 in one or more receive directions. The base stations 180/UEs 104 may perform beam training to determine the best reception and transmission direction for each base station 180/UE 104. The transmit and receive directions of base station 180 may be the same or different. The transmit and receive directions of the UE 104 may be the same or different.

EPC 160 may include a Mobility Management Entity (MME) 162, other MMEs 164, a serving gateway 166, a Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) gateway 168, a broadcast multicast service center (BM-SC) 170, and a Packet Data Network (PDN) gateway 172.MME 162 may communicate with a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) 174. The MME 162 is a control node that handles signaling between the UE 104 and the EPC 160. In general, MME 162 provides bearer and connection management. All user Internet Protocol (IP) packets are transmitted through the serving gateway 166, which serving gateway 166 itself is connected to the PDN gateway 172. The PDN gateway 172 provides UE IP address allocation as well as other functions. The PDN gateway 172 and BM-SC 170 are connected to an IP service 176.IP services 176 may include the internet, intranets, IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), PS streaming services, and/or other IP services. The BM-SC 170 may provide functionality for MBMS user service provision and delivery. The BM-SC 170 may be used as an entry point for content provider MBMS transmissions, may be used to authorize and initiate MBMS bearer services within a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN), and may be used to schedule MBMS transmissions. The MBMS gateway 168 may be used to distribute MBMS traffic to base stations 102 belonging to a Multicast Broadcast Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) area broadcasting a particular service and may be responsible for session management (start/stop) and collecting eMBMS related charging information.

The core network 190 may include access and mobility management functions (AMFs) 192, other AMFs 193, location Management Functions (LMFs) 198, session Management Functions (SMFs) 194, and User Plane Functions (UPFs) 195. The AMF 192 may communicate with a Unified Data Management (UDM) 196. The AMF 192 is a control node that handles signaling between the UE 104 and the core network 190. In general, SMF 194 provides QoS flows and session management. All user Internet Protocol (IP) packets are transmitted through the UPF 195. The UPF195 provides UE IP address assignment as well as other functions. The UPF195 is connected to an IP service 197. The IP services 197 may include the internet, intranets, IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), PS streaming services, and/or other IP services.

A base station may also be called a gNB, a node B, an evolved node B (eNB), an access point, a base transceiver station, a radio base station, a radio transceiver, a transceiver function, a Basic Service Set (BSS), an Extended Service Set (ESS), a Transmission and Reception Point (TRP), or some other suitable terminology. The base station 102 provides an access point for the UE 104 to the EPC 160 or the core network 190. Examples of UEs 104 include a cellular telephone, a smart phone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a laptop, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a satellite radio, a global positioning system, a multimedia device, a video device, a digital audio player (e.g., MP3 player), a camera, a game console, a tablet, a smart device, a wearable device, a vehicle, an electric meter, an air pump, a large or small kitchen appliance, a healthcare device, an implant, a sensor/actuator, a display, or any other similar functional device. Some UEs 104 may be referred to as IoT devices (e.g., parking timers, air pumps, ovens, vehicles, heart monitors, etc.). The UE 104 may also be referred to as a station, mobile station, subscriber station, mobile unit, subscriber unit, wireless unit, remote unit, mobile device, wireless communication device, remote device, mobile subscriber station, access terminal, mobile terminal, wireless terminal, remote terminal, handset, user agent, mobile client, or some other suitable terminology.

Although the present disclosure may refer to 5G New Radio (NR), the present disclosure may be applicable to other similar fields, such as LTE, LTE-advanced (LTE-a), code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), global system for mobile communications (GSM), or other wireless/radio access technologies.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram of a base station 210 in communication with a UE 250 in an access network. In DL, IP packets from EPC 160 may be provided to controller/processor 275. Controller/processor 275 implements layer 3 and layer 2 functions. Layer 3 includes a Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer, and layer 2 includes a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, and a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer. Controller/processor 275 provides RRC layer functions associated with broadcast of system information (e.g., MIB, SIB), RRC connection control (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection setup, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), inter-Radio Access Technology (RAT) mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting; PDCP layer functions associated with header compression/decompression, security (ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification) and handover support functions; RLC layer functions associated with upper layer Packet Data Unit (PDU) delivery, error correction by ARQ, concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC Service Data Units (SDUs), re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and re-ordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functions associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs onto Transport Blocks (TBs), demultiplexing MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction by HARQ, priority handling and logical channel prioritization.

