WO2020160330A1 - Conception de prach et pucch pour mf-lite - Google Patents

Conception de prach et pucch pour mf-lite Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2020160330A1
WO2020160330A1 PCT/US2020/015965 US2020015965W WO2020160330A1 WO 2020160330 A1 WO2020160330 A1 WO 2020160330A1 US 2020015965 W US2020015965 W US 2020015965W WO 2020160330 A1 WO2020160330 A1 WO 2020160330A1
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WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
signal
circuitry
uplink
network
channel
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PCT/US2020/015965
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English (en)
Inventor
Salvatore TALARICO
Huaning Niu
Anthony Lee
Wenting CHANG
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Apple Inc.
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Publication of WO2020160330A1 publication Critical patent/WO2020160330A1/fr

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L1/00—Arrangements for detecting or preventing errors in the information received
    • H04L1/12—Arrangements for detecting or preventing errors in the information received by using return channel
    • H04L1/16—Arrangements for detecting or preventing errors in the information received by using return channel in which the return channel carries supervisory signals, e.g. repetition request signals
    • H04L1/18—Automatic repetition systems, e.g. Van Duuren systems
    • H04L1/1822—Automatic repetition systems, e.g. Van Duuren systems involving configuration of automatic repeat request [ARQ] with parallel processes
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L1/00—Arrangements for detecting or preventing errors in the information received
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L1/00—Arrangements for detecting or preventing errors in the information received
    • H04L1/12—Arrangements for detecting or preventing errors in the information received by using return channel
    • H04L1/16—Arrangements for detecting or preventing errors in the information received by using return channel in which the return channel carries supervisory signals, e.g. repetition request signals
    • H04L1/1607—Details of the supervisory signal
    • H04L1/1614—Details of the supervisory signal using bitmaps
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L5/00—Arrangements affording multiple use of the transmission path
    • H04L5/003—Arrangements for allocating sub-channels of the transmission path
    • H04L5/0053—Allocation of signaling, i.e. of overhead other than pilot signals
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L5/00—Arrangements affording multiple use of the transmission path
    • H04L5/003—Arrangements for allocating sub-channels of the transmission path
    • H04L5/0053—Allocation of signaling, i.e. of overhead other than pilot signals
    • H04L5/0055—Physical resource allocation for ACK/NACK
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L5/00—Arrangements affording multiple use of the transmission path
    • H04L5/0091—Signaling for the administration of the divided path
    • H04L5/0094—Indication of how sub-channels of the path are allocated
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W72/00—Local resource management
    • H04W72/20—Control channels or signalling for resource management
    • H04W72/21—Control channels or signalling for resource management in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network

Definitions

  • the embodiments are generally directed to the design of channels within a
  • wireless communications network Various embodiments generally may relate to the field of wireless communications.
  • LTE Licensed-Assisted Access
  • CA flexible carrier aggregation
  • Enhanced operation of LTE systems in unlicensed spectrum is also expected in future releases, as well as in 5G systems.
  • Unlicensed bands of interest includes bands below 1 Gigahertz (GHz), a band around 2.4 GHz, and a band around 5 GHz. Although these bands are unlicensed, usage of these bands must nevertheless comport with regulations that govern these unlicensed bands.
  • the present disclosure relates to methods and apparatus for carrying out
  • apparatus use digital modulation techniques derived from Long Term Evolution (LTE) that meet the occupied channel bandwidth
  • the apparatus incudes processor circuitry that generates an uplink signal that includes a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) signal.
  • the uplink signal also includes one of a modified Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) signal or a modified Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) signal.
  • PRACH Physical Random Access Channel
  • PUCCH Physical Uplink Control Channel
  • the modified PRACH signal and the modified PUCCH signal each have an occupied channel bandwidth between 80% and 100% of the nominal channel bandwidth of the unlicensed spectrum, or a minimum occupied channel bandwidth of 2 MHz.
  • the modified PUCCH signal is included in a first one or more subframes of an uplink burst within a fixed frame period of the uplink signal.
  • the apparatus includes a radio front end circuitry to transmit the uplink signal to a Radio Access Node (RAN).
  • RAN Radio Access Node
  • Embodiments of the method include generating an uplink signal that includes a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) signal. Generating the uplink signal also includes modifying one of a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) signal or a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) signal.
  • PRACH Physical Random Access Channel
  • PUCCH Physical Uplink Control Channel
  • the modified PRACH signal and the modified PUCCH signal each have an occupied channel bandwidth between 80% and 100% of the nominal channel bandwidth of the unlicensed spectrum, or a minimum occupied channel bandwidth of 2 MHz.
  • the modified PUCCH signal is included in a first one or more subframes of an uplink burst within a fixed frame period of the uplink signal.
  • embodiments of the methods include transmitting the uplink signal to a Radio Access Node (RAN).
  • RAN Radio Access Node
  • CCM computer-readable media
  • PUSCH Physical Uplink Shared Channel
  • Generating the uplink signal also includes modifying one of a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) signal or a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) signal.
  • PRACH Physical Random Access Channel
  • PUCCH Physical Uplink Control Channel
  • the modified PRACH signal and the modified PUCCH signal each have an occupied channel bandwidth between 80% and 100% of the nominal channel bandwidth of the unlicensed spectrum, or a minimum occupied channel bandwidth of 2 MHz.
  • the modified PUCCH signal is included in a first one or more subframes of an uplink burst within a fixed frame period of the uplink signal.
  • embodiments of the methods include transmitting the uplink signal to a Radio Access Node (RAN).
  • RAN Radio Access Node
  • Figure 1 illustrates an example system architecture within a network, according to an embodiment
  • Figure 2 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary architecture of a system that includes a first core network, according to an embodiment
  • Figure 3 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary architecture of a system that includes a second core network, according to an embodiment
  • Figure 4 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary infrastructure equipment, according to an embodiment
  • Figure 5 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary platform, according to an embodiment
  • Figure 6 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary baseband processor that may be implemented within an access node, according to an embodiment
  • Figure 7 illustrates a block diagram of exemplary protocol functions that may be implemented in a wireless communication device, according to an embodiment
  • Figure 8 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary computer system that can be utilized to implement various embodiments
  • Figure 9 illustrates a flowchart diagram of a method for carrying out broadband wireless communications in unlicensed spectrum using a modified PRACH signal.
  • Figure 10 illustrates a flowchart diagram of a method for carrying out broadband wireless communications in unlicensed spectrum using a modified PUCCH signal.
  • Figure 11 illustrates a flowchart diagram of another method for carrying out broadband wireless communications in unlicensed spectrum using a modified PUCCH signal.
  • Multefire (MF) 1.0 is designed based on 3GPP release 13/14 LAA/eLAA.
  • the MulteFire Alliance has started a new WI with the aim to create a lighter version of the MF 1.0 so that existing devices can be used without any major implementation change for a timely deployment of this technology.
  • the simplified version will work mostly on a well control environment, so the presence of Wi-Fi maybe limited, e.g. by channel selection a priori 2
  • the simplified version should comply with existing regulations, e.g. ETSI
  • the MF-Lite design is based upon a frame based equipment (FBE) framework, which reused the TDD- LTE frame structure. While this simplifies a lot the design, one must also comply with the regulatory requirements set regarding the occupied bandwidth, which are summarized here in the following:
  • the Occupied Channel Bandwidth shall be between 80 % and 100 % of the Nominal Channel Bandwidth. In case of smart antenna systems (devices with multiple transmit chains) each of the transmit chains shall meet this requirement. The Occupied Channel Bandwidth might change with time/payload.
  • COT Channel Occupancy Time
  • equipment may operate temporarily with an Occupied Channel Bandwidth of less than 80 % of its Nominal Channel Bandwidth with a minimum of 2 MHz.”
  • PUCCH for MF-lite such that they are complaint with the OCB requirements dictated by the regulatory requirements in the ETSI BRAN.
  • LBE long control signal transmission
  • SCST short control signal transmission
  • the Occupied Channel Bandwidth shall be between 80 % and 100 % of the Nominal Channel Bandwidth. In case of smart antenna systems (devices with multiple transmit chains) each of the transmit chains shall meet this requirement. The Occupied Channel Bandwidth might change with time/payload.
  • PUSCH may operate temporarily with an Occupied Channel Bandwidth of less than 80 % of its Nominal Channel Bandwidth with a minimum of 2 MHz.”
  • PUSCH can easily comply with the above requirements since the TDD-LTE waveform has enough flexibility to be configured such that it will span over a minimum of 2 MHz, the legacy PRACH and PUCCH channels do not comply to the above requirements per se: in fact, the legacy PRACH extends on 6 PRBs (1.4 MHz), while for PUCCH depending on the PUCCH format this extends on up to 8 PRBs for PUCCH format 4. For this reason, some enhancements are needed. In the following, this disclosure provides multiple options for each of these channels.
  • Option 1 In one embodiment, the MF 1.0 interlace based waveform is applied to the PRACH so that to meet the OCB requirements.
  • Option 2 As the legacy LTE PRACH spans in frequency domain over 6 RBs, in order to meet the OCB requirements for this physical channel in one embodiment one of the following options may be supported:
  • the legacy PRACH is repeated in frequency domain over the adjacent 6 PRBs;
  • the RACH sequence is extended to 12 PRBs. In this matter, a new sequence of length 144 is used. In one embodiment, the sequence is generate
  • the PRACH configurations are only limited to one or more of those configuration listed in Table I and Table II, which are the legacy PRACH configurations 48-57.
  • Table I Random access configurations for preamble formats 4
  • Table II Random access preamble mapping in time and frequency [0032]
  • format 0 and/or Format 1-3 are also supported, and it would be up to the eNB or the UE on making sure the temporal requirement is met, by either configuring PRACH time resources appropriately, or precluding transmissions over a more prolonged time that the 2.5 ms allowed over a span of time of 50 ms.
  • some or all the corresponding PRACH configurations may be used, and Table I and II may be extended.
  • a new PRACH signal is designed based on the legacy SRS using the procedure described below:
  • Option 3a In one embodiment, the number of combs is set to A k ” TC - 7 , the cs.max _ a number of cyclic shifts is where
  • a TC — , ⁇ w hich is the length of the ZC sequence, is set to 144, so that one embodiment , and SRS this creates four SRS regions , and a total of 64 unique waveforms (2 combs, 8 cyclic shifts and 4 regions).
  • the bandwidth allocation of the new PRACH is fixed and it can be used for both 10 MHz and 20 MHz UL BW. In one embodiment, if 8 different roots can be formed the number of PRBs used for
  • this new PRACH formed through SRS signals is always transmitted at the beginning of the UpPTS, so that the guard period is inherited from the special subframe.
  • group hopping/sequence hopping is disabled.
  • this new PRACH is performed over X consecutive OFDM symbols starting from the beginning of the UpPTS in a special subframe where X can be for example 2.
  • X can be for example 2.
  • the LTE PRACH mapping in time for format 4 can be reused.
  • a new PRACH signal is designed based on the legacy demodulation reference signal (DMRS) for PUSCH.
  • DMRS legacy demodulation reference signal
  • this new PRACH formed through DMRS signals is always transmitted at the beginning of the UpPTS, so that the guard period is inherited from the special subframe.
  • group hopping/sequence hopping is disabled.
  • this new PRACH is performed over X consecutive OFDM symbols starting from the beginning of the UpPTS in a special subframe where X can be for example 2.
  • X can be for example 2.
  • the LTE PRACH mapping in time for format 4 can be reused.
  • Option 5 In one embodiment while OCB criteria must be met for the harmonized standard, this is not required if MF-Lite will be certified using the essential requirements. In this case, the existing PRACH design is reused. [0041] Notice that the options listed in this section are not mutually exclusive, and more than one may be supported.
  • Option 1 In one embodiment, the MF 1.0 interlace based waveform is applied to the PUCCH so that to meet the OCB requirements.
  • Option 2 According to the regulatory requirements related to the OCB, a
  • legacy PUCCH format 1, 2, 3 are supported in MF-Lite when the slot based frequency hopping is enabled.
  • Option 3 In one embodiment spatial orthogonal resource transmit diversity
  • SORTD is enabled for PUCCH format 1 / 2 and 3, with the exception of format lb with channel selection for which SORTD is not allowed.
  • Option 4 In one embodiment, in order to meet the OCB requirements the UL control information (UCI) is piggybacked on PUSCH. In this case, it is up to eNB’s implementation to ensure that UCI is always scheduled on PUSCH. In one embodiment, UCI is carried on PUSCH even in the case there is no UL-SCH data.
  • UCI UL control information
  • Option 5 In one embodiment, in order to comply with the OCB requirements, the y PUCCI 14
  • frequency domain occupancy of PUCCH format 4 is extended to 12 PRBs, which is compliant with the rule according with
  • the reserved entry for the number of PRBs for PUCCH format 4 may be used to indicate the 12 PRBs choice, as shown in Table III. 7I ⁇ PUCCH4
  • Table III Number of PRBs for PUCCCH format 4 RB corresponding to higher layer parameter numberOfl’RB-format ⁇ r 13
  • PUCCH format 4 when PUCCH format 4 is configured to 12 PRBs, the number of information bits are assumed to be the same as when it is configured to 8 PRBs, and the remaining bits are padded bits. In one embodiment, when PUCCH format 4 is configured to 12 PRBs, then padded bits or additional bits of the information are appended to the information bits to fill up the additional resources that are added compared to the legacy PUCCH format 4. In one embodiment, this new PUCCH format, which has been extended over 12 PRBs, is always transmitted in the first SF or first consecutive SFs of the UL burst within a fixed frame period, in order to avoid any gaps in case the UE would not have any data to transmit. Any gap in between will be filled by the UE.
  • Option 6 In one embodiment, in order to comply with the OCB requirements, a new PUCCH format is formed which is based on the normal PUCCH format 3 (e.g., t PUCCH PUCCH
  • the number of information bits which is fixed to be 48 bits per subframe for legacy PUCCH format 3, it is extended either through padding bits or by repeating the 48 bits of legacy information through a cyclic shift up to 576 bits (48 x 12). Following this extension, the block of complex-valued modulation symbols is such that
  • the number of bits are maintained the same, but the complex valued modulation symbols are repeated 12 times.
  • G31 /2 24A rRB and obtained through the scrambled bits / 12-1) which will be QPSK modulated as in the legacy design, and repeated 12 times.
  • a length-12 OCC is applied to the legacy complex -valued modulation symbols to extend the symbols for 12 PRBs, so that 24N smC : the new sequence of symbols is obtained by aggregation of each combination of the legacy symbols multiplied by each element of the
  • a long 144-length OCC can be applied after the legacy complex- valued modulation symbol are block-wise spread, and each element of an OCC will be applied to each symbol.
  • an example of W can be defined by an orthogonal set of 12 OCC (Hadamard), each composed by 12 elements as follows:
  • the set n of OCC Wn is defined per UE as follows if the OCC is applied per symbol
  • n ⁇ Pr ⁇ G k mo ⁇ 212, (Wpiicc F + 1 ) m °d 12, (>ipucc H + 2) mod 1
  • the set of n OCC Wn is defined per UE as follows if the OCC is applied per PRB (one OCC element per PRB):
  • Each set of complex-valued symbols shall be cyclically shifted according to
  • the shifted sets of complex- valued symbols shall be transform precoded according to the following formula: where P is the number of antenna ports used for PUCCH transmission, resulting in a block of complex- valued symbols
  • the legacy mapping should be modified as well as follows:
  • this new PUCCH format which has been extended over 12
  • a new PUCCH format is formed which is based on the PUCCH format 1/la/lb by extending its frequency occupancy to 12 PRBs, as follows:
  • the complex-valued modulation symbols is multiplied with a cyclically shifted sequence as follows:
  • a length-12 OCC is applied to the legacy complex- valued symbols 1 “ 2 1) t,o extend them to 144: the new sequence of symbols is obtained by an a aggregation of each combination of the legacy symbols multiplied by each element of the OCC.
