EP4662921A1

EP4662921A1 - Methods and apparatus for uplink occasion validation in mobile communications

Info

Publication number: EP4662921A1
Application number: EP24752779.9A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Chiou-Wei TSAI
Original assignee: Mediatek Inc; MediaTek Inc
Current assignee: Mediatek Inc; MediaTek Inc
Priority date: 2023-02-09
Filing date: 2024-02-01
Publication date: 2025-12-17
Also published as: WO2024164923A1; CN120660391A

Abstract

Examples pertaining to uplink occasion validation in mobile communications are described. A user equipment (UE) obtains a configuration of one or more uplink occasions in unpaired spectrum configured by a network apparatus for uplink transmission and determines a validity of at least one of the one or more uplink occasions according to one or more cell-defining synchronization signal (SS) and physical broadcast channel (PBCH) blocks (SSBs) (CD-SSBs) that are associated with a system information block 1 (SIB1) in an event that a non-cell defining SSB (NCD-SSB) is configured in a predetermined bandwidth part (BWP) or no SSB is configured in the predetermined BWP. When the at least one of the one or more uplink occasions collides with at least one of the one or more CD-SSBs, the at least one of the one or more uplink occasions is determined as an invalid uplink occasion.

Description

METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR UPLINK OCCASION VALIDATION IN MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATION (S)
The present disclosure is part of a non-provisional application claiming the priority benefit of U.S. Patent Application No. 63/483,986, filed 09 February 2023 and U.S. Patent Application No. 63/489,789, filed 13 March 2023, the content of which herein being incorporated by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure is generally related to mobile communications and, more particularly, to uplink occasion validation with respect to user equipment and network apparatus in mobile communications.

BACKGROUND

Unless otherwise indicated herein, approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims listed below and are not admitted as prior art by inclusion in this section.
Non-cell defining synchronization signal (SS) and physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block (NCD-SSB) is a new type of synchronization signal block introduced in 5th Generation (5G) , New Radio (NR) Release 15, and is adopted by the devices that are capable of operating in a reduced capability (RedCap) mode in NR Release 17. NCD-SSB is an SSB that is not associated with system information block 1 (SIB1) . This makes it less complex and power-efficient than the cell-defining SSB (CD-SSB) that is associated with an SIB1.
However, with the adoption of NCD-SBB at the same time as the CD-SSB also exists, how to determine valid uplink occasions in unpaired spectrum becomes an important issue to be concerned.