The Transmit (TX) processor 216 and the Receive (RX) processor 270 implement layer 1 functions associated with various signal processing functions. Layer 1, which includes a Physical (PHY) layer, may include error detection on a transport channel, forward Error Correction (FEC) encoding/decoding of a transport channel, interleaving, rate matching, mapping onto a physical channel, modulation/demodulation of a physical channel, and MIMO antenna processing. TX processor 216 processes the mapping to signal constellations based on various modulation schemes (e.g., binary phase-shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK), M-phase-shift keying (M-PSK), M-quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM)). The encoded and modulated symbols may then be split into parallel streams. Each stream may then be mapped to OFDM subcarriers, multiplexed with reference signals (e.g., pilots) in the time and/or frequency domain, and then combined together using an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) to produce a physical channel carrying the time domain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM streams are spatially precoded to produce a plurality of spatial streams. Channel estimates from channel estimator 274 may be used to determine coding and modulation schemes, as well as for spatial processing. The channel estimate may be derived from a reference signal and/or channel condition feedback transmitted by the UE 250. Each spatial stream may then be provided to a different antenna 220 via a separate transmitter 218 TX. Each transmitter 218TX may modulate an RF carrier with a corresponding spatial stream for transmission.

At the UE 250, each receiver 254RX receives a signal through its respective antenna 252. Each receiver 254RX recovers information modulated onto an RF carrier and provides the information to a Receive (RX) processor 256.TX processor 268 and RX processor 256 implement layer 1 functions associated with various signal processing functions. RX processor 256 may perform spatial processing on the information to recover any spatial streams destined for UE 250. If there are multiple spatial streams to UE 250, they may be combined into a single OFDM symbol stream by RX processor 256. The RX processor 256 then converts the OFDM symbol stream from the time domain to the frequency domain using a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). The frequency domain signal comprises a separate OFDM symbol stream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. The symbols and reference signals on each subcarrier are recovered and demodulated by determining the most likely signal constellation points transmitted by base station 210. These soft decisions may be based on channel estimates computed by channel estimator 258. The soft decisions are then decoded and deinterleaved to recover the data and control signals that were originally transmitted by the base station 210 on the physical channel. The data and control signals are then provided to controller/processor 259, and controller/processor 259 implements layer 3 and layer 2 functions.

The controller/processor 259 can be associated with a memory 260 that stores program codes and data. Memory 260 may be referred to as a computer-readable medium. In the UL, controller/processor 259 provides demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, deciphering, header decompression, and control signal processing to recover IP packets from EPC 160. The controller/processor 259 is also responsible for supporting error detection for HARQ operations using ACK and/or NACK protocols.

Similar to the functionality described in connection with DL transmission by base station 210, controller/processor 259 provides RRC layer functions associated with system information (e.g., MIB, SIB) acquisition, RRC connection, and measurement reporting; PDCP layer functions associated with header compression/decompression and security (ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification); RLC layer functions associated with transmission of upper layer PDUs, error correction by ARQ, concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC SDUs, re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functions associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs onto TBs, demultiplexing MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction by HARQ, priority handling and logical channel prioritization.

Channel estimator 258 derives channel estimates from reference signals or feedback transmitted by base station 210 that can be used by TX processor 268 to select the appropriate coding and modulation scheme and facilitate spatial processing. The spatial streams generated by TX processor 268 may be provided to different antennas 252 via separate transmitters 254 TX. Each transmitter 254TX may modulate an RF carrier with a corresponding spatial stream for transmission. UL transmissions are processed at base station 210 in a manner similar to that described in connection with the receiver function at UE 250. Each receiver 218RX receives a signal via its respective antenna 220. Each receiver 218RX recovers information modulated onto an RF carrier and provides the information to the RX processor 270.

