JP7846484B2 - Terminals, wireless communication methods, base stations and systems - Google Patents

Description

This disclosure relates to terminals, wireless communication methods , base stations , and systems in next-generation mobile communication systems.

In the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) network, Long Term Evolution (LTE) was specified with the aim of achieving even higher data rates and lower latency (Non-Patent Literature 1). Furthermore, LTE-Advanced (3GPP Rel. 10-14) was specified with the aim of further increasing the capacity and sophistication of LTE (Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Release (Rel.) 8, 9).

Successor systems to LTE (for example, 5th generation mobile communication system (5G), 5G+ (plus), 6th generation mobile communication system (6G), New Radio (NR), 3GPP Rel. 15 and later) are also being considered.

3GPP TS 36.300 V8.12.0 “Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) and Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN); Overall description; Stage 2 (Release 8)”, April 2010

In future wireless communication systems (e.g., Beyond 5G, 6G), improvements in frequency utilization efficiency are being considered. For example, treating multiple frequency carriers as a single virtual cell is being explored.

However, existing constraints may prevent efficient resource utilization, potentially leading to a decrease in communication throughput.

Therefore, one of the objectives of this disclosure is to provide a terminal, wireless communication method , base station , and system that efficiently utilize multiple carriers.

A terminal according to one aspect of the present disclosure includes a transmitting unit that transmits capability information indicating support for using multiple carriers in a single serving cell, and a control unit that controls at least one of transmission and reception in the single serving cell, wherein the multiple carriers include multiple DL carriers having different center frequencies within a single time-division duplex (TDD) band, and one UL carrier , and a sequential index is given as a frequency index used for scheduling for frequency resources of a combination of multiple downlink bandwidth portions (BWPs) spanning the multiple DL carriers .

According to one aspect of this disclosure, multiple carriers can be used efficiently.

Figures 1A and 1B show an example of a slot configuration. Figure 2 shows an example of the XDD configuration. Figures 3A and 3B show an example of setting time-domain and frequency-domain resources for XDD operation. Figure 4 shows an example of an NR band in FR1. Figure 5 shows an example of a combination of TDD bands and SUL bands in FR1. Figures 6A to 6C show an example of multiple carriers within an existing serving cell. Figures 7A to 7C show an example of multiple carriers within a single serving cell according to the first embodiment. Figures 8A to 8C show an example of initial access using multiple carriers within a single serving cell according to the second embodiment. Figure 9 shows an example of a schematic configuration of a wireless communication system according to one embodiment. Figure 10 shows an example of the configuration of a base station according to one embodiment. Figure 11 shows an example of the configuration of a user terminal according to one embodiment. Figure 12 shows an example of the hardware configuration of a base station and a user terminal according to one embodiment. Figure 13 shows an example of a vehicle according to one embodiment.

(Improvement of frequency utilization efficiency)
In future wireless communication systems (e.g., Beyond 5G, 6G), improvements in frequency utilization efficiency (e.g., increased efficiency of existing frequency bands) are being considered. Specifically, elastic cells, which treat multiple frequency bands as a single virtual cell, and intra-carrier/inter-carrier cross-division duplex (XDD), where base stations transmit and receive simultaneously, are being explored.

(XDD)
Up to LTE version 14, frequency division duplex (FDD) was the primary method used in practical applications, with support for time division duplex (TDD) as well.

On the other hand, in the NR from Rel. 15 onwards, TDD was the main focus of consideration, while simultaneously supporting FDD (for example, LTE band migration).

In FDDs, DL reception and UL transmission can be performed simultaneously, which is preferable from the viewpoint of reducing latency. On the other hand, in FDDs, the resource ratio of DL to UL is fixed (for example, 1:1).

In TDD, it is possible to change the ratio of DL and UL resources. For example, in a typical environment where DL traffic is relatively high, it is possible to increase the amount of DL resources to improve DL throughput.

On the other hand, considering the transmission-to-reception time ratio in Time Division Duplex (TDD) up to Rel. 16, there are cases where the opportunities to transmit UL signals/channels are fewer than the opportunities to receive DL signals/channels. In such cases, the UE may not be able to transmit UL signals/channels frequently, raising concerns about delays in the transmission of important UL signals/channels. Furthermore, because the opportunities to transmit UL signals are fewer than the opportunities to receive DL signals, signal/channel congestion during UL transmission is also a concern. In addition, since the time resources available for transmitting UL signals/channels are limited in TDD, the application of UL coverage extension techniques such as repetition transmission is also limited.

In future wireless communication systems (e.g., Rel. 17/18 and beyond), the introduction of a division-duplex method combining TDD and Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) for UL and DL is being considered.

The division-duplex method may also be called XDD (Cross Division Duplex). XDD may mean a duplex method that frequency-division multiplexes DL and UL (allowing simultaneous use of DL and UL) within one component carrier (CC) of the TDD band, or across multiple CCs. When the duplex method is applied to multiple CCs, it may mean that in the time resources where DL is available in one CC, UL is available in another CC. The multiple CCs may be CCs in the same band.

Figure 1A shows an example of a TDD configuration as defined up to Rel. 16. In this example, the UE is configured with TDD slots/symbols using the bandwidth of one component carrier (CC) (which may also be called a cell or serving cell).

In the example shown in Figure 1A, the time ratio of DL slots to UL slots is 4:1. With this conventional TDD slot/symbol setting, sufficient UL time resources cannot be secured, potentially leading to UL transmission delays and reduced coverage performance.

Figure 1B shows an example of an XDD configuration. In this example, within a single component carrier (CC), the resources used for receiving DL and the resources used for transmitting UL overlap in time. This resource configuration allows for the allocation of UL resources and improves resource utilization efficiency.

For example, as shown in the example in Figure 1B, by configuring both ends of the frequency domain in 1CC as DLs and sandwiching the UL resources between the DLs, it is possible to avoid and mitigate the occurrence of cross-link interference (CLI) with neighboring carriers. Furthermore, a guard region may be set at the boundary between the DL resources and the UL resources.

Considering the complexity of handling self-interference, it is conceivable that only base stations use DL and UL resources simultaneously. In other words, for resources where DL and UL overlap in time, one UE may use the DL resource while another UE uses the UL resource.

Figure 2 shows an example of an XDD configuration. In this example, a portion of the DL resources in the TDD band are used as UL resources, resulting in a configuration where DL and UL partially overlap in time.

In this example, during the DL-only period, each of the multiple UEs (UE#1 and UE#2 in this example) receives the DL channel/signal.

Furthermore, during periods when DL and UL overlap in time, one UE (UE#1 in this example) receives the DL channel/signal, while another UE (UE#2 in this example) transmits the UL channel/signal. During this period, the base station performs simultaneous transmission and reception of DL and UL.

Furthermore, during UL-only periods, each of the multiple UEs transmits a UL channel/signal.

In existing NRs (e.g., those specified up to Rel. 15/16), DL frequency resources and UL frequency resources in a UE carrier are configured as DL Bandwidth Parts (BWPs) and UL BWPs, respectively. Switching between DL/UL frequency resources requires the configuration of multiple BWPs and a BWP adaptation mechanism.

Furthermore, in existing NRs, the time resources in the TDD carrier for UE are configured in the TDD settings as at least one of DL, UL, and Flexible (FL).

Methods for configuring time-domain and frequency-domain resources for XDD operation are being investigated. For example, for UE#1 in Figure 2, it is conceivable to configure the XDD resources (the period during which DL and UL overlap) while avoiding the use of portions of the UL resources used by other UEs (e.g., UE#2) (see Figure 3A).

Furthermore, for example, for UE#2 in Figure 3, it is possible to configure the XDD resources while avoiding the use of the portion of the DL resources used by other UEs (e.g., UE#1) (see Figure 3B).

(analysis)
In elastic cells and inter-carrier XDD, multiple carriers are bundled together and treated as a single virtual cell. By performing control and UL on only specific carriers within that group, the remaining carriers can be used for data communication. This enables low overhead. Carrier aggregation (CA)-enabled UEs can perform control/UL on only specific carriers through cross-carrier scheduling during RRC connections. However, non-CA-enabled UEs and UEs during initial access cannot perform control/UL on only specific carriers.

In NRs up to Rel. 17, UEs cannot perform initial access by treating multiple carriers as a single cell, except for supplementary uplinks (SULs).

Figure 4 shows an example of NR bands in FR1. In existing specifications, the carriers/bands that can be set as SUL are limited to certain bands. In FR1, the bands for SUL are only NR bands n80 to n84, n86, and n89 (703 to 1980 MHz). Figure 5 shows an example of TDD band and SUL band combinations in FR1. The bands for SUL are specified to be combined only with TDD NR bands n41, n77 to n78 (2496 to 5000 MHz) (see, for example, Figure 5).

When the UE detects a synchronization signal block (SSB, SS/physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block), it reads the PDCCH (SIB1 PDCCH) that schedules system information block (SIB) 1 on that frequency carrier, and the PDSCH (SIB1 PDSCH) that carries SIB1, and performs a random access channel (RACH) procedure on the same frequency carrier based on the BWP settings contained in SIB1.