SUMMARY

The following summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be limiting in any way. That is, the following summary is provided to introduce concepts, highlights, benefits and advantages of the novel and non-obvious techniques described herein. Select implementations are further described below in the detailed description. Thus, the following summary is not intended to identify essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended for use in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
An objective of the present disclosure is to propose solutions or schemes that address the aforementioned issues pertaining to uplink occasion validation with respect to a communication apparatus (e.g., a user equipment) and a network apparatus (e.g., a network node or a base station (BS) , such as a next generation Node B (gNB) ) in mobile communications.
In one aspect, a method may involve a communication apparatus obtaining a configuration of one or more uplink occasions in unpaired spectrum configured by a network apparatus for uplink transmission; and determining a validity of at least one of the one or more uplink occasions according to one or more cell-defining synchronization signal (SS) and physical broadcast channel (PBCH) blocks (SSBs) (CD-SSBs) that are associated with a system information block 1 (SIB1) in an event that a non-cell defining SSB (NCD-SSB) is configured in a predetermined bandwidth part (BWP) or no SSB is configured in the predetermined BWP. When the at least one of the one or more uplink occasions collides with at least one of the one or more CD-SSBs, the at least one of the one or more uplink occasions is determined as an invalid uplink occasion.
In one aspect, a communication apparatus may involve a transceiver which, during operation, wirelessly communicates with at least one network apparatus. The communication apparatus may also involve a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver such that, during operation, the processor performs following operations: obtaining, via the transceiver, a configuration of one or more uplink occasions in unpaired spectrum configured by the network apparatus for uplink transmission; and determining a validity of at least one of the one or more uplink occasions according to one or more cell-defining synchronization signal (SS) and physical broadcast channel (PBCH) blocks (SSBs) (CD-SSBs) that are associated with a system information block 1 (SIB1) in an event that a non-cell defining SSB (NCD-SSB) is configured in a predetermined bandwidth part (BWP) or no SSB is configured in the predetermined BWP. When the at least one of the one or more uplink occasions collides with at least one of the one or more CD-SSBs, the at least one of the one or more uplink occasions is determined as an invalid uplink occasion.
In one aspect, a method may involve a network apparatus configuring a cell-defining synchronization signal (SS) and physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block (SSB) (CD-SSB) ; and configuring, by the processor, a non-cell defining SSB (NCD-SSB) for a communication apparatus, wherein the NCD-SSB does not invalidate one or more uplink occasions of the communication apparatus that are not invalidated by the CD-SSB.
It is noteworthy that, although description provided herein may be in the context of certain radio access technologies, networks and network topologies such as Long-Term Evolution (LTE) , LTE-Advanced, LTE-Advanced Pro, 5th Generation (5G) , New Radio (NR) , Internet-of-Things (IoT) and Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) , Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) , and 6th Generation (6G) , the proposed concepts, schemes and any variation (s) /derivative (s) thereof may be implemented in, for and by other types of radio access technologies, networks and network topologies. Thus, the scope of the present disclosure is not limited to the examples described herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure and are incorporated in and constitute a part of the present disclosure. The drawings illustrate implementations of the disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure. It is appreciable that the drawings are not necessarily in scale as some components may be shown to be out of proportion than the size in actual implementation in order to clearly illustrate the concept of the present disclosure.
FIG. 1 is a diagram depicting an example scenario of a 4-step random access procedure in accordance with implementations of the present disclosure.
FIG. 2 is a diagram depicting an example scenario of a 2-step random access procedure in accordance with implementations of the present disclosure.
FIG. 3 is a diagram depicting an example scenario of allocations of multiple bandwidth parts configured by a network apparatus for different UEs in accordance with implementations of the present disclosure.
FIG. 4 is a diagram depicting an example communication system having an example communication apparatus and an example network apparatus in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure.
FIG. 5 is a diagram depicting an example process in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure.
FIG. 6 is a diagram depicting another example process in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED IMPLEMENTATIONS
Detailed embodiments and implementations of the claimed subject matters are disclosed herein. However, it shall be understood that the disclosed embodiments and implementations are merely illustrative of the claimed subject matters which may be embodied in various forms. The present disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the exemplary embodiments and implementations set forth herein. Rather, these exemplary embodiments and implementations are provided so that description of the present disclosure is thorough and complete and will fully convey the scope of the present disclosure to those skilled in the art. In the description below, details of well-known features and techniques may be omitted to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the presented embodiments and implementations.
Overview
Implementations in accordance with the present disclosure relate to various techniques, methods, schemes and/or solutions pertaining to uplink occasion validation with respect to a communication apparatus and a network apparatus. According to the present disclosure, a number of possible solutions may be implemented separately or jointly. That is, although these possible solutions may be described below separately, two or more of these possible solutions may be implemented in one combination or another.
FIG. 1 illustrates an example scenario 100 of a 4-step RA procedure in accordance with implementations of the present disclosure. The communication apparatus (e.g., a UE) may select a RA preamble from a set of predefined preambles. The communication apparatus may also select a random sequence number for the preamble. After choosing the preamble and sequence number, the communication apparatus may transmit the preamble on the physical random access channel (PRACH) (i.e., transmit the message 1 (Msg1) ) .
