WO2023007204A1

WO2023007204A1 - Determination by ue of ssb candidate index according to ssb index bit

Info

Publication number: WO2023007204A1
Application number: PCT/IB2021/000538
Authority: WO
Inventors: Hao Lin
Original assignee: Orope France Sarl
Priority date: 2021-07-30
Filing date: 2021-07-30
Publication date: 2023-02-02

Abstract

An apparatus and a method of wireless communication are provided. The method by a user equipment (UE) includes receiving a synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block (SSB), wherein the SSB comprises an SSB index bit and determining an SSB candidate index for the SSB according to the SSB index bit. This can solve issues in the 5 prior art, provide an SSB design and/or a synchronization raster design for frequency range, provide a good communication performance, and/or provide high reliability.

Description

DETERMINATION BY UE OF SSB CANDIDATE INDEX ACCORDING TO SSB INDEX BIT

BACKGROUND OF DISCLOSURE

1. Field of the Disclosure

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the field of communication systems, and more particularly, to an apparatus and a method of wireless communication, which can provide a good communication performance and/or high reliability.

2. Description of the Related Art

[0002] In an unlicensed band, an unlicensed spectrum is a shared spectrum. Communication equipment in different communication systems can use the unlicensed spectrum as long as the unlicensed meets regulatory requirements set by countries or regions on a spectrum. There is no need to apply for a proprietary spectrum authorization from a government. [0003] In order to allow various communication systems that use the unlicensed spectrum for wireless communication to coexist friendly in the spectrum, some countries or regions specify regulatory requirements that must be met to use the unlicensed spectrum. For example, a communication device follows a listen before talk (LBT) or channel access procedure, that is, the communication device needs to perform a channel sensing before transmitting a signal on a channel. When an LBT outcome illustrates that the channel is idle, the communication device can perform signal transmission; otherwise, the communication device cannot perform signal transmission. In order to ensure fairness, once a communication device successfully occupies the channel, a transmission duration cannot exceed a maximum channel occupancy time (MCOT). LBT mechanism is also called a channel access procedure. In new radio (NR) Release 16, there are different types of channel access procedures, e.g., type 1, type 2A, type 2B and type 2C channel access procedures as described in TS 37.213.

[0004] Therefore, there is a need for an apparatus and a method of wireless communication, which can solve issues in the prior art, provide a method for a UE to determine an SSB candidate index, provide a good communication performance, and/or provide high reliability.

SUMMARY

[0005] An object of the present disclosure is to propose an apparatus (such as auser equipment (UE) and/or abase station) and a method of wireless communication, which can solve issues in the prior art, provide a method for a UE to determine an SSB candidate index, provide a good communication performance, and/or provide high reliability.

[0006] In a first aspect of the present disclosure, a method of wireless communication by a user equipment (UE) comprises receiving a synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block (SSB), wherein the SSB comprises an SSB index bit, and determining an SSB candidate index for the SSB according to the SSB index bit.

[0007] In a second aspect of the present disclosure, a method of wireless communication by a base station comprises transmitting a synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block (SSB) to a user equipment (UE), wherein the SSB comprises an SSB index bit, and controlling the UE to determine an SSB candidate index for the SSB according to the SSB index bit.

[0008] In a third aspect of the present disclosure, a user equipment comprises a memory, a transceiver, and a processor coupled to the memory and the transceiver. The transceiver is configured to receive a synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block (SSB), wherein the SSB comprises an SSB index bit, and the processor is configured to determine an SSB candidate index for the SSB according to the SSB index bit.

[0009] In a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, a base station comprises a memory, a transceiver, and a processor coupled to the memory and the transceiver. The transceiver is configured to transmit a synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block (SSB) to a user equipment (UE), wherein the SSB comprises an SSB index bit, and the processor is configured to control the UE to determine an SSB candidate index for the SSB according to the SSB index bit. [0010] In a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium has stored thereon instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the above method.

[0011] In a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, a chip includes a processor, configured to call and run a computer program stored in a memory, to cause a device in which the chip is installed to execute the above method.

[0012] In a seventh aspect of the present disclosure, a computer readable storage medium, in which a computer program is stored, causes a computer to execute the above method.

[0013] In an eighth aspect of the present disclosure, a computer program product includes a computer program, and the computer program causes a computer to execute the above method.