The controller/processor 275 may be associated with a memory 276 that stores program codes and data. Memory 276 may be referred to as a computer-readable medium. In the UL, the controller/processor 275 provides demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, deciphering, header decompression, control signal processing to recover IP packets from the UE 250. IP packets from controller/processor 275 may be provided to EPC 160. The controller/processor 275 is also responsible for supporting error detection for HARQ operations using ACK and/or NACK protocols.

A New Radio (NR) may refer to a radio configured to operate according to a new air interface (e.g., other than an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) based air interface) or a fixed transport layer (e.g., other than Internet Protocol (IP)). NR may utilize OFDM with Cyclic Prefix (CP) on uplink and downlink and may include support for half-duplex operation using Time Division Duplex (TDD). NR may include critical tasks for enhanced mobile broadband (emmbb) services with wide bandwidths (e.g., above 80 MHz), millimeter waves (mmW) for high carrier frequencies (e.g., 60 GHz), large-scale MTC (mctc) for non-backward compatible MTC technologies, and/or for ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC) services.

A single component carrier bandwidth of 100MHz may be supported. In one example, NR Resource Blocks (RBs) can span 12 subcarriers of each RB with a subcarrier spacing (SCS) of 60kHz over a 0.25ms duration or a SCS of 30kHz over a 0.5ms duration (similarly, 15kHz SCS over a 1ms duration). Each radio frame may include 10 subframes (10, 20, 40 or 80 NR slots) of length 10 ms. Each slot may indicate a link direction (i.e., DL or UL) for data transmission, and the link direction of each slot may be dynamically switched. Each slot may include DL/UL data and DL/UL control data. UL and DL slots for NR may be described in more detail below with reference to fig. 5 and 6.

The NR RAN may include a Central Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU). An NR BS (e.g., a gNB,5G node B, transmission Reception Point (TRP), access Point (AP)) may correspond to one or more BSs. The NR unit may be configured as an access cell (ACell) or a data only cell (DCell). For example, the RAN (e.g., a central unit or a distributed unit) may configure the cells. The DCell may be a cell for carrier aggregation or dual connectivity and may not be used for initial access, cell selection/reselection or handover. In some cases, the DCell may not transmit a Synchronization Signal (SS), and in some cases, the DCell may transmit the SS. The NR BS may transmit a downlink signal to the UE indicating the cell type. Based on the cell type indication, the UE may communicate with the NR BS. For example, the UE may determine NR BSs to consider for cell selection, access, handover, and/or measurement based on the indicated cell type.

Fig. 3 illustrates an exemplary logical architecture of a distributed RAN 300 in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The 5G access node 306 may include an Access Node Controller (ANC) 302. The ANC may be a Central Unit (CU) of the distributed RAN. The backhaul interface to the next generation core network (NG-CN) 304 may terminate at the ANC. The backhaul interface to the neighboring next generation access node (NG-AN) 310 may terminate at the ANC. ANC may include one or more TRP 308 (which may also be referred to as BS, NR BS, node B,5G NB, AP, or some other terminology). As described above, TRP may be used interchangeably with "cell".

TRP 308 may be a Distributed Unit (DU). TRP may be connected to one ANC (ANC 302) or more than one ANC (not shown). For example, for RAN-shared, radio as service (RaaS) and service-specific ANC deployments, TRP may be connected to more than one ANC. The TRP may include one or more antenna ports. The TRP may be configured to provide services to the UE either individually (e.g., dynamic selection) or jointly (e.g., joint transmission).

The local architecture of the distributed RAN 300 may be used to illustrate the front-end definition. An architecture may be defined that supports front-end solutions across different deployment types. For example, the architecture may be based on transport network capabilities (e.g., bandwidth, latency, and/or jitter). The architecture may share features and/or components with LTE. According to aspects, a next generation AN (NG-AN) 310 may support dual connectivity with NR. NG-AN may share a common interface for LTE and NR.

The architecture may enable collaboration between TRP 308. For example, collaboration may be preset within and/or across TRPs via ANC 302. According to aspects, an inter-TRP interface may not be needed/present.

According to aspects, dynamic configuration of the split logic functions may exist within the architecture of the distributed RAN 300. The PDCP, RLC, MAC protocol may be adaptively placed at ANC or TRP.