If a supplementaryUplink element exists in the servingCellConfigCommon, and if the UE supports one or more frequency bands indicated in the frequencyBandList for the SUL, and if the UE supports an uplink channel bandwidth with a maximum transmit bandwidth setting that is greater than or equal to the bandwidth of the SUL's initial uplink BWP, then the UE is considered to have configured the SUL within the serving cell.

The Common RACH setting (RACH-ConfigCommon) may include a reference signal received power (RSRP) threshold (rsrp-ThresholdSSB-SUL) for selecting between normal uplink (NUL) carriers and SUL carriers. If the RSRP of the downlink path loss reference is less than the threshold, the UE selects the SUL carrier for random access procedures. Otherwise, the UE selects the NUL carrier for random access procedures. Here, as mentioned above, the frequency of the SUL carrier is lower than the frequency of the NUL carrier.

The RA-RNTI associated with a PRACH occasion in which a random access preamble is sent is calculated using the UL carrier ID (ul_carrier_id). The UL carrier ID indicates the UL carrier used for sending the random access preamble, and is 0 for NUL carriers and 1 for SUL carriers.

For an existing UE to use a DL carrier on which SSB and SIB1 are transmitted, and another UL carrier, for initial access (RACH), one of the following settings 1 or 2 is required.
[Setting 1] DL carriers and UL carriers in the FDD band are associated (paired).
[Setting 2] The UL carrier of the SUL band and the DL carrier of the TDD band are associated.

SSB and SIB1 are transmitted over the same carrier.

Due to the above constraints in NR up to Rel. 17, there is a risk that elastic cells and inter-carrier XDDs may not be able to be operated efficiently. In this case, communication throughput may decrease.

Therefore, the inventors conceived a method for treating multiple carriers together as a single serving cell. According to one aspect of this disclosure, efficient use of multiple bandwidths and low overhead can be achieved.

The embodiments of this disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. Each wireless communication method according to the embodiments may be applied individually or in combination.

In this disclosure, "A/B" and "at least one of A and B" may be interpreted as mutually exclusive. Furthermore, in this disclosure, "A/B/C" may mean "at least one of A, B, and C."

In this disclosure, terms such as activate, deactivate, indicate (or specify), select, configure, update, and determine may be interpreted interchangeably. In this disclosure, terms such as support, control, controllable, operate, and operable may be interpreted interchangeably.

In this disclosure, Radio Resource Control (RRC), RRC parameters, RRC messages, higher-layer parameters, information elements (IE), settings, etc., may be interpreted interchangeably. In this disclosure, Medium Access Control elements (MAC Control Element (CE)), update commands, activation/deactivation commands, etc., may be interpreted interchangeably.

In this disclosure, the higher-layer signaling may be, for example, Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, Medium Access Control (MAC) signaling, broadcast information, or a combination thereof.

In this disclosure, MAC signaling may include, for example, MAC Control Elements (MAC CEs) and MAC Protocol Data Units (PDUs). Broadcast information may include, for example, Master Information Blocks (MIBs), System Information Blocks (SIBs), Remaining Minimum System Information (RMSIs), and Other System Information (OSIs).

In this disclosure, physical layer signaling may include, for example, Downlink Control Information (DCI) and Uplink Control Information (UCI).

In this disclosure, terms such as index, identifier (ID), indicator, and resource ID may be interpreted interchangeably. Similarly, terms such as sequence, list, set, group, cluster, and subset may be interpreted interchangeably.

In this disclosure, SIB1 PDCCH, Type0-PDCCH, Type0-PDCCH common search space (CSS) set, and PDCCH/DCI for scheduling SIB1 may be interpreted as mutually exclusive. In this disclosure, SIB1, SIB1 PDSCH, and PDSCH scheduled by Type0-PDCCH may be interpreted as mutually exclusive.

In this disclosure, carrier, frequency, center frequency, spectrum, and BWP may be interpreted interchangeably. In this disclosure, UL and normal uplink (NUL) may be interpreted interchangeably.

In this disclosure, "capability," "UE capability," and "UE capability information" may be interpreted interchangeably.

(Wireless communication method)
<First Embodiment>
《UE ability》
Capabilities (new UE capabilities, new UE capability information) indicating support for using multiple different carriers as DL/UL for a single serving cell may be defined. These new UE capabilities may be defined as a capability separate from CA support.

The new UE capability may be defined for at least one of the following cases: the case in which the multiple carriers include DL carriers and UL carriers; the case in which the multiple carriers include multiple DL carriers; and the case in which the multiple carriers include multiple UL carriers.

While the UE processes HARQ-ACK separately for multiple serving cells in the CA, it may process HARQ-ACK for multiple carriers in a single serving cell together. In this case, the load on the UE can be reduced.

The multiple carriers do not necessarily have to be a pair of DL and UL carriers within a single FDD band. The multiple carriers may include DL/UL carriers with different center frequencies within a single TDD band. The multiple carriers may also include one of the DL and UL carriers within a single TDD band and a carrier within another band.

The multiple carriers may span multiple bands. These multiple bands do not necessarily include SUL bands. These multiple bands may include multiple FDD bands, one or more TDD bands, or bands of different duplex schemes (for example, one or more FDD bands and one or more TDD bands).

Figures 6A to 6C show examples of multiple carriers within an existing serving cell. In the example in Figure 6A, one serving cell contains UL and DL carriers within one FDD band. In the example in Figure 6B, one serving cell contains UL and DL carriers with the same center frequency within one TDD band. In the example in Figure 6C, one serving cell contains NUL and DL carriers with the same center frequency within one TDD band, and SUL carriers within one SUL band.

Figures 7A to 7C show examples of multiple carriers in a single serving cell according to the first embodiment. As in the example in Figure 7A, a single serving cell may include UL/DL carriers in multiple FDD bands. As in this example, a single serving cell may include UL and DL carriers in a first FDD band and UL and DL carriers in a second FDD band. As in the example in Figure 7B, a single serving cell includes UL and DL carriers having different center frequencies in one or more TDD bands. Here, the number of UL/DL carriers in a single TDD band does not have to be one. As in this example, a single serving cell may include two DL carriers and one UL carrier in a single TDD band. As in the example in Figure 7C, a single serving cell may include UL/DL carriers in multiple bands, or those multiple bands may include TDD bands, and those TDD bands may contain only one UL carrier and one DL carrier. As in this example, a serving cell may include one UL carrier in one TDD band and a DL carrier in another band (e.g., a TDD band or an FDD band).

DL BWP and UL BWP for multiple different carriers may be configured within a serving cell. For a UE having the aforementioned new UE capability, DL BWP and UL BWP for multiple different carriers may be configured within the serving cell. DL/UL BWP may be configured using an offset from NR—Absolute Radio Frequency Channel Number (ARFCN, number on the global frequency raster)/pointA (common reference point of the RB grid) (e.g., resource block (RB) offset) and bandwidth (e.g., number of RBs).

A UE may report as a capability (information in the new UE capability information) whether or not it supports simultaneous transmission and reception of DL and UL.

The combination of multiple DL/UL bands that can be used as a single serving cell may be defined/limited in the specifications. For example, the combination may be limited to TDD bands only, or to FDD bands only, or to multiple carriers within the same band (intra-band), or to FR1 (combinations of bands within FR1). When multiple carriers within the same TDD band are used for DL and UL, simultaneous transmission and reception on those multiple carriers may not be possible, and the feasibility of simultaneous transmission and reception using multiple carriers within the same TDD band may be determined based on the feasibility of supporting XDD within the same carrier/band.

A UE having the aforementioned new UE capability or another new UE capability may support (or be configured to support) one or more DL BWPs on different carriers within a single serving cell. At least one of the following may be reported as capability (information in the new UE capability information): the maximum number of such DL BWPs, the maximum number of such carriers, the total bandwidth of such DL/BWPs (maximum bandwidth), the total bandwidth of such carriers (maximum bandwidth), the bandwidth from the lower frequency limit to the upper frequency limit of such DL/BWPs (maximum bandwidth), and the bandwidth from the lower frequency limit to the upper frequency limit of such carriers (maximum bandwidth).

At any given time within a single serving cell, one DL BWP may be active, or multiple DL BWPs may be active.

The same applies to UL BWP as described above. A UE having the aforementioned new UE capability or another new UE capability may support (or be configured to support) one or more UL BWPs on different carriers within a single serving cell, or it may support (or be configured to support) one UL BWP on different carriers within a single serving cell. A UE having the aforementioned new UE capability or another new UE capability may support (or be configured to support) one or more DL BWPs and one UL BWP on different carriers within a single serving cell.

At any given time within a single serving cell, one UL BWP may be active, or multiple UL BWPs may be active.