[0014] In a ninth aspect of the present disclosure, a computer program causes a computer to execute the above method.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0015] In order to illustrate the embodiments of the present disclosure or related art more clearly, the following figures will be described in the embodiments are briefly introduced. It is obvious that the drawings are merely some embodiments of the present disclosure, a person having ordinary skill in this field can obtain other figures according to these figures without paying the premise.

[0016] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one or more user equipments (UEs) and a base station (e.g., gNB) of communication in a communication network system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0017] FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE) according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0018] FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a method of wireless communication performed by a base station according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0019] FIG. 4 illustrates an example that a UE determines an SSB candidate index based on a PBCH DMRS sequence index and 3 bits from a PBCH payload according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0020] FIG. 5A illustrates an example that a UE determines an SSB candidate index based on an SSB index bit according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0021] FIG. 5B illustrates an example that aUE determines an SSB candidate index based on an SSB index bit according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0022] FIG 5C illustrates an example that a UE determines an SSB candidate index based on an SSB index bit according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0023] FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a system for wireless communication according to an embodiment of the present disclosure

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0024] Embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail with the technical matters, structural features, achieved objects, and effects with reference to the accompanying drawings as follows. Specifically, the terminologies in the embodiments of the present disclosure are merely for describing the purpose of the certain embodiment, but not to limit the disclosure

[0025] For uplink transmissions or downlink transmissions in a shared spectrum, a user equipment (UE) or a gNB may perform a channel access procedure before transmitting one or more uplink transmissions or one or more downlink transmissions in a channel. The channel access procedure comprises sensing a channel to determine whether the channel is idle or busy. Optionally, a channel access procedure may comprise at least a type 1 channel access according to section 4.2.1.1 of TS37.213, or a type 2A channel access according to section 4.2.1.2.1 of TS37.213, or a type 2B channel access according to section 4.2.1.2.2 of TS37.213, or a type 2C channel access according to section 4.2.1.2.3 of TS37.213. [0026] FIG. 1 illustrates that, in some embodiments, one or more user equipments (UEs) 10 and abase station (e.g., gNB) 20 for transmission adjustment in a communication network system 30 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure are provided. The communication network system 30 includes the one or more UEs 10 and the base station 20. The one or more UEs 10 may include a memory 12, a transceiver 13, and a processor 11 coupled to the memory 12 and the transceiver 13. The base station 20 may include a memory 22, a transceiver 23, and a processor 21 coupled to the memory 22 and the transceiver 23. The processor 11 or 21 may be configured to implement proposed functions, procedures and/or methods described in this description. Layers of radio interface protocol may be implemented in the processor 11 or 21. The memory 12 or 22 is operatively coupled with the processor 11 or 21 and stores a variety of information to operate the processor 11 or 21. The transceiver 13 or 23 is operatively coupled with the processor 11 or 21, and the transceiver 13 or 23 transmits and/or receives a radio signal.

[0027] The processor 11 or 21 may include application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), other chipset, logic circuit and/or data processing device. The memory 12 or 22 may include read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), flash memory, memory card, storage medium and/or other storage device. The transceiver 13 or 23 may include baseband circuitry to process radio frequency signals. When the embodiments are implemented in software, the techniques described herein can be implemented with modules (e.g., procedures, functions, and so on) that perform the functions described herein. The modules can be stored in the memory 12 or 22 and executed by the processor 11 or 21. The memory 12 or 22 can be implemented within the processor 11 or 21 or external to the processor 11 or21 in which case those can be communicatively coupled to the processor 11 or 21 via various means as is known in the art.

[0028] In some embodiments, the transceiver 13 is configured to receive a synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block (SSB), wherein the SSB comprises an SSB index bit. The processor 11 is configured to determine an SSB candidate index for the SSB according to the SSB index bit. This can solve issues in the prior art, provide a method for a UE to determine an SSB candidate index, provide a good communication performance, and/or provide high reliability. [0029] In some embodiments, the transceiver 23 is configured to transmit, to theUE 10, a synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block (SSB), wherein the SSB comprises an SSB index bit. The processor 21 is configured to controls the UE 10 to determine an SSB candidate index for the SSB according to the SSB index bit. This can solve issues in the prior art, provide a method for a UE to determine an S SB candidate index, provide a good communication performance, and/or provide high reliability.

[0030] FIG. 2 illustrates a method 200 of wireless communication by a user equipment (UE) according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the method 200 includes: a block 202, receiving a synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block (SSB), wherein the SSB comprises an SSB index bit, and a block 204, determining an SSB candidate index for the SSB according to the SSB index bit This can solve issues in the prior art, provide a method for a UE to determine an SSB candidate index, provide a good communication performance, and/or provide high reliability.

