WO2018064403A1

WO2018064403A1 - Physical resource block (prb) definition with scalable subcarrier spacing

Info

Publication number: WO2018064403A1
Application number: PCT/US2017/054145
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ralf Bendlin; Hwan-Joon Kwon; Gang Xiong
Original assignee: Intel Corporation
Priority date: 2016-09-30
Filing date: 2017-09-28
Publication date: 2018-04-05
Also published as: DE112017004253T5

Abstract

Technology for a user equipment (UE) configured to communicate with scalable subcarrier spacing is disclosed. The UE can encode data in a plurality of physical resource blocks (PRBs), for transmission to a new radio node B (gNB), in a plurality of subcarriers having different subcarrier spacing. Subcarrier spacing for the plurality of PRBs can be defined as 2ⁿ ^* 15 kilohertz (kHz). Each PRB in the plurality of PRBs can comprise a fixed number of subcarriers per PRB irrespective of subcarrier spacing. The plurality of PRBs for each subcarrier spacing can comprise a subset or a superset of the plurality of PRBs for the subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz in the frequency domain. A maximum number of PRBs can be used to fill a bandwidth of a carrier frequency that is transmitted to the gNB. A memory interface can be configured to receive the encoded data from a memory.

Description

PHYSICAL RESOURCE BLOCK (PRB) DEFINITION WITH SCALABLE SUBCARRIER SPACING

BACKGROUND

[0001] Wireless systems typically include multiple User Equipment (UE) devices communicatively coupled to one or more Base Stations (BS). The one or more BSs may be Long Term Evolved (LTE) evolved NodeBs (eNB) or new radio (NR) NodeBs (gNB) or next generation node Bs (gNB) that can be communicatively coupled to one or more UEs by a Third-Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) network.

[0002] Next generation wireless communication systems are expected to be a unified network/system that is targeted to meet vastly different and sometimes conflicting performance dimensions and services. New Radio Access Technology (RAT) is expected to support a broad range of use cases including Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC), Mission Critical Machine Type Communication (uMTC), and similar service types operating in frequency ranges up to 100 GHz. There are various numerology options for New Radio Access Technology. Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) waveforms can divide a channel into narrow subcarriers that are orthogonal and do not interfere with each other. Multiple OFDM system design parameters can be considered including subcarrier spacing, cyclic prefix length, and transmission time interval (TTI).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0003] Features and advantages of the disclosure will be apparent from the detailed description which follows, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which together illustrate, by way of example, features of the disclosure; and, wherein:

[0004] FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) frame structure in accordance with an example;

[0005] FIG. 2 illustrates multiplexing different numerologies in-band, in accordance with an example;

[0006] FIG. 3 illustrates subcarrier spacing for four different alternatives with an even number of lower frequency aligned physical resource blocks (PRBs) in accordance with an example;

[0007] FIG. 4 illustrates subcarrier spacing for four different alternatives with an odd number of lower frequency aligned PRBs in accordance with an example;

[0008] FIG. 5 illustrates subcarrier spacing for four different alternatives with an even number of center frequency aligned PRBs in accordance with an example;

[0009] FIG. 6 illustrates subcarrier spacing for four different alternatives with an odd number of center frequency aligned PRBs in accordance with an example;

[0010] FIG. 7 illustrates subcarrier spacing for four different alternatives with shifted PRBs in accordance with an example;

[0011] FIG. 8 illustrates subcarrier spacing for four different alternatives with shifted PRBs that are center frequency aligned in accordance with an example;

[0012] FIG. 9 depicts functionality of a UE configured to communicate with scalable subcarrier spacing in accordance with an example.

[0013] FIG. 10 depicts functionality of a new radio node B (gNB) configured to communicate with scalable subcarrier spacing in accordance with an example.

[0014] FIG. 11 depicts a flowchart of a machine readable storage medium having instructions embodied thereon for performing communication with scalable subcarrier spacing in accordance with an example.

[0015] FIG. 12 illustrates an architecture of a wireless network in accordance with an example;

[0016] FIG. 13 illustrates a diagram of a wireless device (e.g., UE) in accordance with an example;

[0017] FIG. 14 illustrates interfaces of baseband circuitry in accordance with an example; and

[0018] FIG. 15 illustrates a diagram of a wireless device (e.g., UE) in accordance with an example.

[0019] Reference will now be made to the exemplary embodiments illustrated, and specific language will be used herein to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the technology is thereby intended. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0020] Before the present technology is disclosed and described, it is to be understood that this technology is not limited to the particular structures, process actions, or materials disclosed herein, but is extended to equivalents thereof as would be recognized by those ordinarily skilled in the relevant arts. It should also be understood that terminology employed herein is used for the purpose of describing particular examples only and is not intended to be limiting. The same reference numerals in different drawings represent the same element. Numbers provided in flow charts and processes are provided for clarity in illustrating actions and operations and do not necessarily indicate a particular order or sequence.

DEFINITIONS

[0021] As used herein, the term "User Equipment (UE)" refers to a computing device capable of wireless digital communication such as a smart phone, a tablet computing device, a laptop computer, a multimedia device such as an iPod Touch®, or other type computing device that provides text or voice communication. The term "User Equipment (UE)" may also be refer to as a "mobile device," "wireless device," of "wireless mobile device."

[0022] As used herein, the term "wireless access point" or "Wireless Local Area Network Access Point (WLAN-AP)" refers to a device or configured node on a network that allows wireless capable devices and wired networks to connect through a wireless standard, including WiFi, Bluetooth, or other wireless communication protocol.

[0023] As used herein, the term "Base Station (BS)" includes "Base Transceiver Stations (BTS)," "NodeBs," "evolved NodeBs (eNodeB or eNB)," and/or "next generation

NodeBs (gNodeB or gNB)," and refers to a device or configured node of a mobile phone network that communicates wirelessly with UEs.

[0024] As used herein, the term "cellular telephone network," "4G cellular," "Long Term Evolved (LTE)," "5G cellular" and/or "New Radio (NR)" refers to wireless broadband technology developed by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), and will be referred to herein simply as "New Radio (NR)."

EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

[0025] An initial overview of technology embodiments is provided below and then specific technology embodiments are described in further detail later. This initial summary is intended to aid readers in understanding the technology more quickly but is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the technology nor is it intended to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.

[0026] FIG. 1 provides an example of a 3GPP LTE Release 8 frame structure. In particular, FIG. 1 illustrates a downlink radio frame structure type 2. In the example, a radio frame 100 of a signal used to transmit the data can be configured to have a duration, T/, of 10 milliseconds (ms). Each radio frame can be segmented or divided into ten subframes HOi that are each 1 ms long. Each subframe can be further subdivided into two slots 120a and 120b, each with a duration, T_sbt, of 0.5 ms. The first slot (#0) 120a can include a legacy physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) 160 and/or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) 166, and the second slot (#1) 120b can include data transmitted using the PDSCH.

[0027] Each slot for a component carrier (CC) used by the node and the wireless device can include multiple resource blocks (RBs) 130a, 130b, 130i, 130m, and 130n based on the CC frequency bandwidth. The CC can have a carrier frequency having a bandwidth and center frequency. Each subframe of the CC can include downlink control information (DCI) found in the legacy PDCCH. The legacy PDCCH in the control region can include one to three columns of the first Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols in each subframe or RB, when a legacy PDCCH is used. The remaining 11 to 13 OFDM symbols (or 14 OFDM symbols, when legacy PDCCH is not used) in the subframe may be allocated to the PDSCH for data (for short or normal cyclic prefix).

[0028] The control region can include physical control format indicator channel

(PCFICH), physical hybrid automatic repeat request (hybrid-ARQ) indicator channel (PHICH), and the PDCCH. The control region has a flexible control design to avoid unnecessary overhead. The number of OFDM symbols in the control region used for the PDCCH can be determined by the control channel format indicator (CFI) transmitted in the physical control format indicator channel (PCFICH). The PCFICH can be located in the first OFDM symbol of each subframe. The PCFICH and PHICH can have priority over the PDCCH, so the PCFICH and PHICH are scheduled prior to the PDCCH.

[0029] Each RB (physical RB or PRB) 130i can include 12 - 15 kilohertz (kHz) subcarriers 136 (on the frequency axis) and 6 or 7 orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols 132 (on the time axis) per slot. The RB can use seven OFDM symbols if a short or normal cyclic prefix is employed. The RB can use six OFDM symbols if an extended cyclic prefix is used. The resource block can be mapped to 84 resource elements (REs) 140i using short or normal cyclic prefixing, or the resource block can be mapped to 72 REs (not shown) using extended cyclic prefixing. The RE can be a unit of one OFDM symbol 142 by one subcarrier (i.e., 15 kHz) 146.

[0030] Each RE can transmit two bits 150a and 150b of information in the case of quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) modulation. Other types of modulation may be used, such as 16 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) or 64 QAM to transmit a greater number of bits in each RE, or bi-phase shift keying (BPSK) modulation to transmit a lesser number of bits (a single bit) in each RE. The RB can be configured for a downlink transmission from the eNodeB to the UE, or the RB can be configured for an uplink transmission from the UE to the eNodeB.

[0031] FIG. 2 illustrates multiplexing different numerologies in-band 200. In one embodiment it can be assumed that a wireless network is deployed in a carrier without a legacy 3GPP LTE Advanced (Rel. 10) deployment.

[0032] In one embodiment, in such a system, the design constraint is on co-existence with multiple 5G numerologies in the same carrier due to the coexistence of different network services, such as eMBB (enhanced Mobile Broadband) 204, mMTC (massive Machine Type Communications or massive IoT) 202 and URLLC (Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communications or Critical Communications) 206. The carrier in a 5G system can be above or below 6GHz. Multiple carriers can be aggregated for expanding the resources at the physical (PHY) layer.

[0033] In one embodiment, multiplexing different numerologies in-band is illustrated as indicated in FIG.2. A time-frequency resource, such as an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol, is illustrated wherein network services such as mMTC 202, eMBB 204, and URLLC 206 can be multiplexed together within the same symbol, or within another selected time-frequency constraint. In one embodiment, each network service can have a different numerology defining the transmission time interval (TTI), subcarrier spacing, and so forth.

[0034] There are various numerology options for new radio access technology. OFDM waveforms can divide a channel into narrow subcarriers that are orthogonal and do not interfere with each other. Multiple OFDM system design parameters can be considered including subcarrier spacing, cyclic prefix length, and transmission time interval (TTI). A smaller subcarrier spacing can lead to large symbol duration and a larger subcarrier spacing can lead to smaller symbol duration. CP length can be low in order to produce a low overhead or CP length can be long enough to account for multipath delay spreads. A lower number of symbols per TTI can reduce latency but also result in loss of spectral efficiency. A higher number of symbols per TTI can increase the latency but result in lower overhead.

[0035] In the 5G New Radio (NR), the number of subcarriers per physical resource block (PRB) is the same for all subcarrier spacing. Therefore, as the subcarrier spacing changes, the bandwidth of a PRB changes accordingly. For example, if the number of subcarriers per PRB is fixed at 12, then: for subcarrier spacing of 15 kilohertz (kHz) the bandwidth of the PRB is 180 kHZ; for subcarrier spacing of 30 kHz, the bandwidth of the PRB is 360 kHz; for subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz, the bandwidth of the PRB is 720 kHz; and for subcarrier spacing of 120 kHz, the bandwidth of the PRB is 1.44 megahertz (MHz).

[0036] For subcarrier spacing of 2ⁿ * 15 kHz, the resulting PRB grids are defined as the subset or superset of the PRB grid for subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz in a nested manner in the frequency domain, where n is a negative integer, 0, or a positive integer. For example, if n is equal to 0, then the subcarrier spacing is 15 kHz and the resulting PRB grid is defined as being equivalent to the PRB grid for subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz. If n is equal to 2, then the subcarrier spacing is 60 kHz and the resulting PRB grid is defined as the superset of the PRB grid for subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz in a nested manner in the frequency domain. If n is equal to -1, then the subcarrier spacing is 7.5 kHz and the resulting PRB grid is defined as the subset of the PRB grid for subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz in a nested manner in the frequency domain.