Combination of DL carrier and UL carrier
If multiple different carriers within a single serving cell are used for DL and UL (i.e., multiple carriers within a single serving cell include DL carriers and UL carriers with different center frequencies, or a single serving cell includes multiple TDD carriers), the UE may follow at least one of the following time resource determination methods 1 and 2.
[Time Resource Determination Method 1]
If simultaneous transmission and reception is not possible (the UE does not support simultaneous transmission and reception), the UE may determine the available time resources for each carrier according to a single TDD UL/DL setting (or a TDD UL/DL setting common to multiple carriers).
[Time Resource Determination Method 2]
If simultaneous transmission and reception is possible (the UE supports simultaneous transmission and reception), the UE may determine the available time resources for each carrier according to the TDD UL/DL settings of each carrier. The TDD UL/DL settings (link direction) may or may not be the same among the multiple carriers at a given time. Alternatively, even if simultaneous transmission and reception is possible, the UE may follow a single TDD UL/DL setting, and the availability of simultaneous transmission and reception for each time resource may be determined by a separate setting (for example, a setting for XDD).

Combinations of multiple download carriers
If multiple different carriers within a single serving cell are used for DL (i.e., multiple carriers within a single serving cell include multiple DL carriers), the UE may follow at least one of the following DL BWP usage methods 1 and 2.

[DL BWP usage method 1]
The UE may treat a combination of multiple DL BWPs (e.g., multiple DL BWPs spanning multiple carriers) as a single DL BWP. Within that single DL BWP, resources/channels/signals spanning multiple carriers may be configured/scheduled. These resources/channels/RSs may be CORESET/PDSCH/CSI-RS, etc. The single DL BWP may be considered as a DL BWP consisting of pseudo-continuous frequency resources. A continuum index may be provided for the frequency resources within the single DL BWP as the frequency index (e.g., RB index) used for scheduling within the single DL BWP. The subcarrier spacing (SCS) may be common among the multiple DL BWPs (within the single DL BWP).

[DL BWP usage method 2]
Multiple DL BWPs (sets of multiple DL BWPs) may be active simultaneously. Resources/channels/signals may be configured/scheduled across these multiple DL BWPs (multiple carriers). The UE may specify that it does not assume that resources/channels/signals will be configured/scheduled across these multiple DL BWPs (multiple carriers). The resource/channel/RS may reside only within one DL BWP (it may be closed). The resource/channel/RS may be a CORESET/PDSCH/CSI-RS, etc. The SCS may be common among the multiple DL BWPs. It may be permissible for the SCS to be different among the multiple DL BWPs. The BWP switch may operate by simultaneously switching one of the multiple DL BWPs to another multiple DL BWP. These multiple DL BWPs may be activated/deactivated (turned on/off) individually, or they may be switched to different DL BWPs one by one.

According to this embodiment, the UE can improve frequency utilization efficiency by using multiple carriers (for example, not just one pair of FDD carriers (paired spectrum) and not including SUL) as DL carriers and UL carriers within a single serving cell.

<Second Embodiment>
The UE may utilize (or support) multiple different carriers during initial access. These multiple carriers may be contained within a single serving cell. The UE may receive an SSB (at least one of the synchronization signal and PBCH) on at least one of these multiple carriers.

Figures 8A to 8C show an example of initial access using multiple carriers within a single serving cell according to the second embodiment.

As shown in the example in Figure 8A, one serving cell includes a UL carrier and a DL carrier having different center frequencies within one TDD band. Here, the number of UL carriers/DL carriers within one TDD band is not necessarily one. As in this example, one serving cell may include a first DL carrier, a UL carrier, and a second DL carrier within one TDD band. The UE may receive an SSB on the second DL carrier, receive an SIB1 PDSCH on the first DL carrier, and be instructed by SIB1 to provide an initial UL BWP on the UL carrier.

As shown in the example in Figure 8B, a single serving cell includes UL carriers and DL carriers having different center frequencies in multiple TDD bands. Here, the number of UL carriers/DL carriers in a single TDD band is not necessarily one. As in this example, a single serving cell may include UL carriers in a first TDD band and DL carriers in a second TDD band. The UE may receive SSB and SIB1 PDSCH on the DL carrier and be instructed by SIB1 to provide an initial UL BWP in the UL carrier.

As shown in the example in Figure 8C, a single serving cell may include multiple UL/DL carriers in multiple FDD bands. As in this example, a single serving cell may include a first UL carrier and a second DL carrier in a first FDD band, and a first UL carrier and a second DL carrier in a second FDD band. The UE may receive an SSB on the first DL carrier, receive an SIB1 PDSCH on the second DL carrier, and be instructed by SIB1 to provide an initial UL BWP on the first UL carrier.

Different UL carriers during initial access
UL carriers on bands other than those defined for SUL (e.g., bands defined for TDD/FDD/XDD) may be set/indicated by system information (e.g., SIB1).

A UL carrier (initial UL BWP) on a different carrier (center frequency) than SIB1 may be announced/broadcast by SIB1. SIB1 may also announce/broadcast the parameters of the initial UL BWP and the NR-ARFCN/pointA of that UL carrier. Only UEs that support the announcement of that initial UL BWP may recognize that announcement (that initial UL BWP). The announcement of that initial UL BWP may be a mandatory function in a specific frequency range (FR)/band/release. The UE may perform UL transmissions (such as random access procedures) on the initial UL BWP announced by SIB1.

Multiple download carriers during initial access
The UE may be instructed/configured to receive SIB1 PDCCH/SIB1 PDSCH on a carrier different from the carrier that received the SSB. The UE may follow at least one of the following carrier determination methods 1 to 3.
[Career Decision Method 1]
Multiple band/carrier candidates may be specified in the specification. An information element/field within the MIB (PBCH) may notify one of these candidates. The UE may perform SIB1 PDCCH (Type0-PDCCH) monitoring on the notified candidate carrier.
[Career Decision Method 2]
Multiple band/carrier candidates may be specified in the specification. A field in SIB1 PDCCH may notify one of these candidates. The UE may receive SIB1 PDSCH on the notified candidate carrier.
[Career Decision Method 3]
The receiving band/carrier for SIB1 PDCCH/SIB1 PDSCH may be specified in the specifications. The association between the detected SSB band/carrier and the receiving band/carrier for SIB1 PDCCH/SIB1 PDSCH may be specified in the specifications. The derivation rule (calculation formula) for the receiving band/carrier for SIB1 PDCCH/SIB1 PDSCH from the detected SSB band/carrier may be specified in the specifications. The UE may determine a carrier different from the receiving carrier for SSB as the receiving carrier for SIB1 PDCCH/SIB1 PDSCH in accordance with the specifications. The UE may perform reception of SIB1 PDCCH/SIB1 PDSCH on the determined carrier.

Random access procedures on different carriers during initial access
In IDLE mode, the UE may be instructed/configured to perform a random access procedure (for example, by sending a random access preamble) on a carrier different from the one it is camped on (located on).

Information regarding the carrier/BWP used in the random access procedure may be notified/broadcast by SIB1. This information may include the parameters of the BWP and the NR ARFCN/pointA of the carrier/BWP.

According to this embodiment, the UE can improve frequency utilization efficiency by using multiple carriers (for example, not just one pair of FDD carriers (paired spectrum) and not including SUL) for initial access.

<Other Embodiments>
《UE Ability Information / Higher Layer Parameters》
Higher-layer parameters (RRC IE)/UE capabilities may be defined corresponding to the functions (features) in each of the above embodiments. The higher-layer parameters may indicate whether or not to enable the function. The UE capabilities may indicate whether or not the UE supports the function.

A UE (User Environment) for which the corresponding higher-level parameter is set may perform that function. It may also be stipulated that "a UE for which the corresponding higher-level parameter is not set shall not perform that function (for example, according to Rel. 15/16)."

A UE that reports/submits UE capability indicating support for that function may perform that function. It may also be stipulated that "a UE that has not reported UE capability indicating support for that function shall not perform that function (e.g., in accordance with Rel. 15/16)."

If the UE reports/transmits a UE capability indicating support for the function, and the corresponding higher-layer parameters are set, the UE may perform the function. It may also be stipulated that "if the UE does not report/transmit a UE capability indicating support for the function, or if the corresponding higher-layer parameters are not set, the UE shall not perform the function (e.g., in accordance with Rel. 15/16)."

Which of the above multiple embodiments/options/choices/functions is used may be set by higher-layer parameters, reported by the UE as UE capability, specified in the specification, or determined by the reported UE capability and the setting of the higher-layer parameters.

Based on the above UE capabilities/higher layer parameters, the UE can achieve the above functions while maintaining compatibility with existing specifications.

(Wireless communication system)
The configuration of a wireless communication system according to one embodiment of this disclosure will be described below. In this wireless communication system, communication is performed using any or a combination thereof of the wireless communication methods according to the above embodiments of this disclosure.

Figure 9 shows an example of a schematic configuration of a wireless communication system according to one embodiment. The wireless communication system 1 may be a system that realizes communication using Long Term Evolution (LTE), 5th generation mobile communication system New Radio (5G NR), etc., as specified by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).

