CN118176769A - Signaling and scheduling for implementing small gaps in network configuration in inter-frequency measurements within a frequency band - Google Patents

Abstract

Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques for signaling and scheduling for implementing small gaps in network configuration in intra-band inter-frequency measurements. A method that may be performed by a User Equipment (UE) includes: receiving, from a serving cell operating on a first frequency, an indication that a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) index for a target cell operating on a second frequency can be derived from timing of the serving cell; and deriving an SSB index of the target cell based on the timing of the serving cell.

Description

Signaling and scheduling for implementing small gaps in network configuration in inter-frequency measurements within a frequency band

Cross Reference to Related Applications

The present application claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No.17/669,018, filed on 10 months 2 of 2022, which claims the benefit and priority to U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No.63/274,406, filed on 1 month 11 of 2021, which is assigned to the assignee of the present application and incorporated herein by reference in its entirety as if fully set forth herein below and for all applicable purposes.

Technical Field

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to wireless communications, and more particularly, to techniques for implementing small gaps in network configuration in-band inter-frequency measurements.

Background

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These wireless communication systems may employ multiple-access techniques capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., bandwidth, transmit power, etc.). Examples of such multiple-access systems include third generation partnership project (3 GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, modified LTE (LTE-A) systems, 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, to name a few.

These multiple access techniques have been employed in various telecommunications standards to provide a common protocol that enables different wireless devices to communicate at the urban, national, regional, and even global levels. New radios (e.g., 5G NR) are an example of an emerging telecommunication standard. NR is an enhanced set of LTE mobile standards promulgated by 3 GPP. NR is designed to better integrate with other open standards by improving spectral efficiency, reducing costs, improving services, utilizing new spectrum, and using OFDMA with Cyclic Prefix (CP) on Downlink (DL) and Uplink (UL), thereby better supporting mobile broadband internet access. To this end, NR supports beamforming, multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) antenna technology, and carrier aggregation.

However, as the demand for mobile broadband access continues to grow, there is a need for further improvements in NR and LTE technology. These improvements should be applicable to other multiple access techniques and telecommunication standards employing these techniques.

Disclosure of Invention

The systems, methods, and devices of the present disclosure each have several aspects, no single one of which is solely responsible for its desirable attributes. After considering this discussion, and particularly after reading the section entitled "detailed description" one will understand how the features of this disclosure provide advantages that include more efficient use of transmission resources and higher throughput in wireless networks.

Certain aspects of the subject matter described in this disclosure may be implemented in a method for wireless communication by a User Equipment (UE). In general terms, the method comprises: receiving, from a serving cell operating on a first frequency, an indication that a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) index for a target cell operating on a second frequency can be derived from timing of the serving cell; and deriving an SSB index for the target cell based on the timing of the serving cell.

Certain aspects of the subject matter described in this disclosure may be implemented in a method for wireless communication by a serving cell operating on a first frequency. In general terms, the method comprises: transmitting to a User Equipment (UE) an indication that a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) index for a target cell operating on a second frequency is derivable from timing of the serving cell; and refraining from scheduling the UE to transmit or receive communications during a period comprising: consecutive SSB symbols to be measured from the target cell within an SSB Measurement Time Configuration (SMTC) window duration, 1 data symbol before the consecutive SSB symbols to be measured, and 1 data symbol after the consecutive SSB symbols to be measured.

Certain aspects of the subject matter described in this disclosure may be implemented in an apparatus for wireless communication at a User Equipment (UE). In general terms, the apparatus comprises: a processor; a memory coupled to the processor; and instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: receiving, from a serving cell operating on a first frequency, an indication that a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) index for a target cell operating on a second frequency can be derived from timing of the serving cell; and deriving an SSB index for the target cell based on the timing of the serving cell.

Certain aspects of the subject matter described in this disclosure may be implemented in an apparatus for wireless communication at a serving cell operating on a first frequency. In general terms, the apparatus comprises: a processor; a memory coupled to the processor; and instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: transmitting to a User Equipment (UE) an indication that a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) index for a target cell operating on a second frequency is derivable from timing of the serving cell; and refraining from scheduling the UE to transmit or receive communications during a period comprising: consecutive SSB symbols to be measured from the target cell within an SSB Measurement Time Configuration (SMTC) window duration, 1 data symbol before the consecutive SSB symbols to be measured, and 1 data symbol after the consecutive SSB symbols to be measured.

Certain aspects of the subject matter described in this disclosure may be implemented in an apparatus for wireless communication at a User Equipment (UE). In general terms, the apparatus comprises: means for receiving, from a serving cell operating on a first frequency, an indication that a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) index for a target cell operating on a second frequency is derivable from timing of the serving cell; and means for deriving an SSB index for the target cell based on the timing of the serving cell.

Certain aspects of the subject matter described in this disclosure may be implemented in an apparatus for wireless communication at a serving cell operating on a first frequency. In general terms, the apparatus comprises: means for transmitting to a User Equipment (UE) an indication that a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) index for a target cell operating on a second frequency is derivable from a timing of the serving cell; and means for avoiding scheduling the UE to transmit or receive communications during a period comprising: consecutive SSB symbols to be measured from the target cell within an SSB Measurement Time Configuration (SMTC) window duration, 1 data symbol before the consecutive SSB symbols to be measured, and 1 data symbol after the consecutive SSB symbols to be measured.

Certain aspects of the subject matter described in this disclosure may be implemented in a computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable code for wireless communications. In general terms, the computer-executable code thereon comprises: code for receiving, from a serving cell operating on a first frequency, an indication that a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) index for a target cell operating on a second frequency is derivable from timing of the serving cell; and code for deriving an SSB index for the target cell based on the timing of the serving cell.

Certain aspects of the subject matter described in this disclosure may be implemented in a computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable code for wireless communication by a serving cell operating on a first frequency. In general terms, the computer-executable code thereon comprises: code for transmitting to a User Equipment (UE) an indication that a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) index for a target cell operating on a second frequency is derivable from a timing of the serving cell; and code for avoiding scheduling the UE to transmit or receive communications during a period comprising: consecutive SSB symbols to be measured from the target cell within an SSB Measurement Time Configuration (SMTC) window duration, 1 data symbol before the consecutive SSB symbols to be measured, and 1 data symbol after the consecutive SSB symbols to be measured.

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 characteristics are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of various aspects may be employed.

Drawings

So that the manner in which the above recited features of the present disclosure can be understood in detail, a more particular description of the invention, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to aspects, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is noted, however, that the drawings illustrate only certain aspects of the disclosure and that the description may recognize other equally effective aspects.

Fig. 1 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example wireless communication network in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating a design of an example Base Station (BS) and User Equipment (UE) in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 3 is an example frame format for certain wireless communication systems (e.g., new Radios (NRs)) in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 4 illustrates how different Synchronization Signal Blocks (SSBs) may be transmitted using different beams in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 5 illustrates an example transmission resource mapping in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 6A and 6B illustrate examples of SSB patterns for different subcarrier spacings (SCS) in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 7 illustrates an example SSB structure in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 8 is a flowchart illustrating example operations for wireless communication by a UE in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 9 is a flowchart illustrating example operations for wireless communication by a BS according to certain aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 10 illustrates a communication device that may include various components configured to perform operations for the techniques disclosed herein, in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 11 illustrates a communication device that may include various components configured to perform operations for the techniques disclosed herein, in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have been used, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common to the figures. It is contemplated that elements disclosed in one aspect may be beneficially employed on other aspects without specific recitation.