[0037] Placing the PRBs into the system bandwidth of the NR carrier is an open question. Previous solutions, such as the narrowband Intemet-of-Things (NB-IoT) standard of LTE, keep the PRB bandwidth constant when the subcarrier spacing changes by modifying the number of subcarriers per PRB. For example, in 3GPP LTE Release 13, the LTE and NB- IoT PRB bandwidth is 180 kHz. This fits 12 subcarriers with 15 kHz subcarrier spacing for the case of LTE and 48 subcarriers with 3.75 kHz subcarrier spacing for the case of NB-IoT. In these two cases, the PRB bandwidth is independent of the subcarrier spacing. Therefore, the number of PRBs does not change as the subcarrier spacing changes, and there is no issue placing the PRBs into the system bandwidth in the case of LTE and NB- IoT because one PRB with 48 subcarriers of 3.75 kHz spacing fits exactly into one PRB with 12 subcarriers of 15 kHz subcarrier spacing.

[0038] In the case of NR, placing PRBs into the system bandwidth is not trivial. One alternative involves placing a maximum number of PRBs into the system bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth. In one example, with a bandwidth of 180 kHz and a subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz, the maximum number of PRBs placed into the system bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth is 12. But in another example with a bandwidth of 180 kHz and a subcarrier spacing of 120 kHz, the maximum number of PRBs placed into the system bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth is only 1, with 60 kHz of bandwidth remaining unused.

[0039] Another alternative involves placing a selected number of PRBs into the bandwidth with selected elements of a portion of a PRB that extend beyond the edges of the bandwidth being punctured or rate-matched. In one example, with a bandwidth of 180 kHz and a subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz, no elements of the PRB extend beyond the edges of the bandwidth because 15 kHz subcarrier spacing can divide 180 kHz of bandwidth without any PRBs being punctured or rate-matched. However, in another example, with a bandwidth of 180 kHz and a subcarrier spacing of 120 kHz, more than 1 PRB can only be placed into the bandwidth if some elements of the PRB that extend beyond the edges of the bandwidth are punctured or rate-matched. In such an example, if the PRBs are aligned to the lower end of the bandwidth, then approximately one-half of a second PRB can be placed into the bandwidth with the remaining one-half of the second PRB being punctured or rate-matched.

[0040] Another alternative involves placing a maximum number of PRBs of a first subcarrier spacing into the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and placing a selected number of PRBs of one or more smaller subcarrier spacing relative to the first subcarrier spacing into the remaining bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth if there is any remaining bandwidth. In one example, with a bandwidth of 180 kHz and a subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz, there might not be any remaining bandwidth when 12 PRBs are placed into the bandwidth. Therefore, it would not be necessary to place a selected number of PRBs of one or smaller subcarrier spacing relative to the 15 kHz subcarrier spacing into the bandwidth. In another example, with a bandwidth of 180 kHz and a subcarrier spacing of 120 kHz, one PRB of subcarrier spacing of 120 kHz can be placed at the lower frequency edge of the bandwidth. The remaining bandwidth would be 60 kHz. A PRB of subcarrier spacing of 120 kHz will not fit in the remaining bandwidth. However, a selected number of PRBs of one or smaller subcarrier spacing relative to the 120 kHz subcarrier spacing can be placed into the remaining bandwidth. In one example, a PRB of 60 kHz subcarrier spacing can be placed into the remaining bandwidth, or two PRBs of 30 kHz subcarrier spacing can be placed into the remaining bandwidth, or one PRBs of 30 kHz subcarrier spacing and two PRBs of 15 kHz subcarrier spacing can be placed into the remaining bandwidth, or four PRBs of 15 kHz subcarrier spacing can be placed into the remaining bandwidth.

[0041] These three alternatives present different ways of placing PRBs into the system bandwidth of the NR carrier. These alternatives can be further refined in order to minimize the overall amount of frequency resources that remain unused, or to center the PRBs around a direct conversion (DC) subcarrier, or to obtain a symmetric spectrum centered around a DC subcarrier, or to preserve the nesting of the PRBs relative to the 15 kHz subcarrier spacing.

[0042] FIG. 3 illustrates an example in which an even number of PRBs for different numerologies are located on a fixed grid relative to each other with a nested structure. In one example, in Alternative 1 (Alt. 1), subcarrier spacing is shown for frequencies of 15 kHz, 30 kHz, 60 kHz, and 120 kHz. The structure of the grid is nested relative to the 15 kHz subcarrier spacing, with the 30 kHz subcarrier spacing, the 60 kHz subcarrier spacing, and the 120 kHz subcarrier spacing being aligned relative to the 15 kHz subcarrier spacing. The PRBs for the subcarrier spacings of frequencies of 15 kHz, 30 kHz, 60 kHz, and 120 kHz are aligned to a lower frequency edge of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency, which is equal to the center frequency (f_c) of the carrier minus the bandwidth of the carrier (fBw) divided by 2: fc - few/2. The PRBs can be positioned starting from the lower frequency edge of the bandwidth up to the higher frequency edge of the bandwidth, and PRBs can be included in the bandwidth from the lower frequency edge, fc - few 12, to the higher frequency edge, fc + few 12. In Alternative 1 , the remaining bandwidth is unused.

[0043] In one example, in Alternative 2 (Alt. 2), the unused bandwidth can be utilized by placing a maximum number of PRBs in the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth. For subcarrier spacing of 120 kHz, no additional PRBs can be inserted into the bandwidth relative to Alternative 1. For subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz, one additional PRB can be inserted into the bandwidth relative to Alternative 1, For subcarrier spacing of 30 kHz, three additional PRBs can be inserted into the bandwidth relative to Alternative 1. For subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz, 6 additional PRBs can be inserted into the bandwidth relative to Alternative 1. By placing a maximum number of PRBs in the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, some of the bandwidth that was unused in Alternative 1 is utilized in Alternative 2.

[0044] In another example, illustrated in Alternative 3, a selected number of PRBs are included to fill the bandwidth and selected elements of portions of a PRB, such as resource elements that extend beyond a higher frequency edge of the bandwidth, are punctured or rate- matched. For subcarrier spacing of 120 kHz, selected elements of portions of one PRB, such as resource elements that extend beyond the higher frequency edge of the bandwidth, can be punctured. Relative to Alternative 1, this punctured PRB can be included to increase the utilization of bandwidth. For subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz, selected elements of portions of one PRB extend beyond the higher frequency edge of the bandwidth and these selected elements are punctured. For subcarrier spacing of 30 kHz and 15 kHz, in this example, no puncturing is necessary because the PRBs fit into the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth. While examples have been provided regarding resource elements in a physical resource block, this is not intended to be limiting. Different portions of a PBR other than a resource element can be punctured to allow a selected portion of a PRB to be included in the carrier bandwidth few in order to substantially fill the PRB. The puncturing discussed in the proceeding paragraphs can also be with respect to a selected portion of a PRB, such as a resource element, or another desired portion.

[0045] In another example, in Alternative 4, a maximum number of PRBs of a first subcarrier spacing are included in the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a selected number of PRBs of one or more smaller subcarrier spacings relative to the first subcarrier spacing is included to fill the remaining bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth if there is remaining bandwidth. For subcarrier spacing of 120 kHz, one PRB of subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz and one PRB of subcarrier spacing of 30 kHz can be included in the remaining bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth. For subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz, one PRB of 30 kHz can be included in the remaining bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth. For subcarrier spacing of 30 kHz and 15 kHz, all of the PRBs are of the same subcarrier spacing because there is no remaining bandwidth to place smaller subcarrier PRBs.

[0046] FIG. 4 illustrates an example in which an odd number of PRBs for different numerologies are located on a fixed grid relative to each other with a nested structure. The bandwidth ranges from fc - few/2 to fc + few/2. Four different subcarrier spacings are illustrated including 120 kHz, 60 kHz, 30 kHz, and 15 kHz. The structure of the grid is nested relative to the 15 kHz subcarrier spacing, with the 30 kHz subcarrier spacing, the 60 kHz subcarrier spacing, and the 120 kHz subcarrier spacing being aligned relative to the 15 kHz subcarrier spacing. The PRBs are aligned to a lower frequency edge of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency, which is equal to fc - few 12. The PRBs can be positioned starting from the lower frequency edge of the bandwidth up to the higher frequency edge of the bandwidth, and PRBs can be included in the bandwidth from the lower frequency edge, fc - few 12, to the higher frequency edge, fc + few 12. In

Alternative 1, the remaining bandwidth is unused.

[0047] In one example, in Alternative 2, the unused bandwidth can be utilized by placing a maximum number of PRBs in the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth. For subcarrier spacing of 120 kHz, no additional PRBs can be inserted into the bandwidth relative to Alternative 1. For subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz, one additional PRB can be inserted into the bandwidth relative to Alternative 1, For subcarrier spacing of 30 kHz, two additional PRBs can be inserted into the bandwidth relative to Alternative 1. For subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz, 5 additional PRBs can be inserted into the bandwidth relative to Alternative 1. By placing a maximum number of PRBs in the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, some of the bandwidth that was unused in Alternative 1 is utilized in Alternative 2.

[0048] In one example, in Alternative 3, a selected number of PRBs are included to fill the bandwidth and selected elements of portions of a PRB that extend beyond a higher frequency edge of the bandwidth are punctured or rate-matched. For subcarrier spacing of 120 kHz, selected elements of portions of one PRB extend beyond the higher frequency edge of the bandwidth and these selected elements are punctured. Relative to Alternative 1, this punctured PRB can be included to increase the utilization of bandwidth. For subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz, selected elements of portions of one PRB extend beyond the higher frequency edge of the bandwidth and these selected elements are punctured. For subcarrier spacing of 30 kHz, selected elements of portions of one PRB extend beyond the higher frequency edge of the bandwidth and these selected elements are punctured. For subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz, in this example, no puncturing is necessary because the PRBs fit into the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth.

[0049] In another example, in Alternative 4, a maximum number of PRBs of a first subcarrier spacing are included in the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a selected number of PRBs of one or more smaller subcarrier spacings relative to the first subcarrier spacing is included to fill the remaining bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth if there is remaining bandwidth. For subcarrier spacing of 120 kHz, one PRB of subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz and one PRB of subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz can be included in the remaining bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth. For subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz, one PRB of 15 kHz can be included in the remaining bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth. For subcarrier spacing of 30 kHz, one PRB of 15 kHz can be included in the remaining bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth. For subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz, all of the PRBs are of the same subcarrier spacing because there is no remaining bandwidth to place smaller subcarrier PRBs.

[0050] FIG. 5 illustrates an example in which an even number of PRBs for different numerologies are located on a fixed grid relative to each other with a nested structure. The bandwidth ranges from fc - few/2 to fc + few/2. Four different subcarrier spacings are illustrated including 120 kHz, 60 kHz, 30 kHz, and 15 kHz. The structure of the grid is nested relative to the 15 kHz subcarrier spacing, with the 30 kHz subcarrier spacing, the 60 kHz subcarrier spacing, and the 120 kHz subcarrier spacing being aligned relative to the 15 kHz subcarrier spacing. The PRBs are aligned to a center frequency, fc, of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency. The PRBs can be positioned starting from the center frequency, fc, of the bandwidth up to the higher frequency edge of the bandwidth, and PRBs can be included in the bandwidth from the center frequency, fc, to the higher frequency edge, fc + few 12. The PRBs can be placed starting from the center frequency, fc, of the bandwidth down to the lower frequency edge of the bandwidth, and PRBs can be included in the bandwidth from the center frequency, fc, to the lower frequency edge, fc - few 12. In Alternative 1, the remaining bandwidth is unused.