[0031] FIG. 3 illustrates a method 300 of wireless communication by a base station according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the method 300 includes: a block 302, transmitting a synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block (SSB) to a user equipment (UE), wherein the SSB comprises an SSB index bit, and a block 304, controlling the UE to determine an SSB candidate index for the SSB according to the SSB index bit. This can solve issues in the prior art, provide a method for a UE to determine an SSB candidate index, provide a good communication performance, and/or provide high reliability.

[0032] In some embodiments, the SSB comprises a master information block (MIB), and the SSB index bit is in the MIB. In some embodiments, the SSB index bit is 1 bit in the MIB. In some embodiments, the SSB further comprises a PBCH payload and/or a PBCH demodulation reference signal (DMRS) sequence index. In some embodiments, the UE further uses 3 bits in the PBCH payload and/or the PBCH DMRS sequence index to determine the SSB candidate index. In some embodiments, the SSB index bit is used for a fourth least significant bit (LSB) bit of the SSB candidate index. In some embodiments, the 3 bits in the PBCH payload are used to determine 3 LSB bits of the SSB candidate index. In some embodiments, the PBCH DMRS sequence index is used for 3 most significant bit (MSB) bits of the SSB candidate index. In some embodiments, the SSB index bit is used for an LSB bit of the SSB candidate index. In some embodiments, the 3 bits in the PBCH payload are used to determine second LSB bits of the SSB candidate index. In some embodiments, the PBCH DMRS sequence index is used for 3 MSB bits of the SSB candidate index. In some embodiments, the SSB index bit is used for a MSB bit of the SSB candidate index. In some embodiments, the 3 bits in the PBCH payload are used to determine LSB bits of the SSB candidate index.

[0033] In some embodiments, the PBCH DMRS sequence index is used to determine second MSB bits of the SSB candidate index. In some embodiments, the MIB comprises a first indication field, and the first indication field provides an information about the SSB index bit, wherein the information is used to determine a value of the SSB index bit. In some embodiments, the first indication field provides a first indication and/or a second indication. In some embodiments, the first indication and/or the second indication comprises a value or a state. In some embodiments, the first indication corresponds to the SSB index bit equal to 1 and/or the second indication corresponds to the SSB index bit equal to 0. In some embodiments, the first indication field comprises at least one of the followings: subCarrierSpacingCommon, dmrs-TypeA- Position, or ssb-SubcarrierOffset In some embodiments, the first indication field is placed at a seventh bit in an information element (IE) of the MIB. In some embodiments, the first indication field is placed after systemFrameNumber field in the MIB.

[0034] In some embodiments, the first indication field is placed at an eighth bit in an IE of the MIB. In some embodiments, the first indication field is placed at a twelfth bit in an IE of the MIB. In some embodiments, the first indication field comprises N bits, N is greater than or equal to 1, at least a first bit of the first indication field is used to determine the SSB index bit In some embodiments, the first bit is placed at a MSB of the N bits or an LSB of the N bits In some embodiments, a position of the first bit within N bits is pre-defined. In some embodiments, the first bit and/or the SSB index bit is relevant to the second indication field. In some embodiments, when the second indication field provides a third indication, the first indication field comprises the first bit, wherein the first bit is used to determine the SSB index bit. In some embodiments, when the second indication field provides a fourth indication, the first indication field does not provide the information about the SSB index bit. In some embodiments, the second indication field is in an IE of the MIB.

[0035] In some embodiments, the first indication field comprises ssb-SubcarrierOffset. In some embodiments, the first indication field comprises 4 bits. In some embodiments, when the second indication field in the MIB indicates the third indication, the ssb-SubcarrierOffset uses 1 bit to indicate an SSB index. In some embodiments, when the second indication field in the MIB indicates the third indication, the ssb-SubcarrierOffset uses a rest of 3 bits to indicate Kssb. In some embodiments, when the second indication field in the MIB indicates the fourth indication, the ssb-SubcarrierOffset uses 4 bits to indicate Kssb. In some embodiments, the second indication field provides information about at least one of the followings: whether operation is performed in shared spectrum; whether channel access procedure is performed before transmission; whether there is a discovery transmission window; or information on a number of SSB candidates in a half frame. In some embodiments, the information on the number of SSB candidates in the half frame comprises whether a maximum number (Lmax) of SSB candidates in the half frame is equal to 64 or greater than 64.