Detailed Description

Aspects of the present disclosure provide apparatus, methods, processing systems, and computer readable media for implementing a network configured small gap (NCGS) in-band inter-frequency measurements and in inter-band measurements using a Common Beam Management (CBM) with a serving cell band and a target cell band. When a UE with a spare receive chain determines (e.g., in response to a handover command) to measure another cell (referred to herein as a target cell), the UE may use the spare receive chain to measure the target cell. In measuring the target cell, if the receive chain for the serving cell data and the spare receive chain for the measurement are using a common beam, the UE cannot transmit or receive from the serving cell because the transmission or reception may interfere with the measurement. If the UE can derive a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) index of the target cell from the information provided by the serving cell, and if the period in which the UE is scheduled to transmit or receive overlaps with the SSB symbol of the target cell or one symbol before or after the SSB symbol of the target cell, the UE can receive the serving cell data using one beam and switch to another beam for target cell measurements on the SSB symbol of the target cell. Determining the target cell SSB index (e.g., deriving the index from information provided by the serving cell) shortens the period during which the UE cannot be scheduled to transmit or receive, as in previously known techniques, the UE may receive or measure the target cell from the target cell during the entire SMTC window duration, as compared to previously known techniques in which the UE cannot be scheduled to transmit or receive during the entire SMTC Measurement Time Configuration (SMTC) window duration.

The following description provides an example of implementing a small gap (NCGS) of network configuration in inter-frequency measurements within a frequency band in a communication system. Changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elements discussed without departing from the disclosure. Various examples may omit, replace, or add various procedures or components as appropriate. For example, the described methods may be performed in a different order than described, and various steps may be added, omitted, or combined. Furthermore, features described with respect to some examples may be combined into some other examples. For example, an apparatus may be implemented or a method may be practiced using any number of the aspects set forth herein. Furthermore, the present disclosure is intended to cover such devices or methods practiced using other structures, functions, or structures and functions in addition to or different from the aspects of the disclosure set forth herein. It should be understood that any aspect of the disclosure disclosed herein may be embodied by one or more elements of the claims. The term "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.

In general, any number of wireless networks may be deployed in a given geographic area. Each wireless network may support a particular Radio Access Technology (RAT) and may operate on one or more frequencies. A RAT may also be referred to as a radio technology, an air interface, etc. Frequencies may also be referred to as carriers, subcarriers, frequency channels, tones, subbands, and so forth. Each frequency may support a single RAT in a given geographical area in order to avoid interference between wireless networks having different RATs.

The techniques described herein may be used for various wireless networks and radio technologies. While aspects may be described herein using terms commonly associated with 3G, 4G, and/or new radio (e.g., 5G NR) wireless technologies, aspects of the present disclosure may be applied in other generation-based communication systems.

NR access may support various wireless communication services, such as enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) targeting wide bandwidth, millimeter wave mmW, large-scale machine type communication MTC (mctc) targeting non-backward compatible MTC technology, and/or mission critical targeting ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC). These services may include latency and reliability requirements. These services may also have different Transmission Time Intervals (TTIs) to meet corresponding quality of service (QoS) requirements. In addition, these services may coexist in the same subframe.

The electromagnetic spectrum is typically subdivided into various categories, bands, channels, etc., based on frequency/wavelength. In 5G NR, two initial operating bands have been identified as frequency range names FR1 (410 MHz-7.125 GHz) and FR2 (24.25 GHz-52.6 GHz). The frequency between FR1 and FR2 is commonly referred to as the mid-band frequency. Although a portion of FR1 is greater than 6GHz, FR1 is often (interchangeably) referred to as the "below 6GHz" band in various documents and articles. Similar naming problems sometimes occur with respect to FR2, which is commonly (interchangeably) referred to in documents and articles as the "millimeter wave" band, although it differs from the Extremely High Frequency (EHF) band (30 GHz-300 GHz), which is identified by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) as the "millimeter wave" band.

In view of the above, unless specifically stated otherwise, it should be understood that if the term "below 6GHz" or the like is used herein, it may broadly represent frequencies that may be less than 6GHz, may be within FR1, or may include mid-band frequencies. Furthermore, unless specifically stated otherwise, it should be understood that if the term "millimeter wave" or the like is used herein, it may broadly represent frequencies that may include mid-band frequencies, may be within FR2, or may be within the EHF band.

NR supports beamforming and beam direction may be dynamically configured. Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmission with precoding may also be supported. MIMO configuration in DL may support up to 8 transmit antennas, with multiple layers DL transmitting up to 8 streams in total and up to 2 streams per UE. Multi-layer transmissions (e.g., by UEs) with up to 2 streams per UE may be supported. Aggregation of multiple cells with up to 8 serving cells may be supported.

Fig. 1 illustrates an example wireless communication network 100 in which aspects of the present disclosure may be implemented. For example, the wireless communication network 100 may be an NR system (e.g., a 5G NR network). As shown in fig. 1, the wireless communication network 100 may communicate with a core network 132. The core network 132 may communicate with one or more Base Stations (BSs) 110a-z (each also referred to herein individually or collectively as BSs 110) and/or User Equipments (UEs) 120a-y (each also referred to herein individually or collectively as UEs 120) in the wireless communication network 100 via one or more interfaces.

According to certain aspects, BS110 and UE 120 may be configured to implement a small gap (NCGS) in network configuration in-band inter-frequency measurements. As shown in fig. 1, BS110a includes NCSG manager 112, which transmits to a UE (e.g., UE 120 a) an indication that a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) index for a target cell (e.g., cell 102 b) operating on a second frequency can be derived from the timing of a serving cell (e.g., cell 102 a), and avoids scheduling the UE to transmit or receive communications during periods comprising: a first NCSG, consecutive SSB symbols to be measured from the target cell within an SSB Measurement Time Configuration (SMTC) window duration, 1 data symbol before the consecutive SSB symbols to be measured, 1 data symbol after the consecutive SSB symbols to be measured, and a second NCSG. According to aspects of the disclosure, UE 120a includes NCSG manager 122 that receives an indication from a serving cell (e.g., cell 102 a) operating on a first frequency that a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) index for a target cell (e.g., cell 102 b) operating on a second frequency can be derived from a timing of the serving cell, and derives the SSB index for the target cell based on the timing of the serving cell.

BS110 may provide communication coverage for a particular geographic area (sometimes referred to as a "cell") that may be stationary or may move according to the location of mobile BS 110. In some examples, BS110 may be interconnected with each other and/or with one or more other BSs or network nodes (not shown) in wireless communication network 100 through various types of backhaul interfaces (e.g., direct physical connections, wireless connections, virtual networks, etc.) using any suitable transport network. In the example shown in fig. 1, BSs 110a, 110b, and 110c may be macro BSs for macro cells 102a, 102b, and 102c, respectively. BS110x may be a pico BS for pico cell 102 x. BSs 110y and 110z may be femto BSs for femto cells 102y and 102z, respectively. The BS may support one or more cells.

BS110 communicates with UEs 120 in wireless communication network 100. UEs 120 (e.g., 120x, 120y, etc.) may be dispersed throughout wireless communication network 100, and each UE 120 may be fixed or mobile. The wireless communication network 100 may also include relay stations (e.g., relay station 110 r) (also referred to as relays, etc.) that receive transmissions of data and/or other information from upstream stations (e.g., BS110a or UE 120 r) and send transmissions of data and/or other information to downstream stations (e.g., UE 120 or BS 110), or relay transmissions between UEs 120 to facilitate communications between devices.

Network controller 130 may communicate with a set of BSs 110 and provide coordination and control (e.g., via backhaul) for these BSs 110. In aspects, the network controller 130 may communicate with a core network 132 (e.g., a 5G core network (5 GC)), the core network 132 providing various network functions such as access and mobility management, session management, user plane functions, policy control functions, authentication server functions, unified data management, application functions, network exposure functions, network repository functions, network slice selection functions, and the like.

Fig. 2 illustrates example components of BS110a and UE 120a (e.g., wireless communication network 100 of fig. 1) that may be used to implement aspects of the present disclosure.