Furthermore, the wireless communication system 1 may support dual connectivity between multiple Radio Access Technologies (RATs) (Multi-RAT Dual Connectivity (MR-DC)). MR-DC may include dual connectivity between LTE (Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA)) and NR (E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity (EN-DC)), dual connectivity between NR and LTE (NR-E-UTRA Dual Connectivity (NE-DC)), and the like.

In an EN-DC, the LTE (E-UTRA) base station (eNB) is the Master Node (MN), and the NR base station (gNB) is the Secondary Node (SN). In an NE-DC, the NR base station (gNB) is the MN, and the LTE (E-UTRA) base station (eNB) is the SN.

The wireless communication system 1 may support dual connectivity between multiple base stations within the same RAT (for example, dual connectivity where both MN and SN are NR base stations (gNB) (NR-NR Dual Connectivity (NN-DC))).

The wireless communication system 1 may include a base station 11 that forms a macrocell C1 with relatively wide coverage, and base stations 12 (12a-12c) located within the macrocell C1 that form a small cell C2 that is narrower than the macrocell C1. User terminals 20 may be located within at least one cell. The arrangement and number of each cell and user terminal 20 are not limited to the configuration shown in the figure. Hereinafter, when base stations 11 and 12 are not distinguished, they will be collectively referred to as base station 10.

The user terminal 20 may be connected to at least one of the multiple base stations 10. The user terminal 20 may utilize at least one of Carrier Aggregation (CA) using multiple component carriers (CC) and Dual Connectivity (DC).

Each CC may be included in at least one of the first frequency band (Frequency Range 1 (FR1)) and the second frequency band (Frequency Range 2 (FR2)). A macrocell C1 may be included in FR1, and a small cell C2 may be included in FR2. For example, FR1 may be a frequency band of 6 GHz or less (sub-6 GHz), and FR2 may be a frequency band above 24 GHz. Note that the frequency bands and definitions of FR1 and FR2 are not limited to these, and for example, FR1 may fall in a frequency band higher than FR2.

Furthermore, the user terminal 20 may communicate using at least one of the following methods in each CC: Time Division Duplex (TDD) and Frequency Division Duplex (FDD).

Multiple base stations 10 may be connected by wire (e.g., optical fiber compliant with Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI), X2 interface, etc.) or wirelessly (e.g., NR communication). For example, when NR communication is used as a backhaul between base stations 11 and 12, base station 11, which is the upstream station, may be called an Integrated Access Backhaul (IAB) donor, and base station 12, which is the relay station, may be called an IAB node.

Base station 10 may be connected to the core network 30 via other base stations 10 or directly. The core network 30 may include at least one of the following: Evolved Packet Core (EPC), 5G Core Network (5GCN), Next Generation Core (NGC), etc.

The user terminal 20 may be a terminal that supports at least one of the following communication methods: LTE, LTE-A, 5G, etc.

In the wireless communication system 1, an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM)-based wireless access method may be used. For example, in at least one of the downlink (DL) and uplink (UL), Cyclic Prefix OFDM (CP-OFDM), Discrete Fourier Transform Spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-OFDM), etc., may be used.

The wireless access method may also be called a waveform. In wireless communication system 1, other wireless access methods (for example, other single-carrier transmission methods, other multi-carrier transmission methods) may be used for the UL and DL wireless access methods.

In the wireless communication system 1, a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), a Broadcast Channel (PBCH), a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), or the like may be used as the downlink channel, shared by each user terminal 20.

Furthermore, in the wireless communication system 1, the uplink channel may include a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), a Random Access Channel (PRACH), or the like, all of which are shared by each user terminal 20.

User data, higher-layer control information, and System Information Blocks (SIBs) are transmitted via PDSCH. User data and higher-layer control information may also be transmitted via PUSCH. Furthermore, Master Information Blocks (MIBs) may be transmitted via PBCH.

Lower-layer control information may be transmitted by the PDCCH. The lower-layer control information may include, for example, Downlink Control Information (DCI) which includes scheduling information for at least one of the PDSCH and PUSCH.

Furthermore, the DCI that schedules PDSCH may be called DL assignment, DL DCI, etc., and the DCI that schedules PUSCH may be called UL grant, UL DCI, etc. Furthermore, PDSCH may be interpreted as DL data, and PUSCH may be interpreted as UL data.

PDCCH detection may utilize a Control Resource Set (CORESET) and a search space. A CORESET corresponds to the resources used to search for DCIs. A search space corresponds to the search area and search method for PDCCH candidates. A single CORESET may be associated with one or more search spaces. The UE may monitor CORESETs associated with a given search space based on the search space configuration.

A single search space may correspond to one or more PDCCH candidates corresponding to aggregation levels. One or more search spaces may be referred to as a search space set. The terms "search space," "search space set," "search space configuration," "search space set configuration," "CORESET," and "CORESET configuration" in this disclosure may be interpreted interchangeably.

PUCCH may transmit Uplink Control Information (UCI) including at least one of Channel State Information (CSI), Delivery Acknowledgement (e.g., Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest ACKnowledgement (HARQ-ACK), ACK/NACK, etc.), and Scheduling Request (SR). PRACH may transmit a random access preamble for establishing a connection with the cell.

Furthermore, in this disclosure, downlinks, uplinks, etc., may be expressed without the prefix "link." Also, the prefix "physical" may be omitted when referring to various channels.

In the wireless communication system 1, a synchronization signal (SS), a downlink reference signal (DL-RS), etc., may be transmitted. In the wireless communication system 1, as DL-RS, a cell-specific reference signal (CRS), a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), a demodulation reference signal (DMRS), a positioning reference signal (PRS), a phase tracking reference signal (PTRS), etc., may be transmitted.

The synchronization signal may be, for example, at least one of a Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS) and a Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS). A signal block including SS (PSS, SSS) and PBCH (and DMRS for PBCH) may be called an SS/PBCH block, SS Block (SSB), etc. SS, SSB, etc., may also be called reference signals.

Furthermore, in the wireless communication system 1, the Uplink Reference Signal (UL-RS) may transmit the Sounding Reference Signal (SRS), Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS), etc. The DMRS may also be called the User-Specific Reference Signal (UE-specific Reference Signal).

(base station)
Figure 10 shows an example of the configuration of a base station according to one embodiment. The base station 10 includes a control unit 110, a transmitting/receiving unit 120, a transmitting/receiving antenna 130, and a transmission line interface 140. Note that one or more of the control unit 110, the transmitting/receiving unit 120, the transmitting/receiving antenna 130, and the transmission line interface 140 may be provided.

In this example, the functional blocks of the characteristic parts of this embodiment are mainly shown, and it may be assumed that the base station 10 also has other functional blocks necessary for wireless communication. Some of the processing of each part described below may be omitted.

The control unit 110 performs control of the entire base station 10. The control unit 110 can be composed of a controller, control circuit, etc., as described based on common understanding in the technical field related to this disclosure.

The control unit 110 may control signal generation, scheduling (e.g., resource allocation, mapping), etc. The control unit 110 may also control transmission and reception, measurement, etc., using the transmitting/receiving unit 120, transmitting/receiving antenna 130, and transmission path interface 140. The control unit 110 may generate data to be transmitted as signals, control information, sequences, etc., and transfer them to the transmitting/receiving unit 120. The control unit 110 may also perform call processing of communication channels (setting, releasing, etc.), status management of the base station 10, management of wireless resources, etc.

The transmitting/receiving unit 120 may include a baseband unit 121, a radio frequency (RF) unit 122, and a measurement unit 123. The baseband unit 121 may include a transmission processing unit 1211 and a reception processing unit 1212. The transmitting/receiving unit 120 can be composed of a transmitter/receiver, RF circuit, baseband circuit, filter, phase shifter, measurement circuit, transmitting/receiving circuit, etc., as described based on common understanding in the art relating to this disclosure.

The transmitting/receiving unit 120 may be configured as an integrated transmitting/receiving unit, or it may be composed of a transmitting unit and a receiving unit. The transmitting unit may consist of a transmitting processing unit 1211 and an RF unit 122. The receiving unit may consist of a receiving processing unit 1212, an RF unit 122, and a measuring unit 123.

The transmitting and receiving antenna 130 can be composed of an antenna described based on common understanding in the technical field relating to this disclosure, such as an array antenna.

The transmitting/receiving unit 120 may transmit the downlink channel, synchronization signal, downlink reference signal, etc. The transmitting/receiving unit 120 may also receive the uplink channel, uplink reference signal, etc.

The transmitting/receiving unit 120 may form at least one of the transmitting beam and the receiving beam using digital beamforming (e.g., precoding), analog beamforming (e.g., phase rotation), or the like.

The transmitting/receiving unit 120 (transmission processing unit 1211) may, for example, perform Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer processing, Radio Link Control (RLC) layer processing (e.g., RLC retransmission control), Medium Access Control (MAC) layer processing (e.g., HARQ retransmission control) on data and control information acquired from the control unit 110 to generate a bit sequence to be transmitted.