Fig. 4 illustrates an exemplary physical architecture of a distributed RAN 400 in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. A centralized core network element (C-CU) 402 may host core network functions. The C-CUs may be deployed centrally. The C-CU function may be offloaded (e.g., to Advanced Wireless Services (AWS)) in an effort to handle peak capacity. A centralized RAN unit (C-RU) 404 may host one or more ANC functions. Alternatively, the C-RU may host the core network functions locally. The C-RU may have a distributed deployment. The C-RU may be closer to the network edge. Distributed Units (DUs) 406 may host one or more TRPs. The DUs may be located at the edge of a Radio Frequency (RF) enabled network.

Fig. 5 is a diagram 500 illustrating an example of a DL center slot. The DL center slot may include a control portion 502. The control portion 502 may exist at the beginning or beginning portion of the DL center slot. The control portion 502 may include various scheduling information and/or control information corresponding to various portions of the DL center slot. In some configurations, the control portion 502 may be a Physical DL Control Channel (PDCCH), as shown in fig. 5. The DL center slot may also include a DL data portion 504. The DL data portion 504 may sometimes be referred to as the payload of the DL center slot. The DL data portion 504 may include communication resources for transmitting DL data from a scheduling entity (e.g., UE or BS) to a subordinate entity (e.g., UE). In some configurations, DL data portion 504 may be a Physical DL Shared Channel (PDSCH).

The DL center slot may also include a common UL portion 506. The common UL portion 506 may sometimes be referred to as a UL burst, a common UL burst, and/or various other suitable terms. The common UL portion 506 may include feedback information corresponding to various other portions of the DL center slot. For example, the common UL portion 506 may include feedback information corresponding to the control portion 502. Non-limiting examples of feedback information may include an ACK signal, a NACK signal, a HARQ indicator, and/or various other suitable types of information. The common UL portion 506 may include additional or alternative information, such as information related to a Random Access Channel (RACH) procedure, a Scheduling Request (SR), and various other suitable types of information.

As shown in fig. 5, the end of DL data portion 504 may be separated in time from the beginning of common UL portion 506. This time interval may sometimes be referred to as a gap, a guard period, a guard interval, and/or various other suitable terms. This separation provides time for a handoff from DL communication (e.g., a receive operation by a subordinate entity (e.g., UE)) to UL communication (e.g., a transmission by a subordinate entity (e.g., UE)). Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the foregoing is merely one example of a DL center slot and that alternative structures with similar features may exist without necessarily departing from the aspects described herein.

Fig. 6 is a diagram 600 illustrating an example of UL center slots. The UL center time slot may include a control portion 602. The control portion 602 may be present at the beginning or beginning of the UL center slot. The control portion 602 in fig. 6 may be similar to the control portion 502 described above with reference to fig. 5. The UL center slot may also include UL data portion 604.UL data portion 604 may sometimes be referred to as the payload of the UL center slot. The UL portion may refer to communication resources for transmitting UL data from a subordinate entity (e.g., UE) to a scheduling entity (e.g., UE or BS). In some configurations, the control portion 602 may be a Physical DL Control Channel (PDCCH).

As shown in fig. 6, the end of the control portion 602 may be separated in time from the beginning of the UL data portion 604. This time interval may sometimes be referred to as a gap, a guard period, a guard interval, and/or various other suitable terms. This separation provides time for switching from DL communication (e.g., a receiving operation of a scheduling entity) to UL communication (e.g., a transmission of a scheduling entity). The UL center slot may also include a common UL portion 606. The common UL portion 606 in fig. 6 may be similar to the common UL portion 506 described above with reference to fig. 5. The common UL portion 606 may additionally or alternatively include information regarding Channel Quality Indicators (CQIs), sounding Reference Signals (SRS), and various other suitable types of information. Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the foregoing is merely one example of a UL center slot and that alternative structures with similar features may exist without necessarily departing from the aspects described herein.