At BS110a, transmit processor 220 may receive data from data source 212 and control information from controller/processor 240. The control information may be used for a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH), a Physical Control Format Indicator Channel (PCFICH), a physical hybrid ARQ indicator channel (PHICH), a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), a group common PDCCH (GC PDCCH), and the like. The data may be for a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) or the like. A Medium Access Control (MAC) -control element (MAC-CE) is a MAC layer communication structure that may be used for control command exchange between wireless nodes. The MAC-CE may be carried in a shared channel, such as a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), or a physical side-shared channel (PSSCH).

Transmit processor 220 may process (e.g., encode and symbol map) the data and control information, respectively, to obtain data symbols and control symbols. The transmit processor 220 may also generate reference symbols such as for a Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS), a Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS), a PBCH demodulation reference signal (DMRS), and a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS). A Transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 230 may perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on the data symbols, the control symbols, and/or the reference symbols, if applicable, and may provide output symbol streams to Modulators (MODs) in the transceivers 232a-232 t. Each modulator in transceivers 232a-232t may process a respective output symbol stream (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator may further process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, and upconvert) the output sample stream to obtain a downlink signal. Downlink signals from modulators in transceivers 232a-232t may be transmitted through antennas 234a-234t, respectively.

At UE 120a, antennas 252a-252r may receive the downlink signals from BS110a and may provide the received signals to a demodulator (DEMOD) in transceivers 254a-254r, respectively. Each demodulator in transceivers 254a-254r may condition (e.g., filter, amplify, downconvert, and digitize) a respective received signal to obtain input samples. Each demodulator may further process the input samples (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain received symbols. MIMO detector 256 may obtain received symbols from all demodulators in transceivers 254a-254r, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols (if applicable), and provide detected symbols. Receive processor 258 may process (e.g., demodulate, deinterleave, and decode) the detected symbols, provide decoded data for UE 120a to a data sink 260, and provide decoded control information to a controller/processor 280.

On the uplink, at UE 120a, transmit processor 264 may receive and process data from data source 262 (e.g., for a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH)) and control information from controller/processor 280 (e.g., for a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH)). The transmit processor 264 may also generate reference symbols for reference signals (e.g., for Sounding Reference Signals (SRS)). The symbols from transmit processor 264 may be precoded by a TX MIMO processor 266 if applicable, further processed by modulators in transceivers 254a-254r (e.g., for SC-FDM, etc.), and transmitted to BS110a. At BS110a, the uplink signals from UE 120a may be received by antennas 234, processed by demodulators in transceivers 232a-232t, detected by a MIMO detector 236 (if applicable), and further processed by a receive processor 238 to obtain decoded data and control information sent by UE 120 a. The receive processor 238 may provide the decoded data to a data sink 239 and the decoded control information to a controller/processor 240.

Memories 242 and 282 may store data and program codes for BS110a and UE 120a, respectively. The scheduler 244 may schedule UEs for data transmission on the downlink and/or uplink.

Antenna 252, processors 266, 258, 264 and/or controller/processor 280 of UE 120a and/or antenna 234, processors 220, 230, 238 and/or controller/processor 240 of BS110a may be used to perform the various techniques and methods described herein. For example, as shown in fig. 2, according to aspects described herein, the controller/processor 240 of BS110a has NCSG manager 241 that sends an indication to a User Equipment (UE) that a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) index for a target cell operating on a second frequency can be derived from the timing of a serving cell; and refraining from scheduling the UE to transmit or receive communications during periods comprising: a first NCSG, consecutive SSB symbols to be measured from the target cell within an SSB Measurement Time Configuration (SMTC) window duration, 1 data symbol before the consecutive SSB symbols to be measured, 1 data symbol after the consecutive SSB symbols to be measured, and a second NCSG. As shown in fig. 2, according to aspects described herein, controller/processor 280 of UE 120a has NCSG manager 281 that receives from a serving cell operating on a first frequency an indication that a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) index for a target cell operating on a second frequency can be derived from the timing of the serving cell; and deriving an SSB index of the target cell based on the timing of the serving cell. Although shown at a controller/processor, other components of UE 120a and BS110a may be used to perform the operations described herein.

NR may utilize Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) with Cyclic Prefix (CP) on uplink and downlink. NR may support half-duplex operation using Time Division Duplex (TDD). OFDM and single carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) divide the system bandwidth into a plurality of orthogonal subcarriers, which are also commonly referred to as tones, bins, etc. Each subcarrier may be modulated with data. The modulation symbols may be transmitted with OFDM in the frequency domain and SC-FDM in the time domain. The interval between adjacent subcarriers may be fixed and the total number of subcarriers may depend on the system bandwidth. The minimum resource allocation called Resource Block (RB) may be 12 consecutive subcarriers. The system bandwidth may also be divided into sub-bands. For example, a subband may cover multiple RBs. The NR may support a basic subcarrier spacing (SCS) of 15KHz, and may define other SCSs (e.g., 30KHz, 60KHz, 120KHz, 240KHz, etc.) with respect to the basic SCS.

Fig. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a frame format 300 for NR. The transmission timeline for each of the downlink and uplink may be partitioned into units of radio frames. Each radio frame may have a predetermined duration (e.g., 10 ms) and may be divided into 10 subframes (each subframe is 1 ms) with indices of 0 to 9. Each subframe may include a variable number of slots (e.g., 1, 2, 4, 8, 16..times. Slots), depending on the SCS. Each slot may include a variable number of symbol periods (e.g., 7, 12, or 14 symbols), depending on the SCS. An index may be assigned to the symbol period in each slot. A sub-slot structure may refer to a transmission time interval having a duration less than a time slot (e.g., 2,3, or 4 symbols). Each symbol in a slot may be configured with a link direction (e.g., DL, UL, or flexible) for data transmission, and the link direction for each subframe may be dynamically switched. The link direction may be based on a slot format. Each slot may include DL/UL data and DL/UL control information.

In NR, a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) is transmitted. In certain aspects, SSBs may be transmitted in bursts, where each SSB in a burst corresponds to a different beam direction for UE-side beam management (e.g., including beam selection and/or beam refinement). SSB includes PSS, SSS and two symbol PBCH. SSBs may be transmitted in fixed slot positions, such as symbols 0-3 as shown in fig. 3. PSS and SSS may be used by the UE for cell search and acquisition. The PSS may provide half frame timing and the SS may provide CP length and frame timing. PSS and SSS may provide cell identity. The PBCH carries some basic system information such as downlink system bandwidth, timing information within the radio frame, SS burst set period, system frame number, etc. SSBs may be organized into SS bursts to support beam scanning. Further system information, such as the Remaining Minimum System Information (RMSI), system Information Blocks (SIBs), other System Information (OSI), may be transmitted on the Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) in certain subframes. For mmWave, SSBs may be sent up to sixty-four times, e.g., with up to sixty-four different beam directions. The multiple transmissions of SSBs are referred to as SS burst sets. SSBs in SS burst sets may be transmitted in the same frequency region, while SSBs in different SS burst sets may be transmitted in different frequency regions.

As shown in fig. 4, SS blocks may be organized into SS burst sets to support beam scanning. As shown, each SSB within a burst set may be transmitted using a different beam, which may help the UE quickly acquire both a transmit (Tx) beam and a receive (Rx) beam (particularly for mmW applications). Physical Cell Identities (PCIs) can be decoded from PSS and SSS of SSB.

Fig. 5 illustrates an example transmission resource map 500 in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. In an exemplary mapping, a BS (e.g., BS110a shown in fig. 1) transmits SS/PBCH block 502. The SS/PBCH block includes a MIB that conveys an index to a table that correlates CORESET time and frequency resources with those of the SS/PBCH block.