The transmitting/receiving unit 120 (transmission processing unit 1211) may perform transmission processing on the bit sequence to be transmitted, such as channel coding (which may include error correction coding), modulation, mapping, filtering, discrete Fourier transform (DFT) processing (if necessary), inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) processing, precoding, and digital-to-analog conversion, and output a baseband signal.

The transmitting/receiving unit 120 (RF unit 122) may perform modulation, filtering, amplification, etc., of the baseband signal to the radio frequency band and transmit the signal in the radio frequency band via the transmitting/receiving antenna 130.

On the other hand, the transmitting/receiving unit 120 (RF unit 122) may perform amplification, filtering, demodulation to a baseband signal, etc., on the radio frequency band signal received by the transmitting/receiving antenna 130.

The transmitting/receiving unit 120 (receiving processing unit 1212) may apply reception processing to the acquired baseband signal, such as analog-to-digital conversion, Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) processing, Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform (IDFT) processing (if necessary), filtering, demapping, demodulation, decoding (may include error correction decoding), MAC layer processing, RLC layer processing, and PDCP layer processing, to acquire user data, etc.

The transmitting/receiving unit 120 (measurement unit 123) may perform measurements related to the received signal. For example, the measurement unit 123 may perform Radio Resource Management (RRM) measurements, Channel State Information (CSI) measurements, etc., based on the received signal. The measurement unit 123 may also measure received power (e.g., Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP)), reception quality (e.g., Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR), Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR)), signal strength (e.g., Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI)), propagation path information (e.g., CSI), etc. The measurement results may be output to the control unit 110.

The transmission path interface 140 may transmit and receive signals (backhaul signaling) with devices included in the core network 30, other base stations 10, etc., and may acquire and transmit user data (user plane data), control plane data, etc. for the user terminal 20.

Furthermore, the transmitting and receiving units of the base station 10 in this disclosure may be composed of at least one of a transmitting/receiving unit 120, a transmitting/receiving antenna 130, and a transmission path interface 140.

The transmitting/receiving unit 120 may receive capability information indicating support for using multiple carriers in a single serving cell. The control unit 110 may control at least one of the transmission and reception in the single serving cell.

The control unit 110 may use multiple carriers for initial access. The transmitting/receiving unit 120 may transmit a synchronization signal and at least one broadcast channel on at least one of the multiple carriers.

(User terminal)
Figure 11 shows an example of the configuration of a user terminal according to one embodiment. The user terminal 20 includes a control unit 210, a transmitting/receiving unit 220, and a transmitting/receiving antenna 230. Note that one or more of the control unit 210, the transmitting/receiving unit 220, and the transmitting/receiving antenna 230 may be provided.

In this example, the functional blocks of the characteristic parts of this embodiment are mainly shown, and it may be assumed that the user terminal 20 also has other functional blocks necessary for wireless communication. Some of the processing of each part described below may be omitted.

The control unit 210 performs overall control of the user terminal 20. The control unit 210 can be composed of a controller, control circuit, etc., as described based on common understanding in the technical field related to this disclosure.

The control unit 210 may control signal generation, mapping, etc. The control unit 210 may also control transmission and reception, measurement, etc., using the transmitting/receiving unit 220 and the transmitting/receiving antenna 230. The control unit 210 may generate data to be transmitted as signals, control information, sequences, etc., and transfer them to the transmitting/receiving unit 220.

The transmitting/receiving unit 220 may include a baseband unit 221, an RF unit 222, and a measurement unit 223. The baseband unit 221 may include a transmission processing unit 2211 and a reception processing unit 2212. The transmitting/receiving unit 220 can be composed of a transmitter/receiver, RF circuit, baseband circuit, filter, phase shifter, measurement circuit, transmitting/receiving circuit, etc., as described based on common understanding in the art relating to this disclosure.

The transmitting/receiving unit 220 may be configured as an integrated transmitting/receiving unit, or it may be composed of a transmitting unit and a receiving unit. The transmitting unit may consist of a transmitting processing unit 2211 and an RF unit 222. The receiving unit may consist of a receiving processing unit 2212, an RF unit 222, and a measuring unit 223.

The transmitting and receiving antenna 230 can be composed of an antenna described based on common understanding in the art relating to this disclosure, such as an array antenna.

The transmitting/receiving unit 220 may receive the downlink channel, synchronization signal, downlink reference signal, etc. The transmitting/receiving unit 220 may also transmit the uplink channel, uplink reference signal, etc.

The transmitting/receiving unit 220 may form at least one of the transmitting beam and the receiving beam using digital beamforming (e.g., precoding), analog beamforming (e.g., phase rotation), or the like.

The transmitting/receiving unit 220 (transmission processing unit 2211) may, for example, perform PDCP layer processing, RLC layer processing (e.g., RLC retransmission control), MAC layer processing (e.g., HARQ retransmission control), etc., on data and control information acquired from the control unit 210 to generate a bit sequence to be transmitted.

The transmitting/receiving unit 220 (transmission processing unit 2211) may perform transmission processing on the bit sequence to be transmitted, such as channel coding (which may include error correction coding), modulation, mapping, filtering, DFT processing (if necessary), IFFT processing, precoding, and digital-to-analog conversion, and output a baseband signal.

The decision of whether or not to apply DFT processing may be based on the transform precoding settings. The transmitting/receiving unit 220 (transmission processing unit 2211) may, for a given channel (e.g., PUSCH), perform DFT processing as part of the transmission process to transmit that channel using a DFT-s-OFDM waveform if transform precoding is enabled, or it may not perform DFT processing as part of the transmission process if transform precoding is not enabled.

The transmitting/receiving unit 220 (RF unit 222) may perform modulation, filtering, amplification, etc., of the baseband signal to the radio frequency band, and transmit the signal in the radio frequency band via the transmitting/receiving antenna 230.

On the other hand, the transmitting/receiving unit 220 (RF unit 222) may perform amplification, filtering, demodulation to a baseband signal, etc., on the radio frequency band signal received by the transmitting/receiving antenna 230.

The transmitting/receiving unit 220 (receiving processing unit 2212) may apply reception processing such as analog-to-digital conversion, FFT processing, IDFT processing (if necessary), filtering, demapping, demodulation, decoding (may include error correction decoding), MAC layer processing, RLC layer processing, and PDCP layer processing to the acquired baseband signal, and acquire user data, etc.

The transmitting/receiving unit 220 (measuring unit 223) may perform measurements related to the received signal. For example, the measuring unit 223 may perform RRM measurement, CSI measurement, etc., based on the received signal. The measuring unit 223 may also measure received power (e.g., RSRP), received quality (e.g., RSRQ, SINR, SNR), signal strength (e.g., RSSI), propagation path information (e.g., CSI), etc. The measurement results may be output to the control unit 210.

Furthermore, the transmitting and receiving units of the user terminal 20 in this disclosure may be composed of at least one of a transmitting/receiving unit 220 and a transmitting/receiving antenna 230.

The transmitting/receiving unit 220 may transmit capability information (e.g., new UE capability) indicating support for using multiple carriers in a single serving cell. The control unit 210 may control at least one of the transmission and reception in the single serving cell.

The aforementioned multiple carriers may include one or more bands for time-division duplexing (TDD), multiple bands for frequency-division duplexing (FDD), or a combination of one or more bands for TDD and one or more bands for FDD.

Time resources for uplink and downlink may be set for at least one of the aforementioned multiple carriers.

The control unit 210 may use one or more active downlink bandwidth portions (BWPs) that span multiple downlink carriers within the multiple carriers.

The control unit 210 may use multiple carriers for initial access. The transmitting/receiving unit 220 may receive a synchronization signal and at least one broadcast channel on at least one of the multiple carriers.

The aforementioned multiple carriers may include one or more bands for time-division duplexing (TDD), multiple bands for frequency-division duplexing (FDD), or a combination of one or more bands for TDD and one or more bands for FDD.

The transmitting/receiving unit 220 may receive the first system information block, which includes an instruction for the initial uplink bandwidth portion.

The carrier for receiving at least one of the first system information block and the physical downlink control channel for scheduling the first system information block may be different from the carrier used for receiving the synchronization signal.

(Hardware configuration)
The block diagrams used in the description of the above embodiments show functional units. These functional blocks (components) are realized by any combination of at least one of hardware and software. Furthermore, the method of realizing each functional block is not particularly limited. That is, each functional block may be realized using one device that is physically or logically coupled, or it may be realized using two or more physically or logically separated devices that are directly or indirectly connected (for example, using wired or wireless connections). A functional block may also be realized by combining software with the one or more of the above devices.

Here, functions include, but are not limited to, judgment, decision, determination, calculation, calculation, processing, derivation, investigation, exploration, confirmation, reception, transmission, output, access, resolution, selection, selection, establishment, comparison, assumption, expectation, consideration, broadcasting, notifying, communicating, forwarding, configuring, reconfiguring, allocating (mapping), and assigning. For example, a functional block (configuration part) that enables transmission may be called a transmitting unit or transmitter. In all cases, as mentioned above, the method of implementation is not particularly limited.