In some cases, two or more subordinate entities (e.g., UEs) may communicate with each other using side-uplink signals. Real world applications for such side-link communications may include public safety, proximity services, UE-to-network relay, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications, internet of everything (IoE) communications, ioT communications, mission critical grids, and/or various other suitable applications. In general, a sidelink signal may refer to a signal transmitted from one subordinate entity (e.g., UE 1) to another subordinate entity (e.g., UE 2) without relaying the communication through a scheduling entity (e.g., UE or BS), even though the scheduling entity may be used for scheduling and/or control purposes. In some examples, the sidelink signal may be transmitted using a licensed spectrum (as opposed to a wireless local area network that typically uses an unlicensed spectrum).

Fig. 7 is a diagram 700 illustrating a UE requesting to join one or more MBS sessions. The core network 708 may have established Multicast Broadcast Service (MBS) sessions 710-1,710-2, …,710-K. The UE 704 may send a request message 722 to the core network 708 via the base station 702 requesting to join one or more of the MBS sessions 710-1,710-2, …,710-K. The request message 722 may be a PDU session establishment request message or a PDU session modification request message. Request message 722 contains the requested MBS container Information Element (IE) with the following MBS session IDs: temporary Mobile Group Identity (TMGI), or source IP address information and destination IP address information.

In response to the request message 722 indicating that the network has licensed the UE 704 for an MBS session, the UE 704 receives a response message 724 from the core network 708 via the base station 702. The response message 724 may be a PDU session establishment accept message or a PDU session modification command. Response message 724 contains the MBS container Information Element (IE) for receipt of the MBS timer and the following MBS session IDs: TMGI, and/or source IP address information and destination IP address information. The source/destination IP address information may be IPv4 or IPv6. The length of the IPv4 address is 4 bytes; the length of the IPv6 address is 16 bytes. The UE 704 will compare the address information in the received MBS container IE to determine which MBS sessions the network has licensed the UE 704 to join.

Fig. 8 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary received MBS container IE 810. The received MBS container IE 810 may contain a plurality of received MBS information sub-elements corresponding to a plurality of MBS sessions. For example, octets 4 to i are received MBS information subelement 1, octets i+1 to octet 1 are received MBS information subelement 2, …, and octets m+1 to octet n are received MBS information subelement p. Each received MBS information sub-element may refer to one of MBS sessions 710-1,710-2, …, 710-K.

In addition, some received MBS information sub-elements may contain IPv4 addresses, while some other received MBS information sub-elements may contain IPv6 addresses. Thus, different receiving MBS information sub-elements may have different lengths.

In this case, when the UE 704 receives the received MBS container IE810 from the core network 708 via the base station 702, it needs to correctly identify a plurality of received MBS information sub-elements in the received MBS container IE810 in order to correctly decode each sub-element. Specifically, after identifying the received MBS information subelement, the UE 704 decodes the IP address according to the type of IP address used in the associated MBS session.

Fig. 9 is a diagram of an exemplary received MBS information sub-element 910. The 5 th bit in octet 5 of the received MBS information subelement 910 is set to the IP address type (IPAT) field as compared to the legacy received MBS information subelement. The IPAT field indicates the type of source IP address information and destination IP address information. When the IP address presence (IPAE) field in octet 5 is set to a value indicating that source and destination IP address information is not included, the IPAT field should be ignored.

In some configurations, when the IPAT field value is 0, both the source IP address information and the destination IP address information are IPv4 addresses. When the IPAT value is 1, both the source IP address information and the destination IP address information are IPv6 addresses. When the address information field type is IPv4, the lengths of the source IP address information and the destination IP address information are 4 bytes, respectively. When the address information field type is IPv6, the length of the source IP address information and the destination IP address information is 16 bytes, respectively. That is, the IPAT field may use a first value to indicate that the source IP address information and the destination IP address information are both IPv4 addresses, and use a second value to indicate that the source IP address information and the destination IP address information are both IPv6 addresses.

After determining the value of the IPAT field, the UE 704 may decode the IP address information accordingly based on whether the protocol type is IPv4 or IPv 6. As shown in fig. 9, the source IP address information field contains an IP multicast address used as a source address in an IP packet for identifying a source of a multicast service. The value of this field is copied from the corresponding source IP address information in the requested MBS container. If the IPAT field indicates that the source and destination IP address information is IPv4, the source IP address information field of octets j+1 through j+4 contains an IPv4 address. Based on the IPAT field indication, the UE 704 may determine that the source IP address associated with the MBS service is contained in the IP address information field in octets j+1 through j+4.