Upon receiving Msg1, the network apparatus (e.g., the gNB) may send a random access response (RAR) called Msg2 to the communication apparatus. The Msg2 may consist of several critical pieces of information, such as the Time Advance (TA) command for timing adjustment, the random access preamble identifier (RAPID) matching the preamble sent by the communication apparatus, and an initial uplink grant for the communication apparatus. The network apparatus may also assign a temporary cell radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) (TC-RNTI) to the communication apparatus.
Using the initial uplink grant provided in Msg2, the communication apparatus may transmit Msg3 on the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) . The Msg3 is a PUSCH which may carry a certain radio resource control (RRC) message (such as an RRC connection request message) or just be pure physical layer data.
After processing the Msg3, the network apparatus may send Msg4 to the communication apparatus. The Msg4 is a contention resolution message containing the communication apparatus's identity, confirming that the network apparatus has correctly identified the communication apparatus, and contention has been resolved. At this step, the TC-RNTI is converted to a cell RNTI (C-RNTI) .
FIG. 2 illustrates an example scenario 200 of a 2-step RA procedure in accordance with implementations of the present disclosure. In the 2-step RA procedure, the MsgA is a combination of Msg1 and Msg3, and the MsgB is a combination of Msg2 and Msg4. Therefore, repeated descriptions are omitted here for brevity.
In some implementations, the communication apparatus transmits the uplink traffic, e.g., the Msg1 or MsgA PRACH on PRACH, the Msg3 or MsgA PUSCH on PUSCH, or the likes, in one or more uplink occasions. To avoid interference from an uplink traffic to another downlink traffic of a communication apparatus, validation of one or more uplink occasions should be performed by the communication apparatus. As an example, the SSB occasions may be taken into consideration when determining the validity of uplink occasions, wherein the uplink occasions may comprise, for example and without limitation, PRACH occasions (ROs) or PUSCH occasions (POs) in time-division duplexing (TDD) (i.e., the unpaired spectrum) .
However, with the adoption of NCD-SBB at the same time as the CD-SSB also exists, how to determine valid uplink occasions in unpaired spectrum becomes an important issue to be concerned.
FIG. 3 illustrates an example scenario 300 of allocations of multiple bandwidth parts (BWPs) configured by a network apparatus for different UEs in accordance with implementations of the present disclosure. In this example scenario, the UE1 and UE2 are RedCap UEs and configured with RedCap downlink (DL) BWP 310, the UE3 is a non-RedCap UE and configured with non-RedCap DL BWP 330, and the UE1, UE2 and UE3 are all configured with uplink (UL) BWP 320. Note that although the DL BWP and the UL BWP are drawn separately in different time-frequency diagrams, the time axis and the frequency axis of these two time-frequency diagrams may be aligned.
Assuming that the UE1 is provided with NCD-SSB and the UE2 is not provided with any SSB (e.g., the no SSB case in FIG. 3) (note that NCD-SSB is mandatorily present in a BWP without CD-SSB at least for RedCap UEs that don’ t support RRC-configured DL BWP without CD-SSB or NCD-SSB) , if the NCD-SSB is used for determining valid uplink occasions, different valid uplink occasion patterns may be obtained by different UEs, regardless of whether the UEs are on the same BWP or different BWPs (as example, when the same UL BWP is linked to different DW BWPs) . In addition, a UE may obtain different valid uplink occasion patterns in different radio resource control (RRC) states. These may all cause quasi co-location (QCL) ambiguity at the network apparatus for scheduling or transmitting downlink messages.
As an example, for the UE1 in RRC idle or inactive state, when the CD-SSB is applied for performing uplink occasion validation, the PRACH occasions RO2 and RO3 in the UL BWP 320 may be determined as valid ROs. For the UE1 in RRC connected state, when only the NCD-SSB is applied for performing uplink occasion validation, the PRACH occasions RO1 and RO3 may be determined as valid ROs. Alternatively, for the UE1 in RRC connected state, when both the CD-SSB and the NCD-SSB are applied for performing uplink occasion validation, only the PRACH occasion RO3 may be determined as valid RO. Regarding the UE2 and UE3, when the CD-SSB is applied for performing uplink occasion validation, the PRACH occasions RO2 and RO3 may be determined as valid ROs.
The reasons to cause different valid uplink occasion patterns may contain at least one of: (1) non-zero time offsets between NCD-SSB and CD-SSB; (2) UE-specific NCD-SSB configuration may be not required for UE supporting FG 28-1a; and (3) the network apparatus may allocate the same set of ROs to UEs in different DL BWPs.
Moreover, some other issues may be further identified from the example scenario illustrated in FIG. 3, including: (1) as different valid uplink occasion patterns may be obtained by different UEs on a same BWP, different associations between valid ROs and SSBs may be generated, and the network apparatus may not know which SSB has been assumed by a UE for a detected PRACH in a contention-based random access (CBRA) ; (2) if a RedCap UE (e.g., the UE1 in cell-edge) only takes NCD-SSB for RACH occasion validation, it may cause interference to a near-by non-RedCap UE (e.g., the UE3) receiving CD-SSB; and (3) the UEs which are not aware of NCD-SSB (e.g., the UE 2 and UE3) may cause interference to the UE1 which is receiving NCD-SSB by transmitting PRACH on symbols that are overlapping with the NCD-SSB.
To address the aforementioned issues pertaining to uplink occasion validation, in some implementations, the communication apparatus (e.g., the UE) may not take NCD-SSB into account for determining uplink occasion validity, even when the communication apparatus is configured with NCD-SSB.
In some implementations, the communication apparatus may always take CD-SSB for determining uplink occasion validity regardless of whether the communication apparatus is configured with CD-SSB, NCD-SSB, or no SSB in a BWP.
In some implementations, the network apparatus may configure NCD-SSB in a way that NCD-SSB does not invalidate uplink occasions that are not invalidated by CD-SSB.
In some implementations, the communication apparatus may take the SSB outside of the current BWP for determining uplink resource validity, and the SSB may be CD-SSB.
Note that the uplink resources or uplink occasions may comprise, but not limited to, the PRACH occasions, PUSCH occasions, the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) occasions and the sounding reference signal (SRS) occasions .
In some implementations, the communication apparatus may obtain a configuration of one or more uplink occasions in unpaired spectrum configured by the network apparatus for uplink transmission and determine a validity of at least one of the one or more uplink occasions according to one or more CD-SSBs that is/are associated with a system information block 1 (SIB1) in an event that an NCD-SSB is configured in a predetermined BWP or no SSB is configured in the predetermined BWP. In some implementations, when the at least one of the one or more uplink occasions collides with at least one of the one or more CD-SSBs, the at least one of the one or more uplink occasions is determined as an invalid uplink occasion.