For example, a base station, user terminal, etc., in one embodiment of the present disclosure may function as a computer that processes the wireless communication method of the present disclosure. Figure 12 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of a base station and user terminal according to one embodiment. The base station 10 and user terminal 20 described above may be physically configured as a computer device including a processor 1001, memory 1002, storage 1003, communication device 1004, input device 1005, output device 1006, bus 1007, etc.

In this disclosure, terms such as apparatus, circuit, device, section, and unit are interchangeable. The hardware configuration of the base station 10 and the user terminal 20 may include one or more of the devices shown in the figure, or it may be configured without some of the devices.

For example, although only one processor 1001 is shown in the diagram, there may be multiple processors. Furthermore, the processing may be performed by one processor, or it may be performed by two or more processors simultaneously, sequentially, or by other means. Note that the processor 1001 may be implemented using one or more chips.

Each function in the base station 10 and the user terminal 20 is realized, for example, by loading predetermined software (programs) onto hardware such as the processor 1001 and memory 1002, which allows the processor 1001 to perform calculations and control communication via the communication device 1004, or control at least one of the reading and writing of data in the memory 1002 and storage 1003.

The processor 1001 controls the entire computer, for example, by running an operating system. The processor 1001 may be composed of a central processing unit (CPU) that includes interfaces with peripheral devices, control devices, arithmetic units, registers, etc. For example, at least a part of the control unit 110 (210) and the transmitting/receiving unit 120 (220) described above may be implemented by the processor 1001.

Furthermore, the processor 1001 reads programs (program code), software modules, data, etc., from at least one of the storage 1003 and the communication device 1004 into the memory 1002, and executes various processes accordingly. The program used is one that causes the computer to execute at least a part of the operations described in the above embodiment. For example, the control unit 110 (210) may be implemented by a control program stored in the memory 1002 and running on the processor 1001, and other functional blocks may be implemented similarly.

The memory 1002 is a computer-readable recording medium and may consist of at least one of the following: Read Only Memory (ROM), Erasable Programmable ROM (EPROM), Electrically EPROM (EEPROM), Random Access Memory (RAM), or other suitable storage medium. The memory 1002 may also be called a register, cache, or main memory. The memory 1002 can store executable programs (program code), software modules, etc., for carrying out a wireless communication method according to one embodiment of this disclosure.

The storage 1003 is a computer-readable recording medium and may consist of at least one of the following: a flexible disk, a floppy disk, a magneto-optical disk (e.g., a Compact Disk (Compact Disc ROM (CD-ROM)), a Digital Multipurpose Disk, a Blu-ray (registered trademark) disk), a removable disk, a hard disk drive, a smart card, a flash memory device (e.g., a card, stick, key drive), a magnetic stripe, a database, a server, or other suitable storage medium. The storage 1003 may also be called an auxiliary storage device.

The communication device 1004 is hardware (transmitting/receiving device) for communicating between computers via at least one of a wired network and a wireless network, and is also referred to as a network device, network controller, network card, communication module, etc. The communication device 1004 may be configured to include a high-frequency switch, duplexer, filter, frequency synthesizer, etc., in order to implement at least one of frequency division duplex (FDD) and time division duplex (TDD). For example, the above-mentioned transmitting/receiving unit 120 (220), transmitting/receiving antenna 130 (230), etc., may be implemented by the communication device 1004. The transmitting/receiving unit 120 (220) may be implemented with physically or logically separated implementations of a transmitting unit 120a (220a) and a receiving unit 120b (220b).

The input device 1005 is an input device that accepts input from an external source (e.g., a keyboard, mouse, microphone, switch, button, sensor, etc.). The output device 1006 is an output device that outputs to an external source (e.g., a display, speaker, Light Emitting Diode (LED) lamp, etc.). The input device 1005 and the output device 1006 may be configured as an integrated unit (e.g., a touch panel).

Furthermore, each device, such as the processor 1001 and the memory 1002, is connected by a bus 1007 for communicating information. The bus 1007 may be configured using a single bus, or different buses may be used for each device.

Furthermore, the base station 10 and the user terminal 20 may be configured to include hardware such as a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Programmable Logic Device (PLD), and a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), and some or all of each functional block may be implemented using such hardware. For example, the processor 1001 may be implemented using at least one of these hardware components.

(Variant)
In addition, terms used in this disclosure and terms necessary for understanding this disclosure may be replaced with terms having the same or similar meanings. For example, channel, symbol, and signal (signal or signaling) may be used interchangeably. Also, a signal may be a message. A reference signal may be abbreviated as RS and may be called a pilot, pilot signal, etc., depending on the applicable standard. Also, a component carrier (CC) may be called a cell, frequency carrier, carrier frequency, etc.

A wireless frame may consist of one or more periods (frames) in the time domain. Each of these periods (frames) constituting a wireless frame may be called a subframe. Furthermore, a subframe may consist of one or more slots in the time domain. A subframe may have a fixed time length (e.g., 1 ms) that is independent of numerology.

Here, the neuralelogy may be communication parameters applied to at least one of the transmission and reception of a signal or channel. The neuralelogy may be, for example, at least one of the following: subcarrier spacing (SCS), bandwidth, symbol length, cyclic prefix length, transmission time interval (TTI), number of symbols per TTI, radio frame configuration, specific filtering processes performed by the transceiver in the frequency domain, and specific windowing processes performed by the transceiver in the time domain.

A slot may consist of one or more symbols in the time domain (such as Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols or Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) symbols). Alternatively, a slot may be a time unit based on neurology.

A slot may include multiple minislots. Each minislot may consist of one or more symbols in the time domain. Minislots may also be called subslots. Minislots may consist of fewer symbols than a slot. A PDSCH (or PUSCH) transmitted in a time unit larger than a minislot may be called a PDSCH (PUSCH) mapping type A. A PDSCH (or PUSCH) transmitted using minislots may be called a PDSCH (PUSCH) mapping type B.

Wireless frames, subframes, slots, minislots, and symbols all represent units of time when transmitting a signal. Different names may be used for each of these terms. Furthermore, the units of time such as frames, subframes, slots, minislots, and symbols in this disclosure may be interpreted interchangeably.

For example, one subframe may be called a TTI, multiple consecutive subframes may be called a TTI, or one slot or one mini-slot may be called a TTI. In other words, at least one of a subframe and a TTI may be a subframe in existing LTE (1 ms), a period shorter than 1 ms (e.g., 1-13 symbols), or a period longer than 1 ms. Note that the unit representing a TTI may be called a slot, mini-slot, etc., instead of a subframe.

Here, TTI refers to, for example, the smallest time unit for scheduling in wireless communication. For instance, in an LTE system, the base station schedules each user terminal to allocate wireless resources (such as the frequency bandwidth and transmission power available to each user terminal) in TTI units. However, the definition of TTI is not limited to this.

The Time Time Increment (TTI) may be a transmission time unit for channel-encoded data packets (transport blocks), code blocks, code words, etc., or it may be a processing unit for scheduling, link adaptation, etc. Note that, given a TTI, the actual time interval (e.g., number of symbols) to which the transport block, code block, code word, etc., are mapped may be shorter than the TTI.

Furthermore, if one slot or one mini-slot is referred to as a TTI, then one or more TTIs (i.e., one or more slots or one or more mini-slots) may constitute the minimum time unit for scheduling. Also, the number of slots (number of mini-slots) constituting this minimum time unit for scheduling may be controlled.

A TTI with a time length of 1 ms may also be called a normal TTI, long TTI, normal subframe, long subframe, slot, etc. A TTI shorter than a normal TTI may also be called a shortened TTI, short TTI, partial or fractional TTI, shortened subframe, short subframe, mini slot, sub slot, slot, etc.

Furthermore, long TTIs (e.g., normal TTIs, subframes, etc.) may be interpreted as TTIs with a time length exceeding 1 ms, and short TTIs (e.g., shortened TTIs, etc.) may be interpreted as TTIs with a TTI length less than that of a long TTI but 1 ms or more.

A Resource Block (RB) is a resource allocation unit in the time domain and frequency domain, and in the frequency domain, it may contain one or more consecutive subcarriers. The number of subcarriers in an RB may be the same regardless of the neurology, for example, 12. The number of subcarriers in an RB may be determined based on the neurology.

Furthermore, an RB may contain one or more symbols in the time domain and may be the length of one slot, one minislot, one subframe, or one TTI. Each TTI, subframe, etc., may be composed of one or more resource blocks.

Furthermore, one or more RBs may also be called Physical RBs (PRBs), Sub-Carrier Groups (SCGs), Resource Element Groups (REGs), PRB pairs, RB pairs, etc.

Furthermore, a resource block may consist of one or more resource elements (REs). For example, one RE may be a radio resource area comprising one subcarrier and one symbol.

A Bandwidth Part (BWP), also known as a partial bandwidth, may represent a subset of consecutive common resource blocks (RBs) for a given neurology in a given carrier. Here, the common RBs may be identified by an index of the RBs relative to the carrier's common reference point. The PRBs may be defined and numbered within a given BWP.