  • the OCC can be applied after the legacy complex- valued modulation symbol are block-wise spread to extend them for 12 PRBs frequency allocation.
  • a long 144-length OCC can be applied after the legacy complex- valued modulation symbol are block-wise spread, and each element of an OCC will be applied to each symbol.
  • the legacy complex-valued symbols can be extended as follows:
  • W is defined through a set of orthogonal OCC: Wo Wi w 2 W3 W 4 Ws We Wv Ws W 9 Wn W12
  • the set n of OCC Wn is defined per UE through one of the following equations if the OCC is applied per symbol:
  • W is obtained as in legacy, and extended over 12 PRB, by repeating it in frequency domain, and by applying an orthogonal length-12 OCC for each repetitions.
  • W is defined:
  • n ⁇ » P 3 ⁇ 4 CH ⁇ IO 12 3 ⁇ 4 , H + limed l2,(n ⁇ CH + 2)modl2,...(ff3 ⁇ 4£x H ⁇ * 1) niodl 2 ⁇
  • n 3 ⁇ 4 cs ' ⁇ shift / * mod 12
  • this new PUCCH format which has been extended over 12 PRBs, is always transmitted in the first SF or first consecutive SFs of the UL burst within a fixed frame period, in order to avoid any gaps in case the UE would not have any data to transmit. Any gap in between will be filled by the UE.
  • Option 8 In one embodiment, in order to comply with the OCB requirements, a new PUCCH format is formed which is based on the PUCCH format 2/2a/2b by extending its frequency occupancy to 12 PRBs, as follows:
  • each complex- valued symbol is a complex- valued symbol
  • a length-12 OCC is applied to the legacy complex -valued
  • the new sequence of symbols is obtained by an a aggregation of each combination of the legacy symbols multiplied by each element of the OCC.
  • an orthogonal set of 12 OCC can be defined
  • each set can be composed by 12 elements as follows:
  • the set n of OCC Wn is defined per UE as follows ) mod 12, (>3 ⁇ 4 >T 3 ⁇ 4 CH + 2) mod 12,...O p uec H + 1 l) modl2 ⁇ where Wnis applied to the complex- valued symbols used per each PRB.
  • the legacy mapping in order extend the PUCCH format 2/2a/2b to 12 PRBs, the legacy mapping should be modified as well as follows:
  • this new PUCCH format which has been extended over 12
  • PRBs is always transmitted in the first SF or first consecutive SFs of the UL burst within a fixed frame period, in order to avoid any gaps in case the UE would not have any data to transmit. Any gap in between will be filled by the UE.
  • Option 9 In one embodiment while OCB criteria must be met for the harmonized standard, this is not required if MF-Lite will be certified using the essential requirements. In this case, the existing legacy PUCCH formats can be reused.
  • the PUCCH is
  • the transmitted is always transmitted in the first SF or first consecutive SFs of the UL burst within a fixed frame period, in order to avoid any gaps in case the UE would not have any data to transmit. Any gap in between will be filled by the UE.
  • the TDD HARQ timing might need to be modified accordingly.
  • the association between DL SFs and UL SF over which the corresponding HARQ is transmitted is done such that PUCCH is transmitted in the first consequent SFs of the UL burst using the following timing:
  • the UE will fill the remaining resources with the CP.
  • the association between DL SFs and UL SF over which the corresponding HARQ is transmitted is done such that PUCCH is transmitted only in the first SF of a UL burst using the following timing:
  • the UE will fill the remaining resources with the CP.
  • the indication of the SF where UE is expected to provide feedback information is defined through a bitmap, which can be fixed or RRC configured.
  • the HARQ transmission is done within a new special
  • this new special subframe in this new special subframe the first three (3) OFDM symbols are used for DL transmission, seven (7) OFDM symbols are used as a guard period (which are used to advance the following UL burst by 0.5 ms to leave a gap of 0.5 ms at the end of the UL burst), and the last four (4) OFDM symbols used for UL transmissions.
  • the guard period which are used to advance the following UL burst by 0.5 ms to leave a gap of 0.5 ms at the end of the UL burst
  • the last four (4) OFDM symbols used for UL transmissions in this new special subframe the first three (3) OFDM symbols are used for DL transmission, seven (7) OFDM symbols are used as a guard period (which are used to advance the following UL burst by 0.5 ms to leave a gap of 0.5 ms at the end of the UL burst), and the last four (4) OFDM symbols used for UL transmissions.
  • MF 1.0 s-PUCCH format 1 and/or 2 and/or 3 is used to transmit HARQ feedback in the last 4 symbols of the newly defined special subframe: this is done to ensure that control information is always transmitted at the beginning of the UL burst, so that if the UE has no UL-SCH to transmit, no gap is formed between control information and data transmission, which would mandate the UE to perform LBT.
  • the HARQ feedback is based upon a codebook, or bitmap, and the number of HARQ-ACK codebook size is defined based on the number of configured downlink serving cells configured to be reported on the given uplink serving cell, the number of configured DL HARQ processes in the configured DL cell i for HARQ-ACK reporting, and whether spatial bundling is configured or not.
  • a UE can be configured for periodic CSI reporting by higher layers.
  • the UE may be configured with time domain resources that are defined by periodicity, and/or subframe offset, and/or window size configuration, which together defines the sPUCCH
  • the window size indicates a number of consecutive subframes or OFDM symbols that may also be used for transmitting the periodic CSI reports.
  • a window size of 0 indicates that only the set of starting subframes/OFDM indicated by periodicity and offset are available for transmission of periodic CSI report(s).
  • a UE configured with such resources, it shall define a set of transmission opportunities that are defined by all sPUCCH occurrence satisfying the following formula:
  • the CRS transmission is always on, and the UE assesses if a fixed frame period is valid (the eNB’s LBT has succeeded) from the detection of the CRS on:
  • Option 1 the DL resources within the special subframe
  • Option 2 the DL resources within the last n subframes before the start of the UL burst.
  • the DL prior to the UL burst is used (SF #0 for TDD configurations with one DL/UL switching point, and SF#0 and #5 for TDD configurations with two DL/UL switching points);
  • Option 3 any of the DL resources before the start of the UL burst.
  • the UE assesses if a fixed frame period is valid (the eNB’s
  • Figure 9 illustrates a flowchart diagram of a method 900 for carrying out broadband wireless communications in unlicensed spectrum.
  • the method includes generating an uplink signal that includes a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) signal, and generating a modified Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) signal.
  • the modified PRACH signal has an occupied channel bandwidth between 80% and 100% of the nominal channel bandwidth of the unlicensed spectrum, or a minimum occupied channel bandwidth of 2 MHz.
  • step 910 can be performed by baseband circuitry 510, processor circuitry 610, or processors 810.
  • step 920 the method includes transmitting the uplink signal to a Radio Access Node (RAN).
  • RAN Radio Access Node
  • step 920 can be performed by radio front end circuitry 515.
  • Figure 10 illustrates a flowchart diagram of a method 1000 for carrying out
  • the method includes generating an uplink signal that includes a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) signal, and generating a modified Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) signal.
  • the modified PUCCH signal has an occupied channel bandwidth between 80% and 100% of the nominal channel bandwidth of the unlicensed spectrum, or a minimum occupied channel bandwidth of 2 MHz.
  • step 1010 can be performed by baseband circuitry 510, processor circuitry 610. or processors 810.
  • the method includes transmitting the uplink signal to a Radio Access Node (RAN).
  • RAN Radio Access Node
  • step 1020 can be performed by radio front end circuitry 515.
  • FIG 11 illustrates a flowchart diagram of a method 1100 by a user equipment (UE).
  • the method includes generating an uplink signal that includes a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) signal.
  • Generating the uplink signal includes modifying one of a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) signal or a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) signal.
  • PRACH Physical Random Access Channel
  • PUCCH Physical Uplink Control Channel
  • the modified PRACH signal and the modified PUCCH signal each have an occupied channel bandwidth between 80% and 100% of the nominal channel bandwidth of the unlicensed spectrum, or a minimum occupied channel bandwidth of 2 MHz.
  • the modified PUCCH signal is included in a first one or more subframes of an uplink burst within a fixed frame period of the uplink signal.
  • step 1110 can be performed by baseband circuitry 510, processor circuitry 610. or processors 810.
  • step 1120 the method includes transmitting the uplink signal to a Radio Access Node (RAN).
  • RAN Radio Access Node
  • step 1120 can be performed by radio front end circuitry 515.
  • Figure 1 illustrates an example architecture of a system 100 of a network, in
  • example system 100 that operates in conjunction with the LTE system standards and 5G or NR system standards as provided by 3GPP technical specifications.
  • example embodiments are not limited in this regard and the described embodiments may apply to other networks that benefit from the principles described herein, such as future 3GPP systems (e.g., Sixth Generation (6G)) systems, IEEE 802.16 protocols (e.g., WMAN, WiMAX, etc.), or the like.
  • future 3GPP systems e.g., Sixth Generation (6G)
  • 6G Sixth Generation
  • IEEE 802.16 protocols e.g., WMAN, WiMAX, etc.
  • the system 100 includes UE 101a and UE 101b
  • UEs 101 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 consumer electronics devices, cellular phones, smartphones, feature phones, tablet computers, wearable computer devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), pagers, wireless handsets, desktop computers, laptop computers, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), in-car entertainment (ICE) devices, an Instrument Cluster (IC), head-up display (HUD) devices, onboard diagnostic (OBD) devices, dashtop mobile equipment (DME), mobile data terminals (MDTs), Electronic Engine Management System (EEMS), electronic/engine control units (ECUs), electronic/engine control modules (ECMs), embedded systems, microcontrollers, control modules, engine management systems (EMS), networked or“smart” appliances, MTC devices, M2M, IoT devices, and/or the like.
  • PDAs personal digital assistants
  • IVI in-vehicle infotainment
  • any of the UEs 101 may be IoT UEs, which may comprise a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications utilizing short-lived UE connections.
  • An IoT UE can utilize technologies such as M2M or MTC for exchanging data with an MTC server or device via a PLMN, ProSe or 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.
  • the UEs 101 may be configured to connect, for example, communicatively
  • the RAN 110 may be an NG RAN or a 5G RAN, an E-UTRAN, or a legacy RAN, such as a UTRAN or GERAN.
  • the term“NG RAN” or the like may refer to a RAN 110 that operates in an NR or 5G system 100
  • the term“E-UTRAN” or the like may refer to a RAN 110 that operates in an LTE or 4G system 100.
  • the UEs 101 utilize connections (or channels) 103 and 104, respectively, each of which comprises a physical communications interface or layer (discussed in further detail below).
  • the connections 103 and 104 are illustrated as an air interface to enable communicative coupling, and can be consistent with cellular communications protocols, such as a GSM protocol, a CDMA network protocol, a PTT protocol, a POC protocol, a UMTS protocol, a 3GPP LTE protocol, a 5G protocol, a NR protocol, and/or any of the other communications protocols discussed herein.
  • the UEs 101 may directly exchange communication data via a ProSe interface 105.
  • the ProSe interface 105 may alternatively be referred to as a SL interface 105 and may comprise one or more logical channels, including but not limited to a PSCCH, a PSSCH, a PSDCH, and a PSBCH.
  • the UE 101b is shown to be configured to access an AP 106 (also referred to as
  • connection 107 can comprise a local wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, wherein the AP 106 would comprise a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi®) router.
  • Wi-Fi® wireless fidelity
  • the AP 106 is shown to be connected to the Internet without connecting to the core network of the wireless system (described in further detail below).
  • the UE 101b, RAN 110, and AP 106 may be configured to utilize LWA operation and/or LWIP operation.
  • the LWA operation may involve the UE 101b in RRC CONNECTED being configured by a RAN node 11 la-b to utilize radio resources of LTE and WLAN.
  • LWIP operation may involve the UE 101b using WLAN radio resources (e.g., connection 107) via IPsec protocol tunneling to authenticate and encrypt packets (e.g., IP packets) sent over the connection 107.
  • IPsec tunneling may include encapsulating the entirety of original IP packets and adding a new packet header, thereby protecting the original header of the IP packets.
  • the RAN 110 can include one or more AN nodes or RAN nodes 111a and 111b
  • RAN nodes 111 that enable the connections 103 and 104.
  • the terms“access node,”“access point,” or the like may describe equipment that provides the radio baseband functions for data and/or voice connectivity between a network and one or more users.
  • These access nodes can be referred to as BS, gNBs, RAN nodes, eNBs, NodeBs, RSUs, TRxPs or TRPs, 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 term“NG RAN node” or the like may refer to a RAN node 111 that operates in an NR or 5G system 100 (for example, a gNB), and the term“E-UTRAN node” or the like may refer to a RAN node 111 that operates in an LTE or 4G system 100 (e.g., an eNB).
  • the RAN nodes 111 may be implemented as one or more of a dedicated physical device such as a macrocell base station, and/or a low power (LP) base station for providing femtocells, picocells or other like cells having smaller coverage areas, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macrocells.
  • LP low power
  • all or parts of the RAN nodes 111 may be implemented as one or more software entities running on server computers as part of a virtual network, which may be referred to as a CRAN and/or a virtual baseband unit pool (vBBUP).
  • a CRAN and/or a virtual baseband unit pool (vBBUP).
  • vBBUP virtual baseband unit pool
  • the CRAN or vBBUP may implement a RAN function split, such as a PDCP split wherein RRC and PDCP layers are operated by the CRAN/vBBUP and other L2 protocol entities are operated by individual RAN nodes 111; a MAC/PHY split wherein RRC, PDCP, RLC, and MAC layers are operated by the CRAN/vBBUP and the PHY layer is operated by individual RAN nodes 111; or a“lower PHY” split wherein RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC layers and upper portions of the PHY layer are operated by the CRAN/vBBUP and lower portions of the PHY layer are operated by individual RAN nodes 111.
  • a RAN function split such as a PDCP split wherein RRC and PDCP layers are operated by the CRAN/vBBUP and other L2 protocol entities are operated by individual RAN nodes 111; a MAC/PHY split wherein RRC, PDCP, RLC, and MAC layers are operated by the C
  • an individual RAN node 111 may represent individual gNB-DUs that are connected to a gNB-CU via individual FI interfaces (not shown by Figure 1).
  • the gNB-DUs may include one or more remote radio heads or RFEMs (see, e.g., Figure 4), and the gNB-CU may be operated by a server that is located in the RAN 110 (not shown) or by a server pool in a similar manner as the CRAN/vBBUP.
  • one or more of the RAN nodes 111 may be next generation eNBs (ng- eNBs), which are RAN nodes that provide E-UTRA user plane and control plane protocol terminations toward the UEs 101, and are connected to a 5GC (e.g., CN 320 of Figure 3) via an NG interface (discussed infra).
  • ng- eNBs next generation eNBs
  • 5GC e.g., CN 320 of Figure 3
  • RSU Radio Access Side Unit
  • An RSU may be implemented in or by a suitable RAN node or a stationary (or relatively stationary) UE, where an RSU implemented in or by a UE may be referred to as a“UE-type RSU,” an RSU implemented in or by an eNB may be referred to as an“eNB-type RSU,” an RSU implemented in or by a gNB may be referred to as a“gNB-type RSU,” and the like.
  • an RSU is a computing device coupled with radio frequency circuitry located on a roadside that provides connectivity support to passing vehicle UEs 101 (vUEs 101).
  • the RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry to store intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, as well as applications/software to sense and control ongoing vehicular and pedestrian traffic.
  • the RSU may operate as a Wi-Fi hotspot (2.4 GHz band) and/or provide connectivity to one or more cellular networks to provide uplink and downlink communications.
  • radiofrequency circuitry of the RSU may be packaged in a weatherproof enclosure suitable for outdoor installation, and may include a network interface controller to provide a wired connection (e.g., Ethernet) to a traffic signal controller and/or a backhaul network.
  • a network interface controller to provide a wired connection (e.g., Ethernet) to a traffic signal controller and/or a backhaul network.
  • Any of the RAN nodes 111 can terminate the air interface protocol and can be the first point of contact for the UEs 101.