[0051] In one example, in Alternative 2, the unused bandwidth can be utilized by placing a maximum number of PRBs in the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth. For subcarrier spacing of 120 kHz, no additional PRBs can be inserted into the bandwidth relative to Alternative 1. For subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz, two additional PRBs can be inserted into the bandwidth relative to Alternative 1. For subcarrier spacing of 30 kHz, six additional PRBs can be inserted into the bandwidth relative to Alternative 1. For subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz, 14 additional PRBs can be inserted into the bandwidth relative to Alternative 1. By placing a maximum number of PRBs in the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, some of the bandwidth that was unused in Alternative 1 is utilized in Alternative 2.

[0052] In one example, in Alternative 3, a first selected number of PRBs are included to fill the bandwidth at a lower frequency edge and a first selected portion of a PRB that extends beyond a lower frequency edge of the bandwidth is punctured or rate-matched, and wherein a second selected number of PRBs are included to fill the bandwidth at a higher frequency edge and a second selected portion of a PRB that extends beyond a higher frequency edge of the bandwidth is punctured or rate-matched. For subcarrier spacing of 120 kHz, selected elements of portions of one PRB extend beyond the higher frequency edge of the bandwidth and these selected elements are punctured or rate- matched, and selected elements of portions of one PRB extend beyond the lower frequency edge of the bandwidth and these selected elements are punctured or rate- matched. Relative to Alternative 1, these punctured PRBs can be included to increase the utilization of bandwidth. For subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz, selected elements of portions of one PRB extend beyond the higher frequency edge of the bandwidth and these selected elements are punctured or rate- matched, and selected elements of portions of one PRB extend beyond the lower frequency edge of the bandwidth and these selected elements are punctured or rate-matched. For subcarrier spacing of 30 kHz, selected elements of portions of one PRB extend beyond the higher frequency edge of the bandwidth and these selected elements are punctured or rate-matched, and selected elements of portions of one PRB extend beyond the lower frequency edge of the bandwidth and these selected elements are punctured or rate-matched. For subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz, in this example, no puncturing is necessary because the PRBs fit into the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth.

[0053] In another example, in Alternative 4, a first maximum number of PRBs of a first subcarrier spacing are included in a lower frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a first selected number of PRBs of one or more smaller subcarrier spacings relative to the first subcarrier spacing are included to fill a remaining lower frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a second maximum number of PRBs of the first subcarrier spacing are included in a higher frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a second selected number of PRBs of one or more smaller subcarrier spacings relative to the first subcarrier spacing are included to fill a remaining higher frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth. For subcarrier spacing of 120 kHz, one PRB of subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz and one PRB of subcarrier spacing of 30 kHz, and one PRB of subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz can be included in the lower frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and one PRB of subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz and one PRB of subcarrier spacing of 30 kHz, and one PRB of subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz can be including the higher frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth For subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz, one PRB of 30 kHz and one PRB of 15 kHz can be included in the remaining lower frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and one PRB of 30 kHz and one PRB of 15 kHz can be included in the remaining higher frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth. For subcarrier spacing of 30 kHz, one PRB of 15 kHz can be included in the remaining lower frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and one PRB of 15 kHz can be included in the remaining higher frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth. For subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz, all of the PRBs are of the same subcarrier spacing because there is no remaining bandwidth to place smaller subcarrier PRBs.

[0054] FIG. 6 illustrates an example in which an odd number of PRBs for different numerologies are located on a fixed grid relative to each other with a nested structure. The bandwidth ranges from fc - few/2 to fc + few/2. Four different subcarrier spacings are illustrated including 120 kHz, 60 kHz, 30 kHz, and 15 kHz. The structure of the grid is nested relative to the 15 kHz subcarrier spacing, with the 30 kHz subcarrier spacing, the 60 kHz subcarrier spacing, and the 120 kHz subcarrier spacing being aligned relative to the 15 kHz subcarrier spacing. The PRBs are aligned to a center frequency, fc, of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency. The PRBs can be placed starting from the center frequency, fc, of the bandwidth up to the higher frequency edge of the bandwidth, and PRBs can be included in the bandwidth from the center frequency, fc, to the higher frequency edge, fc + few 12. The PRBs can be placed starting from the center frequency, fc, of the bandwidth down to the lower frequency edge of the bandwidth, and PRBs can be included in the bandwidth from the center frequency, fc, to the lower frequency edge, fc - few 12. In Alternative 1, the remaining bandwidth is unused.

[0055] In one example, in Alternative 2, the unused bandwidth can be utilized by placing a maximum number of PRBs in the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth. For subcarrier spacing of 120 kHz, no additional PRBs can be inserted into the bandwidth relative to Alternative 1. For subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz, two additional PRBs can be inserted into the bandwidth relative to Alternative 1. For subcarrier spacing of 30 kHz, six additional PRBs can be inserted into the bandwidth relative to Alternative 1. For subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz, 13 additional PRBs can be inserted into the bandwidth relative to Alternative 1. By placing a maximum number of PRBs in the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, some of the bandwidth that was unused in Alternative 1 is utilized in Alternative 2.

[0056] In one example, in Alternative 3, a first selected number of PRBs are included to fill the bandwidth at a lower frequency edge and a first selected portion of a PRB that extends beyond a lower frequency edge of the bandwidth is punctured or rate-matched, and wherein a second selected number of PRBs are included to fill the bandwidth at a higher frequency edge and a second selected portion of a PRB that extends beyond a higher frequency edge of the bandwidth is punctured or rate-matched. For subcarrier spacing of 120 kHz, selected elements of portions of one PRB extend beyond the higher frequency edge of the bandwidth and these selected elements are punctured or rate- matched, and selected elements of portions of one PRB extend beyond the lower frequency edge of the bandwidth and these selected elements are punctured or rate- matched. Relative to Alternative 1, these punctured PRBs can be included to increase the utilization of bandwidth. For subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz, selected elements of portions of one PRB extend beyond the higher frequency edge of the bandwidth and these selected elements are punctured or rate-matched, and selected elements of portions of one PRB extend beyond the lower frequency edge of the bandwidth and these selected elements are punctured or rate-matched. For subcarrier spacing of 30 kHz, selected elements of portions of no PRBs extend beyond the higher frequency edge of the bandwidth and therefore no puncturing or rate-matching is necessary at the higher frequency edge of the bandwidth, but selected elements of portions of one PRB extend beyond the lower frequency edge of the bandwidth and these selected elements are punctured or rate- matched. For subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz, in this example, no puncturing is necessary because the PRBs fit into the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth.

[0057] In another example, in Alternative 4, a first maximum number of PRBs of a first subcarrier spacing are included in a lower frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a first selected number of PRBs of one or more smaller subcarrier spacings relative to the first subcarrier spacing are included to fill a remaining lower frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a second maximum number of PRBs of the first subcarrier spacing are included in a higher frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a second selected number of PRBs of one or more smaller subcarrier spacings relative to the first subcarrier spacing are included to fill a remaining higher frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth. For subcarrier spacing of 120 kHz, one PRB of subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz and one PRB of subcarrier spacing of 30 kHz, and one PRB of subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz can be included in the lower frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and one PRB of subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz and one PRB of subcarrier spacing of 30 kHz can be included in the higher frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth. For subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz, one PRB of 30 kHz and one PRB of 15 kHz can be included in the remaining lower frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and one PRB of 30 kHz can be included in the remaining higher frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth. For subcarrier spacing of 30 kHz, one PRB of 15 kHz can be included in the remaining lower frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and no PRBs of smaller subcarrier spacing are placed at the higher frequency edge. For subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz, all of the PRBs are of the same subcarrier spacing because there is no remaining bandwidth to place smaller subcarrier PRBs.

[0058] In FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, there are still some unused resources at the edges of the system bandwidth. This is the result of centering the PRBs around the DC subcarrier. This problem does not arise in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 because the PRBs are aligned at the lower frequency edge of the bandwidth in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4.

[0059] In another example, in FIG. 7, the PRBs can be shifted such that all resulting spectra are symmetric around the DC subcarrier. This increases the utilization of the bandwidth. The bandwidth ranges from fc - few/2 to fc + few/2. Four different subcarrier spacings are illustrated including 120 kHz, 60 kHz, 30 kHz, and 15 kHz. In Alternative 1, the remaining bandwidth is unused.

[0060] In one example, in Alternative 2, the unused bandwidth can be utilized by placing a maximum number of PRBs in the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth. For subcarrier spacing of 120 kHz, no additional PRBs can be inserted into the bandwidth relative to Alternative 1. For subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz, two additional PRBs can be inserted into the bandwidth relative to Alternative 1. For subcarrier spacing of 30 kHz, six additional PRBs can be inserted into the bandwidth relative to Alternative 1. For subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz, 12 additional PRBs can be inserted into the bandwidth relative to Alternative 1. By placing a maximum number of PRBs in the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, some of the bandwidth that was unused in Alternative 1 is utilized in Alternative 2.

[0061] In one example, in Alternative 3, a first selected number of PRBs are included to fill the bandwidth at a lower frequency edge and a first selected portion of a PRB that extends beyond a lower frequency edge of the bandwidth is punctured or rate-matched, and wherein a second selected number of PRBs are included to fill the bandwidth at a higher frequency edge and a second selected portion of a PRB that extends beyond a higher frequency edge of the bandwidth is punctured or rate-matched. For subcarrier spacing of 120 kHz, selected elements of portions of one PRB extend beyond the higher frequency edge of the bandwidth and these selected elements are punctured or rate- matched, and selected elements of portions of one PRB extend beyond the lower frequency edge of the bandwidth and these selected elements are punctured or rate- matched. Relative to Alternative 1, these punctured PRBs can be included to increase the utilization of bandwidth. For subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz, selected elements of portions of one PRB extend beyond the higher frequency edge of the bandwidth and these selected elements are punctured or rate-matched, and selected elements of portions of one PRB extend beyond the lower frequency edge of the bandwidth and these selected elements are punctured or rate-matched. For subcarrier spacing of 30 kHz, selected elements of portions of one PRB extend beyond the higher frequency edge of the bandwidth and these selected elements are punctured or rate-matched, and selected elements of portions of one PRB extend beyond the lower frequency edge of the bandwidth and these selected elements are punctured or rate-matched. For subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz, in this example, no puncturing is necessary because the PRBs fit into the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth.

[0062] In another example, in Alternative 4, a first maximum number of PRBs of a first subcarrier spacing are included in a lower frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a first selected number of PRBs of one or more smaller subcarrier spacings relative to the first subcarrier spacing are included to fill a remaining lower frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a second maximum number of PRBs of the first subcarrier spacing are included in a higher frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a second selected number of PRBs of one or more smaller subcarrier spacings relative to the first subcarrier spacing are included to fill a remaining higher frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth. For subcarrier spacing of 120 kHz, one PRB of subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz and one PRB of subcarrier spacing of 30 kHz can be included in the lower frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and one PRB of subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz and one PRB of subcarrier spacing of 30 kHz can be included in the higher frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth. For subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz, one PRB of 30 kHz can be included in the remaining lower frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and one PRB of 30 kHz can be included in the remaining higher frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth. For subcarrier spacing of 30 kHz, no additional PRBs of smaller subcarrier spacing are included at the lower frequency edge bandwidth or the higher frequency edge bandwidth. For subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz, all of the PRBs are of the same subcarrier spacing because there is no remaining bandwidth to place smaller subcarrier PRBs.

[0063] In FIG. 7, the nesting structure of FIGS. 3 - 6 is not preserved. In another example, in FIG. 8, to preserve the nesting structure, a center subcarrier of a center PRB is offset about the center frequency of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency by 7.5 kHz. The bandwidth ranges from fc - few/2 to fc + few/2. Four different subcarrier spacings are illustrated including 120 kHz, 60 kHz, 30 kHz, and 15 kHz. In Alternative 1, the remaining bandwidth is unused.