If the IPAT field indicates that the source and destination IP address information is IPv6, the source IP address information field of octets j+1 through j+16 contains an IPv6 address. Based on the IPAT field indication, the UE 704 may determine that the source IP address associated with the MBS service is contained in the IP address information field in octets j+1 through octets j+16.

The destination IP address information field contains an IP multicast address used as a destination address in the associated IP packet for identifying the multicast service associated with the source. The value of this field is copied from the corresponding destination IP address information in the requested MBS container.

If the IPAT field indicates that the source and destination IP address information is IPv4, the destination IP address information field of octets v+1 through v+4 contains an IPv4 address. Based on the IPAT field indication, the UE may determine that the destination IP address associated with the MBS service is contained in an IP address information field in octets v+1 through v+4.

If the IPAT field indicates that the source and destination IP address information is IPv6, the destination IP address information field of octets v+1 through v+16 contains an IPv6 address. Based on the IPAT field indication, the UE may determine that the destination IP address associated with the MBS service is contained in an IP address information field in octets v+1 through v+16.

In this way, the UE uses the IPAT field to determine whether the protocol type of the destination IP address information is IPv4 or IPv6 and decodes the destination IP address information from the appropriate number of octets accordingly based on the protocol type indicated by the IPAT field. When constructing the received MBS container IE810, the network encodes the IPAT field and destination IP address information accordingly.

Fig. 10 is a diagram 1000 illustrating a sequence of information of an MBS session in which a UE 704 obtains a license from a core network 708 via a base station 702. In operation 1001, the UE 704 transmits a request message requesting to join one or more MBS sessions. The request message may be a PDU session establishment request message or a PDU session modification request message.

In operation 1002: the core network 708 receives request messages from the UE 704 via the base station 702 to join one or more MBS sessions.

In operation 1003: the core network 708 encodes the response message including the received MBS container IE 810 via the base station 702 and indicates the protocol type of the IP address in the IPAT field of the received MBS container IE 810. For example, the response message may be a PDU session establishment accept message or a PDU session modification command message.

When both the source IP address information and the destination IP address information are of the type IPv4, the value of the IPAT field is 0. When both the source IP address information and the destination IP address information are of the type IPv6, the value of the IPAT field is 1.

When the IP address type is IPv4, the lengths of the source IP address information and the destination IP address information are 4 bytes, respectively. When the IP address type is IPv6, the length of the source IP address information and the destination IP address information is 16 bytes, respectively.

In operation 1004: the core network 708 sends a response message to the UE 704 via the base station 702 in response to the request message. In operation 1005: the UE 704 receives a response message in response to the request message. In operation 1006: the UE 704 determines a protocol type of the IP address based on the value of the IPAT field and determines a length of the corresponding IP address information field based on the protocol type. The UE 704 may then correctly decode the IP address information field based on its length (e.g., 4 bytes or 16 bytes).

Fig. 11 is a flowchart 1100 of a method (process) for decoding a response message containing received MBS information indicating one or more licensed MBS sessions. The method may be performed by a UE (e.g., UE 704, UE 250). In operation 1102, the UE transmits a request message requesting to join one or more requested Multicast Broadcast Service (MBS) sessions to a core network. In operation 1104, the UE receives a response message from the core network, the response message containing MBS information indicating reception of one or more licensed MBS sessions. The received MBS information includes a corresponding IP address type (IPAT) field indicating a type of IP address corresponding to each of one or more licensed MBS sessions. In operation 1106, the UE decodes an IP address corresponding to each of the one or more licensed MBS sessions according to the type indicated by the corresponding IPAT field.

In some configurations, the request message includes at least one of a PDU session establishment request message or a PDU session modification request message. In some configurations, the response message includes at least one of a PDU session establishment acceptance message or a PDU session modification command message.