In some implementations, the aforementioned collide or collision may refer to the case where the uplink occasion and the CD-SSB fully or partially overlap in time or the uplink occasion is within a gap not greater than a specified threshold, or may be any case that does not conform to at least one of the scenarios in which the uplink occasion is determined as valid as described in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) specifications.
In some implementations, the NCD-SSB does not invalidate an uplink occasion that is not invalidated by the one or more CD-SSB or does not invalidate uplink occasions that are not invalidated by the one or more CD-SSB.
In some implementations, the one or more CD-SSBs are outside of the predetermined BWP.
In some implementations, the predetermined BWP may be an active downlink BWP of the communication apparatus.
In some implementations, the one or more uplink occasions may be configured by the network apparatus 420 for PRACH transmission, PUSCH transmission, PUCCH transmission or SRS transmission.
In some implementations, the one or more uplink occasions may be configured by the network apparatus for Msg1 PRACH transmission, for MsgA PRACH transmission or for RACH based small data transmission (RA-SDT) PRACH transmission. As an example, in some implementations, the PRACH occasion validation may comprise validation of at least one of the Msg1 PRACH transmission in 4-step RACH, the MsgA PRACH transmission in 2-step RACH, and Msg1 and MsgA PRACH transmission in 4-step and 2-step RACH for RACH based small data transmission (RA-SDT) .
In some implementations, the one or more uplink occasions configured by the network apparatus may be one or more PUSCH occasions for Msg3 PUSCH transmissions, for MsgA PUSCH transmissions or for configured grant based small data transmission (CG-SDT) PUSCH transmissions. As an example, in some implementations, the PUSCH occasion validation may comprise at least one of the PUSCH occasion validation for Msg3 PUSCH, PUSCH occasion validation for MsgA PUSCH and PUSCH occasion validation for CG-SDT or RA-SDT.
In some implementations, the one or more uplink occasions may be configured by the network apparatus for PUSCH transmission with repetitions. As an example, in some implementations, validation of PUSCH transmission with repetitions may comprise validation of at least one of the PUSCH repetition resource counting and Msg3 PUSCH repetition resource counting.
In some implementations, the one or more uplink occasions may be configured by the network apparatus for PUCCH transmission with repetitions. As an example, in some implementations, validation of PUCCH transmission with repetitions may comprise validation of PUCCH repetition resource counting.
In some implementations, the SS and PBCH block (e.g., the SSB or the CD-SSB) for determining valid PRACH occasions of a physical random access procedure in unpaired spectrum correspond to the SSB or the CD-SSB that is associated with an SIB1.
In some implementations, the SS and PBCH block (e.g., the SSB or the CD-SSB) for determining valid PUSCH occasions of a 2-step random access procedure in unpaired spectrum correspond to the SSB or the CD-SSB that is associated with an SIB1.
In some implementations, the SS and PBCH block (e.g., the SSB or the CD-SSB) for determining theslots (i.e., the number of repetitions) for a PUSCH transmission in unpaired spectrum correspond to the SSB or the CD-SSB that is associated with an SIB1.
In some implementations, the SS and PBCH block (e.g., the SSBs or the CD-SSB) for determining valid PUSCH occasions of configured grant based PUSCH (CG-PUSCH) transmission in unpaired spectrum correspond to the SSB or the CD-SSB that is associated with an SIB1.
Regarding the network apparatus, in some implementations, the network apparatus may configure a CD-SSB and configure an NCD-SSB for a communication apparatus in a way that the NCD-SSB does not invalidate one or more uplink occasions of the communication apparatus that are not invalidated by the CD-SSB.
In some implementations, the one or more uplink occasions may be occasions provided for Msg1 PRACH transmission of the communication apparatus, provided for MsgA PRACH transmission of the communication apparatus or provided for RA-SDT PRACH transmission of the communication apparatus.
In some implementations, the one or more uplink occasions may be one or more PUSCH occasions of the communication apparatus for Msg3 PUSCH transmissions, for MsgA PUSCH transmissions or for CG-SDT PUSCH transmissions.
In some implementations, the one or more uplink occasions may be occasions provided for PUSCH transmission with repetitions of the communication apparatus or provided for PUCCH transmission with repetitions of the communication apparatus.
In some implementations, in unpaired spectrum, in BWP with NCD-SSB and without CD-SSB, the determination of the following cases is based on CD-SSB (i.e., not based on NCD-SSB) : (1) PRACH occasion validation, (2) MsgA PUSCH occasion validation, (3) Msg3 PUSCH repetition resource counting and (4) CG-PUSCH occasion validation.
In some implementations, for a communication apparatus in TDD, the network apparatus ensures that the NCD-SSB time domain location is a subset of the time domain location of CD-SSB.
In some implementations, the PBCH payload of the NCD-SSB indicates the frame boundary and frame number of the NCD-SSB.
In some implementations, in a BWP with NCD-SSB, the slot determination for PUCCH repetition resource counting is based on CD-SSB.
Illustrative Implementations
FIG. 4 illustrates an example communication system 400 having an example communication apparatus 410 and an example network apparatus 420 in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure. Each of the communication apparatus 410 and the network apparatus 420 may perform various functions to implement schemes, techniques, processes and methods described herein pertaining to uplink occasion validation with respect to user equipment and network apparatus in mobile communications, including scenarios/schemes described above as well as the process 500 and the process 600 described below.
The communication apparatus 410 may be a part of an electronic apparatus, which may be a UE such as a portable or mobile apparatus, a wearable apparatus, a wireless communication apparatus or a computing apparatus. For instance, the communication apparatus 410 may be implemented in a smartphone, a smartwatch, a personal digital assistant, a digital camera, or a computing equipment such as a tablet computer, a laptop computer or a notebook computer. The communication apparatus 410 may also be a part of a machine type apparatus, which may be an IoT, NB-IoT, or IIoT apparatus such as an immobile or a stationary apparatus, a home apparatus, a wire communication apparatus or a computing apparatus. For instance, the communication apparatus 410 may be implemented in a smart thermostat, a smart fridge, a smart door lock, a wireless speaker or a home control center. Alternatively, the communication apparatus 410 may be implemented in the form of one or more integrated-circuit (IC) chips such as, for example and without limitation, one or more single-core processors, one or more multi-core processors, one or more reduced-instruction set computing (RISC) processors, or one or more complex-instruction-set-computing (CISC) processors. The communication apparatus 410 may include at least some of those components shown in FIG. 4 such as a processor 412, for example. The communication apparatus 410 may further include one or more other components not pertinent to the proposed scheme of the present disclosure (e.g., internal power supply, display device and/or user interface device) , and, thus, such component (s) of the communication apparatus 410 are neither shown in FIG. 4 nor described below in the interest of simplicity and brevity.