[0064] In one example, in Alternative 2, the unused bandwidth can be utilized by placing a maximum number of PRBs in the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth. For subcarrier spacing of 120 kHz, no additional PRBs can be inserted into the bandwidth relative to Alternative 1. For subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz, two additional PRBs can be inserted into the bandwidth relative to Alternative 1. For subcarrier spacing of 30 kHz, six additional PRBs can be inserted into the bandwidth relative to Alternative 1. For subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz, 12 additional PRBs can be inserted into the bandwidth relative to Alternative 1. By placing a maximum number of PRBs in the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, some of the bandwidth that was unused in Alternative 1 is utilized in Alternative 2.

[0065] In one example, in Alternative 3, a first selected number of PRBs are included to fill the bandwidth at a lower frequency edge and a first selected portion of a PRB that extends beyond a lower frequency edge of the bandwidth is punctured or rate-matched, and wherein a second selected number of PRBs are included to fill the bandwidth at a higher frequency edge and a second selected portion of a PRB that extends beyond a higher frequency edge of the bandwidth is punctured or rate-matched. For subcarrier spacing of 120 kHz, selected elements of portions of one PRB extend beyond the higher frequency edge of the bandwidth and these selected elements are punctured or rate- matched, and selected elements of portions of one PRB extend beyond the lower frequency edge of the bandwidth and these selected elements are punctured or rate- matched. Relative to Alternative 1, these punctured PRBs can be included to increase the utilization of bandwidth. For subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz, selected elements of portions of one PRB extend beyond the higher frequency edge of the bandwidth and these selected elements are punctured or rate-matched, and selected elements of portions of one PRB extend beyond the lower frequency edge of the bandwidth and these selected elements are punctured or rate-matched. For subcarrier spacing of 30 kHz, selected elements of portions of one PRB extend beyond the higher frequency edge of the bandwidth and these selected elements are punctured or rate-matched, and selected elements of portions of one PRB extend beyond the lower frequency edge of the bandwidth and these selected elements are punctured or rate-matched. For subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz, in this example, selected elements of portions of one PRB extend beyond the higher frequency edge of the bandwidth and these selected elements are punctured or rate-matched, and selected elements of portions of one PRB extend beyond the lower frequency edge of the bandwidth and these selected elements are punctured or rate-matched.

[0066] In another example, in Alternative 4, a first maximum number of PRBs of a first subcarrier spacing are included in a lower frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a first selected number of PRBs of one or more smaller subcarrier spacings relative to the first subcarrier spacing are included to fill a remaining lower frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a second maximum number of PRBs of the first subcarrier spacing are included in a higher frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a second selected number of PRBs of one or more smaller subcarrier spacings relative to the first subcarrier spacing are included to fill a remaining higher frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth. For subcarrier spacing of 120 kHz, one PRB of subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz and one PRB of subcarrier spacing of 30 kHz can be included in the lower frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and one PRB of subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz and one PRB of subcarrier spacing of 30 kHz can be included in the higher frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth. For subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz, one PRB of 30 kHz can be included in the remaining lower frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and one PRB of 30 kHz can be included in the remaining higher frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth. For subcarrier spacing of 30 kHz, no additional PRBs of smaller subcarrier spacing are included at the lower frequency edge bandwidth or the higher frequency edge bandwidth. For subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz, all of the PRBs are of the same subcarrier spacing because there is no remaining bandwidth to place smaller subcarrier PRBs without puncturing or rate-matching the PRBs.

[0067] Another example, in FIG. 9, provides a flow chart 900 showing functionality of a UE that can be configured to communicate with scalable subcarrier spacing is illustrated. The UE can comprise one or more processors. These one or more processors can be configured to encode data in a plurality of physical resource blocks (PRBs), for transmission to a new radio node B (gNB), in a plurality of subcarriers having different subcarrier spacing. The subcarrier spacing for the plurality of PRBs can be defined as 2ⁿ * 15 kilohertz (kHz), where n is an integer, and each PRB in the plurality of PRBs can comprise a fixed number of subcarriers per PRB irrespective of subcarrier spacing, as illustrated in block 910. The plurality of PRBs for each subcarrier spacing can comprise a subset or a superset of the plurality of PRBs for the subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz in the frequency domain, and a maximum number of PRBs can be used to fill a bandwidth of a carrier frequency that is transmitted to the NR gNB, as shown in block 920. A memory interface can be configured to receive from a memory the encoded data, as shown in block 930. [0068] Another example, in FIG. 10, provides a flow chart 1000 illustrates an example of functionality of a NR gNB that can be configured to communicate with scalable subcarrier spacing. The NR gNB can comprise one or more processors. These one or more processors can be configured to encode data in a plurality of physical resource blocks (PRBs), for transmission to a user equipment (UE), in a plurality of subcarriers having different subcarrier spacing. The subcarrier spacing for the plurality of PRBs can be defined as 2ⁿ * 15 kilohertz (kHz), where n is an integer, and each PRB in the plurality of PRBs can comprise a fixed number of subcarriers per PRB irrespective of subcarrier spacing, as illustrated in block 1010. The plurality of PRBs for each subcarrier spacing can comprise a subset or a superset of the plurality of PRBs for the subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz in the frequency domain, and a maximum number of PRBs can be used to fill a bandwidth of a carrier frequency that is transmitted to the UE, as shown in block 1020. A memory interface can be configured to receive from a memory the encoded data, as shown in block 1030.

[0069] Another example, in FIG. 11, a flow chart 1100 provides at least one machine readable storage medium having instructions embodied thereon for performing communication with scalable subcarrier spacing. The instructions can be executed on a machine, where the instructions are included on at least one computer readable medium or one non-transitory machine readable storage medium. The instructions when executed perform: encode data in a plurality of physical resource blocks (PRBs), for transmission to a new radio node B (gNB), in a plurality of subcarriers having different subcarrier spacing, wherein a subcarrier spacing for the plurality of PRBs is defined as 2ⁿ * 15 kilohertz (kHz), where n is an integer, and each PRB of the plurality of PRBs comprises a fixed number of subcarriers per PRB irrespective of subcarrier spacing, as shown in block 1110, wherein the plurality of PRBs for each subcarrier spacing comprises a subset or a superset of the plurality of PRBs for the subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz in the frequency domain, and a maximum number of PRBs are used to fill a bandwidth of a carrier frequency that is transmitted to the NR gNB, as shown in block 1120.

[0070] While examples have been provided in which an eNodeB has been specified, they are not intended to be limiting. A fifth generation gNB can be used in place of the eNodeB. Accordingly, unless otherwise stated, any example herein in which an eNodeB has been disclosed, can similarly be disclosed with the use of a gNB (Next Generation node B).

[0071] FIG. 12 illustrates an architecture of a system 1200 of a network in accordance with some embodiments. The system 1200 is shown to include a user equipment (UE) 1201 and a UE 1202. The UEs 1201 and 1202 are illustrated as smartphones (e.g., handheld touchscreen mobile computing devices connectable to one or more cellular networks), but may also comprise any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as Personal Data Assistants (PDAs), pagers, laptop computers, desktop computers, wireless handsets, or any computing device including a wireless communications interface.

[0072] In some embodiments, any of the UEs 1201 and 1202 can comprise an Internet of Things (IoT) UE, which can comprise a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications utilizing short-lived UE connections. An IoT UE can utilize technologies such as machine-to-machine (M2M) or machine-type communications (MTC) for exchanging data with an MTC server or device via a public land mobile network (PLMN), Proximity-Based Service (ProSe) or device-to-device (D2D) communication, sensor networks, or IoT networks. The M2M or MTC exchange of data may be a machine-initiated exchange of data. An IoT network describes interconnecting IoT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure), with short-lived connections. The IoT UEs may execute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate the connections of the IoT network.

[0073] The UEs 1201 and 1202 may be configured to connect, e.g., communicatively couple, with a radio access network (RAN) 1210— the RAN 1210 may be, for example, an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), a NextGen RAN (NG RAN), or some other type of RAN. The UEs 1201 and 1202 utilize connections 1203 and 1204, respectively, each of which comprises a physical communications interface or layer (discussed in further detail below); in this example, the connections 1203 and 1204 are illustrated as an air interface to enable communicative coupling, and can be consistent with cellular communications protocols, such as a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) protocol, a code- division multiple access (CDMA) network protocol, a Push-to-Talk (PTT) protocol, a PTT over Cellular (POC) protocol, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) protocol, a 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) protocol, a fifth generation (5G) protocol, a New Radio (NR) protocol, and the like.

[0074] In this embodiment, the UEs 1201 and 1202 may further directly exchange communication data via a ProSe interface 1205. The ProSe interface 1205 may alternatively be referred to as a sidelink interface comprising one or more logical channels, including but not limited to a Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH), a Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH), a Physical Sidelink Discovery Channel (PSDCH), and a Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel (PSBCH).

[0075] The UE 1202 is shown to be configured to access an access point (AP) 1206 via connection 1207. The connection 1207 can comprise a local wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE 802.15 protocol, wherein the AP 1206 would comprise a wireless fidelity (WiFi®) router. In this example, the AP 1206 is shown to be connected to the Internet without connecting to the core network of the wireless system (described in further detail below).

[0076] The RAN 1210 can include one or more access nodes that enable the connections 1203 and 1204. These access nodes (ANs) can be referred to as base stations (BSs), NodeBs, evolved NodeBs (eNBs), next Generation NodeBs (gNB), RAN nodes, and so forth, and can comprise ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations providing coverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell). The RAN 1210 may include one or more RAN nodes for providing macrocells, e.g., macro RAN node 1211, and one or more RAN nodes for providing femtocells or picocells (e.g., cells having smaller coverage areas, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macrocells), e.g., low power (LP) RAN node 1212.

[0077] Any of the RAN nodes 1211 and 1212 can terminate the air interface protocol and can be the first point of contact for the UEs 1201 and 1202. In some embodiments, any of the RAN nodes 1211 and 1212 can fulfill various logical functions for the RAN 1210 including, but not limited to, radio network controller (RNC) functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobility management. [0078] In accordance with some embodiments, the UEs 1201 and 1202 can be configured to communicate using Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) communication signals with each other or with any of the RAN nodes 1211 and 1212 over a multicarrier communication channel in accordance various communication techniques, such as, but not limited to, an Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) communication technique (e.g., for downlink communications) or a Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) communication technique (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelink communications), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. The OFDM signals can comprise a plurality of orthogonal subcarriers.

[0079] In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid can be used for downlink transmissions from any of the RAN nodes 1211 and 1212 to the UEs 1201 and 1202, while uplink transmissions can utilize similar techniques. The grid can be a time- frequency grid, called a resource grid or time-frequency resource grid, which is the physical resource in the downlink in each slot. Such a time-frequency plane

representation is a common practice for OFDM systems, which makes it intuitive for radio resource allocation. Each column and each row of the resource grid corresponds to one OFDM symbol and one OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domain corresponds to one slot in a radio frame. The smallest time- frequency unit in a resource grid is denoted as a resource element. Each resource grid comprises a number of resource blocks, which describe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements. Each resource block comprises a collection of resource elements; in the frequency domain, this may represent the smallest quantity of resources that currently can be allocated. There are several different physical downlink channels that are conveyed using such resource blocks.

[0080] The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) may carry user data and higher- layer signaling to the UEs 1201 and 1202. The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) may carry information about the transport format and resource allocations related to the PDSCH channel, among other things. It may also inform the UEs 1201 and 1202 about the transport format, resource allocation, and H-ARQ (Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request) information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (assigning control and shared channel resource blocks to the UE 1202 within a cell) may be performed at any of the RAN nodes 1211 and 1212 based on channel quality information fed back from any of the UEs 1201 and 1202. The downlink resource assignment information may be sent on the PDCCH used for (e.g., assigned to) each of the UEs 1201 and 1202.

[0081] The PDCCH may use control channel elements (CCEs) to convey the control information. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCH complex- valued symbols may first be organized into quadruplets, which may then be permuted using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching. Each PDCCH may be transmitted using one or more of these CCEs, where each CCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as resource element groups (REGs). Four Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) symbols may be mapped to each REG. The PDCCH can be transmitted using one or more CCEs, depending on the size of the downlink control information (DCI) and the channel condition. There can be four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation level, L=l, 2, 4, or 8).