In some configurations, the type of IP address indicated by the respective IPAT field corresponding to each of the one or more licensed MBS sessions is an IPv4 type or an IPv6 type. When decoding an IP address corresponding to each of one or more licensed MBS sessions, if the corresponding IPAT field indicates that the IP address is of the IPv4 type, the UE decodes a 4-byte IP address field to obtain the IP address. If the corresponding IPAT field indicates that the IP address is of the IPv6 type, the UE decodes the 16 byte IP address field to obtain the IP address.

In some configurations, the IP address field of each of the one or more licensed MBS sessions is a source IP address information field containing a source IP address of the licensed MBS session or a destination IP address information field containing a destination IP address of the licensed MBS session.

In some configurations, the respective IPAT field corresponding to each of the one or more licensed MBS sessions indicates a type of both a source IP address and a destination IP address of the licensed MBS session.

Fig. 12 is a flowchart 1200 of a method (process) for transmitting a response message containing MBS information indicating receipt of one or more licensed MBS sessions. The method may be performed by a core network entity. In operation 1202, the core network entity receives a request message from a UE requesting to join one or more requested MBS sessions. In operation 1204, the base station obtains a coded response message containing MBS information indicating receipt of one or more licensed MBS sessions. The received MBS information includes a corresponding IP address type (IPAT) field indicating a type of IP address corresponding to each of one or more licensed MBS sessions to which the UE is to join based on the request message. In operation 1206, the base station transmits the encoded response message to the UE.

In some configurations, the request message includes at least one of a PDU session establishment request message or a PDU session modification request message. In some configurations, the response message includes at least one of a PDU session establishment acceptance message or a PDU session modification command message.

In some configurations, the type of IP address indicated by the respective IPAT field corresponding to each of the one or more licensed MBS sessions is an IPv4 type or an IPv6 type. In some configurations, the encoded response message includes a 4 byte encoded IP address field carrying the IP address when the corresponding IPAT field indicates that the IP address is of the IPv4 type. When the respective IPAT fields indicate that the IP address is of the IPv6 type, the encoded response message includes a 16 byte encoded IP address field carrying the IP address.

In some configurations, the IP address field of each of the one or more licensed MBS sessions is a source IP address information field containing a source IP address of the licensed MBS session or a destination IP address information field containing a destination IP address of the licensed MBS session. In some configurations, the respective IPAT field corresponding to each of the one or more licensed MBS sessions indicates a type of both a source IP address and a destination IP address of the licensed MBS session.

It should be understood that the specific order or hierarchy of blocks in the processes/flowcharts disclosed is an illustration of exemplary approaches. Based on design preferences, it is understood that the specific order or hierarchy of blocks in the processes/flowcharts may be rearranged. Furthermore, some blocks may be combined or omitted. The accompanying method claims present elements of the various blocks in a sample order, and are not meant to be limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented.

The previous description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described herein. Various modifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other aspects. Thus, the claims are not intended to be limited to the aspects shown herein, but are to be accorded the full scope consistent with the language claims, wherein reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean "one and only one" unless specifically so stated, but rather "one or more. The word "exemplary" is used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any aspect described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects. The term "some" means one or more unless specifically stated otherwise. Combinations such as "at least one of A, B or C", "one or more of A, B or C", "at least one of A, B and C", "one or more of A, B and C", and "A, B, C or any combination thereof" include any combination of A, B and/or C, and may include multiples of a, multiples of B, or multiples of C. Specifically, combinations such as "at least one of A, B or C", "one or more of A, B or C", "at least one of A, B and C", "one or more of A, B and C", and "A, B, C or any combination thereof" may be a alone, B alone, C, A and B, A and C, B and C, or a and B and C, wherein any such combination may comprise one or more members of A, B or C. All structural and functional equivalents to the elements of the various aspects described throughout this disclosure that are known to those of ordinary skill in the art or that later become known are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be encompassed by the claims. Furthermore, nothing disclosed herein is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether such disclosure is explicitly recited in the claims. The terms "module," mechanism, "" element, "" device, "and the like may not be a substitute for the term" means. Thus, unless the phrase "means for …" is used to expressly describe the element, the claim elements should not be construed as means-plus-function.