The network apparatus 420 may be a part of a network device, which may be a network node such as a satellite, a base station, a small cell, a router or a gateway. For instance, the network apparatus 420 may be implemented in an eNodeB in an LTE network, in a gNB in a 5G/NR, IoT, NB-IoT or IIoT network or in a satellite or base station in a 6G network. Alternatively, the network apparatus 420 may be implemented in the form of one or more IC chips such as, for example and without limitation, one or more single-core processors, one or more multi-core processors, or one or more RISC or CISC processors. The network apparatus 420 may include at least some of those components shown in FIG. 4 such as a processor 422, for example. The network apparatus 420 may further include one or more other components not pertinent to the proposed scheme of the present disclosure (e.g., internal power supply, display device and/or user interface device) , and, thus, such component (s) of the network apparatus 420 are neither shown in FIG. 4 nor described below in the interest of simplicity and brevity.
In one aspect, each of the processor 412 and the processor 422 may be implemented in the form of one or more single-core processors, one or more multi-core processors, or one or more CISC processors. That is, even though a singular term “aprocessor” is used herein to refer to the processor 412 and the processor 422, each of the processor 412 and the processor 422 may include multiple processors in some implementations and a single processor in other implementations in accordance with the present disclosure. In another aspect, each of the processor 412 and the processor 422 may be implemented in the form of hardware (and, optionally, firmware) with electronic components including, for example and without limitation, one or more transistors, one or more diodes, one or more capacitors, one or more resistors, one or more inductors, one or more memristors and/or one or more varactors that are configured and arranged to achieve specific purposes in accordance with the present disclosure. In other words, in at least some implementations, each of the processor 412 and the processor 422 is a special-purpose machine specifically designed, arranged and configured to perform specific tasks including autonomous reliability enhancements in a device (e.g., as represented by the communication apparatus 410) and a network (e.g., as represented by the network apparatus 420) in accordance with various implementations of the present disclosure.
In some implementations, the communication apparatus 410 may also include a transceiver 416 coupled to the processor 412 and capable of wirelessly transmitting and receiving data. In some implementations, the communication apparatus 410 may further include a memory 414 coupled to the processor 412 and capable of being accessed by the processor 412 and storing data therein. In some implementations, the network apparatus 420 may also include a transceiver 426 coupled to the processor 422 and capable of wirelessly transmitting and receiving data. In some implementations, the network apparatus 420 may have a plurality of physical antennas which associates with a plurality of antenna ports. In some implementations, the network apparatus 420 may further include a memory 424 coupled to processor 422 and capable of being accessed by the processor 422 and storing data therein. Accordingly, the communication apparatus 410 and the network apparatus 420 may wirelessly communicate with each other via the transceiver 416 and the transceiver 426, respectively. To aid better understanding, the following description of the operations, functionalities and capabilities of each of the communication apparatus 410 and the network apparatus 420 is provided in the context of a mobile communication environment in which the communication apparatus 410 is implemented in or as a communication apparatus or a UE and the network apparatus 420 is implemented in or as a network node or a network device of a communication network.
In some implementations, the processor 412 of the communication apparatus 410 may obtain a configuration of one or more uplink occasions configured by the network apparatus for uplink transmission. In some implementations, the processor 412 may receive a configuration of uplink occasions in unpaired spectrum from the network apparatus 420 via the transceiver 416. As an example, the processor 412 may receive a BWP configuration that includes uplink resource configuration for the communication apparatus 410 to transmit uplink traffic.
In some implementations, the processor 412 may determine a validity of at least one of the one or more uplink occasions according to one or more CD-SSBs associated with an SIB1 in an event that an NCD-SSB is configured in a predetermined BWP or no SSB is configured in the predetermined BWP.
In some implementations, the processor 412 may receive a configuration of NCD-SSB from the network apparatus 420 via the transceiver 416. As an example, the processor 412 may receive a downlink BWP configuration, which may be an RRC message, and obtain the NCD-SSB configuration from the IE NonCellDefiningSSB.
In some implementations, the processor 412 does not apply the configured NCD-SSB to invalidate more uplink occasions besides the subset of uplink occasions invalidated by CD-SSB.
In some implementations, the processor 412 may have not received any configuration of NCD-SSB (i.e., no SSB configuration) from the network apparatus 420.
In some implementations, the processor 412 may receive a downlink BWP configuration that includes an NCD-SSB configuration or includes no SSB configuration from the network apparatus 420.
In some implementations, when the at least one of the one or more uplink occasions collides with at least one of the one or more SSBs, the at least one of the one or more uplink occasions is determined as an invalid uplink occasion.
In some implementations, the aforementioned collide or collision may refer to the case where the uplink occasion and the CD-SSB fully or partially overlap in time or the uplink occasion is within a gap not greater than a specified threshold, or may be any case that does not conform to at least one of the scenarios in which the uplink occasion is determined as valid as described in the 3GPP specifications.
In some implementations, the NCD-SSB does not invalidate an uplink occasion that is not invalidated by the one or more CD-SSB or does not invalidate uplink occasions that are not invalidated by the one or more CD-SSB.