[0082] Some embodiments may use concepts for resource allocation for control channel information that are an extension of the above-described concepts. For example, some embodiments may utilize an enhanced physical downlink control channel (EPDCCH) that uses PDSCH resources for control information transmission. The EPDCCH may be transmitted using one or more enhanced the control channel elements (ECCEs). Similar to above, each ECCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as an enhanced resource element groups (EREGs). An ECCE may have other numbers of EREGs in some situations.

[0083] The RAN 1210 is shown to be communicatively coupled to a core network (CN) 1220— via an SI interface 1213. In embodiments, the CN 1220 may be an evolved packet core (EPC) network, a NextGen Packet Core (NPC) network, or some other type of CN. In this embodiment the SI interface 1213 is split into two parts: the Sl-U interface 1214, which carries traffic data between the RAN nodes 1211 and 1212 and the serving gateway (S-GW) 1222, and the SI -mobility management entity (MME) interface 1215, which is a signaling interface between the RAN nodes 1211 and 1212 and MMEs 1221. [0084] In this embodiment, the CN 1220 comprises the MMEs 1221, the S-GW 1222, the Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway (P-GW) 1223, and a home subscriber server (HSS) 1224. The MMEs 1221 may be similar in function to the control plane of legacy Serving General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Support Nodes (SGSN). The MMEs 1221 may manage mobility aspects in access such as gateway selection and tracking area list management. The HSS 1224 may comprise a database for network users, including subscription-related information to support the network entities' handling of

communication sessions. The CN 1220 may comprise one or several HSSs 1224, depending on the number of mobile subscribers, on the capacity of the equipment, on the organization of the network, etc. For example, the HSS 1224 can provide support for routing/roaming, authentication, authorization, naming/addressing resolution, location dependencies, etc.

[0085] The S-GW 1222 may terminate the SI interface 1213 towards the RAN 1210, and routes data packets between the RAN 1210 and the CN 1220. In addition, the S-GW 1222 may be a local mobility anchor point for inter-RAN node handovers and also may provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful intercept, charging, and some policy enforcement.

[0086] The P-GW 1223 may terminate an SGi interface toward a PDN. The P-GW 1223 may route data packets between the EPC network 1223 and external networks such as a network including the application server 1230 (alternatively referred to as application function (AF)) via an Internet Protocol (IP) interface 1225. Generally, the application server 1230 may be an element offering applications that use IP bearer resources with the core network (e.g., UMTS Packet Services (PS) domain, LTE PS data services, etc.). In this embodiment, the P-GW 1223 is shown to be communicatively coupled to an application server 1230 via an IP communications interface 1225. The application server 1230 can also be configured to support one or more communication services (e.g., Voice- over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social networking services, etc.) for the UEs 1201 and 1202 via the CN 1220.

[0087] The P-GW 1223 may further be a node for policy enforcement and charging data collection. Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCRF) 1226 is the policy and charging control element of the CN 1220. In a non-roaming scenario, there may be a single PCRF in the Home Public Land Mobile Network (HPLMN) associated with a UE's Internet Protocol Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session. In a roaming scenario with local breakout of traffic, there may be two PCRFs associated with a UE's IP-CAN session: a Home PCRF (H-PCRF) within a HPLMN and a Visited PCRF (V-PCRF) within a Visited Public Land Mobile Network (VPLMN). The PCRF 1226 may be communicatively coupled to the application server 1230 via the P-GW 1223. The application server 1230 may signal the PCRF 1226 to indicate a new service flow and select the appropriate Quality of Service (QoS) and charging parameters. The PCRF 1226 may provision this rule into a Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) (not shown) with the appropriate traffic flow template (TFT) and QoS class of identifier (QCI), which commences the QoS and charging as specified by the application server 1230.

[0088] FIG. 13 illustrates example components of a device 1300 in accordance with some embodiments. In some embodiments, the device 1300 may include application circuitry 1302, baseband circuitry 1304, Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry 1306, front-end module (FEM) circuitry 1308, one or more antennas 1310, and power management circuitry (PMC) 1312 coupled together at least as shown. The components of the illustrated device 1300 may be included in a UE or a RAN node. In some embodiments, the device 1300 may include less elements (e.g., a RAN node may not utilize application circuitry 1302, and instead include a processor/controller to process IP data received from an EPC). In some embodiments, the device 1300 may include additional elements such as, for example, memory /storage, display, camera, sensor, or input/output (I/O) interface. In other embodiments, the components described below may be included in more than one device (e.g., said circuitries may be separately included in more than one device for Cloud-RAN (C-RAN) implementations).

[0089] The application circuitry 1302 may include one or more application processors. For example, the application circuitry 1302 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The processor(s) may include any combination of general-purpose processors and dedicated processors (e.g., graphics processors, application processors, etc.). The processors may be coupled with or may include memory /storage and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory /storage to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the device 1300. In some embodiments, processors of application circuitry 1302 may process IP data packets received from an EPC.

[0090] The baseband circuitry 1304 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The baseband circuitry 1304 may include one or more baseband processors or control logic to process baseband signals received from a receive signal path of the RF circuitry 1306 and to generate baseband signals for a transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 1306. Baseband processing circuity 1304 may interface with the application circuitry 1302 for generation and processing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the RF circuitry 1306. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 1304 may include a third generation (3G) baseband processor 1304a, a fourth generation (4G) baseband processor 1304b, a fifth generation (5G) baseband processor 1304c, or other baseband processor(s) 1304d for other existing generations, generations in development or to be developed in the future (e.g., second generation (2G), sixth generation (6G), etc.). The baseband circuitry 1304 (e.g., one or more of baseband processors 1304a-d) may handle various radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry 1306. In other embodiments, some or all of the functionality of baseband processors 1304a-d may be included in modules stored in the memory 1304g and executed via a Central Processing Unit (CPU) 1304e. The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments,

modulation/demodulation circuitry of the baseband circuitry 1304 may include Fast- Fourier Transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping/demapping functionality. In some embodiments, encoding/decoding circuitry of the baseband circuitry 1304 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, or Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) encoder/decoder functionality. Embodiments of modulation/demodulation and encoder/decoder functionality are not limited to these examples and may include other suitable functionality in other embodiments.

[0091] In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 1304 may include one or more audio digital signal processor(s) (DSP) 1304f. The audio DSP(s) 1304f may be include elements for compression/decompression and echo cancellation and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments. Components of the baseband circuitry may be suitably combined in a single chip, a single chipset, or disposed on a same circuit board in some embodiments. In some embodiments, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry 1304 and the application circuitry 1302 may be implemented together such as, for example, on a system on a chip (SOC).

[0092] In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 1304 may provide for

communication compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 1304 may support communication with an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (EUTRAN) or other wireless metropolitan area networks (WMAN), a wireless local area network (WLAN), a wireless personal area network (WPAN). Embodiments in which the baseband circuitry 1304 is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry.

[0093] RF circuitry 1306 may enable communication with wireless networks using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, the RF circuitry 1306 may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with the wireless network. RF circuitry 1306 may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 1308 and provide baseband signals to the baseband circuitry 1304. RF circuitry 1306 may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert baseband signals provided by the baseband circuitry 1304 and provide RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 1308 for transmission.

[0094] In some embodiments, the receive signal path of the RF circuitry 1306 may include mixer circuitry 1306a, amplifier circuitry 1306b and filter circuitry 1306c. In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 1306 may include filter circuitry 1306c and mixer circuitry 1306a. RF circuitry 1306 may also include synthesizer circuitry 1306d for synthesizing a frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 1306a of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1306a of the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 1308 based on the synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuitry 1306d. The amplifier circuitry 1306b may be configured to amplify the down-converted signals and the filter circuitry 1306c may be a low-pass filter (LPF) or band-pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signals to generate output baseband signals. Output baseband signals may be provided to the baseband circuitry 1304 for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signals may be zero-frequency baseband signals, although this is not a necessity. In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 1306a of the receive signal path may comprise passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0095] In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1306a of the transmit signal path may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuitry 1306d to generate RF output signals for the FEM circuitry 1308. The baseband signals may be provided by the baseband circuitry 1304 and may be filtered by filter circuitry 1306c.

[0096] In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1306a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 1306a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature downconversion and upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1306a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 1306a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image rej ection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1306a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 1306a may be arranged for direct downconversion and direct upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1306a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 1306a of the transmit signal path may be configured for super-heterodyne operation.

[0097] In some embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternate embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be digital baseband signals. In these alternate embodiments, the RF circuitry 1306 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry and the baseband circuitry 1304 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuitry 1306. [0098] In some dual-mode embodiments, a separate radio IC circuitry may be provided for processing signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0099] In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 1306d may be a fractional -N synthesizer or a fractional N/N+l synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuitry 1306d may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.

[00100] The synthesizer circuitry 1306d may be configured to synthesize an output frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 1306a of the RF circuitry 1306 based on a frequency input and a divider control input. In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 1306d may be a fractional N/N+l synthesizer.

[00101] In some embodiments, frequency input may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a necessity. Divider control input may be provided by either the baseband circuitry 1304 or the applications processor 1302 depending on the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, a divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a look-up table based on a channel indicated by the applications processor 1302.

[00102] Synthesizer circuitry 1306d of the RF circuitry 1306 may include a divider, a delay-locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the divider may be a dual modulus divider (DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured to divide the input signal by either N or N+l (e.g., based on a carry out) to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, the DLL may include a set of cascaded, tunable, delay elements, a phase detector, a charge pump and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments, the delay elements may be configured to break a VCO period up into Nd equal packets of phase, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.

[00103] In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry 1306d may be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in other embodiments, the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and used in conjunction with quadrature generator and divider circuitry to generate multiple signals at the carrier frequency with multiple different phases with respect to each other. In some embodiments, the output frequency may be a LO frequency (fLO). In some embodiments, the RF circuitry 1306 may include an IQ/polar converter.

[00104] FEM circuitry 1308 may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from one or more antennas 1310, amplify the received signals and provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the RF circuitry 1306 for further processing. FEM circuitry 1308 may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplify signals for transmission provided by the RF circuitry 1306 for transmission by one or more of the one or more antennas 1310. In various embodiments, the amplification through the transmit or receive signal paths may be done solely in the RF circuitry 1306, solely in the FEM 1308, or in both the RF circuitry 1306 and the FEM 1308.

[00105] In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 1308 may include a TX/RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuitry may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry may include an LNA to amplify received RF signals and provide the amplified received RF signals as an output (e.g., to the RF circuitry 1306). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry 1308 may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify input RF signals (e.g., provided by RF circuitry 1306), and one or more filters to generate RF signals for subsequent transmission (e.g., by one or more of the one or more antennas 1310).

[00106] In some embodiments, the PMC 1312 may manage power provided to the baseband circuitry 1304. In particular, the PMC 1312 may control power-source selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-to-DC conversion. The PMC 1312 may often be included when the device 1300 is capable of being powered by a battery, for example, when the device is included in a UE. The PMC 1312 may increase the power conversion efficiency while providing desirable implementation size and heat dissipation characteristics.

[00107] While FIG. 13 shows the PMC 1312 coupled only with the baseband circuitry 1304. However, in other embodiments, the PMC 13 12 may be additionally or alternatively coupled with, and perform similar power management operations for, other components such as, but not limited to, application circuitry 1302, RF circuitry 1306, or FEM 1308.

[00108] In some embodiments, the PMC 1312 may control, or otherwise be part of, various power saving mechanisms of the device 1300. For example, if the device 1300 is in an RRC_Connected state, where it is still connected to the RAN node as it expects to receive traffic shortly, then it may enter a state known as Discontinuous Reception Mode (DRX) after a period of inactivity. During this state, the device 1300 may power down for brief intervals of time and thus save power.

[00109] If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, then the device 1300 may transition off to an RRC Idle state, where it disconnects from the network and does not perform operations such as channel quality feedback, handover, etc. The device 1300 goes into a very low power state and it performs paging where again it periodically wakes up to listen to the network and then powers down again. The device 1300 may not receive data in this state, in order to receive data, it can transition back to

RRC Connected state.