  • any of the RAN nodes 111 can fulfill various logical functions for the RAN 110 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.
  • RNC radio network controller
  • the UEs 101 can be configured to communicate using OFDM communication signals with each other or with any of the RAN nodes 111 over a multicarrier communication channel in accordance with various communication techniques, such as, but not limited to, an OFDMA communication technique (e.g., for downlink communications) or a 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 sub carriers.
  • a downlink resource grid can be used for downlink
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • the UEs 101, 102 and the RAN nodes 111 are UEs 101, 102 and the RAN nodes 111,
  • the 112 communicate data (for example, transmit and receive) data over a licensed medium (also referred to as the“licensed spectrum” and/or the“licensed band”) and an unlicensed shared medium (also referred to as the“unlicensed spectrum” and/or the“unlicensed band”).
  • the licensed spectrum may include channels that operate in the frequency range of approximately 400 MHz to approximately 3.8 GHz, whereas the unlicensed spectrum may include the 5 GHz band.
  • the UEs 101, 102 and the RAN nodes 111 To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, the UEs 101, 102 and the RAN nodes 111,
  • 112 may operate using LAA, eLAA, and/or feLAA mechanisms. In these
  • the UEs 101, 102 and the RAN nodes 111, 112 may perform one or more known medium-sensing operations and/or carrier-sensing operations in order to determine whether one or more channels in the unlicensed spectrum is unavailable or otherwise occupied prior to transmitting in the unlicensed spectrum.
  • the medium/carrier sensing operations may be performed according to a listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol.
  • LBT listen-before-talk
  • LBT is a mechanism whereby equipment (for example, UEs 101, 102, RAN nodes
  • the medium sensing operation may include CCA, which utilizes at least ED to determine the presence or absence of other signals on a channel in order to determine if a channel is occupied or clear.
  • CCA CCA
  • ED may include sensing RF energy across an intended transmission band for a period of time and comparing the sensed RF energy to a predefined or configured threshold.
  • the incumbent systems in the 5 GHz band are WLANs based on IEEE
  • WLAN employs a contention-based channel access mechanism, called CSMA/CA.
  • CSMA/CA contention-based channel access mechanism
  • a WLAN node e.g., a mobile station (MS) such as UE 101 or 102, AP 106, or the like
  • MS mobile station
  • AP 106 a contention-based channel access mechanism
  • the WLAN node may first perform CCA before transmission.
  • a backoff mechanism is used to avoid collisions in situations where more than one WLAN node senses the channel as idle and transmits at the same time.
  • the backoff mechanism may be a counter that is drawn randomly within the CWS, which is increased exponentially upon the occurrence of collision and reset to a minimum value when the transmission succeeds.
  • the LBT mechanism designed for LAA is somewhat similar to the CSMA/CA of WLAN.
  • the LBT procedure for DL or UL transmission bursts including PDSCH or PUSCH transmissions, respectively, may have an LAA contention window that is variable in length between X and Y ECCA slots, where X and Y are minimum and maximum values for the CWSs for LAA.
  • the minimum CWS for an LAA transmission may be 9
  • the size of the CWS and a MCOT may be based on governmental regulatory requirements.
  • the LAA mechanisms are built upon CA technologies of LTE- Advanced systems.
  • each aggregated carrier is referred to as a CC.
  • a CC may have a bandwidth of 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15 or 20 MHz and a maximum of five CCs can be aggregated, and therefore, a maximum aggregated bandwidth is 100 MHz.
  • the number of aggregated carriers can be different for DL and UL, where the number of UL CCs is equal to or lower than the number of DL component carriers.
  • individual CCs can have a different bandwidth than other CCs.
  • the number of CCs as well as the bandwidths of each CC is usually the same for DL and UL.
  • CA also comprises individual serving cells to provide individual CCs.
  • a primary service cell or PCell may provide a PCC for both UL and DL, and may handle RRC and NAS related activities.
  • the other serving cells are referred to as SCells, and each SCell may provide an individual SCC for both UL and DL.
  • the SCCs may be added and removed as required, while changing the PCC may require the UE 101, 102 to undergo a handover.
  • some or all of the SCells may operate in the unlicensed spectrum (referred to as“LAA SCells”), and the LAA SCells are assisted by a PCell operating in the licensed spectrum.
  • LAA SCells unlicensed spectrum
  • the LAA SCells are assisted by a PCell operating in the licensed spectrum.
  • the UE may receive UL grants on the configured LAA SCells indicating different PUSCH starting positions within a same subframe.
  • the PDSCH carries user data and higher-layer signaling to the UEs 101.
  • PDCCH carries information about the transport format and resource allocations related to the PDSCH channel, among other things. It may also inform the UEs 101 about the transport format, resource allocation, and HARQ information related to the uplink shared channel.
  • downlink scheduling (assigning control and shared channel resource blocks to the UE 101b within a cell) may be performed at any of the RAN nodes 111 based on channel quality information fed back from any of the UEs 101.
  • the downlink resource assignment information may be sent on the PDCCH used for (e.g., assigned to) each of the UEs 101.
  • the PDCCH uses 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 REGs. Four Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) symbols may be mapped to each REG.
  • QPSK Quadrature Phase Shift Keying
  • 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 EPDCCH that uses PDSCH resources for control
  • the EPDCCH may be transmitted using one or more ECCEs. Similar to above, each ECCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as an EREGs. An ECCE may have other numbers of EREGs in some situations.
  • the RAN nodes 111 may be configured to communicate with one another via interface 112.
  • the interface 112 may be an X2 interface 112.
  • the X2 interface may be defined between two or more RAN nodes 111 (e.g., two or more eNBs and the like) that connect to EPC 120, and/or between two eNBs connecting to EPC 120.
  • the X2 interface may include an X2 user plane interface (X2- U) and an X2 control plane interface (X2-C).
  • the X2-U may provide flow control mechanisms for user data packets transferred over the X2 interface, and may be used to communicate information about the delivery of user data between eNBs.
  • the X2-U may provide specific sequence number information for user data transferred from a MeNB to an SeNB; information about successful in sequence delivery of PDCP PDUs to a UE 101 from an SeNB for user data; information of PDCP PDUs that were not delivered to a UE 101; information about a current minimum desired buffer size at the SeNB for transmitting to the UE user data; and the like.
  • the X2-C may provide intra-LTE access mobility functionality, including context transfers from source to target eNBs, user plane transport control, etc.; load management functionality; as well as inter-cell interference coordination functionality.
  • the interface 112 may be an Xn interface 112.
  • the Xn interface is defined between two or more RAN nodes 111 (e.g., two or more gNBs and the like) that connect to 5GC 120, between a RAN node 111 (e.g., a gNB) connecting to 5GC 120 and an eNB, and/or between two eNBs connecting to 5GC 120.
  • the Xn interface may include an Xn user plane (Xn-U) interface and an Xn control plane (Xn-C) interface.
  • the Xn-U may provide non-guaranteed delivery of user plane PDUs and support/provide data forwarding and flow control functionality.
  • the Xn-C may provide management and error handling functionality, functionality to manage the Xn-C interface; mobility support for UE 101 in a connected mode (e.g., CM- CONNECTED) including functionality to manage the UE mobility for connected mode between one or more RAN nodes 111.
  • the mobility support may include context transfer from an old (source) serving RAN node 111 to new (target) serving RAN node 111; and control of user plane tunnels between old (source) serving RAN node 111 to new (target) serving RAN node 111.
  • a protocol stack of the Xn-U may include a transport network layer built on Internet Protocol (IP) transport layer, and a GTP-U layer on top of a UDP and/or IP layer(s) to carry user plane PDUs.
  • the Xn-C protocol stack may include an application layer signaling protocol (referred to as Xn Application Protocol (Xn-AP)) and a transport network layer that is built on SCTP.
  • the SCTP may be on top of an IP layer, and may provide the guaranteed delivery of application layer messages.
  • point-to-point transmission is used to deliver the signaling PDUs.
  • the Xn-U protocol stack and/or the Xn-C protocol stack may be same or similar to the user plane and/or control plane protocol stack(s) shown and described herein.
  • the RAN 110 is shown to be communicatively coupled to a core network— in this embodiment, core network (CN) 120.
  • the CN 120 may comprise a plurality of network elements 122, which are configured to offer various data and telecommunications services to customers/subscribers (e.g., users of UEs 101) who are connected to the CN 120 via the RAN 110.
  • the components of the CN 120 may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes including components to read and execute instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium).
  • NFV may be utilized to virtualize any or all of the above-described network node functions via executable instructions stored in one or more computer-readable storage mediums (described in further detail below).
  • a logical instantiation of the CN 120 may be referred to as a network slice, and a logical instantiation of a portion of the CN 120 may be referred to as a network sub-slice.
  • NFV architectures and infrastructures may be used to virtualize one or more network functions, alternatively performed by proprietary hardware, onto physical resources comprising a combination of industry-standard server hardware, storage hardware, or switches. In other words, NFV systems can be used to execute virtual or reconfigurable implementations of one or more EPC components/functions.
  • the application server 130 may be an element offering applications that use IP bearer resources with the core network (e.g., UMTS PS domain, LTE PS data services, etc.).
  • the application server 130 can also be configured to support one or more communication services (e.g., VoIP sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social networking services, etc.) for the UEs 101 via the EPC 120.
  • communication services e.g., VoIP sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social networking services, etc.
  • the CN 120 may be a 5GC (referred to as“5GC 120” or the like), and the RAN 110 may be connected with the CN 120 via an NG interface 113.
  • the NG interface 113 may be split into two parts, an NG user plane (NG-U) interface 114, which carries traffic data between the RAN nodes 111 and a UPF, and the SI control plane (NG-C) interface 115, which is a signaling interface between the RAN nodes 111 and AMFs.
  • NG-U NG user plane
  • NG-C SI control plane
  • the CN 120 may be a 5G CN (referred to as“5GC 120” or the like), while in other embodiments, the CN 120 may be an EPC).
  • the RAN 110 may be connected with the CN 120 via an SI interface 113.
  • the SI interface 113 may be split into two parts, an SI user plane (Sl-U) interface 114, which carries traffic data between the RAN nodes 111 and the S-GW, and the Sl-MME interface 115, which is a signaling interface between the RAN nodes 111 and MMEs.
  • Sl-U SI user plane
  • An example architecture wherein the CN 120 is an EPC 120 is shown by Figure 2.
  • Figure 2 illustrates an example architecture of a system 200 including a first CN
  • system 200 may implement the LTE standard wherein the CN 220 is an EPC 220 that corresponds with CN 120 of Figure 1.
  • the UE 201 may be the same or similar as the UEs 101 of Figure 1, and the E-UTRAN 210 may be a RAN that is the same or similar to the RAN 110 of Figure 1, and which may include RAN nodes 111 discussed previously.
  • the CN 220 may comprise MMEs 221, an S-GW 222, a P-GW 223, a HSS 224, and a SGSN 225.
  • the MMEs 221 may be similar in function to the control plane of legacy SGSN, and may implement MM functions to keep track of the current location of a UE 201.
  • the MMEs 221 may perform various MM procedures to manage mobility aspects in access such as gateway selection and tracking area list management.
  • MM also referred to as “EPS MM” or“EMM” in E-UTRAN systems
  • EPS MM or“EMM” in E-UTRAN systems
  • EMM may refer to all applicable procedures, methods, data storage, etc. that are used to maintain knowledge about a present location of the UE 201, provide user identity confidentiality, and/or perform other like services to users/subscribers.
  • Each UE 201 and the MME 221 may include an MM or EMM sublayer, and an MM context may be established in the UE 201 and the MME 221 when an attach procedure is successfully completed.
  • the MM context may be a data structure or database object that stores MM-related information of the UE 201.
  • the MMEs 221 may be coupled with the HSS 224 via an S6a reference point, coupled with the SGSN 225 via an S3 reference point, and coupled with the S-GW 222 via an SI 1 reference point.
  • the SGSN 225 may be a node that serves the UE 201 by tracking the location of an individual UE 201 and performing security functions.
  • the SGSN 225 may perform Inter-EPC node signaling for mobility between 2G/3G and E-UTRAN 3 GPP access networks; PDN and S-GW selection as specified by the MMEs 221; handling of UE 201 time zone functions as specified by the MMEs 221; and MME selection for handovers to E-UTRAN 3 GPP access network.
  • the S3 reference point between the MMEs 221 and the SGSN 225 may enable user and bearer information exchange for inter-3GPP access network mobility in idle and/or active states.
  • the HSS 224 may comprise a database for network users, including subscription- related information to support the network entities’ handling of communication sessions.
  • the EPC 220 may comprise one or several HSSs 224, depending on the number of mobile subscribers, on the capacity of the equipment, on the organization of the network, etc.
  • the HSS 224 can provide support for routing/roaming, authentication, authorization, naming/addressing resolution, location dependencies, etc.
  • An S6a reference point between the HSS 224 and the MMEs 221 may enable transfer of subscription and authentication data for authenticating/authorizing user access to the EPC 220 between HSS 224 and the MMEs 221.
  • the S-GW 222 may terminate the SI interface 113 (“Sl-U” in Figure 2) toward the RAN 210, and routes data packets between the RAN 210 and the EPC 220.
  • the S-GW 222 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.
  • the Sl l reference point between the S-GW 222 and the MMEs 221 may provide a control plane between the MMEs 221 and the S-GW 222.
  • the S-GW 222 may be coupled with the P-GW 223 via an S5 reference point.
  • the P-GW 223 may terminate an SGi interface toward a PDN 230.
  • the P-GW 223 may route data packets between the EPC 220 and external networks such as a network including the application server 130 (alternatively referred to as an“AF”) via an IP interface 125 (see e.g., Figure 1).
  • the P-GW 223 may be
  • the S5 reference point between the P-GW 223 and the S-GW 222 may provide user plane tunneling and tunnel management between the P-GW 223 and the S-GW 222.
  • the S5 reference point may also be used for S-GW 222 relocation due to UE 201 mobility and if the S-GW 222 needs to connect to a non-collocated P-GW 223 for the required PDN connectivity.
  • the P-GW 223 may further include a node for policy enforcement and charging data collection (e.g., PCEF (not shown)).
  • the SGi reference point between the P-GW 223 and the packet data network (PDN) 230 may be an operator external public, a private PDN, or an intra operator packet data network, for example, for provision of IMS services.
  • the P-GW 223 may be coupled with a PCRF 226 via a Gx reference point.
  • PCRF 226 is the policy and charging control element of the EPC 220.
  • HPLMN Home Public Land Mobile Network
  • IP-CAN Internet Protocol Connectivity Access Network
  • PCRF 226 may be communicatively coupled to the application server 230 via the P-GW 223.
  • the application server 230 may signal the PCRF 226 to indicate a new service flow and select the appropriate QoS and charging parameters.
  • the PCRF 226 may provision this rule into a PCEF (not shown) with the appropriate TFT and QCI, which commences the QoS and charging as specified by the application server 230.
  • the Gx reference point between the PCRF 226 and the P-GW 223 may allow for the transfer of QoS policy and charging rules from the PCRF 226 to PCEF in the P-GW 223.
  • An Rx reference point may reside between the PDN 230 (or“AF 230”) and the PCRF 226.
  • FIG. 3 illustrates an architecture of a system 300 including a second CN 320 in accordance with various embodiments.
  • the system 300 is shown to include a UE 301, which may be the same or similar to the UEs 101 and UE 201 discussed previously; a (R)AN 310, which may be the same or similar to the RAN 110 and RAN 210 discussed previously, and which may include RAN nodes 111 discussed previously; and a DN 303, which may be, for example, operator services, Internet access or 3rd party services; and a 5GC 320.
  • the 5GC 320 may include an AUSF 322; an AMF 321; a SMF 324; a NEF 323; a PCF 326; a NRF 325; a UDM 327; an AF 328; a UPF 302; and a NSSF 329.
  • the UPF 302 may act as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RAT mobility, an external PDU session point of interconnect to DN 303, and a branching point to support multi-homed PDU session.