The BS may also transmit control signaling. In some scenarios, the BS may also transmit PDCCH to a UE (e.g., UE 120 shown in fig. 1) in (time/frequency resources of) CORESET. The PDCCH may schedule PDSCH 506. Then, the BS transmits the PDSCH to the UE. The UE may receive a Master Information Block (MIB) in the SS/PBCH block, determine an index, find CORESET the configuration based on the index, and determine CORESET from the CORESET configuration and the SS/PBCH block. The UE may then monitor CORESET, decode the PDCCH in CORESET, and receive the PDSCH scheduled by (e.g., with resources allocated to) the PDCCH.

Different CORESET configurations may have different parameters defining the corresponding CORESET. For example, each configuration may indicate a number of resource blocks (e.g., 24, 48, or 96), a number of symbols (e.g., 1-3), and an offset indicating a frequency location (e.g., 0-38 RBs).

In addition, REG bundling may be used for transmitting CORESET. The REGs in the REG bundle may be contiguous in frequency and/or time domain. In some cases, the time domain may be prioritized before the frequency domain. The REG bundling size may include 2, 3, or 6 for interleaving mappings and 6 for non-interleaving mappings.

As described above, a set of CCEs may be used to transmit a new radio PDCCH (NR-PDCCH), where different numbers of CCEs in the set are used to transmit NR-PDCCHs using different aggregation levels.

Fig. 6A and 6B illustrate examples 600 and 650 of SSB patterns for different subcarrier spacings (SCS) in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. A BS, such as BS110a shown in fig. 1, may transmit an SS in one period (e.g., 5 subframes) 602 during each 20ms period 604. As described above, the subframe 606 may be divided into a plurality of slots 608. For example, in a communication system using a subcarrier spacing (SCS) of 120kHz, a subframe may be divided into eight slots, each of which is 0.125ms long. Each slot may include 14 OFDM symbols 610. The BS may transmit SS blocks 612 for up to four consecutive OFDM symbols during one or more slots. The BS may transmit different SS blocks using different transmit beams (e.g., for beam scanning). Each SS block may include, for example, a Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS), a Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSs), and one or more Physical Broadcast Channels (PBCH), also referred to as synchronization channels. See also fig. 7 to illustrate SS blocks. Symbols that are not used for SS, such as symbol 614, may be used to transmit PDCCH, PDSCH, and other channels.

In the exemplary SSB mode 650 shown in fig. 6B, each subframe 656 is divided into 16 slots 658, each slot 658 being 0.0625ms long, as may be used in a wireless communication system using a 240kHz SCS. A BS, such as BS110a shown in fig. 1, may transmit an SS in one period (e.g., 3 subframes) 652 during each 20ms period 654. Although the slot and OFDM symbol lengths may vary depending on the SCS used, SS blocks 662 and 612 (see fig. 6A) are up to four OFDM symbols long. Symbols that are not used for SS, such as symbol 664, may be used to transmit PDCCH, PDSCH, and other channels.

Fig. 7 shows an example SSB format. As shown, the SSB may include a Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS), a Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS), and one or more Physical Broadcast Channels (PBCH).

When the UE is configured to operate using the Network Configured Small Gap (NCSG), the UE has a spare receive chain that the UE can use to measure the frequency layer to which the UE is not currently tuned. When a UE is handed over from a serving cell to another cell (referred to herein as a target cell), it may be desirable for the UE to measure other frequencies. In previously known techniques, measuring another frequency may be facilitated by scheduling measurement gaps for the UE.

When NSCG is used, the network may configure two small gaps to re-tune and change configuration before and after Reference Signal (RS) measurements for the spare receive chain, rather than the previously known large measurement gaps that enable RF re-tuning for the receive chain and cover the entire SMTC window.

For UEs operating in frequency range 2 (FR 2), there may be limitations to the intra-band inter-frequency measurements and Common Beam Management (CBM) band case. In these NCSG use cases, even if the UE has a spare receive chain, the UE is typically unable to receive data from the serving cell and measure the target cell SSB in FR2 simultaneously unless the target cell to be measured and the serving cell are on two bands in which the UE performs IBM (independent beam management), since the serving cell and the target cell will typically use different codebooks.

There may also be another limitation on the UE performing inter-frequency measurements because the UE may not be able to perform neighbor cell SSB index derivation. In previously known techniques, the UE may be signaled an information element deriveSSB-IndexFromCell that indicates whether the UE can derive the SSB index of the target cell from the SSB index of the serving cell, the System Frame Number (SFN), and the frame boundary. However, deriveSSB-IndexFromCell is only suitable for deriving the SSB index of the target cell from the serving cell when the target cell and the serving cell operate on the same frequency. In previously known techniques, it is not indicated whether the UE is able to derive the SSB index of the neighboring (target) cell on a different frequency than the serving cell by using information from the serving cell (e.g., the SSB index of the serving cell). For example: assume that cell 1 is a serving cell on frequency a, neighbor cells 2 and 3 are on frequency a, and neighbor cells 4 and 5 are on frequency B. Currently known techniques may signal that cells 1,2, and 3 are synchronized and cells 4 and 5 are synchronized, but previously known techniques cannot be utilized to signal whether cells 1,2, and 3 and cells 4 and 5 are synchronized.

When the UE does not have information for deriving the SSB index of the target cell, data transmission/reception for the UE is not feasible in the entire SSB Measurement Time Configuration (SMTC) window when the UE is using NCSG in the inter-frequency measurement within the frequency band. The transmission and reception of the UE is not feasible for this period, which eliminates most of the throughput gain using NCSG instead of the previously known techniques.

If the UE knows (or may derive) the SSB index of the target cell operating on the non-serving cell frequency, NCSG may be enabled for the UE, where the data transmission/reception schedule for the symbols of SMTC window duration excludes the symbols that overlap with the SSB symbols from the target cell. In this case NCSG can still achieve significant throughput gain because PDCCH/PUCCH and even PDSCH/PUSCH can be scheduled on symbols that do not overlap with SSB symbols from the target cell.

Accordingly, there is a need for techniques and apparatus for indicating to a UE performing inter-frequency measurements (intra-band and inter-band) that the UE can derive an SSB index for a target cell from the SFN, frame boundaries, and/or SSB index of the UE's serving cell.

Example signaling and scheduling for implementing small gaps in network configuration in inter-frequency measurements within a band

Aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques and apparatus for indicating to a UE performing inter-frequency measurements (intra-band and inter-band) that the UE may derive an SSB index of a target cell from an SFN, frame boundary, and/or SSB index of a serving cell of the UE.

In aspects of the disclosure, broadcast and/or UE-specific signaling fields may be sent (e.g., by the serving cell) to indicate to the UE whether the UE may utilize the serving cell timing to derive an SSB index for a target cell operating on a different frequency than the serving cell frequency. For example, the serving cell may send an Information Element (IE) referred to as deriveSSB-IndexFreqServingCell, for example. The IE may include up to two fields, where the first mandatory field indicates whether the UE may derive the SSB index of the target cell from the SSB index of the serving cell, and the second optional field may indicate the index of the serving cell within the cell group, which the UE may use as a time reference to derive the SSB index of the target cell. Such IEs may be broadcast, e.g., in SIBs, delivered to UEs in RRCRELEASE dedicated messages, or in Measurement Object (MO) configurations.

According to aspects of the present disclosure, if the signaling field is set to true, the UE may assume SFN and frame boundary alignment between the target cell and the serving cell. By assuming SFN and frame boundary alignment between the target cell and the serving cell, the UE may utilize the timing of the serving cell to derive an index of SSBs transmitted by the target cell. Continuing with the example above, if the IE is broadcast in the SIB, the first field is true (i.e., the first field indicates that the UE can derive the SSB index of the target cell from the information provided by the serving cell) and the second field is not present, the IE may indicate that the UE can use the timing of the serving cell (e.g., broadcast in the SIB (such as SIB4 or SIB 11)) to derive the SSB index of all neighbors on the frequencies listed in the SIB or the other (e.g., under InterFreqCarrierFreqInfo). Still in the above example, if the IE is delivered to the UE in RRCRELEASE dedicated messages (e.g., under MeasIdleConfig and MEASIDLECARRIERNR objects), the first field is true, and the second field is not present, the IE may indicate that the UE may use the timing of the serving cell (i.e., the cell from which the UE received RRCRELEASE messages) to derive SSB indexes for all neighbors on the frequency (e.g., the frequency indicated by MEASIDLECARRIERNR). In the same example, if the IE is delivered in the MO configuration (e.g., under the SSB-ConfigMobility object), the first field is true, and the second field is not present, the IE may indicate that the UE may use the timing of the serving cell (from which the UE receives the MO configuration) to derive the SSB index of all neighbors on the frequency provided by the MO configuration.