[0036] In some embodiments, the ssb-SubcarrierOffset provides a value (X) between 0 to 15. In some embodiments, if the value (X) is equal to or greater than 12, the value (X) is only used to determine Kssb. In some embodiments, if the value (X) is smaller than 12, Kssb is determined by 2 times floor (X/2), where a floor function is a function that takes as input a real number X/2 and gives as output a greatest integer less than or equal to X/2, denoted floor (X/2) or LX/2] · In some embodiments, if the value (X) is equal to or greater than 12, an LSB bit of the 4 bits is used to determine the SSB candidate index. In some embodiments, if the value (X) is equal to or greater than 12, an MSB bit of the 4 bits is used to determine the SSB candidate index.

[0037] When a UE performs an initial access to a network, the UE may first detect an SSB at a set of pre-defined synchronization rasters. When the UE detects an SSB at a synchronization raster, the UE may perform downlink synchronization based on the detected SSB. For this, the UE needs to know an SSB index or an SSB candidate index for the detected SSB because a time domain symbol position of the SSB is related to its SSB index or its SSB candidate index. The SSB contains information about the SSB index or the SSB candidate index of the SSB.

[0038] In current art, the UE determines an SSB candidate index based on a PBCH DMRS sequence index and 3 bits from a PBCH payload as illustrated in FIG. 4. FIG. 4. Illustrates that, in some embodiments, in the PBCH payload, there are 8 bits for time domain synchronization purpose and the bit position A+5, A+6, A+7 are used to determine LSB bits of the SSB candidate index. Moving up to higher frequency FR2.2, e.g., between 52.6 GHz and 71 GHz, there will be application for shared spectrum operation, where the network may need to perform a channel access procedure for SSB transmissions. For this reason, there will be a need to increase SSB candidates. In current art, there are 64 maximum number of SSB candidates for frequency band below 52.6 GHz.

[0039] In this disclosure, some embodiments present a method for a UE to determine an SSB candidate index. This exemplary method may be applied for frequency band beyond 52.6 GHz. It is to note that in some embodiments of this disclosure, an SSB candidate index may also mean an SSB index.

[0040] In some examples, in addition to 3 bits in the PBCH payload and the PBCH DMRS sequence index, a UE uses also 1 bit in MIB to determine an SSB candidate index. In this disclosure, some embodiments denote this bit as an SSB index bit for convenience. In some examples, the 1 bit is used for 4th LSB bit of the SSB candidate index. Optionally, the 1 bit is used for the 4th MSB bit of the SSB candidate index as illustrated in FIG. 5 A. Optionally, the 1 bit is used for the LSB bit of the SSB candidate index as illustrated in FIG. 5B. In some examples, the 3 bits in the PBCH payload such as A+5, A+6, A+7, are used to determine second LSB bits of the SSB candidate index. Optionally, the 1 bit is used for the MSB bit of the SSB candidate index as illustrated in FIG. 5C. In some examples, the PBCH DMRS sequence index is used to determine second MSB bits of the SSB candidate index.

[0041] In some embodiments, the MIB includes system information transmitted on BCH.

[0042] MIB:

[0043] MIB field descriptions:

[0044] cellBarred: Value barred means that the cell is barred, as defined in TS 38.304 [20],

[0045] dmrs-TypeA-Position: Position of (first) DM-RS for downlink (see TS 38.211 [16], clause 7.4.1 1.2) and uplink (see TS 38.211 [16], clause 6.4.1.1.3).

[0046] intraFreqReselection: Controls cell selection/reselection to intra-frequency cells when the highest ranked cell is barred, or treated as barred by the UE, as specified in TS 38.304 [20],

[0047] pdcch-ConfigSIB 1 : Determines a common ControlResourceSet (CORESET), a common search space and necessary PDCCH parameters. If the field ssb-SubcarrierOffset indicates that SIB1 is absent, the field pdcch-ConfigSIB 1 indicates the frequency positions where the UE may find SS/PBCH block with SIB1 or the frequency range where the network does not provide SS/PBCH block with SIB1 (see TS 38.213 [13], clause 13).

[0048] ssb-SubcarrierOffset; Corresponds to kSSB (see TS 38.213 [13]), which is the frequency domain offset between SSB and the overall resource block grid in number of subcarriers. (See TS 38.211 [16], clause 7.4.3.1). The value range of this field may be extended by an additional most significant bit encoded within PBCH as specified in TS 38.213 [13], This field may indicate that this cell does not provide SIB1 and that there is hence no CORESET#0 configured in MIB (see TS 38.213 [13], clause 13). In this case, the field pdcch-ConfigSIB 1 may indicate the frequency positions where the UE may (not) find a SS/PBCH with a control resource set and search space for SIB1 (see TS 38.213 [13], clause 13).