  • the UPF 302 may also perform packet routing and forwarding, perform packet inspection, enforce the user plane part of policy rules, lawfully intercept packets (UP collection), perform traffic usage reporting, perform QoS handling for a user plane (e.g., packet filtering, gating, UL/DL rate enforcement), perform Uplink Traffic verification (e.g., SDF to QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, and perform downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering.
  • UP collection e.g., packet filtering, gating, UL/DL rate enforcement
  • Uplink Traffic verification e.g., SDF to QoS flow mapping
  • transport level packet marking in the uplink and downlink e.g., SDF to QoS flow mapping
  • UPF 302 may include an uplink classifier to support routing traffic flows to a data network.
  • the DN 303 may represent various network operator services, Internet access, or third party services.
  • DN 303 may include, or be similar to, application server 130 discussed previously.
  • the UPF 302 may interact with the SMF 324 via an N4 reference point between the SMF 324 and the UPF 302.
  • the AUSF 322 may store data for authentication of UE 301 and handle
  • the AUSF 322 may facilitate a common
  • the AUSF 322 may communicate with the AMF 321 via an N12 reference point between the AMF 321 and the AUSF 322; and may communicate with the UDM 327 via an N13 reference point between the UDM 327 and the AUSF 322. Additionally, the AUSF 322 may exhibit an Nausf service-based interface.
  • the AMF 321 may be responsible for registration management (e.g., for
  • the AMF 321 may be a termination point for the an N11 reference point between the AMF 321 and the SMF 324.
  • the AMF 321 may provide transport for SM messages between the UE 301 and the SMF 324, and act as a transparent proxy for routing SM messages.
  • AMF 321 may also provide transport for SMS messages between UE 301 and an SMSF (not shown by Figure 3).
  • AMF 321 may act as SEAF, which may include interaction with the AUSF 322 and the UE 301, receipt of an intermediate key that was established as a result of the UE 301 authentication process.
  • the AMF 321 may retrieve the security material from the AUSF 322.
  • AMF 321 may also include a SCM function, which receives a key from the SEA that it uses to derive access-network specific keys.
  • AMF 321 may be a termination point of a RAN CP interface, which may include or be an N2 reference point between the (R)AN 310 and the AMF 321; and the AMF 321 may be a termination point of NAS (Nl) signalling, and perform NAS ciphering and integrity protection.
  • AMF 321 may also support NAS signalling with a UE 301 over an N3 IWF
  • the N3IWF may be used to provide access to untrusted entities.
  • N3IWF may be a termination point for the N2 interface between the (R)AN 310 and the AMF 321 for the control plane, and may be a termination point for the N3 reference point between the (R)AN 310 and the UPF 302 for the user plane.
  • the AMF 321 may handle N2 signalling from the SMF 324 and the AMF 321 for PDU sessions and QoS,
  • N3IWF may also relay uplink and downlink control-plane NAS signalling between the UE 301 and AMF 321 via an N1 reference point between the UE 301 and the AMF 321, and relay uplink and downlink user-plane packets between the UE 301 and UPF 302.
  • the N3IWF also provides mechanisms for IPsec tunnel establishment with the UE 301.
  • the AMF 321 may exhibit an Namf service-based interface, and may be a termination point for an N14 reference point between two AMFs 321 and an N17 reference point between the AMF 321 and a 5G-EIR (not shown by Figure 3).
  • the UE 301 may need to register with the AMF 321 in order to receive network services.
  • RM is used to register or deregister the UE 301 with the network (e.g., AMF 321), and establish a UE context in the network (e.g., AMF 321).
  • the UE 301 may operate in an RM-REGISTERED state or an RM-DEREGISTERED state.
  • the UE 301 is not registered with the network, and the UE context in AMF 321 holds no valid location or routing information for the UE 301 so the UE 301 is not reachable by the AMF 321.
  • the UE context in AMF 321 may hold a valid location or routing information for the UE 301 so the UE 301 is reachable by the AMF 321.
  • the UE 301 may perform mobility Registration Update procedures, perform periodic Registration Update procedures triggered by expiration of the periodic update timer (e.g., to notify the network that the UE 301 is still active), and perform a Registration Update procedure to update UE capability information or to re negotiate protocol parameters with the network, among others.
  • the AMF 321 may store one or more RM contexts for the UE 301, where each
  • the RM context is associated with a specific access to the network.
  • the RM context may be a data structure, database object, etc. that indicates or stores, inter alia, a registration state per access type and the periodic update timer.
  • the AMF 321 may also store a 5GC MM context that may be the same or similar to the (E)MM context discussed previously.
  • the AMF 321 may store a CE mode B Restriction parameter of the UE 301 in an associated MM context or RM context.
  • the AMF 321 may also derive the value, when needed, from the UE’s usage setting parameter already stored in the UE context (and/or MM/RM context).
  • CM may be used to establish and release a signaling connection between the UE
  • the signaling connection is used to enable NAS signaling exchange between the UE 301 and the CN 320, and comprises both the signaling connection between the UE and the AN (e.g., RRC connection or UE-N3IWF connection for non-3GPP access) and the N2 connection for the UE 301 between the AN (e.g., RAN 310) and the AMF 321.
  • the UE 301 may operate in one of two CM states, CM-IDLE mode or CM-CONNECTED mode.
  • the UE 301 When the UE 301 is operating in the CM- IDLE state/mode, the UE 301 may have no NAS signaling connection established with the AMF 321 over the N1 interface, and there may be (R)AN 310 signaling connection (e.g., N2 and/or N3 connections) for the UE 301.
  • the UE 301 When the UE 301 is operating in the CM-CONNECTED state/mode, the UE 301 may have an established NAS signaling connection with the AMF 321 over the N1 interface, and there may be a (R)AN 310 signaling connection (e.g., N2 and/or N3 connections) for the UE 301.
  • Establishment of an N2 connection between the (R)AN 310 and the AMF 321 may cause the UE 301 to transition from CM-IDLE mode to CM-CONNECTED mode, and the UE 301 may transition from the CM-CONNECTED mode to the CM-IDLE mode when N2 signaling between the (R)AN 310 and the AMF 321 is released.
  • the SMF 324 may be responsible for SM (e.g., session establishment, modify and release, including tunnel maintain between UPF and AN node); UE IP address allocation and management (including optional authorization); selection and control of UP function; configuring traffic steering at UPF to route traffic to proper destination; termination of interfaces toward policy control functions; controlling part of policy enforcement and QoS; lawful intercept (for SM events and interface to LI system); termination of SM parts of NAS messages; downlink data notification; initiating AN specific SM information, sent via AMF over N2 to AN; and determining SSC mode of a session.
  • SM e.g., session establishment, modify and release, including tunnel maintain between UPF and AN node
  • UE IP address allocation and management including optional authorization
  • selection and control of UP function configuring traffic steering at UPF to route traffic to proper destination; termination of interfaces toward policy control functions; controlling part of policy enforcement and QoS; lawful intercept (for SM events and interface to LI system); termination of SM parts of NAS messages
  • SM may refer to management of a PDU session
  • a PDU session or“session” may refer to a PDU connectivity service that provides or enables the exchange of PDUs between a UE 301 and a data network (DN) 303 identified by a Data Network Name (DNN).
  • PDU sessions may be established upon UE 301 request, modified upon UE 301 and 5GC 320 request, and released upon UE 301 and 5GC 320 request using NAS SM signaling exchanged over the N1 reference point between the UE 301 and the SMF 324.
  • the 5GC 320 may trigger a specific application in the UE 301.
  • the UE 301 may pass the trigger message (or relevant parts/information of the trigger message) to one or more identified applications in the UE 301.
  • the identified application(s) in the UE 301 may establish a PDU session to a specific DNN.
  • the SMF 324 may check whether the UE 301 requests are compliant with user subscription information associated with the UE 301. In this regard, the SMF 324 may retrieve and/or request to receive update notifications on SMF 324 level subscription data from the UDM 327.
  • the SMF 324 may include the following roaming functionality: handling local enforcement to apply QoS SLAs (VPLMN); charging data collection and charging interface (VPLMN); lawful intercept (in VPLMN for SM events and interface to LI system); and support for interaction with external DN for transport of signalling for PDU session authorization/authentication by external DN.
  • An N16 reference point between two SMFs 324 may be included in the system 300, which may be between another SMF 324 in a visited network and the SMF 324 in the home network in roaming scenarios.
  • the SMF 324 may exhibit the Nsmf service-based interface.
  • the NEF 323 may provide means for securely exposing the services and
  • the NEF 323 may authenticate, authorize, and/or throttle the AFs. NEF 323 may also translate information exchanged with the AF 328 and information exchanged with internal network functions. For example, the NEF 323 may translate between an AF-Service-Identifier and an internal 5GC information. NEF 323 may also receive information from other network functions (NFs) based on exposed capabilities of other network functions. This information may be stored at the NEF 323 as structured data, or at a data storage NF using standardized interfaces. The stored information can then be re-exposed by the NEF 323 to other NFs and AFs, and/or used for other purposes such as analytics. Additionally, the NEF 323 may exhibit an Nnef service-based interface.
  • NFs network functions
  • the NRF 325 may support service discovery functions, receive NF discovery requests from NF instances, and provide the information of the discovered NF instances to the NF instances. NRF 325 also maintains information of available NF instances and their supported services. As used herein, the terms“instantiate,”“instantiation,” and the like may refer to the creation of an instance, and an“instance” may refer to a concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during execution of program code. Additionally, the NRF 325 may exhibit the Nnrf service-based interface. [0137] The PCF 326 may provide policy rules to control plane function(s) to enforce them, and may also support unified policy framework to govern network behaviour.
  • the PCF 326 may also implement an FE to access subscription information relevant for policy decisions in a UDR of the UDM 327.
  • the PCF 326 may communicate with the AMF 321 via an N15 reference point between the PCF 326 and the AMF 321, which may include a PCF 326 in a visited network and the AMF 321 in case of roaming scenarios.
  • the system 300 and/or CN 320 may also include an N24 reference point between the PCF 326 (in the home network) and a PCF 326 in a visited network. Additionally, the PCF 326 may exhibit an Npcf service-based interface.
  • the UDM 327 may handle subscription-related information to support the
  • the UDM 327 may include two parts, an application FE and a UDR (the FE and UDR are not shown by Figure 3).
  • the UDR may store subscription data and policy data for the UDM
  • the Nudr service-based interface may be exhibited by the UDR 221 to allow the UDM 327, PCF 326, and NEF 323 to access a particular set of the stored data, as well as to read, update (e.g., add, modify), delete, and subscribe to notification of relevant data changes in the UDR.
  • the UDM may include a UDM-FE, which is in charge of processing credentials, location management, subscription management and so on. Several different front ends may serve the same user in different transactions.
  • the UDM- FE accesses subscription information stored in the UDR and performs authentication credential processing, user identification handling, access authorization,
  • the UDR may interact with the SMF 324 via an N10 reference point between the UDM 327 and the SMF 324.
  • UDM 327 may also support SMS management, wherein an SMS-FE implements the similar application logic as discussed previously. Additionally, the UDM 327 may exhibit the Nudm service-based interface.
  • the AF 328 may provide application influence on traffic routing, provide access to the NCE, and interact with the policy framework for policy control.
  • the NCE may be a mechanism that allows the 5GC 320 and AF 328 to provide information to each other via NEF 323, which may be used for edge computing implementations. In such
  • the network operator and third party services may be hosted close to the UE 301 access point of attachment to achieve an efficient service delivery through the reduced end-to-end latency and load on the transport network.
  • the 5GC may select a UPF 302 close to the UE 301 and execute traffic steering from the UPF 302 to DN 303 via the N6 interface. This may be based on the UE subscription data, UE location, and information provided by the AF 328. In this way, the AF 328 may influence UPF (re)selection and traffic routing.
  • the network operator may permit AF 328 to interact directly with relevant NFs. Additionally, the AF 328 may exhibit an Naf service-based interface.
  • the NSSF 329 may select a set of network slice instances serving the UE 301.
  • the NSSF 329 may also determine allowed NSSAI and the mapping to the subscribed S- NSSAIs, if needed.
  • the NSSF 329 may also determine the AMF set to be used to serve the UE 301, or a list of candidate AMF(s) 321 based on a suitable configuration and possibly by querying the NRF 325.
  • the selection of a set of network slice instances for the UE 301 may be triggered by the AMF 321 with which the UE 301 is registered by interacting with the NSSF 329, which may lead to a change of AMF 321.
  • the NSSF 329 may interact with the AMF 321 via an N22 reference point between AMF 321 and NSSF 329; and may communicate with another NSSF 329 in a visited network via an N31 reference point (not shown by Figure 3). Additionally, the NSSF 329 may exhibit an Nnssf service-based interface.
  • the CN 320 may include an SMSF, which may be
  • the SMS may also interact with AMF 321 and UDM 327 for a notification procedure that the UE 301 is available for SMS transfer (e.g., set a UE not reachable flag, and notifying UDM 327 when UE 301 is available for SMS).
  • the CN 120 may also include other elements that are not shown by Figure 3, such as a Data Storage system/architecture, a 5G-EIR, a SEPP, and the like.
  • the Data Storage system may include a SDSF, an UDSF, and/or the like.
  • Any NF may store and retrieve unstructured data into/from the UDSF (e.g., UE contexts), via N18 reference point between any NF and the UDSF (not shown by Figure 3).
  • Individual NFs may share a UDSF for storing their respective unstructured data or individual NFs may each have their own UDSF located at or near the individual NFs. Additionally, the UDSF may exhibit an Nudsf service-based interface (not shown by Figure 3).
  • the 5G-EIR may be an NF that checks the status of PEI for determining whether particular equipment/entities are blacklisted from the network; and the SEPP may be a non-transparent proxy that performs topology hiding, message filtering, and policing on inter-PLMN control plane interfaces.
  • the CN 320 may include an Nx interface, which is an inter-CN interface between the MME (e.g., MME 221) and the AMF 321 in order to enable interworking between CN 320 and CN 220.
  • Nx interface is an inter-CN interface between the MME (e.g., MME 221) and the AMF 321 in order to enable interworking between CN 320 and CN 220.
  • Other example interfaces/reference points may include an N5g-EIR service-based interface exhibited by a 5G-EIR, an N27 reference point between the NRF in the visited network and the NRF in the home network; and an N31 reference point between the NSSF in the visited network and the NSSF in the home network.
  • FIG. 4 illustrates an example of infrastructure equipment 400 in accordance with various embodiments.
  • the infrastructure equipment 400 (or“system 400”) may be implemented as a base station, radio head, RAN node such as the RAN nodes 111 and/or AP 106 shown and described previously, application server(s) 130, and/or any other element/device discussed herein.
  • the system 400 could be
  • the system 400 includes application circuitry 405, baseband circuitry 410, one or more radio front end modules (RFEMs) 415, memory circuitry 420, power management integrated circuitry (PMIC) 425, power tee circuitry 430, network controller circuitry 435, network interface connector 440, satellite positioning circuitry 445, and user interface 450.
  • the device 400 may include additional elements such as, for example, memory/storage, display, camera, sensor, or input/output (I/O) interface.
  • the components described below may be included in more than one device. For example, said circuitries may be separately included in more than one device for CRAN, vBBU, or other like implementations.
  • Application circuitry 405 includes circuitry such as, but not limited to one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one or more of low drop-out voltage regulators (LDOs), interrupt controllers, serial interfaces such as SPI, I 2 C or universal programmable serial interface module, real time clock (RTC), timer-counters including interval and watchdog timers, general purpose input/output (I/O or IO), memory card controllers such as Secure Digital (SD) MultiMediaCard (MMC) or similar, Universal Serial Bus (USB) interfaces, Mobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI) interfaces and Joint Test Access Group (JTAG) test access ports.
  • the processors (or cores) of the application circuitry 405 may be coupled with or may include memory/storage elements and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory/storage to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the system 400.