In aspects of the present disclosure, NCSG may be utilized within the frequency layer when the UE is performing 1) intra-band inter-frequency measurements or 2) inter-band measurements when the serving cell band and target cell band operate with a Common Beam Management (CBM), and the serving cell refrains from scheduling the UE to transmit PUCCH, PUSCH, SRS or receive PDCCH, PDSCH, TRS CSI-RS for CQI on consecutive SSB symbols to be measured, on 1 data symbol preceding consecutive SSB symbols to be measured, and on 1 data symbol following consecutive SSB symbols to be measured within the SMTC window duration, when the proposed new signaling field is set to true. For example, the UE may be configured with a Measurement Object (MO) indicating a frequency and a target cell for UE measurement. In this example, the UE is not expected to transmit PUCCH, PUSCH or SRS or receive PDCCH, PDSCH, TRS or CSI-RS for CQI on SSB symbols to be measured, on 1 data symbol before consecutive SSB symbols to be measured, and on 1 data symbol after consecutive SSB symbols to be measured within SMTC window duration. In another example, a UE may be configured with multiple MOs. In this example, the UE is not expected to transmit PUCCH, PUSCH or SRS or receive PDCCH, PDSCH, TRS or CSI-RS for CQI on the union of SSB symbols to be measured, on 1 data symbol before consecutive SSB symbols to be measured in the union, and on 1 data symbol after consecutive SSB symbols to be measured in the union within SMTC window duration.

Fig. 8 is a flow chart illustrating example operations 800 for wireless communication in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. The operations 800 may be performed, for example, by a UE (e.g., such as the UE 120a in the wireless communication network 100). The operations 800 may be implemented as software components executing and running on one or more processors (e.g., the controller/processor 280 of fig. 2). Further, the transmission and reception of signals by the UE in operation 800 may be implemented, for example, by one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 252 of fig. 2). In certain aspects, the transmission and/or reception of signals by the UE may be implemented via a bus interface of one or more processors (e.g., controller/processor 280) that obtain and/or output the signals.

At block 802, the operation 800 may begin by: an indication is received from a serving cell operating on a first frequency that a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) index for a target cell operating on a second frequency can be derived from timing of the serving cell. For example, UE 120a (see fig. 1) receives, from serving cell 102a (served by BS110 a) operating on a first frequency, an indication (e.g., an IE that may be referred to as deriveSSB-IndexFreqServingCell, for example) that a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) index for target cell 102b (served by BS110 b) operating on a second frequency can be derived from the timing of serving cell 102 a.

At block 804, operation 800 may continue by: the SSB index of the target cell is derived based on the timing of the serving cell. Continuing with the example above, UE 120a derives the SSB index of target cell 102b based on the timing of serving cell 102 a.

Fig. 9 is a flow chart illustrating example operations 900 for wireless communication in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. Operation 900 may be performed, for example, by a serving cell served by a BS (e.g., such as BS110a in wireless communication network 100). Operation 900 may be complementary to operation 800 performed by the UE. The operations 900 may be implemented as software components executing and running on one or more processors (e.g., the controller/processor 240 of fig. 2). Further, the transmission and reception of signals by the BS in operation 900 may be implemented, for example, by one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 234 of fig. 2). In certain aspects, the transmission and/or reception of signals by the BS may be implemented via a bus interface of one or more processors (e.g., controller/processor 240) that obtain and/or output the signals.

At block 902, operation 900 may begin by: an indication is sent to a User Equipment (UE) that a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) index for a target cell operating on a second frequency can be derived from the timing of a serving cell. For example, BS110a (see fig. 1) sends (e.g., in a SIB) to UE 120a an indication (e.g., IE) that the synchronization signal block index for target cell 102b operating on the second frequency can be derived from the timing of serving cell 102a (served by BS110 a).

At block 904, operation 900 may continue by: avoiding scheduling the UE to transmit or receive communications during a period comprising: consecutive SSB symbols to be measured from the target cell within an SSB Measurement Time Configuration (SMTC) window duration, 1 data symbol before the consecutive SSB symbols to be measured, and 1 data symbol after the consecutive SSB symbols to be measured. Continuing with the above example, BS110a refrains from scheduling UE 120a to transmit or receive communications (e.g., PUCCH, PUSCH, SRS, PDCCH, PDSCH, TRS or CSI-RS for CQI) during periods comprising: consecutive SSB symbols to be measured from the target cell 102b within an SSB Measurement Time Configuration (SMTC) window duration, 1 data symbol before the consecutive SSB symbols to be measured, and 1 data symbol after the consecutive SSB symbols to be measured.

In another example of operation 900, BS110a (see fig. 1) configures UE 120a with two MOs for measuring target cells 102b and 102c, and each MO configuration includes an IE indicating that the SSB index of target cells 102b and 102c can be derived from the timing of serving cell 102a (i.e., the first field of the IE is set to true). In this example, BS110a refrains from scheduling UE 120a to transmit or receive communications (e.g., PUCCH, PUSCH, SRS, PDCCH, PDSCH, TRS or CSI-RS for CQI) during periods that include: a union of SSB symbols to be measured, 1 data symbol before each subset of consecutive SSB symbols to be measured in the union, and 1 data symbol after each subset of consecutive SSB symbols to be measured in the union.

Fig. 10 illustrates a communication device 1000, which communication device 1000 may include various components (e.g., corresponding to functional unit components) configured to perform operations for the techniques disclosed herein, such as the operations shown in fig. 8. The communication device 1000 includes a processing system 1002 coupled to a transceiver 1008 (e.g., a transmitter and/or a receiver). The transceiver 1008 is configured to transmit and receive signals for the communication device 1000, such as the various signals as described herein, via the antenna 1010. The processing system 1002 may be configured to perform processing functions for the communication device 1000, including processing signals received and/or to be transmitted by the communication device 1000.

The processing system 1002 includes a processor 1004 coupled to a computer-readable medium/memory 1012 via a bus 1006. In certain aspects, the computer-readable medium/memory 1012 is configured to store instructions (e.g., computer-executable code) that, when executed by the processor 1004, cause the processor 1004 to perform the operations shown in fig. 8 or other operations for performing various techniques discussed herein for indicating to a UE performing inter-frequency measurements (intra-band and inter-band) that the UE may derive an SSB index of a target cell from an SFN, frame boundary, and/or SSB index of a serving cell of the UE. In certain aspects, the computer-readable medium/memory 1012 stores code 1014 for receiving, from a serving cell operating on a first frequency, an indication that a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) index for a target cell operating on a second frequency can be derived from timing of the serving cell; and code 1016 for deriving an SSB index for the target cell based on the timing of the serving cell. In certain aspects, the processor 1004 has circuitry configured to implement code stored in the computer-readable medium/memory 1012. The processor 1004 includes a circuit 1024 for receiving, from a serving cell operating on a first frequency, an indication that a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) index for a target cell operating on a second frequency can be derived from timing of the serving cell; and circuitry 1026 for deriving the SSB index of the target cell based on the timing of the serving cell.