In some implementations, the one or more CD-SSBs are outside of the predetermined BWP.
In some implementations, the predetermined BWP may be an active downlink BWP of the communication apparatus 410.
In some implementations, the one or more uplink occasions may be configured by the network apparatus 420 for PRACH transmission, PUSCH transmission or SRS transmission.
In some implementations, the one or more uplink occasions may be configured by the network apparatus 420 for Msg1 PRACH transmission, for MsgA PRACH transmission or for RA-SDT PRACH transmission. As an example, in some implementations, the PRACH occasion validation may comprise validation of at least one of the Msg1 PRACH transmission in 4-step RACH, the MsgA PRACH transmission in 2-step RACH and Msg1 and MsgA PRACH transmission in 4-step and 2-step RACH for RA-SDT.
In some implementations, the one or more uplink occasions configured by the network apparatus 420 may be one or more PUSCH occasions for Msg3 PUSCH transmissions, for MsgA PUSCH transmissions or for CG-SDT PUSCH transmissions. As an example, in some implementations, the PUSCH occasion validation may comprise at least one of the PUSCH occasion validation for Msg3 PUSCH, the PUSCH occasion validation for MsgA PUSCH and PUSCH occasion validation for CG-SDT or RA-SDT.
In some implementations, the one or more uplink occasions may be configured by the network apparatus 420 for PUSCH transmission with repetitions. As an example, in some implementations, validation of PUSCH transmission with repetitions may comprise validation of at least one of the PUCCH repetition resource counting and Msg3 PUSCH repetition resource counting.
In some implementations, the one or more uplink occasions may be configured by the network apparatus 420 for PUCCH transmission with repetitions. As an example, in some implementations, validation of PUCCH transmission with repetitions may comprise validation of PUCCH repetition resource counting.
In some implementations, if the communication apparatus 410 is provided by SS and PBCH blocks within an active downlink BWP by the IE NonCellDefiningSSB and the uplink BWP associated with the active DL BWP is configured with PRACH occasions, the processor 412 does not use the SS and PBCH blocks provided by the IE NonCellDefiningSSB to invalidate PRACH occasions that are not invalidated by the SS and PBCH blocks provided by the IE ssb-PositionsInBurst in SIB1 or in ServingCellConfigCommon.
In some implementations, if the communication apparatus 410 is provided by SS and PBCH blocks within an active downlink BWP by the IE NonCellDefiningSSB and the uplink BWP associated with the active DL BWP is configured with PUSCH occasions, the processor 412 does not use the SS and PBCH blocks provided by the IE NonCellDefiningSSB to invalidate PUSCH occasions that are not invalidated by the SS and PBCH blocks provided by the IE ssb-PositionsInBurst in SIB1 or in ServingCellConfigCommon.
Regarding the network apparatus 420, in some implementations, the network apparatus 420 may configure a CD-SSB and configure an NCD-SSB for the communication apparatus 410 in a way that the NCD-SSB does not invalidate one or more uplink occasions of the communication apparatus 410 that are not invalidated by the CD-SSB.
In some implementations, the one or more uplink occasions may be occasions provided for Msg1 PRACH transmission of the communication apparatus 410, provided for MsgA PRACH transmission of the communication apparatus 410 or provided for RA-SDT PRACH transmission of the communication apparatus 410.
In some implementations, the one or more uplink occasions may be one or more PUSCH occasions of the communication apparatus 410 for Msg3 PUSCH transmissions, for MsgA PUSCH transmissions or for CG-SDT PUSCH transmissions.
In some implementations, the one or more uplink occasions may be occasions provided for PUSCH transmission with repetitions of the communication apparatus or provided for PUCCH transmission with repetitions of the communication apparatus 410.
Illustrative Processes
FIG. 5 illustrates an example process 500 in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure. The process 500 may be an example implementation of above scenarios/schemes, whether partially or completely, with respect to uplink occasion validation with the present disclosure. The process 500 may represent an aspect of implementation of features of the communication apparatus 410. The process 500 may include one or more operations, actions, or functions as illustrated by one or more of blocks 510 and 520. Although illustrated as discrete blocks, various blocks of the process 500 may be divided into additional blocks, combined into fewer blocks, or eliminated, depending on the desired implementation. Moreover, the blocks of the process 500 may be executed in the order shown in FIG. 5 or, alternatively, in a different order. The process 500 may be implemented by the communication apparatus 410 or any suitable UE or machine type devices. Solely for illustrative purposes and without limitation, the process 500 is described below in the context of the communication apparatus 410. The process 500 may begin at block 510.
At 510, the process 500 may involve the processor 412 of the communication apparatus 410 obtaining a configuration of one or more uplink occasions in unpaired spectrum configured by a network apparatus (e.g., the network apparatus 420) for uplink transmission. The process 500 may proceed from 510 to 520.
At 520, the process 500 may involve the processor 412 determining a validity of at least one of the one or more uplink occasions according to one or more CD-SSBs associated with an SIB1 in an event that an NCD-SSB is configured in a predetermined BWP or no SSB is configured in the predetermined BWP. In some implementations, when the at least one of the one or more uplink occasions collides with at least one of the one or more CD-SSBs, the at least one of the one or more uplink occasions is determined as an invalid uplink occasion.
In some implementations, the aforementioned collide or collision may refer to the case where the uplink occasion and the CD-SSB fully or partially overlap in time or the uplink occasion is within a gap not greater than a specified threshold, or may be any case that does not conform to at least one of the scenarios in which the uplink occasion is determined as valid as described in the 3GPP specifications.
In some implementations, the NCD-SSB does not invalidate an uplink occasion that is not invalidated by the one or more CD-SSB or does not invalidate uplink occasions that are not invalidated by the one or more CD-SSB.
In some implementations, the one or more CD-SSBs are outside of the predetermined BWP.
In some implementations, the predetermined BWP may be an active downlink BWP of the communication apparatus 410.
In some implementations, the one or more uplink occasions may be configured by the network apparatus 420 for PRACH transmission, PUSCH transmission or SRS transmission.
In some implementations, the one or more uplink occasions may be configured by the network apparatus 420 for Msg1 PRACH transmission, for MsgA PRACH transmission or for RACH based small data transmission (RA-SDT) PRACH transmission.