  • LDOs low drop-out voltage regulators
  • interrupt controllers serial interfaces such as SPI, I 2 C or universal programmable serial interface
  • the memory/storage elements may be on-chip memory circuitry, which may include any suitable volatile and/or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM, Flash memory, solid-state memory, and/or any other type of memory device technology, such as those discussed herein.
  • volatile and/or non-volatile memory such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM, Flash memory, solid-state memory, and/or any other type of memory device technology, such as those discussed herein.
  • the processor(s) of application circuitry 405 may include, for example, one or more processor cores (CPUs), one or more application processors, one or more graphics processing units (GPUs), one or more reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processors, one or more Acorn RISC Machine (ARM) processors, one or more complex instruction set computing (CISC) processors, one or more digital signal processors (DSP), one or more FPGAs, one or more PLDs, one or more ASICs, one or more
  • processor cores CPUs
  • application processors one or more graphics processing units (GPUs)
  • RISC reduced instruction set computing
  • ARM Acorn RISC Machine
  • CISC complex instruction set computing
  • DSP digital signal processors
  • FPGAs field-programmable gate arrays
  • PLDs one or more DSP
  • microprocessors or controllers or any suitable combination thereof.
  • controllers or any suitable combination thereof.
  • the application circuitry 405 may comprise, or may be, a special-purpose processor/controller to operate according to the various embodiments herein.
  • the processor(s) of application circuitry 405 may include one or more Intel Pentium®, Core®, or Xeon® processor(s); Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Ryzen® processor(s), Accelerated Processing Units (APUs), or Epyc® processors; ARM-based processor(s) licensed from ARM Holdings, Ltd. such as the ARM Cortex-A family of processors and the ThunderX2® provided by Cavium(TM), Inc.; a MIPS-based design from MIPS Technologies, Inc. such as MIPS Warrior P-class processors; and/or the like.
  • Intel Pentium®, Core®, or Xeon® processor(s) Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Ryzen® processor(s), Accelerated Processing Units (APUs), or Epyc® processors
  • the system 400 may not utilize application circuitry 405, and instead may include a special-purpose processor/controller to process IP data received from an EPC or 5GC, for example.
  • the application circuitry 405 may include one or more hardware accelerators, which may be microprocessors, programmable processing devices, or the like.
  • the one or more hardware accelerators may include, for example, computer vision (CV) and/or deep learning (DL) accelerators.
  • the programmable processing devices may be one or more a field-programmable devices (FPDs) such as field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and the like; programmable logic devices (PLDs) such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high-capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), and the like; ASICs such as structured ASICs and the like; programmable SoCs (PSoCs); and the like.
  • FPDs field-programmable devices
  • PLDs programmable logic devices
  • CPLDs complex PLDs
  • HPLDs high-capacity PLDs
  • ASICs such as structured ASICs and the like
  • PSoCs programmable SoCs
  • the circuitry of application circuitry 405 may comprise logic blocks or logic fabric, and other interconnected resources that may be programmed to perform various functions, such as the procedures, methods, functions, etc. of the various embodiments discussed herein.
  • the circuitry of application circuitry 405 may include memory cells (e.g.,
  • EPROM electrically erasable programmable read-only memory
  • EEPROM electrically erasable programmable read-only memory
  • flash memory static memory (e.g., static random access memory (SRAM), anti-fuses, etc.)) used to store logic blocks, logic fabric, data, etc. in look-up-tables (LUTs) and the like.
  • static memory e.g., static random access memory (SRAM), anti-fuses, etc.
  • the baseband circuitry 410 may be implemented, for example, as a solder-down substrate including one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board or a multi-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits.
  • the various hardware electronic elements of baseband circuitry 410 are discussed infra with regard to Figure 6.
  • User interface circuitry 450 may include one or more user interfaces designed to enable user interaction with the system 400 or peripheral component interfaces designed to enable peripheral component interaction with the system 400.
  • User interfaces may include, but are not limited to, one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), one or more indicators (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)), a physical keyboard or keypad, a mouse, a touchpad, a touchscreen, speakers or other audio emitting devices, microphones, a printer, a scanner, a headset, a display screen or display device, etc.
  • Peripheral component interfaces may include, but are not limited to, a nonvolatile memory port, a universal serial bus (USB) port, an audio jack, a power supply interface, etc.
  • USB universal serial bus
  • the radio front end modules (RFEMs) 415 may comprise a millimeter wave
  • mmWave radio frequency integrated circuits
  • RFICs radio frequency integrated circuits
  • the one or more sub-mmWave RFICs may be physically separated from the mmWave RFEM.
  • the RFICs may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (see e.g., antenna array 611 of Figure 6 infra), and the RFEM may be connected to multiple antennas.
  • both mmWave and sub-mmWave radio functions may be implemented in the same physical RFEM 415, which incorporates both mmWave antennas and sub-mmWave.
  • the memory circuitry 420 may include one or more of volatile memory including dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and/or synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), and nonvolatile memory (NVM) including high-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as Flash memory), phase change random access memory (PRAM), magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), etc., and may incorporate the three-dimensional (3D) cross-point (XPOINT) memories from Intel® and Micron®.
  • Memory circuitry 420 may be implemented as one or more of solder down packaged integrated circuits, socketed memory modules and plug-in memory cards.
  • the PMIC 425 may include voltage regulators, surge protectors, power alarm
  • the power alarm detection circuitry may detect one or more of brown out (under-voltage) and surge (over-voltage) conditions.
  • the power tee circuitry 430 may provide for electrical power drawn from a network cable to provide both power supply and data connectivity to the infrastructure equipment 400 using a single cable.
  • the network controller circuitry 435 may provide connectivity to a network using a standard network interface protocol such as Ethernet, Ethernet over GRE Tunnels, Ethernet over Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), or some other suitable protocol.
  • Network connectivity may be provided to/from the infrastructure equipment 400 via network interface connector 440 using a physical connection, which may be electrical (commonly referred to as a“copper interconnect”), optical, or wireless.
  • the network controller circuitry 435 may include one or more dedicated processors and/or FPGAs to communicate using one or more of the aforementioned protocols.
  • the network controller circuitry 435 may include multiple controllers to provide connectivity to other networks using the same or different protocols.
  • the positioning circuitry 445 includes circuitry to receive and decode signals transmitted/broadcasted by a positioning network of a global navigation satellite system (GNSS).
  • GNSS global navigation satellite system
  • Examples of navigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) include United States’ Global Positioning System (GPS), Russia’s Global Navigation System (GLONASS), the European Union’s Galileo system, China’s BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, a regional navigation system or GNSS augmentation system (e.g., Navigation with Indian Constellation (NAVIC), Japan’s Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), France’s Doppler Orbitography and Radio-positioning Integrated by Satellite (DORIS), etc.), or the like.
  • GPS Global Positioning System
  • GLONASS Global Navigation System
  • Galileo system China
  • BeiDou Navigation Satellite System e.g., Navigation with Indian Constellation (NAVIC), Japan’s Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), France’s Doppler
  • the positioning circuitry 445 comprises various hardware elements (e.g., including hardware devices such as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna elements, and the like to facilitate OTA communications) to communicate with components of a positioning network, such as navigation satellite constellation nodes.
  • the positioning circuitry 445 may include a Micro-Technology for Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (Micro-PNT) IC that uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking/estimation without GNSS assistance.
  • the positioning circuitry 445 may also be part of, or interact with, the baseband circuitry 410 and/or RFEMs 415 to communicate with the nodes and components of the positioning network.
  • the positioning circuitry 445 may also provide position data and/or time data to the application circuitry 405, which may use the data to synchronize operations with various infrastructure (e.g., RAN nodes 111, etc.), or the like.
  • interface circuitry may include any number of bus and/or interconnect (IX) technologies such as industry standard architecture (ISA), extended ISA (EISA), peripheral component interconnect (PCI), peripheral component interconnect extended (PCIx), PCI express (PCIe), or any number of other technologies.
  • IX interconnect
  • ISA industry standard architecture
  • EISA extended ISA
  • PCI peripheral component interconnect
  • PCIx peripheral component interconnect extended
  • PCIe PCI express
  • the bus/IX may be a proprietary bus, for example, used in a SoC based system.
  • Other bus/IX systems may be included, such as an I 2 C interface, an SPI interface, point to point interfaces, and a power bus, among others.
  • FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a platform 500 (or“device 500”) in accordance with various embodiments.
  • the computer platform 500 may be suitable for use as UEs 101, 102, 201, application servers 130, and/or any other element/device discussed herein.
  • the platform 500 may include any combinations of the components shown in the example.
  • the components of platform 500 may be implemented as integrated circuits (ICs), portions thereof, discrete electronic devices, or other modules, logic, hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof adapted in the computer platform 500, or as components otherwise incorporated within a chassis of a larger system.
  • the block diagram of Figure 5 is intended to show a high level view of components of the computer platform 500. However, some of the components shown may be omitted, additional components may be present, and different arrangement of the components shown may occur in other implementations.
  • Application circuitry 505 includes circuitry such as, but not limited to one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one or more of LDOs, interrupt controllers, serial interfaces such as SPI, I 2 C or universal programmable serial interface module, RTC, timer-counters including interval and watchdog timers, general purpose I/O, memory card controllers such as SD MMC or similar, USB interfaces, MIPI interfaces, and JTAG test access ports.
  • the processors (or cores) of the application circuitry 505 may be coupled with or may include memory/storage elements and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory/storage to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the system 500.
  • the memory/storage elements may be on-chip memory circuitry, which may include any suitable volatile and/or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM,
  • EEPROM electrically erasable programmable read-only memory
  • Flash memory solid-state memory
  • solid-state memory any other type of memory device technology, such as those discussed herein.
  • the processor(s) of application circuitry 405 may include, for example, one or more processor cores, one or more application processors, one or more GPUs, one or more RISC processors, one or more ARM processors, one or more CISC processors, one or more DSP, one or more FPGAs, one or more PLDs, one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors or controllers, a multithreaded processor, an ultra-low voltage processor, an embedded processor, some other known processing element, or any suitable combination thereof.
  • the application circuitry 405 may comprise, or may be, a special-purpose processor/controller to operate according to the various embodiments herein.
  • the processor(s) of application circuitry 505 may include an Intel®
  • the processors of the application circuitry 505 may also be one or more of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Ryzen® processor(s) or Accelerated Processing Units (APUs); A5-A9 processor(s) from Apple® Inc., QualcommTM processor(s) from Qualcomm® Technologies, Inc., Texas Instruments, Inc.® Open Multimedia Applications Platform (OMAP)TM processor(s); a MIPS-based design from MIPS Technologies, Inc.
  • AMD Advanced Micro Devices
  • APUs Accelerated Processing Units
  • A5-A9 processor(s) from Apple® Inc.
  • SnapdragonTM processor(s) from Qualcomm® Technologies, Inc. Texas Instruments, Inc.
  • OMAP Open Multimedia Applications Platform
  • MIPS Warrior M-class such as MIPS Warrior M-class, Warrior I-class, and Warrior P-class processors
  • ARM-based design licensed from ARM Holdings, Ltd. such as the ARM Cortex- A, Cortex-R, and Cortex-M family of processors; or the like.
  • the application circuitry 505 may be a part of a system on a chip (SoC) in which the application circuitry 505 and other components are formed into a single integrated circuit, or a single package, such as the EdisonTM or GalileoTM SoC boards from Intel® Corporation.
  • SoC system on a chip
  • application circuitry 505 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more a field-programmable devices (FPDs) such as FPGAs and the like; programmable logic devices (PLDs) such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high- capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), and the like; ASICs such as structured ASICs and the like; programmable SoCs (PSoCs); and the like.
  • FPDs field-programmable devices
  • PLDs programmable logic devices
  • CPLDs complex PLDs
  • HPLDs high- capacity PLDs
  • ASICs such as structured ASICs and the like
  • PSoCs programmable SoCs
  • the circuitry of application circuitry 505 may comprise logic blocks or logic fabric, and other
  • the circuitry of application circuitry 505 may include memory cells (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, static memory (e.g., static random access memory (SRAM), anti-fuses, etc.)) used to store logic blocks, logic fabric, data, etc. in look-up tables (LUTs) and the like.
  • memory cells e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, static memory (e.g., static random access memory (SRAM), anti-fuses, etc.)
  • SRAM static random access memory
  • LUTs look-up tables
  • the baseband circuitry 510 may be implemented, for example, as a solder-down substrate including one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board or a multi-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits.
  • the various hardware electronic elements of baseband circuitry 510 are discussed infra with regard to Figure 6.
  • the RFEMs 515 may comprise a millimeter wave (mmWave) RFEM and one or more sub-mmWave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs).
  • mmWave millimeter wave
  • RFICs radio frequency integrated circuits
  • the one or more sub-mmWave RFICs may be physically separated from the mmWave RFEM.
  • the RFICs may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (see e.g., antenna array 611 of Figure 6 infra), and the RFEM may be connected to multiple antennas.
  • both mmWave and sub- mmWave radio functions may be implemented in the same physical RFEM 515, which incorporates both mmWave antennas and sub-mmWave.
  • the memory circuitry 520 may include any number and type of memory devices used to provide for a given amount of system memory.
  • the memory circuitry 520 may include one or more of volatile memory including random access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM) and/or synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM), and nonvolatile memory (NVM) including high-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as Flash memory), phase change random access memory (PRAM), magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), etc.
  • RAM random access memory
  • DRAM dynamic RAM
  • SDRAM synchronous dynamic RAM
  • NVM nonvolatile memory
  • Flash memory high-speed electrically erasable memory
  • PRAM phase change random access memory
  • MRAM magnetoresistive random access memory
  • the memory circuitry 520 may be developed in accordance with a Joint Electron Devices Engineering Council (JEDEC) low power double data rate (LPDDR)-based design, such as LPDDR2, LPDDR3, LPDDR4, or the like.
  • JEDEC Joint Electron Device
  • Memory circuitry 520 may be implemented as one or more of solder down packaged integrated circuits, single die package (SDP), dual die package (DDP) or quad die package (Q17P), socketed memory modules, dual inline memory modules (DIMMs) including microDIMMs or MiniDIMMs, and/or soldered onto a motherboard via a ball grid array (BGA).
  • the memory circuitry 520 may be on-die memory or registers associated with the application circuitry 505.
  • memory circuitry 520 may include one or more mass storage devices, which may include, inter alia, a solid state disk drive (SSDD), hard disk drive (HDD), a micro HDD, resistance change memories, phase change memories, holographic memories, or chemical memories, among others.
  • SSDD solid state disk drive
  • HDD hard disk drive
  • micro HDD micro HDD
  • resistance change memories phase change memories
  • holographic memories holographic memories
  • chemical memories among others.
  • the computer platform 500 may incorporate the three-dimensional (3D) cross-point (XPOINT) memories from Intel® and Micron®.
  • Removable memory circuitry 523 may include devices, circuitry, and
  • portable data storage devices may be used for mass storage purposes, and may include, for example, flash memory cards (e.g., Secure Digital (SD) cards, microSD cards, xD picture cards, and the like), and USB flash drives, optical discs, external HDDs, and the like.
  • flash memory cards e.g., Secure Digital (SD) cards, microSD cards, xD picture cards, and the like
  • USB flash drives e.g., USB drives, optical discs, external HDDs, and the like.
  • the platform 500 may also include interface circuitry (not shown) that is used to connect external devices with the platform 500.
  • the external devices connected to the platform 500 via the interface circuitry include sensor circuitry 521 and electro- mechanical components (EMCs) 522, as well as removable memory devices coupled to removable memory circuitry 523.
  • EMCs electro- mechanical components
  • the sensor circuitry 521 include devices, modules, or subsystems whose purpose is to detect events or changes in its environment and send the information (sensor data) about the detected events to some other a device, module, subsystem, etc.
  • sensors include, inter alia, inertia measurement units (IMUs) comprising
  • accelerometers gyroscopes, and/or magnetometers
  • MEMS microelectromechanical systems
  • NEMS nanoelectromechanical systems
  • level sensors flow sensors; temperature sensors (e.g., thermistors); pressure sensors; barometric pressure sensors; gravimeters; altimeters; image capture devices (e.g., cameras or lensless apertures); light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensors; proximity sensors (e.g., infrared radiation detector and the like), depth sensors, ambient light sensors, ultrasonic transceivers; microphones or other like audio capture devices; etc.