For example, the means for transmitting (or the means for outputting for transmission) may include the transmitter and/or antenna 234 of BS110a or the transmitter unit 254 and/or antenna 252 of UE 120a shown in fig. 2. The means for receiving (or means for obtaining) may include the receiver and/or antenna 234 of BS110a or the receiver and/or antenna 252 of UE 120a shown in fig. 2 and/or the circuit 1024 for receiving an indication from the serving cell operating on the first frequency that the Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) index for the target cell operating on the second frequency can be derived from the timing of the serving cell of the communication device 1000 in fig. 10. The means for communicating may comprise a transmitter, a receiver, or both. The means for generating, means for performing, means for determining, means for taking action, means for determining, means for coordinating, and/or means for deriving may comprise a processing system that may include one or more processors, such as transmit processor 220, TX MIMO processor 230, receive processor 238, and/or controller/processor 240 of BS110a shown in fig. 2, or receive processor 258, transmit processor 264, TX MIMO processor 266, and/or controller/processor 280 of UE 120a, and/or processing system 1002 of communication device 1000 in fig. 10.

Fig. 11 illustrates a communication device 1100, which communication device 1100 may include various components (e.g., corresponding to functional unit components) configured to perform operations for the techniques disclosed herein, such as the operations shown in fig. 9. The communication device 1100 includes a processing system 1102 coupled to a transceiver 1108 (e.g., a transmitter and/or receiver). Transceiver 1108 is configured to transmit and receive signals for communication device 1100, such as the various signals described herein, via antenna 1110. The processing system 1102 may be configured to perform processing functions for the communication device 1100, including processing signals received and/or to be transmitted by the communication device 1100.

The processing system 1102 includes a processor 1104 coupled to a computer-readable medium/memory 1112 via a bus 1106. In certain aspects, the computer-readable medium/memory 1112 is configured to store instructions (e.g., computer-executable code) that, when executed by the processor 1104, cause the processor 1104 to perform the operations shown in fig. 9 or other operations for performing various techniques discussed herein for indicating to a UE performing inter-frequency measurements (intra-band and inter-band) that the UE may derive an SSB index for a target cell from an SFN, frame boundary, and/or SSB index for the serving cell of the UE. In certain aspects, the computer-readable medium/memory 1012 stores code 1114 for transmitting to a User Equipment (UE) an indication that a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) index for a target cell operating on a second frequency can be derived from timing of a serving cell; and code 1116 for avoiding scheduling the UE to transmit or receive communications during a period comprising: consecutive SSB symbols to be measured from the target cell within an SSB Measurement Time Configuration (SMTC) window duration, 1 data symbol before the consecutive SSB symbols to be measured, and 1 data symbol after the consecutive SSB symbols to be measured. In certain aspects, the processor 1104 has circuitry configured to implement code stored in the computer-readable medium/memory 1112. The processor 1104 includes circuitry 1124 for sending to a User Equipment (UE) an indication that a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) index for a target cell operating on a second frequency can be derived from timing of a serving cell; and circuitry 1126 for avoiding scheduling the UE to transmit or receive communications during periods comprising: consecutive SSB symbols to be measured from the target cell within an SSB Measurement Time Configuration (SMTC) window duration, 1 data symbol before the consecutive SSB symbols to be measured, and 1 data symbol after the consecutive SSB symbols to be measured.

For example, the means for transmitting (or means for outputting for transmission) may include the transmitter and/or antenna 234 of BS110a or the transmitter unit 254 and/or antenna 252 of UE 120a shown in fig. 2 and/or the circuitry 1124 for transmitting to the User Equipment (UE) an indication that a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) index for a target cell operating on the second frequency can be derived from the timing of the serving cell of communication device 1100 in fig. 11. The means for receiving (or means for obtaining) may include the receiver and/or antenna 234 of BS110a or the receiver and/or antenna 252 of UE 120a shown in fig. 2. The means for communicating may comprise a transmitter, a receiver, or both. The means for generating, means for performing, means for determining, means for taking action, means for determining, means for coordinating, and/or means for avoiding scheduling may comprise a processing system that may include one or more processors, such as transmit processor 220, TX MIMO processor 230, receive processor 238, and/or controller/processor 240 of BS110a shown in fig. 2, or receive processor 258, transmit processor 264, TX MIMO processor 266, and/or controller/processor 280 of UE 120a, and/or processing system 1102 of communication device 1100 in fig. 11.

Indicating to a UE performing inter-frequency measurements (intra-band and inter-band) that the UE can derive the SSB index of the target cell from the SFN, frame boundary, and/or SSB index of the UE may enable the UE to have higher data throughput because the UE can transmit and/or receive during symbols where the UE does not measure the SSB of the target cell.

Example clauses

Implementation examples are described in the following numbered clauses:

Clause 1, a method for wireless communication by a User Equipment (UE), comprising: receiving, from a serving cell operating on a first frequency, an indication that a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) index for a target cell operating on a second frequency can be derived from timing of the serving cell; and deriving an SSB index for the target cell based on the timing of the serving cell.

Clause 2, the method of clause 1, further comprising: receiving an indication of an index of another serving cell within a cell group including the serving cell, wherein deriving the SSB index of the target cell further comprises: the SSB index of the target cell is derived based on the timing of the other serving cell.

The method of any of clauses 3, 1-2, wherein the indication is received in a broadcast transmission.

The method of any of clauses 4, 1-2, wherein the indication is received in a UE-specific transmission.

Clause 5, the method of clause 4, wherein receiving the indication comprises: the indication is received in a RRCRELEASE message to the UE.

Clause 6, the method of clause 4, wherein receiving the indication comprises: the indication is received in a Measurement Object (MO) configuration.

Clause 7, the method of any of clauses 1 to 6, wherein deriving the SSB index of the target cell comprises: assuming that a System Frame Number (SFN) of the target cell is equal to an SFN of the serving cell; determining a frame boundary of the target cell aligned with a frame boundary of the serving cell; and determining an SSB index of the target cell based on the SFN of the target cell, the frame boundary of the target cell, and the SSB index of the serving cell.

The method of any one of clauses 8, 1 to 7, wherein the first frequency and the second frequency are different, but in the same frequency band.

Clause 9, the method of any of clauses 1-7, wherein: the first frequency is in a first frequency band; the second frequency is in a second frequency band; and the serving cell and the target cell operate using a Common Beam Management (CBM).

The method of any of clauses 10, 1-9, wherein the indication comprises an indication of using a Network Configured Small Gap (NCSG) for the UE.

Clause 11, a method for wireless communication by a serving cell operating on a first frequency, comprising: transmitting to a User Equipment (UE) an indication that a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) index for a target cell operating on a second frequency can be derived from a timing of a serving cell; and refraining from scheduling the UE to transmit or receive communications during a period comprising: consecutive SSB symbols to be measured from a target cell within an SSB Measurement Time Configuration (SMTC) window duration, 1 data symbol before the consecutive SSB symbols to be measured, and 1 data symbol after the consecutive SSB symbols to be measured.

Clause 12, the method of clause 11, further comprising: an indication of an index of another serving cell within a cell group including the serving cell is sent, wherein the index of the other serving cell indicates to the UE that an SSB index of the target cell can be derived from timing of the other serving cell.

The method of any of clauses 13, 11-12, wherein the indication is sent in a broadcast transmission.

The method of any of clauses 14, 11 to 12, wherein the indication is sent in a UE-specific transmission.

Clause 15, the method of clause 14, wherein sending the indication comprises: the indication is sent to the UE in RRCRELEASE message.

Clause 16, the method of clause 14, wherein sending the indication comprises: the indication is sent in a Measurement Object (MO) configuration.

The method of any one of clauses 17, 11 to 16, wherein the first frequency and the second frequency are in the same frequency band.

Clause 18, the method of any of clauses 11-16, wherein: the first frequency is in a first frequency band; the second frequency is in a second frequency band; and the serving cell and the target cell operate using a Common Beam Management (CBM).