A BWP may include UL BWP (BWP for UL) and DL BWP (BWP for DL). One or more BWPs may be configured within a single carrier for a UE.

At least one of the configured BWPs may be active, and the UE does not need to assume that it will transmit or receive a predetermined signal/channel outside of the active BWP. In this disclosure, terms such as "cell" and "carrier" may be read as "BWP".

The structures described above, such as wireless frames, subframes, slots, minislots, and symbols, are merely illustrative examples. For instance, the number of subframes included in a wireless frame, the number of slots per subframe or wireless frame, the number of minislots within a slot, the number of symbols and RBs included in a slot or minislot, the number of subcarriers included in an RB, and the number of symbols, symbol length, and cyclic prefix (CP) length within a TTI can be varied in various ways.

Furthermore, the information, parameters, etc., described in this disclosure may be expressed using absolute values, relative values from a predetermined value, or corresponding other information. For example, wireless resources may be indicated by a predetermined index.

The names used for parameters and other elements in this disclosure are not restrictive in any way. Furthermore, mathematical formulas and other elements using these parameters may differ from those expressly disclosed in this disclosure. Since various channels (PUCCH, PDCCH, etc.) and information elements can be identified by any suitable name, the various names assigned to these various channels and information elements are not restrictive in any way.

The information, signals, etc. described in this disclosure may be represented using any of the various different techniques. For example, the data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, chips, etc. that may be referred to throughout the above description may be represented by voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, optical fields or photons, or any combination thereof.

Furthermore, information, signals, etc., can be output from upper layers to lower layers and from lower layers to at least one of the upper layers. Information, signals, etc., may also be input and output via multiple network nodes.

Input and output information and signals may be stored in a specific location (e.g., memory) or managed using a management table. Input and output information and signals may be overwritten, updated, or appended to. Output information and signals may be deleted. Input information and signals may be transmitted to other devices.

The notification of information is not limited to the embodiments described herein and may be carried out by other means. For example, the notification of information in this disclosure may be carried out by physical layer signaling (e.g., Downlink Control Information (DCI), Uplink Control Information (UCI)), higher layer signaling (e.g., Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, broadcast information (Master Information Block (MIB), System Information Block (SIB)), Medium Access Control (MAC) signaling), other signals, or a combination thereof.

Physical layer signaling may also be called Layer 1/Layer 2 (L1/L2) control information (L1/L2 control signals), L1 control information (L1 control signals), etc. RRC signaling may also be called RRC messages, such as RRC Connection Setup messages and RRC Connection Reconfiguration messages. MAC signaling may also be communicated using, for example, MAC Control Elements (CEs).

Furthermore, notification of the specified information (for example, notification that "X is the case") is not limited to explicit notification, but may also be made implicitly (for example, by not providing notification of the specified information or by providing notification of other information).

The determination may be made by a value represented by one bit (0 or 1), by a boolean value represented as true or false, or by a numerical comparison (for example, a comparison with a predetermined value).

Software, whether called software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or by any other name, should be interpreted broadly to mean instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, software modules, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executable files, execution threads, procedures, functions, and so on.

Furthermore, software, instructions, information, etc., may be transmitted and received via a transmission medium. For example, if software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using at least one of wired technology (such as coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, or Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)) and wireless technology (such as infrared or microwave), then at least one of these wired and wireless technologies is included in the definition of a transmission medium.

The terms “system” and “network” as used in this disclosure may be used interchangeably. “Network” may also mean the equipment included in the network (e.g., base stations).

In this disclosure, terms such as “precoding,” “precoder,” “weight (precoding weight),” “quasi-co-location (QCL),” “transmission configuration indication state (TCI state),” “spatial relation,” “spatial domain filter,” “transmit power,” “phase rotation,” “antenna port,” “antenna port group,” “layer,” “number of layers,” “rank,” “resource,” “resource set,” “resource group,” “beam,” “beam width,” “beam angle,” “antenna,” “antenna element,” and “panel” may be used interchangeably.

In this disclosure, terms such as “Base Station (BS),” “wireless base station,” “fixed station,” “NodeB,” “eNB (eNodeB),” “gNB (gNodeB),” “access point,” “Transmission Point (TP),” “Reception Point (RP),” “Transmission/Reception Point (TRP),” “panel,” “cell,” “sector,” “cell group,” “carrier,” and “component carrier” may be used interchangeably. Base stations may also be referred to by terms such as macrocell, small cell, femtocell, and picocell.

A base station may house one or more (e.g., three) cells. If a base station houses multiple cells, the entire coverage area of the base station may be divided into several smaller areas, each of which may also be provided with communication services by a base station subsystem (e.g., a small indoor base station (Remote Radio Head (RRH))). The terms “cell” or “sector” refer to part or all of the coverage area of at least one of the base station and/or base station subsystems providing communication services in that coverage.

In this disclosure, terms such as "Mobile Station (MS)," "user terminal," "User Equipment (UE)," and "terminal" may be used interchangeably.

A mobile station may also be called a subscriber station, mobile unit, subscriber unit, wireless unit, remote unit, mobile device, wireless device, wireless communication device, remote device, mobile subscriber station, access terminal, mobile terminal, wireless terminal, remote terminal, handset, user agent, mobile client, client, or some other appropriate term.

At least one of the base station and the mobile station may be called a transmitting device, a receiving device, a wireless communication device, etc. At least one of the base station and the mobile station may also be a device mounted on a moving object, the moving object itself, etc.

The term "mobile object" refers to any movable object, regardless of its speed, and naturally includes cases where the mobile object is stationary. Examples of such mobile objects include, but are not limited to, vehicles, transport vehicles, automobiles, motorcycles, bicycles, connected cars, excavators, bulldozers, wheel loaders, dump trucks, forklifts, trains, buses, handcarts, rickshaws, ships and other watercraft, airplanes, rockets, satellites, drones, multicopters, quadcopters, balloons, and items carried on them. Furthermore, such mobile objects may be autonomously driven objects operating based on operational commands.

The mobile entity may be a vehicle (e.g., a car, an airplane), an unmanned mobile entity (e.g., a drone, an autonomous vehicle), or a robot (manned or unmanned). At least one of the base station and the mobile station may be a device that does not necessarily move during communication operations. For example, at least one of the base station and the mobile station may be an Internet of Things (IoT) device such as a sensor.

Figure 13 shows an example of a vehicle according to one embodiment. The vehicle 40 includes a drive unit 41, a steering unit 42, an accelerator pedal 43, a brake pedal 44, a shift lever 45, left and right front wheels 46, left and right rear wheels 47, an axle 48, an electronic control unit 49, various sensors (including a current sensor 50, a rotation speed sensor 51, a pneumatic pressure sensor 52, a vehicle speed sensor 53, an acceleration sensor 54, an accelerator pedal sensor 55, a brake pedal sensor 56, a shift lever sensor 57, and an object detection sensor 58), an information service unit 59, and a communication module 60.

The drive unit 41 consists of, for example, at least one of an engine, a motor, or an engine-motor hybrid. The steering unit 42 includes at least a steering wheel (also called a handle) and is configured to steer at least one of the front wheels 46 and the rear wheels 47 based on the operation of the steering wheel, which is operated by the user.

The electronic control unit 49 consists of a microprocessor 61, memory (ROM, RAM) 62, and communication ports (e.g., input/output (IO) ports) 63. Signals from various sensors 50-58 installed in the vehicle are input to the electronic control unit 49. The electronic control unit 49 may also be called an Electronic Control Unit (ECU).

Signals from various sensors 50-58 include current signals from the current sensor 50 for sensing motor current, rotational speed signals of the front wheels 46/rear wheels 47 acquired by the rotational speed sensor 51, air pressure signals of the front wheels 46/rear wheels 47 acquired by the air pressure sensor 52, vehicle speed signals acquired by the vehicle speed sensor 53, acceleration signals acquired by the acceleration sensor 54, accelerator pedal depression signals acquired by the accelerator pedal sensor 55, brake pedal depression signals acquired by the brake pedal sensor 56, operation signals of the shift lever 45 acquired by the shift lever sensor 57, and detection signals acquired by the object detection sensor 58 for detecting obstacles, vehicles, pedestrians, etc.

The information service unit 59 consists of various devices for providing (outputting) various types of information such as driving information, traffic information, and entertainment information, including a car navigation system, audio system, speakers, display, television, and radio, and one or more ECUs that control these devices. The information service unit 59 uses information acquired from external devices via a communication module 60 or the like to provide various types of information/services (for example, multimedia information/multimedia services) to the occupants of the vehicle 40.

The information service unit 59 may include input devices that accept input from the outside (e.g., keyboard, mouse, microphone, switch, button, sensor, touch panel, etc.) and output devices that perform output to the outside (e.g., display, speaker, LED lamp, touch panel, etc.).