In some implementations, the one or more uplink occasions configured by the network apparatus 420 may be one or more PUSCH occasions.
In some implementations, the one or more uplink occasions may be configured by the network apparatus 420 for PUSCH transmission with repetitions.
In some implementations, the one or more uplink occasions may be configured by the network apparatus 420 for PUCCH transmission with repetitions.
FIG. 6 depicting an example process 600 in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure. The process 600 may be an example implementation of above scenarios/schemes, whether partially or completely, with respect to uplink occasion validation with the present disclosure. The process 600 may represent an aspect of implementation of features of the network apparatus 420. The process 600 may include one or more operations, actions, or functions as illustrated by one or more of blocks 610 and 620. Although illustrated as discrete blocks, various blocks of the process 600 may be divided into additional blocks, combined into fewer blocks, or eliminated, depending on the desired implementation. Moreover, the blocks of the process 600 may be executed in the order shown in FIG. 6 or, alternatively, in a different order. The process 600 may be implemented by the network apparatus 420 or any suitable network device or network node. Solely for illustrative purposes and without limitation, the process 600 is described below in the context of the network apparatus 420. The process 600 may begin at block 610.
At 610, the process 600 may involve the processor 422 of the network apparatus 420 configuring a CD-SSB. The process 600 may proceed from 610 to 620.
At 620, the process 600 may involve the processor 422 configuring an NCD-SSB for a communication apparatus (e.g., the communication apparatus 410) , wherein the NCD-SSB does not invalidate one or more uplink occasions of the communication apparatus 410 that are not invalidated by the CD-SSB.
In some implementations, the one or more uplink occasions may be occasions provided for Msg1 PRACH transmission of the communication apparatus, provided for MsgA PRACH transmission of the communication apparatus or provided for RA-SDT PRACH transmission of the communication apparatus.
In some implementations, the one or more uplink occasions may be one or more PUSCH occasions of the communication apparatus for Msg3 PUSCH transmissions, for MsgA PUSCH transmissions or for CG-SDT PUSCH transmissions.
In some implementations, the one or more uplink occasions may be occasions provided for PUSCH transmission with repetitions of the communication apparatus or provided for PUCCH transmission with repetitions of the communication apparatus.
Additional Notes
The herein-described subject matter sometimes illustrates different components contained within, or connected with, different other components. It is to be understood that such depicted architectures are merely examples, and that in fact many other architectures can be implemented which achieve the same functionality. In a conceptual sense, any arrangement of components to achieve the same functionality is effectively "associated" such that the desired functionality is achieved. Hence, any two components herein combined to achieve a particular functionality can be seen as "associated with" each other such that the desired functionality is achieved, irrespective of architectures or intermedial components. Likewise, any two components so associated can also be viewed as being "operably connected" , or "operably coupled" , to each other to achieve the desired functionality, and any two components capable of being so associated can also be viewed as being "operably couplable" , to each other to achieve the desired functionality. Specific examples of operably couplable include but are not limited to physically mateable and/or physically interacting components and/or wirelessly interactable and/or wirelessly interacting components and/or logically interacting and/or logically interactable components.
Further, with respect to the use of substantially any plural and/or singular terms herein, those having skill in the art can translate from the plural to the singular and/or from the singular to the plural as is appropriate to the context and/or application. The various singular/plural permutations may be expressly set forth herein for sake of clarity.
Moreover, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that, in general, terms used herein, and especially in the appended claims, e.g., bodies of the appended claims, are generally intended as “open” terms, e.g., the term “including” should be interpreted as “including but not limited to, ” the term “having” should be interpreted as “having at least, ” the term “includes” should be interpreted as “includes but is not limited to, ” etc. It will be further understood by those within the art that if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such an intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitation no such intent is present. For example, as an aid to understanding, the following appended claims may contain usage of the introductory phrases "at least one" and "one or more" to introduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinite articles "a" or "an" limits any particular claim containing such introduced claim recitation to implementations containing only one such recitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases "one or more" or "at least one" and indefinite articles such as "a" or "an, " e.g., “a” and/or “an” should be interpreted to mean “at least one” or “one or more; ” the same holds true for the use of definite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, even if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should be interpreted to mean at least the recited number, e.g., the bare recitation of "two recitations, " without other modifiers, means at least two recitations, or two or more recitations. Furthermore, in those instances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B, and C, etc. ” is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention, e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, and C” would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, etc. In those instances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B, or C, etc. ” is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention, e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, or C” would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, etc. It will be further understood by those within the art that virtually any disjunctive word and/or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in the description, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplate the possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, or both terms. For example, the phrase “A or B” will be understood to include the possibilities of “A” or “B” or “A and B. ”
From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that various implementations of the present disclosure have been described herein for purposes of illustration, and that various modifications may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the various implementations disclosed herein are not intended to be limiting, with the true scope and spirit being indicated by the following claims.