The method of any of clauses 19, 11-18, wherein the indication comprises an indication of using a Network Configured Small Gap (NCSG) for the UE.

Clause 20, an apparatus comprising means for performing the method according to any of clauses 1 to 19.

Clause 21, an apparatus, comprising: a processor; a memory coupled to the processor; instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to perform the method according to any one of clauses 1 to 19.

Clause 22, a computer readable medium having stored thereon computer executable code for wireless communication, which when executed by at least one processor causes an apparatus to perform the method according to any of clauses 1 to 19.

The techniques described herein may be used for various wireless communication techniques such as NR (e.g., 5G NR), 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-advanced (LTE-A), code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA), time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA), and other networks. The terms "network" and "system" are often used interchangeably. A CDMA network may implement radio technologies such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), CDMA2000, and the like. UTRA includes Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) and other variations of CDMA. cdma2000 covers IS-2000, IS-95, and IS-856 standards. TDMA networks may implement radio technologies such as global system for mobile communications (GSM). An OFDMA network may implement radio technologies such as NR (e.g., 5G RA), evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, flash-OFDMA, and the like. UTRA and E-UTRA are part of Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). LTE and LTE-a are versions of UMTS that use E-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE, LTE-a and GSM are described in documents from an organization named "third generation partnership project" (3 GPP). Cdma2000 and UMB are described in documents from an organization named "third generation partnership project 2" (3 GPP 2). NR is an emerging wireless communication technology under development.

In 3GPP, the term "cell" can refer to a coverage area of a Node B (NB) and/or an NB subsystem serving the coverage area, depending on the context in which the term is used. In an NR system, the terms "cell" and BS, next generation node B (gNB or gNodeB), access Point (AP), distributed Unit (DU), carrier wave, or transmission-reception point (TRP) may be used interchangeably. The BS may provide communication coverage for macro cells, pico cells, femto cells, and/or other types of cells. A macro cell may cover a relatively large geographical area (e.g., a few kilometers in radius) and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscription. The pico cell may cover a relatively small geographic area and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscription. A femto cell may cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a residence) and may allow restricted access by UEs having an association with the femto cell (e.g., UEs in a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG), UEs for users in the residence, etc.). The BS for the macro cell may be referred to as a macro BS. The BS for the pico cell may be referred to as a pico BS. The BS for the femto cell may be referred to as a femto BS or a home BS.

The UE may also be referred to as a mobile station, terminal, access terminal, subscriber unit, station, customer Premises Equipment (CPE), cellular telephone, smart phone, personal Digital Assistant (PDA), wireless modem, wireless communication device, handheld device, laptop computer, cordless telephone, wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, tablet computer, camera, gaming device, netbook, smartbook, super-book, appliance, medical device or apparatus, biometric sensor/device, wearable device (such as a smartwatch, smart garment, smart glasses, smart wristband, smart jewelry (e.g., smart ring, smart bracelet, etc.), entertainment device (e.g., music device, video device, satellite radio unit, etc.), vehicle component or sensor, smart meter/sensor, industrial manufacturing apparatus, global positioning system device, or any other suitable device configured to communicate via a wireless or wired medium. Some UEs may be considered Machine Type Communication (MTC) devices or evolved MTC (eMTC) devices. MTC and eMTC UEs include, for example, robots, drones, remote devices, sensors, meters, monitors, location tags, etc., which may communicate with a BS, another device (e.g., a remote device), or some other entity. The wireless node may provide a connection to a network (e.g., a wide area network such as the internet or a cellular network) or to a network, for example, via a wired or wireless communication link. Some UEs may be considered internet of things (IoT) devices, which may be narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) devices.

In some examples, access to the air interface may be scheduled. A scheduling entity (e.g., BS) allocates resources for communication among some or all devices and apparatuses within its service area or cell. The scheduling entity may be responsible for scheduling, assigning, reconfiguring, and releasing resources for one or more subordinate entities. That is, for scheduled communications, the subordinate entity utilizes the resources allocated by the scheduling entity. The base station is not the only entity that can act as a scheduling entity. In some examples, a UE may act as a scheduling entity and may schedule resources for one or more subordinate entities (e.g., one or more other UEs), and other UEs may utilize the resources scheduled by the UE for wireless communication. In some examples, the UE may act as a scheduling entity in a peer-to-peer (P2P) network and/or in a mesh network. In a mesh network example, UEs may communicate directly with each other in addition to communicating with a scheduling entity.

The methods disclosed herein comprise one or more steps or actions for achieving the method. The method steps and/or actions may be interchanged with one another. In other words, unless a specific order of steps or actions is specified, the order and/or use of specific steps and/or actions may be modified.

As used herein, a phrase referring to "at least one of a list of items" refers to any combination of those items, including single members. For example, "at least one of a, b, or c" is intended to encompass a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, and a-b-c, as well as any combination of the same elements as multiples thereof (e.g., a-a-a, a-b, a-a-c, a-b-b, a-c-c, b-b-c, c-c, and c-c, or any other ordering of a, b, and c).

As used herein, the term "determining" includes a wide variety of actions. For example, "determining" may include calculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, looking up (e.g., looking up in a table, a database or another data structure), ascertaining and the like. Further, "determining" may include receiving (e.g., receiving information), accessing (e.g., accessing data in memory), and so forth. Further, "determining" may include parsing, selecting, establishing, and so forth.

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. Unless specifically stated otherwise, reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean "one and only one" but "one or more". The term "some" refers to one or more unless explicitly stated otherwise. All structural and functional equivalents to the elements of the various aspects described throughout this disclosure that are known or later come to be known to those of ordinary skill in the art 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. No claim element is to be construed in accordance with the specification of U.S. patent law, clause 112, clause 6, unless the element is explicitly recited using the phrase "unit for … …" or, in the case of a method claim, the phrase "step for … …".

The various operations of the methods described above may be performed by any suitable unit capable of performing the corresponding functions. These units may include various hardware and/or software components and/or modules, including but not limited to: a circuit, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), or a processor (e.g., a general purpose or specially programmed processor). Generally, where there are operations shown in the figures, those operations may have corresponding paired functional unit components with like numbers.

The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the disclosure herein may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a DSP, an ASIC, a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other Programmable Logic Device (PLD), discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any commercially available processor, controller, microcontroller or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

If implemented in hardware, an example hardware configuration may include a processing system in a wireless node. The processing system may be implemented using a bus architecture. The bus may include any number of interconnecting buses and bridges depending on the specific application of the processing system and the overall design constraints. The bus may link together various circuits including processors, machine-readable media, and bus interfaces. In addition, a bus interface may be used to connect a network adapter to a processing system via a bus. The network adapter may be used to implement the signal processing functions of the PHY layer. In the case of a user terminal (see fig. 1), a user interface (e.g., keypad, display, mouse, joystick, etc.) may also be connected to the bus. The bus may also link various other circuits such as timing sources, peripherals, voltage regulators, power management circuits, and the like, which are well known in the art, and therefore, will not be described any further. A processor may be implemented with one or more general-purpose and/or special-purpose processors. Examples include microprocessors, microcontrollers, DSP processors, and other circuitry that can execute software. Those skilled in the art will recognize how to best implement the functionality described with respect to a processing system depending on the particular application and overall design constraints imposed on the overall system.

If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or other terminology, software should be broadly construed to mean instructions, data, or any combination thereof. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. The processor may be responsible for managing the bus and general-purpose processing, including the execution of software modules stored on a machine-readable storage medium. A computer readable storage medium may be coupled to the processor such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. By way of example, machine-readable media may comprise a transmission line, a carrier wave modulated by data, and/or a computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, separate from the wireless node, all of which may be accessed by a processor through a bus interface. Alternatively or in addition, the machine-readable medium or any portion thereof may be integrated into the processor, such as where it may be a cache and/or a general purpose register file. Examples of machine-readable storage media may include, for example, RAM (random access memory), flash memory, ROM (read only memory), PROM (programmable read only memory), EPROM (erasable programmable read only memory), EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable read only memory), registers, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a hard drive, or any other suitable storage medium, or any combination thereof. The machine-readable medium may be embodied in a computer program product.