[00110] An additional power saving mode may allow a device to be unavailable to the network for periods longer than a paging interval (ranging from seconds to a few hours). During this time, the device is totally unreachable to the network and may power down completely. Any data sent during this time incurs a large delay and it is assumed the delay is acceptable.

[00111] Processors of the application circuitry 1302 and processors of the baseband circuitry 1304 may be used to execute elements of one or more instances of a protocol stack. For example, processors of the baseband circuitry 1304, alone or in combination, may be used execute Layer 3, Layer 2, or Layer 1 functionality, while processors of the application circuitry 1304 may utilize data (e.g., packet data) received from these layers and further execute Layer 4 functionality (e.g., transmission communication protocol (TCP) and user datagram protocol (UDP) layers). As referred to herein, Layer 3 may comprise a radio resource control (RRC) layer, described in further detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 2 may comprise a medium access control (MAC) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, described in further detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 1 may comprise a physical (PHY) layer of a UE/RAN node, described in further detail below.

[00112] FIG. 14 illustrates example interfaces of baseband circuitry in accordance with some embodiments. As discussed above, the baseband circuitry 1304 of FIG. 13 may comprise processors 1304a-1304e and a memory 1304g utilized by said processors. Each of the processors 1304a-1304e may include a memory interface, 1404a-1404e, respectively, to send/receive data to/from the memory 1304g.

[00113] The baseband circuitry 1304 may further include one or more interfaces to communicatively couple to other circuitries/devices, such as a memory interface 1412 (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from memory external to the baseband circuitry 1304), an application circuitry interface 1414 (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from the application circuitry 1302 of FIG. 13), an RF circuitry interface 1416 (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from RF circuitry 1306 of FIG. 13), a wireless hardware connectivity interface 1418 (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from Near Field Communication (NFC) components, Bluetooth® components (e.g., Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi® components, and other communication components), and a power management interface 1420 (e.g., an interface to send/receive power or control signals to/from the PMC 1312.

[00114] FIG. 15 provides an example illustration of the wireless device, such as a user equipment (UE), a mobile station (MS), a mobile wireless device, a mobile

communication device, a tablet, a handset, or other type of wireless device. The wireless device can include one or more antennas configured to communicate with a node, macro node, low power node (LPN), or, transmission station, such as a base station (BS), an evolved Node B (eNB), a baseband processing unit (BBU), a remote radio head (RRH), a remote radio equipment (RRE), a relay station (RS), a radio equipment (RE), or other type of wireless wide area network (WWAN) access point. The wireless device can be configured to communicate using at least one wireless communication standard such as, but not limited to, 3 GPP LTE, WiMAX, High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Bluetooth, and WiFi. The wireless device can communicate using separate antennas for each wireless communication standard or shared antennas for multiple wireless communication standards. The wireless device can communicate in a wireless local area network

(WLAN), a wireless personal area network (WPAN), and/or a WWAN. The wireless device can also comprise a wireless modem. The wireless modem can comprise, for example, a wireless radio transceiver and baseband circuitry (e.g., a baseband processor). The wireless modem can, in one example, modulate signals that the wireless device transmits via the one or more antennas and demodulate signals that the wireless device receives via the one or more antennas.

[00115] FIG. 15 also provides an illustration of a microphone and one or more speakers that can be used for audio input and output from the wireless device. The display screen can be a liquid crystal display (LCD) screen, or other type of display screen such as an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display. The display screen can be configured as a touch screen. The touch screen can use capacitive, resistive, or another type of touch screen technology. An application processor and a graphics processor can be coupled to internal memory to provide processing and display capabilities. A non-volatile memory port can also be used to provide data input/output options to a user. The non-volatile memory port can also be used to expand the memory capabilities of the wireless device. A keyboard can be integrated with the wireless device or wirelessly connected to the wireless device to provide additional user input. A virtual keyboard can also be provided using the touch screen.

Examples

[00116] The following examples pertain to specific technology embodiments and point out specific features, elements, or actions that can be used or otherwise combined in achieving such embodiments.

[00117] Example 1 includes an apparatus of a user equipment (UE) configured to communicate with scalable subcarrier spacing, the apparatus comprising: one or more processors configured to: encode data in a plurality of physical resource blocks (PRBs), for transmission to a new radio node B (gNB), in a plurality of subcarriers having different subcarrier spacing, wherein a subcarrier spacing for the plurality of PRBs is defined as 2ⁿ * 15 kilohertz (kHz), where n is an integer, and each PRB in the plurality of PRBs comprises a fixed number of subcarriers per PRB irrespective of subcarrier spacing, wherein the plurality of PRBs for each subcarrier spacing comprises a subset or a superset of the plurality of PRBs for the subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz in the frequency domain, and a maximum number of PRBs are used to fill a bandwidth of a carrier frequency that is transmitted to the gNB, and a memory interface configured to receive from a memory the data.

[00118] Example 2 includes the apparatus of example 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein the plurality of PRBs is aligned to a lower frequency edge of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency and a maximum number of PRBs are included in the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth.

[00119] Example 3 includes the apparatus of example 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein the plurality of PRBs are aligned to a lower frequency edge of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency and a selected number of PRBs are included to fill the bandwidth and selected elements of a portion of a PRB that extend beyond a higher frequency edge of the bandwidth are punctured or rate-matched.

[00120] Example 4 includes the apparatus of example 3, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein the plurality of PRBs are aligned to a lower frequency edge of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency and a maximum number of PRBs of a first subcarrier spacing are included in the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a selected number of PRBs of one or more smaller subcarrier spacings relative to the first subcarrier spacing are included to fill a remaining bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth when there is the remaining bandwidth.

[00121] Example 5 includes the apparatus of any of examples 2-4, wherein the plurality of PRBs comprise one of an odd number of PRBs or an even number of PRBs.

[00122] Example 6 includes the apparatus of example 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein the PRBs of the plurality of PRBs are aligned to a center frequency of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency around a direct current (DC) subcarrier.

[00123] Example 7 includes the apparatus of example 6, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein a maximum number of PRBs are included in the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth.

[00124] Example 8 includes the apparatus of example 6, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein a first selected number of PRBs are included to fill the bandwidth at a lower frequency edge and a first selected portion of a PRB that extends beyond a lower frequency edge of the bandwidth is punctured or rate-matched, and wherein a second selected number of PRBs are included to fill the bandwidth at a higher frequency edge and a second selected portion of a PRB that extends beyond a higher frequency edge of the bandwidth is punctured or rate-matched.

[00125] Example 9 includes the apparatus of example 6, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein a first maximum number of PRBs of a first subcarrier spacing are included in a lower frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a first selected number of PRBs of one or more smaller subcarrier spacings relative to the first subcarrier spacing are included to fill a remaining lower frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a second maximum number of PRBs of the first subcarrier spacing are included in a higher frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a second selected number of PRBs of one or more smaller subcarrier spacings relative to the first subcarrier spacing are included to fill a remaining higher frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth.

[00126] Example 10 includes the apparatus of examples 7-9, wherein the plurality of PRBs comprise one of an odd number of PRBs or an even number of PRBs.

[00127] Example 11 includes the apparatus of example 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein a bandwidth of the plurality of PRBs is aligned to be symmetric to a center frequency of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency around a direct current (DC) subcarrier.

[00128] Example 12 includes the apparatus of example 11, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein a maximum number of PRBs are included in the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth.

[00129] Example 13 includes the apparatus of example 11 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein a first selected number of PRBs are included to fill the bandwidth at a lower frequency edge and a first selected portion of a PRB that extends beyond a lower frequency edge of the bandwidth is punctured or rate-matched, and wherein a second selected number of PRBs are included to fill the bandwidth at a higher frequency edge and a second selected portion of a PRB that extends beyond a higher frequency edge of the bandwidth is punctured or rate-matched.

[00130] Example 14 includes the apparatus of example 11, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein a first maximum number of PRBs of a first subcarrier spacing are included in a lower frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a first selected number of PRBs of one or more smaller subcarrier spacings relative to the first subcarrier spacing are included to fill a remaining lower frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a second maximum number of PRBs of the first subcarrier spacing are included in a higher frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a second selected number of PRBs of one or more smaller subcarrier spacings relative to the first subcarrier spacing are included to fill a remaining higher frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth. [00131] Example 15 includes the apparatus of examples 12-14, wherein a center subcarrier of a center PRB is offset about the center frequency of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency by 7.5 kHz.

[00132] Example 16 includes an apparatus of a new radio node B (gNB) configured to communicate with scalable subcarrier spacing, the apparatus comprising: one or more processors configured to: encode data in a plurality of physical resource blocks (PRBs), for transmission to a user equipment (UE), in a plurality of subcarriers having different subcarrier spacing, wherein a subcarrier spacing for the plurality of PRBs is defined as 2ⁿ * 15 kilohertz (kHz), where n is an integer, and each PRB in the plurality of PRBs comprises a fixed number of subcarriers per PRB irrespective of subcarrier spacing, wherein the plurality of PRBs for each subcarrier spacing comprises a subset or a superset of the plurality of PRBs for the subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz in the frequency domain, and a maximum number of PRBs are used to fill a bandwidth of a carrier frequency that is transmitted to the UE, and a memory interface configured to receive from a memory the data.

[00133] Example 17 includes the apparatus of examples 16, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein the plurality of PRBs are aligned to a lower frequency edge of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency and a maximum number of PRBs are included in the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth.

[00134] Example 18 includes the apparatus of example 16, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein the plurality of PRBs are aligned to a lower frequency edge of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency and a selected number of PRBs are included to fill the bandwidth and selected elements of a portion of a PRB that extend beyond a higher frequency edge of the bandwidth are punctured or rate-matched.

[00135] Example 19 includes the apparatus of example 16, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein the plurality of PRBs are aligned to a lower frequency edge of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency and a maximum number of PRBs of a first subcarrier spacing are included in the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a selected number of PRBs of one or more smaller subcarrier spacings relative to the first subcarrier spacing are included to fill a remaining bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth when there is the remaining bandwidth.

[00136] Example 20 includes the apparatus of example 16, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein the PRBs of the plurality of PRBs are aligned to a center frequency of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency around a direct current (DC) subcarrier.

[00137] Example 21 includes the apparatus of example 16, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein a bandwidth of the plurality of PRBs is aligned to be symmetric to a center frequency of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency around a direct current (DC) subcarrier.

[00138] Example 22 includes the apparatus of examples 20-21, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein a maximum number of PRBs are included in the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth. [00139] Example 23 includes the apparatus of examples 20-21, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein a first selected number of PRBs are included to fill the bandwidth at a lower frequency edge and a first selected portion of a PRB that extends beyond a lower frequency edge of the bandwidth is punctured or rate-matched, and wherein a second selected number of PRBs are included to fill the bandwidth at a higher frequency edge and a second selected portion of a PRB that extends beyond a higher frequency edge of the bandwidth is punctured or rate-matched.

[00140] Example 24 includes the apparatus of examples 20-21, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein a first maximum number of PRBs of a first subcarrier spacing are included in a lower frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a first selected number of PRBs of one or more smaller subcarrier spacings relative to the first subcarrier spacing are included to fill a remaining lower frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a second maximum number of PRBs of the first subcarrier spacing are included in a higher frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a second selected number of PRBs of one or more smaller subcarrier spacings relative to the first subcarrier spacing are included to fill a remaining higher frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth.

[00141] Example 25 includes the apparatus of examples 22-24, wherein a center subcarrier of a center PRB is offset about the center frequency of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency by 7.5 kHz.