Claims (20)

1. A wireless communication method of a user equipment UE, the method comprising:

transmitting a request message requesting to join one or more requested multicast broadcast service MBS sessions to a core network;

receiving a response message from the core network, the response message containing received MBS information indicating one or more licensed MBS sessions, wherein the received MBS information includes a respective IP address type IPAT field indicating a type of IP address corresponding to each of the one or more licensed MBS sessions; and

the IP address corresponding to each of the one or more licensed MBS sessions is decoded according to the type indicated by the corresponding IPAT field.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the request message comprises at least one of a PDU session establishment request message or a PDU session modification request message.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the response message comprises at least one of a PDU session establishment accept message or a PDU session modification command message.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the type of IP address indicated by the respective IPAT field corresponding to each of the one or more licensed MBS sessions is an IPv4 type or an IPv6 type.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein decoding an IP address corresponding to each of the one or more licensed MBS sessions comprises:

decoding a 4-byte IP address field to obtain the IP address when the corresponding IPAT field indicates that the IP address is of the IPv4 type; and

when the corresponding IPAT field indicates that the IP address is of the IPv6 type, a 16 byte IP address field is decoded to obtain the IP address.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the IP address field of each of the one or more licensed MBS sessions is a source IP address information field containing a source IP address of the licensed MBS session or a destination IP address information field containing a destination IP address of the licensed MBS session.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the respective IPAT field corresponding to each of the one or more licensed MBS sessions indicates a type of both the source IP address and the destination IP address of the licensed MBS session.

8. A method of wireless communication of a core network entity, the method comprising:

receiving a request message requesting to join one or more requested multicast broadcast service MBS sessions from a user equipment UE;

Encoding a response message containing received MBS information indicating one or more licensed MBS sessions, wherein the received MBS information includes a corresponding IP address type IPAT field indicating a type of IP address corresponding to each of the one or more licensed MBS sessions for the UE to join based on the request message; and

and sending the coded response message to the UE.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the request message comprises at least one of a PDU session establishment request message or a PDU session modification request message.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the response message comprises at least one of a PDU session establishment accept message or a PDU session modify command message.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the type of IP address indicated by the respective IPAT field corresponding to each of the one or more licensed MBS sessions is an IPv4 type or an IPv6 type.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the encoded response message comprises:

when the corresponding IPAT field indicates that the IP address is of the IPv4 type, a 4-byte coded IP address field carries the IP address; and

When the corresponding IPAT field indicates that the IP address is of the IPv6 type, a 16-byte coded IP address field carries the IP address.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the IP address field of each of the one or more licensed MBS sessions is a source IP address information field containing a source IP address of the licensed MBS session or a destination IP address information field containing a destination IP address of the licensed MBS session.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the respective IPAT field corresponding to each of the one or more licensed MBS sessions indicates a type of both the source IP address and the destination IP address of the licensed MBS session.

15. An apparatus for wireless communication, the apparatus being a user equipment, UE, the apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to:

transmitting a request message requesting to join one or more requested multicast broadcast service MBS sessions to a core network;

receiving a response message from the core network, the response message containing received MBS information indicating one or more licensed MBS sessions, wherein the received MBS information includes a respective IP address type IPAT field indicating a type of IP address corresponding to each of the one or more licensed MBS sessions; and

The IP address corresponding to each of the one or more licensed MBS sessions is decoded according to the type indicated by the corresponding IPAT field.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the request message comprises at least one of a PDU session establishment request message or a PDU session modification request message.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the response message comprises at least one of a PDU session establishment accept message or a PDU session modification command message.

18. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein a type of IP address indicated by the respective IPAT field corresponding to each of the one or more licensed MBS sessions is an IPv4 type or an IPv6 type.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein to decode an IP address corresponding to each of the one or more licensed MBS sessions, the at least one processor is configured to:

decoding a 4-byte IP address field to obtain the IP address when the corresponding IPAT field indicates that the IP address is of the IPv4 type; and

when the corresponding IPAT field indicates that the IP address is of the IPv6 type, a 16 byte IP address field is decoded to obtain the IP address.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the IP address field of each of the one or more licensed MBS sessions is a source IP address information field containing a source IP address of the licensed MBS session or a destination IP address information field containing a destination IP address of the licensed MBS session.