  • MEMS microelectromechanical systems
  • NEMS nanoelectromechanical systems
  • EMCs 522 include devices, modules, or subsystems whose purpose is to enable platform 500 to change its state, position, and/or orientation, or move or control a mechanism or (sub)system. Additionally, EMCs 522 may be configured to generate and send messages/signalling to other components of the platform 500 to indicate a current state of the EMCs 522.
  • EMCs 522 examples include one or more power switches, relays including electromechanical relays (EMRs) and/or solid state relays (SSRs), actuators (e.g., valve actuators, etc.), an audible sound generator, a visual warning device, motors (e.g., DC motors, stepper motors, etc.), wheels, thrusters, propellers, claws, clamps, hooks, and/or other like electro-mechanical components.
  • platform 500 is configured to operate one or more EMCs 522 based on one or more captured events and/or instructions or control signals received from a service provider and/or various clients.
  • the interface circuitry may connect the platform 500 with positioning circuitry 545.
  • the positioning circuitry 545 includes circuitry to receive and decode signals transmitted/broadcasted by a positioning network of a GNSS.
  • the positioning circuitry 545 comprises various hardware elements (e.g., including hardware devices such as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna elements, and the like to facilitate OTA communications) to communicate with components of a positioning network, such as navigation satellite constellation nodes.
  • the positioning circuitry 545 may include a Micro-PNT IC that uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking/estimation without GNSS assistance.
  • the positioning circuitry 545 may also be part of, or interact with, the baseband circuitry 410 and/or RFEMs 515 to communicate with the nodes and components of the positioning network.
  • the positioning circuitry 545 may also provide position data and/or time data to the application circuitry 505, which may use the data to synchronize operations with various infrastructure (e.g., radio base stations), for turn-by-tum navigation applications, or the like
  • the interface circuitry may connect the platform 500 with Near-Field Communication (NFC) circuitry 540.
  • NFC circuitry 540 is configured to provide contactless, short-range communications based on radio frequency identification (RFID) standards, wherein magnetic field induction is used to enable communication between NFC circuitry 540 and NFC-enabled devices external to the platform 500 (e.g., an“NFC touchpoinf’).
  • RFID radio frequency identification
  • NFC circuitry 540 comprises an NFC controller coupled with an antenna element and a processor coupled with the NFC controller.
  • the NFC controller may be a chip/IC providing NFC functionalities to the NFC circuitry 540 by executing NFC controller firmware and an NFC stack.
  • the NFC stack may be executed by the processor to control the NFC controller, and the NFC controller firmware may be executed by the NFC controller to control the antenna element to emit short-range RF signals.
  • the RF signals may power a passive NFC tag (e.g., a microchip embedded in a sticker or wristband) to transmit stored data to the NFC circuitry 540, or initiate data transfer between the NFC circuitry 540 and another active NFC device (e.g., a smartphone or an NFC-enabled POS terminal) that is proximate to the platform 500.
  • a passive NFC tag e.g., a microchip embedded in a sticker or wristband
  • another active NFC device e.g., a smartphone or an NFC-enabled POS terminal
  • the driver circuitry 546 may include software and hardware elements that operate to control particular devices that are embedded in the platform 500, attached to the platform 500, or otherwise communicatively coupled with the platform 500.
  • the driver circuitry 546 may include individual drivers allowing other components of the platform 500 to interact with or control various input/output (I/O) devices that may be present within, or connected to, the platform 500.
  • I/O input/output
  • driver circuitry 546 may include a display driver to control and allow access to a display device, a touchscreen driver to control and allow access to a touchscreen interface of the platform 500, sensor drivers to obtain sensor readings of sensor circuitry 521 and control and allow access to sensor circuitry 521, EMC drivers to obtain actuator positions of the EMCs 522 and/or control and allow access to the EMCs 522, a camera driver to control and allow access to an embedded image capture device, audio drivers to control and allow access to one or more audio devices.
  • a display driver to control and allow access to a display device
  • a touchscreen driver to control and allow access to a touchscreen interface of the platform 500
  • sensor drivers to obtain sensor readings of sensor circuitry 521 and control and allow access to sensor circuitry 521
  • EMC drivers to obtain actuator positions of the EMCs 522 and/or control and allow access to the EMCs 522
  • a camera driver to control and allow access to an embedded image capture device
  • audio drivers to control and allow access to one or more audio devices.
  • the power management integrated circuitry (PMIC) 525 (also referred to as PMIC) 525 (also referred to as PMIC).
  • power management circuitry 525 may manage power provided to various components of the platform 500.
  • the PMIC 525 may control power-source selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-to-DC conversion.
  • the PMIC 525 may often be included when the platform 500 is capable of being powered by a battery 530, for example, when the device is included in a UE 101, 102, 201.
  • the PMIC 525 may control, or otherwise be part of, various power saving mechanisms of the platform 500. For example, if the platform 500 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 platform 500 may power down for brief intervals of time and thus save power. If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, then the platform 500 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.
  • DRX Discontinuous Reception Mode
  • the platform 500 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 platform 500 may not receive data in this state; in order to receive data, it must transition back to RRC Connected state.
  • 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.
  • a battery 530 may power the platform 500, although in some examples the
  • the platform 500 may be mounted deployed in a fixed location, and may have a power supply coupled to an electrical grid.
  • the battery 530 may be a lithium ion battery, a metal-air battery, such as a zinc-air battery, an aluminum-air battery, a lithium-air battery, and the like. In some implementations, such as in V2X applications, the battery 530 may be a typical lead-acid automotive battery.
  • the battery 530 may be a“smart battery,” which
  • the BMS may be included in the platform 500 to track the state of charge (SoCh) of the battery 530.
  • the BMS may be used to monitor other parameters of the battery 530 to provide failure predictions, such as the state of health (SoH) and the state of function (SoF) of the battery 530.
  • the BMS may communicate the information of the battery 530 to the application circuitry 505 or other components of the platform 500.
  • the BMS may also include an analog-to-digital (ADC) convertor that allows the application circuitry 505 to directly monitor the voltage of the battery 530 or the current flow from the battery 530.
  • the battery parameters may be used to determine actions that the platform 500 may perform, such as transmission frequency, network operation, sensing frequency, and the like.
  • a power block, or other power supply coupled to an electrical grid may be any power block, or other power supply coupled to an electrical grid.
  • the power block XS30 may be replaced with a wireless power receiver to obtain the power wirelessly, for example, through a loop antenna in the computer platform 500.
  • a wireless battery charging circuit may be included in the BMS. The specific charging circuits chosen may depend on the size of the battery 530, and thus, the current required. The charging may be performed using the Airfuel standard promulgated by the Airfuel Alliance, the Qi wireless charging standard promulgated by the Wireless Power
  • User interface circuitry 550 includes various input/output (I/O) devices present within, or connected to, the platform 500, and includes one or more user interfaces designed to enable user interaction with the platform 500 and/or peripheral
  • I/O input/output
  • the user interface circuitry 550 includes input device circuitry and output device circuitry.
  • Input device circuitry includes any physical or virtual means for accepting an input including, inter alia, one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), a physical keyboard, keypad, mouse, touchpad, touchscreen, microphones, scanner, headset, and/or the like.
  • the output device circuitry includes any physical or virtual means for showing information or otherwise conveying information, such as sensor readings, actuator position(s), or other like information.
  • Output device circuitry may include any number and/or combinations of audio or visual display, including, inter alia, one or more simple visual outputs/indicators (e.g., binary status indicators (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)) and multi -character visual outputs, or more complex outputs such as display devices or touchscreens (e.g., Liquid Chrystal Displays (LCD), LED displays, quantum dot displays, projectors, etc.), with the output of characters, graphics, multimedia objects, and the like being generated or produced from the operation of the platform 500.
  • the output device circuitry may also include speakers or other audio emitting devices, printer(s), and/or the like.
  • the sensor circuitry 521 may be used as the input device circuitry (e.g., an image capture device, motion capture device, or the like) and one or more EMCs may be used as the output device circuitry (e.g., an actuator to provide haptic feedback or the like).
  • EMCs e.g., an actuator to provide haptic feedback or the like.
  • NFC circuitry comprising an NFC controller coupled with an antenna element and a processing device may be included to read electronic tags and/or connect with another NFC-enabled device.
  • Peripheral component interfaces may include, but are not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, a USB port, an audio jack, a power supply interface, etc.
  • the components of platform 500 may communicate with one another using a suitable bus or interconnect (IX) technology, which may include any number of technologies, including ISA, EISA, PCI, PCIx, PCIe, a Time-Trigger Protocol (TTP) system, a FlexRay system, or any number of other technologies.
  • the bus/IX may be a proprietary bus/IX, for example, used in a SoC based system.
  • Other bus/IX systems may be included, such as an I 2 C interface, an SPI interface, point-to-point interfaces, and a power bus, among others.
  • FIG. 6 illustrates example components of baseband circuitry 610 and radio front end modules (RFEM) 615 in accordance with various embodiments.
  • the baseband circuitry 610 corresponds to the baseband circuitry 410 and 510 of Figures 4 and 5, respectively.
  • the RFEM 615 corresponds to the RFEM 415 and 515 of Figures 4 and 5, respectively.
  • the RFEMs 615 may include Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry 606, front-end module (FEM) circuitry 608, antenna array 611 coupled together at least as shown.
  • RF Radio Frequency
  • FEM front-end module
  • the baseband circuitry 610 includes circuitry and/or control logic configured to carry out various radio/network protocol and radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry 606.
  • the radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal
  • modulation/demodulation circuitry of the baseband circuitry 610 may include Fast-Fourier Transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping/demapping functionality.
  • encoding/decoding circuitry of the baseband circuitry 610 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.
  • the baseband circuitry 610 is configured to process baseband signals received from a receive signal path of the RF circuitry 606 and to generate baseband signals for a transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 606.
  • the baseband circuitry 610 is configured to interface with application circuitry 405/505 (see Figures 4 and 5) for generation and processing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the RF circuitry 606.
  • the baseband circuitry 610 may handle various radio control functions.
  • the aforementioned circuitry and/or control logic of the baseband circuitry 610 may include one or more single or multi-core processors.
  • the one or more processors may include a 3G baseband processor 604 A, a 4G/LTE baseband processor 604B, a 5G/NR baseband processor 604C, or some other baseband processor(s) 604D for other existing generations, generations in development or to be developed in the future (e.g., sixth generation (6G), etc.).
  • 6G sixth generation
  • some or all of the functionality of baseband processors 604 A-D may be included in modules stored in the memory 604G and executed via a Central Processing Unit (CPU) 604E.
  • CPU Central Processing Unit
  • baseband processors 604A-D may be provided as hardware accelerators (e.g., FPGAs, ASICs, etc.) loaded with the appropriate bit streams or logic blocks stored in respective memory cells.
  • the memory 604G may store program code of a real-time OS (RTOS), which when executed by the CPU 604E (or other baseband processor), is to cause the CPU 604E (or other baseband processor) to manage resources of the baseband circuitry 610, schedule tasks, etc.
  • RTOS real-time OS
  • RTOS may include Operating System Embedded (OSE)TM provided by Enea®, Nucleus RTOSTM provided by Mentor Graphics®, Versatile Real-Time Executive (VRTX) provided by Mentor Graphics®, ThreadXTM provided by Express Logic®, FreeRTOS, REX OS provided by Qualcomm®, OKL4 provided by Open Kernel (OK) Labs®, or any other suitable RTOS, such as those discussed herein.
  • OSE Operating System Embedded
  • VRTX Versatile Real-Time Executive
  • ThreadXTM provided by Express Logic®
  • FreeRTOS REX OS provided by Qualcomm®
  • OKL4 provided by Open Kernel (OK) Labs®
  • the baseband circuitry 610 includes one or more audio digital signal processor(s) (DSP)
  • the audio DSP(s) 604F include elements for compression/decompression and echo cancellation and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments.
  • each of the processors 604A-604E include respective
  • the baseband circuitry 610 may further include one or more interfaces to communicatively couple to other circuitries/devices, such as an interface to send/receive data to/from memory external to the baseband circuitry 610; an application circuitry interface to send/receive data to/from the application circuitry 405/505 of FIGS. 4-XT); an RF circuitry interface to
  • RF circuitry 606 of Figure 6 send/receive data to/from RF circuitry 606 of Figure 6; a wireless hardware connectivity interface to send/receive data to/from one or more wireless hardware elements (e.g., Near Field Communication (NFC) components, Bluetooth®/ Bluetooth® Low Energy components, Wi-Fi® components, and/or the like); and a power management interface to send/receive power or control signals to/from the PMIC 525.
  • NFC Near Field Communication
  • baseband circuitry 610 comprises one or more digital baseband systems, which are coupled with one another via an interconnect subsystem and to a CPU subsystem, an audio subsystem, and an interface subsystem.
  • the digital baseband subsystems may also be coupled to a digital baseband interface and a mixed-signal baseband subsystem via another interconnect subsystem.
  • Each of the interconnect subsystems may include a bus system, point-to-point connections, network-on-chip (NOC) structures, and/or some other suitable bus or interconnect technology, such as those discussed herein.
  • the audio subsystem may include DSP circuitry, buffer memory, program memory, speech processing accelerator circuitry, data converter circuitry such as analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converter circuitry, analog circuitry including one or more of amplifiers and filters, and/or other like components.
  • baseband circuitry 610 may include protocol processing circuitry with one or more instances of control circuitry (not shown) to provide control functions for the digital baseband circuitry and/or radio frequency circuitry (e.g., the radio front end modules [0184] Although not shown by Figure 6, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry
  • 610 includes individual processing device(s) to operate one or more wireless
  • the protocol processing circuitry operates or implements various protocol layers/entities of one or more wireless communication protocols.
  • the protocol processing circuitry may operate LTE protocol entities and/or 5G/NR protocol entities when the baseband circuitry 610 and/or RF circuitry 606 are part of mmWave communication circuitry or some other suitable cellular communication circuitry.
  • the protocol processing circuitry would operate MAC, RLC, PDCP, SDAP, RRC, and NAS functions.
  • the protocol processing circuitry may operate one or more IEEE-based protocols when the baseband circuitry 610 and/or RF circuitry 606 are part of a Wi-Fi communication system.
  • the protocol processing circuitry would operate Wi-Fi MAC and logical link control (LLC) functions.
  • the protocol processing circuitry may include one or more memory structures (e.g., 604G) to store program code and data for operating the protocol functions, as well as one or more processing cores to execute the program code and perform various operations using the data.
  • the baseband circuitry 610 may also support radio communications for more than one wireless protocol.
  • the various hardware elements of the baseband circuitry 610 discussed herein may be implemented, for example, as a solder-down substrate including one or more integrated circuits (ICs), a single packaged IC soldered to a main circuit board or a multi chip module containing two or more ICs.
  • the components of the baseband circuitry 610 may be suitably combined in a single chip or chipset, or disposed on a same circuit board.
  • some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry 610 and RF circuitry 606 may be implemented together such as, for example, a system on a chip (SoC) or System-in-Package (SiP).
  • SoC system on a chip
  • SiP System-in-Package
  • the constituent components of the baseband circuitry 610 may be implemented as a separate SoC that is communicatively coupled with and RF circuitry 606 (or multiple instances of RF circuitry 606).
  • some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry 610 and the application circuitry 405/505 may be implemented together as individual SoCs mounted to a same circuit board (e.g., a“multi-chip package”).
  • the baseband circuitry 610 may provide for
  • the baseband circuitry 610 may support communication with an E-UTRAN or other WMAN, a WLAN, a WPAN.
  • Embodiments in which the baseband circuitry 610 is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry.
  • RF circuitry 606 may enable communication with wireless networks
  • the RF circuitry 606 may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with the wireless network.