[00142] Example 26 includes at least one machine readable storage medium having instructions embodied thereon for performing communication with scalable subcarrier spacing, the instructions when executed by one or more processors at a user equipment (UE) perform the following: encode data in a plurality of physical resource blocks

(PRBs), for transmission to a new radio node B (gNB), in a plurality of subcarriers having different subcarrier spacing, wherein a subcarrier spacing for the plurality of PRBs is defined as 2ⁿ * 15 kilohertz (kHz), where n is an integer, and each PRB of the plurality of PRBs comprises a fixed number of subcarriers per PRB irrespective of subcarrier spacing, wherein the plurality of PRBs for each subcarrier spacing comprises a subset or a superset of the plurality of PRBs for the subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz in the frequency domain, and a maximum number of PRBs are used to fill a bandwidth of a carrier frequency that is transmitted to the NR gNB.

[00143] Example 27 includes the at least one machine readable storage medium of example 26, wherein the plurality of PRBs are aligned to a lower frequency edge of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency and a maximum number of PRBs are included in the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth.

[00144] Example 28 includes the at least one machine readable storage medium of example 26, wherein the plurality of PRBs are aligned to a lower frequency edge of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency and a selected number of PRBs are included to fill the bandwidth and selected elements of a portion of a PRB that extend beyond a higher frequency edge of the bandwidth are punctured or rate-matched.

[00145] Example 29 includes the at least one machine readable storage medium of example 26, wherein the plurality of PRBs are aligned to a lower frequency edge of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency and a maximum number of PRBs of a first subcarrier spacing are included in the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a selected number of PRBs of one or more smaller subcarrier spacings relative to the first subcarrier spacing are included to fill a remaining bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth when there is the remaining bandwidth.

[00146] Example 30 includes the at least one machine readable storage medium of example 26, wherein the PRBs of the plurality of PRBs are aligned to a center frequency of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency around a direct current (DC) subcarrier.

[00147] Example 31 includes an apparatus of a user equipment (UE) configured to communicate with scalable subcarrier spacing, the apparatus comprising: one or more processors configured to: encode data in a plurality of physical resource blocks (PRBs), wherein the plurality of PRBs comprise one of an odd number of PRBs or an even number of PRBs, for transmission to a new radio node B (gNB), in a plurality of subcarriers having different subcarrier spacing, wherein a subcarrier spacing for the plurality of PRBs is defined as 2ⁿ * 15 kilohertz (kHz), where n is an integer, and each PRB in the plurality of PRBs comprises a fixed number of subcarriers per PRB irrespective of subcarrier spacing, wherein the plurality of PRBs for each subcarrier spacing comprises a subset or a superset of the plurality of PRBs for the subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz in the frequency domain, and a maximum number of PRBs are used to fill a bandwidth of a carrier frequency that is transmitted to the gNB, and a memory interface configured to receive from a memory the data.

[00148] Example 32 includes the apparatus of example 31 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein the plurality of PRBs is aligned to a lower frequency edge of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency and: a maximum number of PRBs are included in the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth; a selected number of PRBs are included to fill the bandwidth and selected elements of a portion of a PRB that extend beyond a higher frequency edge of the bandwidth are punctured or rate-matched; or a maximum number of PRBs of a first subcarrier spacing are included in the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a selected number of PRBs of one or more smaller subcarrier spacings relative to the first subcarrier spacing are included to fill a remaining bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth when there is the remaining bandwidth.

[00149] Example 33 includes the apparatus of example 31 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein a first selected number of PRBs are included to fill the bandwidth at a lower frequency edge and a first selected portion of a PRB that extends beyond a lower frequency edge of the bandwidth is punctured or rate-matched, and wherein a second selected number of PRBs are included to fill the bandwidth at a higher frequency edge and a second selected portion of a PRB that extends beyond a higher frequency edge of the bandwidth is punctured or rate-matched.

[00150] Example 34 includes the apparatus of example 31 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein a first maximum number of PRBs of a first subcarrier spacing are included in a lower frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a first selected number of PRBs of one or more smaller subcarrier spacings relative to the first subcarrier spacing are included to fill a remaining lower frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a second maximum number of PRBs of the first subcarrier spacing are included in a higher frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a second selected number of PRBs of one or more smaller subcarrier spacings relative to the first subcarrier spacing are included to fill a remaining higher frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth. [00151] Example 35 includes the apparatus of examples 31 -34, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein the PRBs of the plurality of PRBs are aligned to a center frequency of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency around a direct current (DC) subcarrier, or wherein a bandwidth of the plurality of PRBs is aligned to be symmetric to a center frequency of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency around a direct current (DC) subcarrier, or wherein a center subcarrier of a center PRB is offset about the center frequency of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency by 7.5 kHz.

[00152] Example 36 includes an apparatus of a new radio node B (gNB) configured to communicate with scalable subcarrier spacing, the apparatus comprising: one or more processors configured to: encode data in a plurality of physical resource blocks (PRBs), wherein the plurality of PRBs comprise one of an odd number of PRBs or an even number of PRBs, for transmission to a user equipment (UE), in a plurality of subcarriers having different subcarrier spacing, wherein a subcarrier spacing for the plurality of PRBs is defined as 2ⁿ * 15 kilohertz (kHz), where n is an integer, and each PRB in the plurality of PRBs comprises a fixed number of subcarriers per PRB irrespective of subcarrier spacing, wherein the plurality of PRBs for each subcarrier spacing comprises a subset or a superset of the plurality of PRBs for the subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz in the frequency domain, and a maximum number of PRBs are used to fill a bandwidth of a carrier frequency that is transmitted to the UE, and a memory interface configured to receive from a memory the data.

[00153] Example 37 includes the apparatus of example 36, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein the plurality of PRBs are aligned to a lower frequency edge of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency and: a maximum number of PRBs are included in the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth; a selected number of PRBs are included to fill the bandwidth and selected elements of a portion of a PRB that extend beyond a higher frequency edge of the bandwidth are punctured or rate-matched; or a maximum number of PRBs of a first subcarrier spacing are included in the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a selected number of PRBs of one or more smaller subcarrier spacings relative to the first subcarrier spacing are included to fill a remaining bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth when there is the remaining bandwidth.

[00154] Example 38 includes the apparatus of example 36, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein a first selected number of PRBs are included to fill the bandwidth at a lower frequency edge and a first selected portion of a PRB that extends beyond a lower frequency edge of the bandwidth is punctured or rate-matched, and wherein a second selected number of PRBs are included to fill the bandwidth at a higher frequency edge and a second selected portion of a PRB that extends beyond a higher frequency edge of the bandwidth is punctured or rate-matched.

[00155] Example 39 includes the apparatus of example 36, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein a first maximum number of PRBs of a first subcarrier spacing are included in a lower frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a first selected number of PRBs of one or more smaller subcarrier spacings relative to the first subcarrier spacing are included to fill a remaining lower frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a second maximum number of PRBs of the first subcarrier spacing are included in a higher frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a second selected number of PRBs of one or more smaller subcarrier spacings relative to the first subcarrier spacing are included to fill a remaining higher frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth.

[00156] Example 40 includes the apparatus of examples 36-39, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein the PRBs of the plurality of PRBs are aligned to a center frequency of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency around a direct current (DC) subcarrier, or wherein a bandwidth of the plurality of PRBs is aligned to be symmetric to a center frequency of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency around a direct current (DC) subcarrier, or wherein a center subcarrier of a center PRB is offset about the center frequency of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency by 7.5 kHz.

[00157] Example 41 includes an at least one machine readable storage medium having instructions embodied thereon for performing communication with scalable subcarrier spacing, the instructions when executed by one or more processors at a user equipment (UE) perform the following: encode data in a plurality of physical resource blocks

[00158] Example 42 includes the at least one machine readable storage medium of example 41 , wherein the plurality of PRBs are aligned to a lower frequency edge of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency and: a maximum number of PRBs are included in the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth; selected elements of a portion of a PRB that extend beyond a higher frequency edge of the bandwidth are punctured or rate-matched; or a maximum number of PRBs of a first subcarrier spacing are included in the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a selected number of PRBs of one or more smaller subcarrier spacings relative to the first subcarrier spacing are included to fill a remaining bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth when there is the remaining bandwidth.

[00159] Example 43 includes the at least one machine readable storage medium of example 41 , wherein a first selected number of PRBs are included to fill the bandwidth at a lower frequency edge and a first selected portion of a PRB that extends beyond a lower frequency edge of the bandwidth is punctured or rate-matched, and wherein a second selected number of PRBs are included to fill the bandwidth at a higher frequency edge and a second selected portion of a PRB that extends beyond a higher frequency edge of the bandwidth is punctured or rate-matched.

[00160] Example 44 includes the at least one machine readable storage medium of example 41 , wherein a first maximum number of PRBs of a first subcarrier spacing are included in a lower frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a first selected number of PRBs of one or more smaller subcarrier spacings relative to the first subcarrier spacing are included to fill a remaining lower frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a second maximum number of PRBs of the first subcarrier spacing are included in a higher frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a second selected number of PRBs of one or more smaller subcarrier spacings relative to the first subcarrier spacing are included to fill a remaining higher frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth.

[00161] Example 45 includes the at least one machine readable storage medium of examples 41 -44, wherein the PRBs of the plurality of PRBs are aligned to a center frequency of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency around a direct current (DC) subcarrier, or wherein a bandwidth of the plurality of PRBs is aligned to be symmetric to a center frequency of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency around a direct current (DC) subcarrier, or wherein a center subcarrier of a center PRB is offset about the center frequency of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency by 7.5 kHz.

[00162] Example 46 includes a user equipment (UE) configured to communicate with scalable subcarrier spacing, the UE comprising: means for encoding data in a plurality of physical resource blocks (PRBs), for transmission to a new radio node B (gNB), in a plurality of subcarriers having different subcarrier spacing, wherein a subcarrier spacing for the plurality of PRBs is defined as 2ⁿ * 15 kilohertz (kHz), where n is an integer, and each PRB of the plurality of PRBs comprises a fixed number of subcarriers per PRB irrespective of subcarrier spacing, wherein the plurality of PRBs for each subcarrier spacing comprises a subset or a superset of the plurality of PRBs for the subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz in the frequency domain, and a maximum number of PRBs are used to fill a bandwidth of a carrier frequency that is transmitted to the NR gNB.

[00163] Example 47 includes the UE of example 46, wherein the plurality of PRBs are aligned to a lower frequency edge of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency and a maximum number of PRBs are included in the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth.

[00164] Example 48, includes the UE of example 46, wherein the plurality of PRBs are aligned to a lower frequency edge of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency and a selected number of PRBs are included to fill the bandwidth and selected elements of a portion of a PRB that extend beyond a higher frequency edge of the bandwidth are punctured or rate-matched.

[00165] Example 49 includes the UE of example 46, wherein the plurality of PRBs are aligned to a lower frequency edge of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency and a maximum number of PRBs of a first subcarrier spacing are included in the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a selected number of PRBs of one or more smaller subcarrier spacings relative to the first subcarrier spacing are included to fill a remaining bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth when there is the remaining bandwidth.

[00166] Example 50 includes the UE of example 46, wherein the PRBs of the plurality of PRBs are aligned to a center frequency of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency around a direct current (DC) subcarrier.

[00167] Various techniques, or certain aspects or portions thereof, may take the form of program code (i.e., instructions) embodied in tangible media, such as floppy diskettes, compact disc-read-only memory (CD-ROMs), hard drives, non-transitory computer readable storage medium, or any other machine-readable storage medium wherein, when the program code is loaded into and executed by a machine, such as a computer, the machine becomes an apparatus for practicing the various techniques. In the case of program code execution on programmable computers, the computing device may include a processor, a storage medium readable by the processor (including volatile and non- volatile memory and/or storage elements), at least one input device, and at least one output device. The volatile and non-volatile memory and/or storage elements may be a random-access memory (RAM), erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM), flash drive, optical drive, magnetic hard drive, solid state drive, or other medium for storing electronic data. The node and wireless device may also include a transceiver module (i.e., transceiver), a counter module (i.e., counter), a processing module (i.e., processor), and/or a clock module (i.e., clock) or timer module (i.e., timer). In one example, selected components of the transceiver module can be located in a cloud radio access network (C-RAN). One or more programs that may implement or utilize the various techniques described herein may use an application programming interface (API), reusable controls, and the like. Such programs may be implemented in a high level procedural or object oriented programming language to communicate with a computer system. However, the program(s) may be implemented in assembly or machine language, if desired. In any case, the language may be a compiled or interpreted language, and combined with hardware implementations.