The driver assistance system unit 64 consists of various devices that provide functions to prevent accidents or reduce the driver's workload, such as millimeter-wave radar, Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), cameras, positioning locators (e.g., Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)), map information (e.g., High Definition (HD) maps, Autonomous Vehicle (AV) maps), gyro systems (e.g., Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), Inertial Navigation System (INS)), artificial intelligence (AI) chips, and AI processors, as well as one or more ECUs that control these devices. The driver assistance system unit 64 also transmits and receives various information via the communication module 60 to realize driver assistance functions or autonomous driving functions.

The communication module 60 can communicate with the microprocessor 61 and components of the vehicle 40 via the communication port 63. For example, the communication module 60 sends and receives data (information) via the communication port 63 to the drive unit 41, steering unit 42, accelerator pedal 43, brake pedal 44, shift lever 45, left and right front wheels 46, left and right rear wheels 47, axle 48, the microprocessor 61 and memory (ROM, RAM) 62 in the electronic control unit 49, and various sensors 50-58 provided in the vehicle 40.

The communication module 60 is a communication device that can be controlled by the microprocessor 61 of the electronic control unit 49 and can communicate with external devices. For example, it can send and receive various types of information to and from external devices via wireless communication. The communication module 60 may be located either inside or outside the electronic control unit 49. The external device may be, for example, the base station 10 or the user terminal 20 described above. Alternatively, the communication module 60 may be, for example, at least one of the base station 10 and the user terminal 20 (it may function as at least one of the base station 10 and the user terminal 20).

The communication module 60 may transmit at least one of the following to an external device via wireless communication: signals from the various sensors 50-58 input to the electronic control unit 49, information obtained based on said signals, and information based on input from an external source (user) obtained via the information service unit 59. The electronic control unit 49, the various sensors 50-58, the information service unit 59, etc., may also be called input units that receive input. For example, the PUSCH transmitted by the communication module 60 may include the information based on the above input.

The communication module 60 receives various types of information (traffic information, signal information, vehicle-to-vehicle information, etc.) transmitted from external devices and displays them on the information service unit 59 installed in the vehicle. The information service unit 59 may also be called an output unit, which outputs information (for example, it outputs information to devices such as displays and speakers based on the PDSCH (or data/information decoded from the PDSCH) received by the communication module 60).

Furthermore, the communication module 60 stores various information received from external devices in a memory 62 that can be used by the microprocessor 61. Based on the information stored in the memory 62, the microprocessor 61 may control the drive unit 41, steering unit 42, accelerator pedal 43, brake pedal 44, shift lever 45, left and right front wheels 46, left and right rear wheels 47, axle 48, various sensors 50-58, etc., which are provided in the vehicle 40.

Furthermore, the term "base station" in this disclosure may be interpreted as "user terminal." For example, the various aspects/embodiments of this disclosure may be applied to a configuration in which communication between a base station and a user terminal is replaced with communication between multiple user terminals (which may be called, for example, Device-to-Device (D2D), Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X)). In this case, the user terminal 20 may have the functions that the base station 10 has. Also, terms such as "uplink" and "downlink" may be interpreted as terms corresponding to terminal-to-terminal communication (for example, "sidelink"). For example, uplink channel, downlink channel, etc., may be interpreted as sidelink channel.

Similarly, the term "user terminal" in this disclosure may be replaced with "base station." In this case, the base station 10 may be configured to have the same functions as the user terminal 20 described above.

In this disclosure, operations performed by a base station may, in some cases, be performed by its upper node. It is clear that in a network including one or more network nodes with base stations, various operations performed for communication with terminals can be performed by the base station, one or more network nodes other than the base station (for example, a Mobility Management Entity (MME), a Serving Gateway (S-GW), etc., but not limited to these), or a combination thereof.

Each aspect/embodiment described in this disclosure may be used individually, in combination, or switched between as needed during execution. Furthermore, the processing procedures, sequences, flowcharts, etc., of each aspect/embodiment described in this disclosure may be rearranged in order, provided they are consistent. For example, the methods described in this disclosure present various step elements using exemplary order and are not limited to the specific order presented.

Each aspect/embodiment described in this disclosure is Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), LTE-Beyond (LTE-B), SUPER 3G, IMT-Advanced, 4th generation mobile communication system (4G), 5th generation mobile communication system (5G), 6th generation mobile communication system (6G), xth generation mobile communication system (xG (where x is, for example, an integer or decimal)), Future Radio Access (FRA), New-Radio Access Technology (RAT), New Radio (NR), New radio access (NX), Future generation radio access (FX), Global System for Mobile communications (GSM®), CDMA2000, Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi®), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX®), IEEE 802.20, systems utilizing Ultra-WideBand (UWB), Bluetooth®, or other appropriate wireless communication methods, and next-generation systems extended, modified, created, or defined based thereon may also be applied. Furthermore, multiple systems may be applied in combination (for example, a combination of LTE or LTE-A and 5G).

In this disclosure, the phrase "based on" does not mean "based solely on" unless otherwise specified. In other words, the phrase "based on" means both "based solely on" and "based at least on."

Any reference to elements using the designations “first,” “second,” etc., as used in this disclosure does not generally limit the quantity or order of those elements. These designations may be used in this disclosure as a convenient way to distinguish between two or more elements. Therefore, references to the first and second elements do not imply that only two elements may be employed or that the first element must precede the second element in any way.

The term “determining” as used in this disclosure may encompass a wide variety of actions. For example, “determining” may be considered to mean judging, calculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, looking up, searching, or inquiring (e.g., searching in tables, databases, or other data structures), ascertaining, etc.

Furthermore, "judgment (decision)" may be considered as "judging (deciding)" things like receiving (e.g., receiving information), transmitting (e.g., sending information), input, output, accessing (e.g., accessing data in memory), etc.

Furthermore, "judgment (decision)" may be considered as "judging (deciding)" something like resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, comparing, etc. In other words, "judgment (decision)" may be considered as "judging (deciding)" something about an action.

Furthermore, "judgment (decision)" can be rephrased as "assuming," "expecting," or "considering."

The term "maximum transmit power" as used in this disclosure may mean the maximum transmit power, the nominal UE maximum transmit power, or the rated UE maximum transmit power.

As used in this disclosure, the terms “connected,” “coupled,” and any variations thereof mean any direct or indirect connection or coupling between two or more elements, and may include one or more intermediate elements between two elements that are “connected” or “coupled” with each other. The coupling or connection between elements may be physical, logical, or a combination thereof. For example, “connection” may be replaced with “access.”

In this disclosure, when two elements are connected, they can be considered to be “connected” or “coupled” to each other using one or more wires, cables, printed electrical connections, etc., and, in some non-exclusive and non-exclusive examples, electromagnetic energy having wavelengths in the radio frequency domain, microwave domain, and optical (both visible and invisible) domain.

In this disclosure, the term "A and B are different" may mean "A and B are different from each other." The term may also mean "A and B are each different from C." Terms such as "separate" and "combine" may be interpreted similarly to "different."

Where the terms “include,” “including,” and variations thereof are used in this disclosure, these terms are intended to be inclusive, as is the term “comprising.” Furthermore, the term “or” as used in this disclosure is not intended to be exclusive OR.

In this disclosure, if articles are added by translation, such as a, an, and the in English, this disclosure may include the fact that the noun following these articles is plural.

Although the invention described herein has been explained in detail above, it will be clear to those skilled in the art that the invention described herein is not limited to the embodiments described herein. The invention described herein can be implemented in modified and altered forms without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the claims. Therefore, the description herein is for illustrative purposes only and does not imply any limitation on the invention described herein.

Claims (5)

A transmitting unit that transmits capability information indicating that it supports the use of multiple carriers in a single serving cell,
The serving cell comprises a control unit that controls at least one of transmission and reception,
The aforementioned multiple carriers include multiple DL carriers having different center frequencies within a single time-division duplex (TDD) band, and one UL carrier .
A terminal that is given a sequence of indices as frequency indices used for scheduling, for frequency resources that are combinations of multiple downlink bandwidth portions (BWP) spanning multiple DL carriers . The terminal according to claim 1, wherein time resources are set for at least one of the multiple carriers. A step of transmitting capability information indicating support for using multiple carriers in a single serving cell,
The step of controlling at least one of transmission and reception in one of the serving cells,
The aforementioned multiple carriers include multiple DL carriers having different center frequencies within a single time-division duplex (TDD) band, and one UL carrier .
A wireless communication method for a terminal , wherein a series of indices are assigned as frequency indices used for scheduling to frequency resources of a combination of multiple downlink bandwidth portions (BWP) spanning multiple DL carriers. A receiving unit that receives capability information indicating that it supports the use of multiple carriers in a single serving cell,
The serving cell comprises a control unit that controls at least one of transmission and reception,
The aforementioned multiple carriers include multiple DL carriers having different center frequencies within a single time-division duplex (TDD) band, and one UL carrier .
A base station is provided with a sequence of indices as frequency indices used for scheduling, for the frequency resources of a combination of multiple downlink bandwidth portions (BWP) spanning multiple DL carriers . A system comprising the terminal described in claim 1 and a base station,
The base station is a system having a receiving unit that receives the capability information.