Claims

A method, comprising:

obtaining, by a processor of a communication apparatus, a configuration of one or more uplink occasions in unpaired spectrum configured by a network apparatus for uplink transmission; and

determining, by the processor, a validity of at least one of the one or more uplink occasions according to one or more cell-defining synchronization signal (SS) and physical broadcast channel (PBCH) blocks (SSBs) (CD-SSBs) that are associated with a system information block 1 (SIB1) in an event that a non-cell defining SSB (NCD-SSB) is configured in a predetermined bandwidth part (BWP) or no SSB is configured in the predetermined BWP,

wherein when the at least one of the one or more uplink occasions collides with at least one of the one or more CD-SSBs, the at least one of the one or more uplink occasions is determined as an invalid uplink occasion.
The method of Claim 1, wherein the NCD-SSB does not invalidate an uplink occasion that is not invalidated by the one or more CD-SSBs.
The method of Claim 1, wherein the one or more CD-SSBs are outside of the predetermined BWP.
The method of Claim 1, wherein the predetermined BWP is an active downlink BWP of the communication apparatus.
The method of Claim 1, wherein the one or more uplink occasions are configured by the network apparatus for message 1 (Msg1) physical random access channel (PRACH) transmission, for message A (MsgA) PRACH transmission or for RACH based small data transmission (RA-SDT) PRACH transmission.
The method of Claim 1, wherein the one or more uplink occasions configured by the network apparatus are one or more physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) occasions for message 3 (Msg3) PUSCH transmission, for message A (MsgA) PUSCH transmission or for configured grant based small data transmission (CG-SDT) PUSCH transmission.
The method of Claim 1, wherein the one or more uplink occasions are configured by the network apparatus for PUSCH transmission with repetitions.
The method of Claim 1, wherein the one or more uplink occasions are configured by the network apparatus for physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmission with repetitions.
A communication apparatus, comprising:

a transceiver which, during operation, wirelessly communicates with at least one network apparatus; and

a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver such that, during operation, the processor performs operations comprising:

obtaining, via the transceiver, a configuration of one or more uplink occasion in unpaired spectrum configured by the network apparatus for uplink transmission; and

determining a validity of at least one of the one or more uplink occasions according to one or more cell-defining synchronization signal (SS) and physical broadcast channel (PBCH) blocks (SSBs) (CD-SSBs) that are associated with a system information block 1 (SIB1) in an event that a non-cell defining SSB (NCD-SSB) is configured in a predetermined bandwidth part (BWP) or no SSB is configured in the predetermined BWP,

wherein when the at least one of the one or more uplink occasions collides with at least one of the one or more CD-SSBs, the at least one of the one or more uplink occasions is determined as an invalid uplink occasion.
The communication apparatus of Claim 9, wherein the NCD-SSB does not invalidate an uplink occasion that is not invalidated by the one or more CD-SSBs.
The communication apparatus of Claim 9, wherein the one or more CD-SSBs are outside of the predetermined BWP.
The communication apparatus of Claim 9, wherein the predetermined BWP is an active downlink BWP of the communication apparatus.
The communication apparatus of Claim 9, wherein the one or more uplink occasions are configured by the network apparatus for message 1 (Msg1) physical random access channel (PRACH) transmission, for message A (MsgA) PRACH transmission or for RACH based small data transmission (RA-SDT) PRACH transmission.
The communication apparatus of Claim 9, wherein the one or more uplink occasions configured by the network apparatus are one or more physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) occasions for message 3 (Msg3) PUSCH transmissions, for message A (MsgA) PUSCH transmissions or for configured grant based small data transmission (CG-SDT) PUSCH transmissions.
The communication apparatus of Claim 9, wherein the one or more uplink occasions are configured by the network apparatus for PUSCH transmission with repetitions.
The communication apparatus of Claim 9, wherein the one or more uplink occasions are configured by the network apparatus for physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmission with repetitions.
A method, comprising:

configuring, by a processor of a network apparatus, a cell-defining synchronization signal (SS) and physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block (SSB) (CD-SSB) ; and

configuring, by the processor, a non-cell defining SSB (NCD-SSB) for a communication apparatus, wherein the NCD-SSB does not invalidate one or more uplink occasions of the communication apparatus that are not invalidated by the CD-SSB.
The method of Claim 17, wherein the one or more uplink occasions are occasions provided for message 1 (Msg1) physical random access channel (PRACH) transmission of the communication apparatus, provided for message A (MsgA) PRACH transmission of the communication apparatus or provided for RACH based small data transmission (RA-SDT) PRACH transmission of the communication apparatus.
The method of Claim 17, wherein the one or more uplink occasions are one or more physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) occasions of the communication apparatus for message 3 (Msg3) PUSCH transmissions, for message A (MsgA) PUSCH transmissions or for configured grant based small data transmission (CG-SDT) PUSCH transmissions.
The method of Claim 17, wherein the one or more uplink occasions are occasions provided for PUSCH transmission with repetitions of the communication apparatus or provided for physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmission with repetitions of the communication apparatus.