[00168] As used herein, the term "circuitry" may refer to, be part of, or include an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group), and/or memory (shared, dedicated, or group) that execute one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable hardware components that provide the described functionality. In some embodiments, the circuitry may be implemented in, or functions associated with the circuitry may be implemented by, one or more software or firmware modules. In some embodiments, circuitry may include logic, at least partially operable in hardware.

[00169] It should be understood that many of the functional units described in this specification have been labeled as modules, in order to more particularly emphasize their implementation independence. For example, a module may be implemented as a hardware circuit comprising custom very-large-scale integration (VLSI) circuits or gate arrays, off-the-shelf semiconductors such as logic chips, transistors, or other discrete components. A module may also be implemented in programmable hardware devices such as field programmable gate arrays, programmable array logic, programmable logic devices or the like. [00170] Modules may also be implemented in software for execution by various types of processors. An identified module of executable code may, for instance, comprise one or more physical or logical blocks of computer instructions, which may, for instance, be organized as an object, procedure, or function. Nevertheless, the executables of an identified module may not be physically located together, but may comprise disparate instructions stored in different locations which, when joined logically together, comprise the module and achieve the stated purpose for the module.

[00171] Indeed, a module of executable code may be a single instruction, or many instructions, and may even be distributed over several different code segments, among different programs, and across several memory devices. Similarly, operational data may be identified and illustrated herein within modules, and may be embodied in any suitable form and organized within any suitable type of data structure. The operational data may be collected as a single data set, or may be distributed over different locations including over different storage devices, and may exist, at least partially, merely as electronic signals on a system or network. The modules may be passive or active, including agents operable to perform desired functions.

[00172] Reference throughout this specification to "an example" or "exemplary" means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the example is included in at least one embodiment of the present technology. Thus, appearances of the phrases "in an example" or the word "exemplary" in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.

[00173] As used herein, a plurality of items, structural elements, compositional elements, and/or materials may be presented in a common list for convenience. However, these lists should be construed as though each member of the list is individually identified as a separate and unique member. Thus, no individual member of such list should be construed as a de facto equivalent of any other member of the same list solely based on their presentation in a common group without indications to the contrary. In addition, various embodiments and example of the present technology may be referred to herein along with alternatives for the various components thereof. It is understood that such embodiments, examples, and altematives are not to be construed as defacto equivalents of one another, but are to be considered as separate and autonomous representations of the present technology.

[00174] Furthermore, the described features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. In the following description, numerous specific details are provided, such as examples of layouts, distances, network examples, etc., to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the technology. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize, however, that the technology can be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or with other methods, components, layouts, etc. In other instances, well-known structures, materials, or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of the technology.

[00175] While the forgoing examples are illustrative of the principles of the present technology in one or more particular applications, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that numerous modifications in form, usage and details of implementation can be made without the exercise of inventive faculty, and without departing from the principles and concepts of the technology. Accordingly, it is not intended that the technology be limited, except as by the claims set forth below.

Claims

CLAIMS What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus of a user equipment (UE) configured to communicate with scalable subcarrier spacing, the apparatus comprising:

one or more processors configured to:

encode data in a plurality of physical resource blocks (PRBs), for transmission to a new radio node B (gNB), in a plurality of subcarriers having different subcarrier spacing, wherein a subcarrier spacing for the plurality of PRBs is defined as 2ⁿ * 15 kilohertz (kHz), where n is an integer, and each PRB in the plurality of PRBs comprises a fixed number of subcarriers per PRB irrespective of subcarrier spacing, wherein the plurality of PRBs for each subcarrier spacing comprises a subset or a superset of the plurality of PRBs for the subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz in the frequency domain, and a maximum number of PRBs are used to fill a bandwidth of a carrier frequency that is transmitted to the gNB, and

a memory interface configured to receive from a memory the data.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further

configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein the plurality of PRBs is aligned to a lower frequency edge of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency and a maximum number of PRBs are included in the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further

configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein the plurality of PRBs are aligned to a lower frequency edge of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency and a selected number of PRBs are included to fill the bandwidth and selected elements of a portion of a PRB that extend beyond a higher frequency edge of the bandwidth are punctured or rate-matched. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein the plurality of PRBs are aligned to a lower frequency edge of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency and a maximum number of PRBs of a first subcarrier spacing are included in the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a selected number of PRBs of one or more smaller subcarrier spacings relative to the first subcarrier spacing are included to fill a remaining bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth when there is the remaining bandwidth.

The apparatus of claim 2, 3, or 4, wherein the plurality of PRBs comprise one of an odd number of PRBs or an even number of PRBs.

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein the PRBs of the plurality of PRBs are aligned to a center frequency of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency around a direct current (DC) subcarrier.

The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein a maximum number of PRBs are included in the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth.

The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein a first selected number of PRBs are included to fill the bandwidth at a lower frequency edge and a first selected portion of a PRB that extends beyond a lower frequency edge of the bandwidth is punctured or rate-matched, and wherein a second selected number of PRBs are included to fill the bandwidth at a higher frequency edge and a second selected portion of a PRB that extends beyond a higher frequency edge of the bandwidth is punctured or rate-matched.

9. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein a first maximum number of PRBs of a first subcarrier spacing are included in a lower frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a first selected number of PRBs of one or more smaller subcarrier spacings relative to the first subcarrier spacing are included to fill a remaining lower frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a second maximum number of PRBs of the first subcarrier spacing are included in a higher frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a second selected number of PRBs of one or more smaller subcarrier spacings relative to the first subcarrier spacing are included to fill a remaining higher frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth.

10. The apparatus of claim 7, 8, or 9, wherein the plurality of PRBs comprise one of an odd number of PRBs or an even number of PRBs.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further

configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein a bandwidth of the plurality of PRBs is aligned to be symmetric to a center frequency of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency around a direct current (DC) subcarrier.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the one or more processors are further

configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein a maximum number of PRBs are included in the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the one or more processors are further

configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein a first selected number of PRBs are included to fill the bandwidth at a lower frequency edge and a first selected portion of a PRB that extends beyond a lower frequency edge of the bandwidth is punctured or rate-matched, and wherein a second selected number of PRBs are included to fill the bandwidth at a higher frequency edge and a second selected portion of a PRB that extends beyond a higher frequency edge of the bandwidth is punctured or rate-matched.

14. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the one or more processors are further

configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein a first maximum number of PRBs of a first subcarrier spacing are included in a lower frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a first selected number of PRBs of one or more smaller subcarrier spacings relative to the first subcarrier spacing are included to fill a remaining lower frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a second maximum number of PRBs of the first subcarrier spacing are included in a higher frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a second selected number of PRBs of one or more smaller subcarrier spacings relative to the first subcarrier spacing are included to fill a remaining higher frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, 13, or 14, wherein a center subcarrier of a center PRB is offset about the center frequency of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency by 7.5 kHz.

16. An apparatus of a new radio node B (gNB) configured to communicate with

scalable subcarrier spacing, the apparatus comprising:

one or more processors configured to:

encode data in a plurality of physical resource blocks (PRBs), for transmission to a user equipment (UE), in a plurality of subcarriers having different subcarrier spacing, wherein a subcarrier spacing for the plurality of PRBs is defined as 2ⁿ * 15 kilohertz (kHz), where n is an integer, and each PRB in the plurality of PRBs comprises a fixed number of subcarriers per PRB irrespective of subcarrier spacing,

wherein the plurality of PRBs for each subcarrier spacing comprises a subset or a superset of the plurality of PRBs for the subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz in the frequency domain, and a maximum number of PRBs are used to fill a bandwidth of a carrier frequency that is transmitted to the UE, and

a memory interface configured to receive from a memory the data.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the one or more processors are further

configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein the plurality of PRBs are aligned to a lower frequency edge of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency and a maximum number of PRBs are included in the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the one or more processors are further

configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein the plurality of PRBs are aligned to a lower frequency edge of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency and a selected number of PRBs are included to fill the bandwidth and selected elements of a portion of a PRB that extend beyond a higher frequency edge of the bandwidth are punctured or rate-matched.

19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the one or more processors are further

configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein the plurality of PRBs are aligned to a lower frequency edge of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency and a maximum number of PRBs of a first subcarrier spacing are included in the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a selected number of PRBs of one or more smaller subcarrier spacings relative to the first subcarrier spacing are included to fill a remaining bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth when there is the remaining bandwidth.

20. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the one or more processors are further

configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein the PRBs of the plurality of PRBs are aligned to a center frequency of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency around a direct current (DC) subcarrier.

21. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein a bandwidth of the plurality of PRBs is aligned to be symmetric to a center frequency of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency around a direct current (DC) subcarrier.

22. The apparatus of claim 20 or 21, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein a maximum number of PRBs are included in the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth.

23. The apparatus of claim 20 or 21, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein a first selected number of PRBs are included to fill the bandwidth at a lower frequency edge and a first selected portion of a PRB that extends beyond a lower frequency edge of the bandwidth is punctured or rate-matched, and wherein a second selected number of PRBs are included to fill the bandwidth at a higher frequency edge and a second selected portion of a PRB that extends beyond a higher frequency edge of the bandwidth is punctured or rate-matched.

24. The apparatus of claim 20 or 21, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to encode the data in the plurality of PRBs, wherein a first maximum number of PRBs of a first subcarrier spacing are included in a lower frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a first selected number of PRBs of one or more smaller subcarrier spacings relative to the first subcarrier spacing are included to fill a remaining lower frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a second maximum number of PRBs of the first subcarrier spacing are included in a higher frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a second selected number of PRBs of one or more smaller subcarrier spacings relative to the first subcarrier spacing are included to fill a remaining higher frequency edge bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth.

25. The apparatus of claim 22, 23, or 24, wherein a center subcarrier of a center PRB is offset about the center frequency of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency by 7.5 kHz.

26. At least one machine readable storage medium having instructions embodied thereon for performing communication with scalable subcarrier spacing, the instructions when executed by one or more processors at a user equipment (UE) perform the following:

encode data in a plurality of physical resource blocks (PRBs), for transmission to a new radio node B (gNB), in a plurality of subcarriers having different subcarrier spacing, wherein a subcarrier spacing for the plurality of PRBs is defined as 2ⁿ * 15 kilohertz (kHz), where n is an integer, and each PRB of the plurality of PRBs comprises a fixed number of subcarriers per PRB irrespective of subcarrier spacing,

wherein the plurality of PRBs for each subcarrier spacing comprises a subset or a superset of the plurality of PRBs for the subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz in the frequency domain, and a maximum number of PRBs are used to fill a bandwidth of a carrier frequency that is transmitted to the NR gNB.

27. The at least one machine readable storage medium of claim 26, wherein the

plurality of PRBs are aligned to a lower frequency edge of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency and a maximum number of PRBs are included in the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth.

28. The at least one machine readable storage medium of claim 26, wherein the

plurality of PRBs are aligned to a lower frequency edge of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency and a selected number of PRBs are included to fill the bandwidth and selected elements of a portion of a PRB that extend beyond a higher frequency edge of the bandwidth are punctured or rate-matched.

29. The at least one machine readable storage medium of claim 26, wherein the plurality of PRBs are aligned to a lower frequency edge of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency and a maximum number of PRBs of a first subcarrier spacing are included in the bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth, and a selected number of PRBs of one or more smaller subcarrier spacings relative to the first subcarrier spacing are included to fill a remaining bandwidth without exceeding the bandwidth when there is the remaining bandwidth.

30. The at least one machine readable storage medium of claim 26, wherein the PRBs of the plurality of PRBs are aligned to a center frequency of the bandwidth of the carrier frequency around a direct current (DC) subcarrier.