  • RF circuitry 606 may include a receive signal path, which may include circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 608 and provide baseband signals to the baseband circuitry 610.
  • RF circuitry 606 may also include a transmit signal path, which may include circuitry to up-convert baseband signals provided by the baseband circuitry 610 and provide RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 608 for transmission.
  • the receive signal path of the RF circuitry 606 may include mixer circuitry 606a, amplifier circuitry 606b and filter circuitry 606c.
  • the transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 606 may include filter circuitry 606c and mixer circuitry 606a.
  • RF circuitry 606 may also include synthesizer circuitry 606d for synthesizing a frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 606a of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path.
  • the mixer circuitry 606a of the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 608 based on the synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuitry 606d.
  • the amplifier circuitry 606b may be configured to amplify the down-converted signals and the filter circuitry 606c 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 610 for further processing.
  • the output baseband signals may be zero-frequency baseband signals, although this is not a requirement.
  • mixer circuitry 606a of the receive signal path may comprise passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.
  • the mixer circuitry 606a of the transmit signal path may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuitry 606d to generate RF output signals for the FEM circuitry 608.
  • the baseband signals may be provided by the baseband circuitry 610 and may be filtered by filter circuitry 606c.
  • the mixer circuitry 606a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 606a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature downconversion and upconversion, respectively.
  • the mixer circuitry 606a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 606a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection).
  • the mixer circuitry 606a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 606a of the transmit signal path may be arranged for direct downconversion and direct upconversion, respectively.
  • the mixer circuitry 606a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 606a of the transmit signal path may be configured for super-heterodyne operation.
  • 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.
  • the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be digital baseband signals.
  • the RF circuitry 606 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry and the baseband circuitry 610 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuitry 606.
  • ADC analog-to-digital converter
  • DAC digital-to-analog converter
  • 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.
  • the synthesizer circuitry 606d may be a fractional-N
  • synthesizer circuitry 606d may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.
  • the synthesizer circuitry 606d may be configured to synthesize an output
  • the synthesizer circuitry 606d may be a fractional N/N+l synthesizer.
  • frequency input may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement.
  • VCO voltage controlled oscillator
  • Divider control input may be provided by either the baseband circuitry 610 or the application circuitry 405/505 depending on the desired output frequency.
  • a divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a look-up table based on a channel indicated by the application circuitry 405/505.
  • Synthesizer circuitry 606d of the RF circuitry 606 may include a divider, a delay- locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer and a phase accumulator.
  • the divider may be a dual modulus divider (DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DP A).
  • 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.
  • the DLL may include a set of cascaded, tunable, delay elements, a phase detector, a charge pump and a D-type flip-flop.
  • 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.
  • Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line.
  • synthesizer circuitry 606d 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.
  • the output frequency may be a LO frequency (fLO).
  • the RF circuitry 606 may include an IQ/polar converter.
  • FEM circuitry 608 may include a receive signal path, which may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from antenna array 611, amplify the received signals and provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the RF circuitry 606 for further processing.
  • FEM circuitry 608 may also include a transmit signal path, which may include circuitry configured to amplify signals for transmission provided by the RF circuitry 606 for transmission by one or more of antenna elements of antenna array 611.
  • the amplification through the transmit or receive signal paths may be done solely in the RF circuitry 606, solely in the FEM circuitry 608, or in both the RF circuitry 606 and the FEM circuitry 608.
  • the FEM circuitry 608 may include a TX/RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation.
  • the FEM circuitry 608 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path.
  • the receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 608 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 606).
  • the transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry 608 may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify input RF signals (e.g., provided by RF circuitry 606), and one or more filters to generate RF signals for subsequent transmission by one or more antenna elements of the antenna array 611.
  • PA power amplifier
  • the antenna array 611 comprises one or more antenna elements, each of which is configured convert electrical signals into radio waves to travel through the air and to convert received radio waves into electrical signals.
  • digital baseband signals provided by the baseband circuitry 610 is converted into analog RF signals (e.g., modulated waveform) that will be amplified and transmitted via the antenna elements of the antenna array 611 including one or more antenna elements (not shown).
  • the antenna elements may be omnidirectional, direction, or a combination thereof.
  • the antenna elements may be formed in a multitude of arranges as are known and/or discussed herein.
  • the antenna array 611 may comprise microstrip antennas or printed antennas that are fabricated on the surface of one or more printed circuit boards.
  • the antenna array 611 may be formed in as a patch of metal foil (e.g., a patch antenna) in a variety of shapes, and may be coupled with the RF circuitry 606 and/or FEM circuitry 608 using metal transmission lines or the like.
  • Processors of the application circuitry 405/505 and processors of the baseband circuitry 610 may be used to execute elements of one or more instances of a protocol stack.
  • processors of the baseband circuitry 610 may be used execute Layer 3, Layer 2, or Layer 1 functionality, while processors of the application circuitry 405/505 may utilize data (e.g., packet data) received from these layers and further execute Layer 4 functionality (e.g., TCP and UDP layers).
  • Layer 3 may comprise a RRC layer, described in further detail below.
  • Layer 2 may comprise a MAC layer, an RLC layer, and a PDCP layer, described in further detail below.
  • Layer 1 may comprise a PHY layer of a UE/RAN node, described in further detail below.
  • Figure 7 illustrates various protocol functions that may be implemented in a
  • Figure 7 includes an arrangement 700 showing interconnections between various protocol layers/entities.
  • the following description of Figure 7 is provided for various protocol layers/entities that operate in conjunction with the 5G/NR system standards and LTE system standards, but some or all of the aspects of Figure 7 may be applicable to other wireless communication network systems as well.
  • the protocol layers of arrangement 700 may include one or more of PHY 710,
  • the protocol layers may include one or more service access points (e.g., items 759, 756, 750, 749, 745, 735, 725, and 715 in Figure 7) that may provide communication between two or more protocol layers.
  • service access points e.g., items 759, 756, 750, 749, 745, 735, 725, and 715 in Figure 7) that may provide communication between two or more protocol layers.
  • the PHY 710 may transmit and receive physical layer signals 705 that may be received from or transmitted to one or more other communication devices.
  • the physical layer signals 705 may comprise one or more physical channels, such as those discussed herein.
  • the PHY 710 may further perform link adaptation or adaptive modulation and coding (AMC), power control, cell search (e.g., for initial synchronization and handover purposes), and other measurements used by higher layers, such as the RRC 755.
  • AMC link adaptation or adaptive modulation and coding
  • the PHY 710 may still further perform error detection on the transport channels, forward error correction (FEC) coding/decoding of the transport channels, modulation/demodulation of physical channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping onto physical channels, and MIMO antenna processing.
  • FEC forward error correction
  • an instance of PHY 710 may process requests from and provide indications to an instance of MAC 720 via one or more PHY- SAP 715.
  • requests and indications communicated via PHY-SAP 715 may comprise one or more transport channels.
  • Instance(s) of MAC 720 may process requests from, and provide indications to, an instance of RLC 730 via one or more MAC-SAPs 725. These requests and indications communicated via the MAC-SAP 725 may comprise one or more logical channels.
  • the MAC 720 may perform mapping between the logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs from one or more logical channels onto TBs to be delivered to PHY 710 via the transport channels, de-multiplexing MAC SDUs to one or more logical channels from TBs delivered from the PHY 710 via transport channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs onto TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through HARQ, and logical channel prioritization.
  • Instance(s) of RLC 730 may process requests from and provide indications to an instance of PDCP 740 via one or more radio link control service access points (RLC- SAP) 735. These requests and indications communicated via RLC-SAP 735 may comprise one or more RLC channels.
  • the RLC 730 may operate in a plurality of modes of operation, including: Transparent Mode (TM), Unacknowledged Mode (UM), and Acknowledged Mode (AM).
  • TM Transparent Mode
  • UM Unacknowledged Mode
  • AM Acknowledged Mode
  • the RLC 730 may execute transfer of upper layer protocol data units (PDUs), error correction through automatic repeat request (ARQ) for AM data transfers, and concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transfers.
  • PDUs upper layer protocol data units
  • ARQ automatic repeat request
  • the RLC 730 may also execute re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs for AM data transfers, reorder RLC data PDUs for UM and AM data transfers, detect duplicate data for UM and AM data transfers, discard RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transfers, detect protocol errors for AM data transfers, and perform RLC re-establishment.
  • Instance(s) of PDCP 740 may process requests from and provide indications to instance(s) of RRC 755 and/or instance(s) of SDAP 747 via one or more packet data convergence protocol service access points (PDCP-SAP) 745. These requests and indications communicated via PDCP-SAP 745 may comprise one or more radio bearers.
  • PDCP-SAP packet data convergence protocol service access points
  • the PDCP 740 may execute header compression and decompression of IP data, maintain PDCP Sequence Numbers (SNs), perform in-sequence delivery of upper layer PDUs at re-establishment of lower layers, eliminate duplicates of lower layer SDUs at re establishment of lower layers for radio bearers mapped on RLC AM, cipher and decipher control plane data, perform integrity protection and integrity verification of control plane data, control timer-based discard of data, and perform security operations (e.g., ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification, etc.).
  • SNs PDCP Sequence Numbers
  • Instance(s) of SDAP 747 may process requests from and provide indications to one or more higher layer protocol entities via one or more SDAP-SAP 749. These requests and indications communicated via SDAP-SAP 749 may comprise one or more QoS flows.
  • the SDAP 747 may map QoS flows to DRBs, and vice versa, and may also mark QFIs in DL and UL packets.
  • a single SDAP entity 747 may be configured for an individual PDU session.
  • the NG-RAN 110 may control the mapping of QoS Flows to DRB(s) in two different ways, reflective mapping or explicit mapping.
  • the SDAP 747 of a UE 101 may monitor the QFIs of the DL packets for each DRB, and may apply the same mapping for packets flowing in the UL direction. For a DRB, the SDAP 747 of the UE 101 may map the UL packets belonging to the QoS flows(s) corresponding to the QoS flow ID(s) and PDU session observed in the DL packets for that DRB. To enable reflective mapping, the NG-RAN 310 may mark DL packets over the Uu interface with a QoS flow ID.
  • the explicit mapping may involve the RRC 755 configuring the SDAP 747 with an explicit QoS flow to DRB mapping rule, which may be stored and followed by the SDAP 747.
  • the SDAP 747 may only be used in NR implementations and may not be used in LTE implementations.
  • the RRC 755 may configure, via one or more management service access points
  • M-SAP aspects of one or more protocol layers, which may include one or more instances of PHY 710, MAC 720, RLC 730, PDCP 740 and SDAP 747.
  • an instance of RRC 755 may process requests from and provide indications to one or more NAS entities 757 via one or more RRC-SAPs 756.
  • the main services and functions of the RRC 755 may include broadcast of system information (e.g., included in MIBs or SIBs related to the NAS), broadcast of system information related to the access stratum (AS), paging, establishment, maintenance and release of an RRC connection between the UE 101 and RAN 110 (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment,
  • the MIBs and SIBs may comprise one or more IEs, which may each comprise individual data fields or data structures.
  • the NAS 757 may form the highest stratum of the control plane between the UE
  • the NAS 757 may support the mobility of the UEs 101 and the session management procedures to establish and maintain IP connectivity between the UE 101 and a P-GW in LTE systems.
  • one or more protocol entities of arrangement are arranged
  • 700 may be implemented in UEs 101, RAN nodes 111, AMF 321 in NR implementations or MME 221 in LTE implementations, UPF 302 in NR implementations or S-GW 222 and P-GW 223 in LTE implementations, or the like to be used for control plane or user plane communications protocol stack between the aforementioned devices.
  • one or more protocol entities that may be implemented in one or more of UE 101, gNB 111, AMF 321, etc. may communicate with a respective peer protocol entity that may be implemented in or on another device using the services of respective lower layer protocol entities to perform such communication.
  • a gNB-CU of the gNB 111 may host the RRC 755, SDAP 747, and PDCP 740 of the gNB that controls the operation of one or more gNB-DUs, and the gNB-DUs of the gNB 111 may each host the RLC 730, MAC 720, and PHY 710 of the gNB 111.
  • a control plane protocol stack may comprise, in order from highest layer to lowest layer, NAS 757, RRC 755, PDCP 740, RLC 730, MAC 720, and PHY 710.
  • upper layers 760 may be built on top of the NAS 757, which includes an IP layer 761, an SCTP 762, and an application layer signaling protocol (AP) 763.
  • the AP 763 may be an NG application protocol layer
  • NGAP or NG-AP for the NG interface 113 defined between the NG-RAN node 111 and the AMF 321, or the AP 763 may be an Xn application protocol layer (XnAP or Xn- AP) 763 for the Xn interface 112 that is defined between two or more RAN nodes 111.
  • XnAP or Xn- AP Xn application protocol layer
  • the NG-AP 763 may support the functions of the NG interface 113 and may
  • An NG-AP EP may be a unit of interaction between the NG-RAN node 111 and the AMF 321.
  • the NG-AP 763 services may comprise two groups: UE-associated services (e.g., services related to a UE 101, 102) and non-UE-associated services (e.g., services related to the whole NG interface instance between the NG-RAN node 111 and AMF 321).
  • These services may include functions including, but not limited to: a paging function for the sending of paging requests to NG- RAN nodes 111 involved in a particular paging area; a UE context management function for allowing the AMF 321 to establish, modify, and/or release a UE context in the AMF 321 and the NG-RAN node 111; a mobility function for UEs 101 in ECM-CONNECTED mode for intra-system HOs to support mobility within NG-RAN and inter-system HOs to support mobility from/to EPS systems; a NAS Signaling Transport function for transporting or rerouting NAS messages between UE 101 and AMF 321; a NAS node selection function for determining an association between the AMF 321 and the UE 101; NG interface management function(s) for setting up the NG interface and monitoring for errors over the NG interface; a warning message transmission function for providing means to transfer warning messages via NG interface or cancel ongoing broadcast of warning messages; a Configuration Transfer function for
  • the XnAP 763 may support the functions of the Xn interface 112 and may
  • the XnAP basic mobility procedures may comprise procedures used to handle UE mobility within the NG RAN 111 (or E-UTRAN 210), such as handover preparation and cancellation procedures, SN Status Transfer procedures, UE context retrieval and UE context release procedures, RAN paging procedures, dual connectivity related procedures, and the like.
  • the XnAP global procedures may comprise procedures that are not related to a specific UE 101, such as Xn interface setup and reset procedures, NG-RAN update procedures, cell activation procedures, and the like.
  • the AP 763 may be an SI Application Protocol layer
  • SI-AP 763 for the SI interface 113 defined between an E-UTRAN node 111 and an MME, or the AP 763 may be an X2 application protocol layer (X2AP or X2-AP) 763 for the X2 interface 112 that is defined between two or more E-UTRAN nodes 111.
  • X2AP application protocol layer
  • X2-AP X2 application protocol layer
  • SI Application Protocol layer (Sl-AP) 763 may support the functions of the SI Application Protocol layer (Sl-AP) 763
  • the Sl-AP may comprise Sl-AP EPs.
  • An Sl-AP EP may be a unit of interaction between the E-UTRAN node 111 and an MME 221within an LTE CN 120.
  • the Sl-AP 763 services may comprise two groups: UE-associated services and non UE-associated services. These services perform functions including, but not limited to: E-UTRAN Radio Access Bearer (E-RAB) management, UE capability indication, mobility, NAS signaling transport, RAN
  • E-RAB E-UTRAN Radio Access Bearer
  • the X2AP 763 may support the functions of the X2 interface 112 and may
  • the X2AP basic mobility procedures may comprise procedures used to handle UE mobility within the E- UTRAN 120, such as handover preparation and cancellation procedures, SN Status Transfer procedures, UE context retrieval and UE context release procedures, RAN paging procedures, dual connectivity related procedures, and the like.
  • the X2AP global procedures may comprise procedures that are not related to a specific UE 101, such as X2 interface setup and reset procedures, load indication procedures, error indication procedures, cell activation procedures, and the like.