A software module may comprise a single instruction, or many instructions, and may be distributed over several different code segments, among different programs, and across multiple storage media. The computer readable medium may include a plurality of software modules. The software modules include instructions that, when executed by a device, such as a processor, cause the processing system to perform various functions. The software modules may include a transmitting module and a receiving module. Each software module may be located in a single storage device or distributed across multiple storage devices. For example, when a trigger event occurs, a software module may be loaded from a hard drive into RAM. During execution of the software module, the processor may load some of the instructions into the cache to increase access speed. One or more cache lines may then be loaded into a general purpose register file for execution by the processor. It will be appreciated that when reference is made below to a function of a software module, such function is implemented by the processor when executing instructions from the software module.

Further, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital Subscriber Line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as Infrared (IR), radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of medium. Disk (disk) and optical disk (disk), as used herein, includes Compact Disk (CD), laser disk, optical disk, digital Versatile Disk (DVD), floppy disk and optical diskOptical discs, where magnetic discs typically reproduce data magnetically, optical discs use laser light to reproduce data optically. Thus, in some aspects, a computer-readable medium may include a non-transitory computer-readable medium (e.g., a tangible medium). In addition, for other aspects, the computer-readable medium may include a transitory computer-readable medium (e.g., a signal). Combinations of the above should also be considered examples of the computer-readable media. /(I)

Accordingly, certain aspects may include a computer program product for performing the operations presented herein. For example, such a computer program product may include a computer-readable medium having instructions stored (and/or encoded) thereon that are executable by one or more processors to perform the operations described herein, e.g., instructions for performing the operations described herein and shown in fig. 8 and/or 9.

Furthermore, it should be appreciated that modules and/or other suitable elements for performing the methods and techniques described herein may be downloaded and/or otherwise obtained by a user terminal and/or base station, as applicable. For example, such a device may be coupled to a server in order to facilitate the transfer of elements for performing the methods described herein. Alternatively, the various methods described herein may be provided via a storage unit (e.g., RAM, ROM, a physical storage medium such as a Compact Disc (CD) or floppy disk, etc.), such that a user terminal and/or base station may obtain the various methods when the storage unit is coupled to or provided to the device. Further, any other suitable technique for providing the methods and techniques described herein to a device may be used.

It is to be understood that the claims are not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown above. Various modifications, changes and variations may be made in the arrangement, operation and details of the methods and apparatus described hereinabove.

Claims (30)

1. An apparatus for wireless communication at a User Equipment (UE), comprising:

A processor;

a memory coupled with the processor; and

Instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:

Receiving, from a serving cell operating on a first frequency, an indication that a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) index for a target cell operating on a second frequency can be derived from timing of the serving cell; and

An SSB index of the target cell is derived based on the timing of the serving cell.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions for causing the apparatus to:

Receiving an indication of an index of another serving cell within a cell group including the serving cell, wherein the instructions for deriving the SSB index of the target cell further comprise: instructions for deriving the SSB index for the target cell based on timing of the other serving cell.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the instructions for receiving the indication comprise: instructions for receiving the indication in a broadcast transmission.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the instructions for receiving the indication comprise: instructions for receiving the indication in a UE-specific transmission.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the instructions for receiving the indication comprise: instructions for receiving the indication in a RRCRELEASE message to the UE.

6. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the instructions for receiving the indication comprise: instructions for receiving the indication in a Measurement Object (MO) configuration.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the instructions for deriving the SSB index for the target cell comprise instructions for:

Assuming that a System Frame Number (SFN) of the target cell is equal to an SFN of the serving cell;

determining a frame boundary of the target cell aligned with a frame boundary of the serving cell; and

Determining the SSB index of the target cell based on the SFN of the target cell, the frame boundary of the target cell and the SSB index of the serving cell.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first frequency and the second frequency are different but in the same frequency band.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the first frequency is in a first frequency band;

The second frequency is in a second frequency band; and

The serving cell and the target cell operate using a Common Beam Management (CBM).

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the indication comprises an indication of a small gap (NCSG) for the UE to use network configuration.

11. An apparatus for wireless communication at a serving cell operating on a first frequency, comprising:

A processor;

a memory coupled with the processor; and

Instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:

Transmitting to a User Equipment (UE) an indication that a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) index for a target cell operating on a second frequency is derivable from timing of the serving cell; and

Avoiding scheduling the UE to transmit or receive communications during a period comprising: consecutive SSB symbols to be measured from the target cell within an SSB Measurement Time Configuration (SMTC) window duration, 1 data symbol before the consecutive SSB symbols to be measured, and 1 data symbol after the consecutive SSB symbols to be measured.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions for causing the apparatus to:

an indication of an index of another serving cell within a cell group including the serving cell is sent, wherein the index of the other serving cell indicates to the UE that an SSB index of the target cell can be derived from timing of the other serving cell.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the instructions for sending the indication comprise: instructions for transmitting the indication in a broadcast transmission.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the instructions for sending the indication comprise: instructions for sending the indication in a UE-specific transmission.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the instructions for sending the indication comprise: instructions for sending the indication to the UE in a RRCRELEASE message.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the instructions for sending the indication comprise: an instruction for transmitting the indication in a Measurement Object (MO) configuration.

17. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the first frequency and the second frequency are in a same frequency band.

18. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein:

the first frequency is in a first frequency band;

The second frequency is in a second frequency band; and

The serving cell and the target cell operate using a Common Beam Management (CBM).

19. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the indication comprises an indication of a small gap (NCSG) for the UE to use network configuration.

20. An apparatus for wireless communication at a User Equipment (UE), comprising:

Means for receiving, from a serving cell operating on a first frequency, an indication that a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) index for a target cell operating on a second frequency is derivable from timing of the serving cell; and

Means for deriving an SSB index for the target cell based on the timing of the serving cell.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising:

Means for receiving an indication of an index of another serving cell within a cell group including the serving cell, wherein the means for deriving the SSB index of the target cell further comprises: means for deriving the SSB index of the target cell based on timing of the other serving cell.

22. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the means for receiving the indication comprises: and means for receiving the indication in a broadcast transmission.

23. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the means for receiving the indication comprises: the apparatus includes means for receiving the indication in a UE-specific transmission.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the means for receiving the indication comprises: means for receiving the indication in a RRCRELEASE message to the UE.

25. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the means for receiving the indication comprises: -means for receiving said indication in a Measurement Object (MO) configuration.

26. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the means for deriving the SSB index for the target cell comprises:

means for assuming that a System Frame Number (SFN) of the target cell is equal to a SFN of the serving cell;

means for determining a frame boundary of the target cell aligned with a frame boundary of the serving cell; and

And determining an SSB index of the target cell based on the SFN of the target cell, the frame boundary of the target cell, and the SSB index of the serving cell.

27. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the first frequency and the second frequency are different but in the same frequency band.

28. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein:

the first frequency is in a first frequency band;

The second frequency is in a second frequency band; and

The serving cell and the target cell operate using a Common Beam Management (CBM).

29. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the indication comprises an indication of a small gap (NCSG) for the UE to use network configuration.

30. An apparatus for wireless communication at a serving cell operating on a first frequency, comprising:

Means for transmitting to a User Equipment (UE) an indication that a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) index for a target cell operating on a second frequency is derivable from a timing of the serving cell; and

Means for avoiding scheduling the UE to transmit or receive communications during a period comprising: consecutive SSB symbols to be measured from the target cell within an SSB Measurement Time Configuration (SMTC) window duration, 1 data symbol before the consecutive SSB symbols to be measured, and 1 data symbol after the consecutive SSB symbols to be measured.