  • the SCTP layer (alternatively referred to as the SCTP/IP layer) 762 may provide guaranteed delivery of application layer messages (e.g., NGAP or XnAP messages in NR implementations, or Sl-AP or X2AP messages in LTE implementations).
  • the SCTP 762 may ensure reliable delivery of signaling messages between the RAN node 111 and the AMF 321/MME 221 based, in part, on the IP protocol, supported by the IP 761.
  • the Internet Protocol layer (IP) 761 may be used to perform packet addressing and routing functionality. In some implementations the IP layer 761 may use point-to-point transmission to deliver and convey PDUs.
  • the RAN node 111 may comprise L2 and LI layer communication links (e.g., wired or wireless) with the
  • a user plane protocol stack may comprise, in order from
  • the user plane protocol stack may be used for communication between the UE 101, the RAN node 111, and UPF 302 in NR implementations or an S-GW 222 and P-GW 223 in LTE implementations.
  • upper layers 751 may be built on top of the SDAP 747, and may include a user datagram protocol (UDP) and IP security layer (UDP/IP)
  • GTP-U General Packet Radio Service
  • UP PDU User Plane PDU layer
  • the transport network layer 754 (also referred to as a“transport layer”) may be built on IP transport, and the GTP-U 753 may be used on top of the UDP/IP layer 752 (comprising a UDP layer and IP layer) to carry user plane PDUs (UP-PDUs).
  • the IP layer (also referred to as the“Internet layer”) may be used to perform packet addressing and routing functionality.
  • the IP layer may assign IP addresses to user data packets in any of IPv4, IPv6, or PPP formats, for example.
  • the GTP-U 753 may be used for carrying user data within the GPRS core network and between the radio access network and the core network.
  • the user data transported can be packets in any of IPv4, IPv6, or PPP formats, for example.
  • the UDP/IP 752 may provide checksums for data integrity, port numbers for addressing different functions at the source and destination, and encryption and authentication on the selected data flows.
  • the RAN node 111 and the S-GW 222 may utilize an Sl-U interface to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack comprising an LI layer (e.g., PHY 710), an L2 layer (e.g., MAC 720, RLC 730, PDCP 740, and/or SDAP 747), the UDP/IP layer 752, and the GTP- U 753.
  • the S-GW 222 and the P-GW 223 may utilize an S5/S8a interface to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack comprising an LI layer, an L2 layer, the UDP/IP layer 752, and the GTP-U 753.
  • NAS protocols may support the mobility of the UE 101 and the session management procedures to establish and maintain IP connectivity between the UE 101 and the P-GW 223.
  • an application layer may be present above the AP 763 and/or the transport network layer 754.
  • the application layer may be a layer in which a user of the UE 101, RAN node 111, or other network element interacts with software applications being executed, for example, by application circuitry 405 or application circuitry 505, respectively.
  • the application layer may also provide one or more interfaces for software applications to interact with communications systems of the UE 101 or RAN node 111, such as the baseband circuitry 610.
  • the IP layer and/or the application layer may provide the same or similar functionality as layers 5-7, or portions thereof, of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model (e.g., OSI Layer 7 - the application layer, OSI Layer 6 - the presentation layer, and OSI Layer 5 - the session layer).
  • OSI Open Systems Interconnection
  • Figure 8 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. Specifically, Figure 8 shows a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. Specifically, Figure 8 shows a
  • FIG. 800 diagrammatic representation of hardware resources 800 including one or more processors (or processor cores) 810, one or more memory/storage devices 820, and one or more communication resources 830, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus 840.
  • a hypervisor 802 may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices/sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 800.
  • the processors 810 may include, for example, a processor 812 and a processor
  • the processor(s) 810 may be, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a DSP such as a baseband processor, an ASIC, an FPGA, a radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor (including those discussed herein), or any suitable combination thereof.
  • CPU central processing unit
  • RISC reduced instruction set computing
  • CISC complex instruction set computing
  • GPU graphics processing unit
  • DSP such as a baseband processor, an ASIC, an FPGA, a radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor (including those discussed herein), or any suitable combination thereof.
  • the memory/storage devices 820 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof.
  • the memory/storage devices 820 may include, but are not limited to, any type of volatile or nonvolatile memory such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory
  • DRAM dynamic random access memory
  • SRAM static random access memory
  • EPROM erasable programmable read only memory
  • the communication resources 830 may include interconnection or network
  • the communication resources 830 may include wired communication components (e.g., for coupling via USB), cellular communication components, NFC components, Bluetooth® (or Bluetooth® Low Energy) components, Wi-Fi® components, and other
  • Instructions 850 may comprise software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any of the processors 810 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.
  • the instructions 850 may reside, completely or partially, within at least one of the processors 810 (e.g., within the processor’s cache memory), the memory/storage devices 820, or any suitable combination thereof.
  • any portion of the instructions 850 may be transferred to the hardware resources 800 from any combination of the peripheral devices 804 or the databases 806. Accordingly, the memory of processors 810, the memory/storage devices 820, the peripheral devices 804, and the databases 806 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.
  • the electronic device(s), network(s), system(s), chip(s) or component s), or portions or implementations thereof, of Figures 1-8, or some other figure herein may be configured to perform one or more processes, techniques, or methods as described herein, or portions thereof.
  • At least one of the components set forth in one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, and/or methods as set forth in the example section below.
  • the baseband circuitry as described above in connection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forth below.
  • circuitry associated with a UE, base station, network element, etc. as described above in connection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forth below in the example section.
  • Example 1 may include a method for design or use of PRACH and PUCCH for
  • Example 2 may include the method of example 1 or some other example herein, wherein, the MF 1.0 interlace based waveform is applied to the PRACH so that to meet the OCB requirements.
  • Example 3 may include the method of example 1 or some other example herein, wherein the legacy PRACH is repeated in frequency domain over the adjacent 6 PRBs.
  • Example 5 may include the method of any one of examples 1, 3, or 4 or some other example herein, wherein only PRACH format 4 is supported, and the legacy PRACH configurations are only limited to one or more of those configuration listed in Table I and Table II, which are the legacy PRACH configurations 48-57.
  • Example 6 may include the method of any one of examples 1, 3, or 4 or some other example herein, wherein PRACH format 0 and/or Format 1-3 are also supported, and it is up to the eNB or the UE on making sure the temporal requirement is met, by either configuring PRACH time resources appropriately, or precluding transmissions over a more prolonged time that the 2.5 ms allowed over a span of time of 50 ms.
  • Example 7 may include the method of example 1 or some other example herein, wherein a new PRACH signal is designed based on the legacy SRS.
  • Example 8 may include the method of example 1 or 7 or some other example herein, wherein the number of combs is set to L TC , the number of cyclic shifts is which is the r B /
  • Example 9 may include the method of example 1 or 7 or some other example herein, wherein the number of combs is set to K T
  • Z which is the length of the ZC sequence, is set to 144, so that
  • Example 11 may include the method of example 1 or 7 or some other example herein, wherein 2, the number of cyclic shifts is
  • 77GG ⁇ ⁇ which is the length of the ZC sequence, is set to 144, so that
  • Example 12 may include the method of any one of examples 1, 7-12 or some other example herein, wherein this new PRACH formed through SRS signals is always transmitted at the beginning of the UpPTS, so that the guard period is inherited from the special subframe.
  • Example 13 may include the method of any one of examples 1, 7-13 or some other example herein, wherein group hopping/sequence hopping is disabled.
  • Example 14 may include the method of any one of examples 1, 7-14 or some other example herein, wherein this new PRACH is performed over X consecutive OFDM symbols starting from the beginning of the UpPTS in a special subframe where X can be for example 2.
  • X can be for example 2.
  • the LTE PRACH mapping in time for format 4 can be reused.
  • Example 15 may include the method of example 1 or some other example herein, wherein a new PRACH signal is designed based on the legacy demodulation reference signal (DMRS) for PUSCH.
  • DMRS legacy demodulation reference signal
  • ZC Zadoff-Chu
  • Example 16 may include the method of example 1 or 15 or some other example herein, wherein this new PRACH formed through DMRS signals is always transmitted at the beginning of the UpPTS, so that the guard period is inherited from the special subframe.
  • Example 17 may include the method of any one of examples 1, 15-16 or some other example herein, wherein group hopping/sequence hopping is disabled.
  • Example 18 may include the method of any one of examples 1, 15-17 or some other example herein, wherein this new PRACH is performed over X consecutive OFDM symbols starting from the beginning of the UpPTS in a special subframe where X can be for example 2.
  • Example 19 may include the method of any one of examples 1, 15-18 or some other example herein, wherein the LTE PRACH mapping in time for format 4 can be reused.
  • Example 20 may include the method of example 1 or some other example herein, wherein while OCB criteria must be met for the harmonized standard, this is not required if MF-Lite will be certified using the essential requirements. In this case, the existing PRACH design is reused.
  • Example 21 may include the method of example 1 or some other example herein, wherein the MF 1.0 interlace based waveform is applied to the PUCCH so that to meet the OCB requirements.
  • Example 22 may include the method of example 1 or some other example herein, wherein frequency hopping could be enabled for legacy PUCCH: the legacy PUCCH format 1, 2, 3 are supported in MF-Lite when the slot based frequency hopping is enabled.
  • Example 23 may include the method of example 1 or some other example herein, wherein spatial orthogonal resource transmit diversity (SORTD) is enabled for PUCCH format 1 / 2 and 3, with the exception of format lb with channel selection for which SORTD is not allowed.
  • SORTD spatial orthogonal resource transmit diversity
  • Example 24 may include the method of example 1 or some other example herein, wherein in order to meet the OCB requirements the UL control information (UCI) is piggybacked on PUSCH. In this case, it is up to eNB’s implementation to ensure that UCI is always scheduled on PUSCH.
  • UCI UL control information
  • Example 25 may include the method of example 1 or 24 or some other example herein, wherein UCI is carried on PUSCH even in the case there is no UL-SCH data.
  • Example 26 may include the method of example 1 or some other example herein, wherein the frequency domain occupancy of PUCCH format 4 is extended to 12 PRBs.
  • the reserved entry for the number of PRBs for PUCCH format 4 may be used to indicate the 12 PRBs choice.
  • Example 27 may include the method of example 1 or 26 or some other example herein, when PUCCH format 4 is configured to 12 PRBs, the number of information bits are assumed to be the same as when it is configured to 8 PRBs, and the remaining bits are padded bits.
  • Example 28 may include the method of example 1 or 26 or some other example herein, when PUCCH format 4 is configured to 12 PRBs, then padded bits or additional bits of the information are appended to the information bits to fill up the additional resources that are added compared to the legacy PUCCH format 4.
  • Example 29 may include the method of example 1 or some other example herein, wherein in order to comply with the OCB requirements, a new PUCCH format is formed which is based on the normal PUCCH format 3 (i.e., ) by extending its frequency occupancy to 12 PRBs. More embodiments and details of the changes necessary to enable this PUCCH format are provided along the invention.
  • Example 30 may include the method of example 1 or some other example herein, wherein in order to comply with the OCB requirements, a new PUCCH format is formed which is based on the PUCCH format 1/la/lb by extending its frequency occupancy to 12 PRBs. More embodiments and details of the changes necessary to enable this PUCCH format are provided along the invention.
  • Example 31 may include the method of example 1 or some other example herein, wherein in order to comply with the OCB requirements, a new PUCCH format is formed which is based on the PUCCH format 2/2a/2b by extending its frequency occupancy to 12 PRBs. More embodiments and details of the changes necessary to enable this PUCCH format are provided along the invention.
  • Example 32 may include the method of example 1 or some other example herein, wherein while OCB criteria must be met for the harmonized standard, this is not required if MF-Lite will be certified using the essential requirements. In this case, the existing legacy PUCCH formats can be reused.
  • Example 33 may include a method of communicating, the method comprising generating or utilizing a MF 1.0 interlace-based waveform applied to a PRACH.
  • Example 34 may include a method of communicating using: a legacy PRACH repeated in frequency domain over 6 adjacent PRBs; or a RACH sequence extended to 12 PRBs.
  • Example 35 may include a method of communicating using a PRACH signal obtained through a ZC sequence.
  • Example 36 may include the method of example 35 or some other example herein, wherein the ZC sequence includes one or more parameters as described in options 3a-3c above.
  • Example 37 may include a method of communicating using a PRACH signal that is designed based on a legacy demodulation reference signal for PUSCH.
  • Example 38 may include a method of communicating using slot-based frequency hopping enabled for legacy PUCCH format 1, 2, or 3.
  • Example 39 may include a method of communicating using spatial orthogonal resource transmit diversity enabled for PUCCH format 1, 2, or 3 with the exception of format lb.
  • Example 40 may include a method of communicating using uplink control
  • Example 41 may include a method of communicating using the PUCCH format based on, or otherwise including, PUCCH format 1, la, lb, 2, 2a, 2b, 3, or 4 with the frequency occupancy extended to 12 PRBs.
  • Example Z01 may include an apparatus comprising means to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-41, or any other method or process described herein.
  • Example Z02 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media comprising instructions to cause an electronic device, upon execution of the instructions by one or more processors of the electronic device, to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-41, or any other method or process described herein.
  • Example Z03 may include an apparatus comprising logic, modules, or circuitry to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1- 41, or any other method or process described herein.
  • Example Z04 may include a method, technique, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-41, or portions or parts thereof.
  • Example Z05 may include an apparatus comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-41, or portions thereof.
  • Example Z06 may include a signal as described in or related to any of examples 1-
  • Example Z07 may include a signal in a wireless network as shown and described herein.
  • Example Z08 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein.
  • Example Z09 may include a system for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein.
  • Example Z10 may include a device for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein.
  • CID Cell-ID (e.g., positioning method)
  • CPU CSI processing unit Central Processing Unit
  • EPDCCH enhanced PDCCH enhanced Physical Downlink Control Cannel
  • EPS Evolved Packet System [0401] EREG enhanced REG, enhanced resource element groups
  • GLONASS GLObal'naya NAvigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Edngl. :
  • gNB-CU gNB-centralized unit Next Generation NodeB centralized unit
  • HTTPS Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure https is http/ 1.1 over SSL, i.e. port 4483
  • M2M Machine-to-Machine [0528] MAC Medium Access Control (protocol layering context)
  • MPRACH MTC Physical Random Access CHannel
  • MPUSCH MTC Physical Uplink Shared Channel
  • NMIB, N-MIB Narrowband MIB [0590] NPBCH Narrowband Physical Broadcast CHannel
  • PBCH Physical Broadcast Channel [0623] PC Power Control, Personal Computer
  • PCC Primary Component Carrier Primary CC
  • ProSe Proximity Services, Proximity-Based Service [0656] PRS Positioning Reference Signal

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Signal Processing (AREA)
  • Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
  • Mobile Radio Communication Systems (AREA)

Abstract

La présente invention concerne des procédés et un appareil pour exécuter des communications sans fil large bande dans un spectre sans licence. Spécifiquement, les approches utilisent des techniques de modulation numérique dérivées de la technologie d'Évolution à long terme (LTE) qui satisfont les exigences de largeur de bande de canal occupée du spectre sans licence. Dans un exemple, des circuits de processeur génèrent un signal de liaison montante qui comprend un signal de canal physique partagé de liaison montante (PUSCH), et un signal de canal physique d'accès aléatoire (PRACH) modifié ou un signal de canal physique de commande de liaison montante (PUCCH) modifié. Le signal de PRACH modifié et le signal de PUCCH modifié ont chacun une largeur de bande de canal occupée entre 80 % et 100 % de la largeur de bande de canal nominale du spectre sans licence, ou une largeur de bande de canal occupée minimale de 2 MHz. Le signal de PUCCH modifié est compris dans une ou plusieurs premières sous-trames d'une rafale de liaison montante dans une période de trame fixe du signal de liaison montante.
PCT/US2020/015965 2019-01-30 2020-01-30 Conception de prach et pucch pour mf-lite WO2020160330A1 (fr)

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