[0049] subCarrierSpacingCommon: Subcarrier spacing for SIB1, Msg.2/4 for initial access, paging and broadcast SI- messages. If the UE acquires this MIB on an FR1 carrier frequency, the value scsl5or60 corresponds to 15 kHz and the value scs30orl20 corresponds to 30 kHz. If the UE acquires this MIB on an FR2 carrier frequency, the value scsl5or60 corresponds to 60 kHz and the value scs30orl20 corresponds to 120 kHz.

[0050] systemFrameNumber: The 6 most significant bits (MSB) of the 10-bit System Frame Number (SFN). The 4 LSB of the SFN are conveyed in the PBCH transport block as part of channel coding (i.e., outside the MIB encoding), as defined in clause 7.1 in TS 38.212 [17].

[0051] In some examples, the SSB index bit is indicated in MIB information. In some examples, the MIB comprises a first indication field, and the first indication field provides the SSB index bit. In some examples, the first indication field provides a first indication and/or a second indication. The first indication and/or the second indication may include a value or a state such as on and/or off. The first indication corresponds to the SSB index bit equal to 1 and/or the second indication corresponds to the SSB index bit equal to 0. In some examples, the first indication field is subCarrierSpacingCommon. Optionally, the first indication field is dmrs-TypeA-Position. Optionally, the first indication field is ssb-SubcarrierOffset. [0052] In some examples, the first indication field is placed at the 7th bit in MIB information element (IE). In some examples, the first indication field is placed after systemFrameNumber field in MIB. In some examples, the first indication field is placed at the 8th bit in MIB IE. In some examples, the first indication field is placed at the 12th bit in MIB IE. [0053] In some examples, the first indication field comprises N bits, where N is greater than or equal to 1, in which at least 1 bit is used for the SSB index bit. In some examples, the SSB index bit is placed at the MSB of the N bits or the LSB of the N bits. In some examples, the first indication field provides a first indication and/or a second indication. The first indication and/or the second indication may include a value or a state such as on and/or off. The first indication corresponds to the SSB index bit equal to 1 and/or the second indication corresponds to the SSB index bit equal to 0.

[0054] In some examples, the position of the SSB index bit within N bits is pre-defined. In some examples, whether or not the first indication field comprises the SSB index bit is relevant to a second indication field. In some examples, when the second indication field provides a third indication, then the first indication field comprises the SSB index bit. In some examples, when the second indication field provides a fourth indication, then the first indication field does not provide the SSB index bit. In some examples, the second indication field is in MIB IE.

[0055] For example, the first indication field is ssb-SubcarrierOffset, it contains 4 bits. When a second indication field in MIB indicates a third indication, the ssb-SubcarrierOffset may use 1 bit to indicate SSB index and the rest of the 3 bits to indicate Kssb (as defined in TS 38213). Optionally, when a second indication field in MIB indicates a fourth indication, the ssb-SubcarrierOffset may use 4 bits to indicate Kssb. In some examples, the second indication field provides information about at least one of the followings: whether operation in shared spectrum; or whether channel access procedure shall be performed before transmission; or whether there is a discovery transmission window; or information on a number of SSB candidates in a half frame. In some examples, the information on a number of SSB candidates in a half frame comprises whether a maximum number (Lmax) of SSB candidates in a half frame is equal to 64 or greater than 64. In some examples, the ssb-SubcarrierOffset provides a value (X) between 0 to 15. If the value (X) is equal to or greater than 12, the value is only used to determine Kssb. Optionally, if the value (X) is smaller than 12, Kssb is determined by 2* floor (X/2), where the floor function is the function that takes as input a real number X/2 and gives as output the greatest integer less than or equal to X/2, denoted floor (X/2) or [X/2J. Optionally, If the value (X) is equal to or greater than 12, the LSB bit of the 4 bits is used to determine SSB candidate index. Optionally, if the value (X) is equal to or greater than 12, the MSB bit of the 4 bits is used to determine SSB candidate index.

[0056] In some examples, a MIB contains a first indication field and/or a second indication field. When a second indication field indicates a first information, the UE will determine that the first indication field provides an information about the SSB index bit. The first information may indicate a maximum number of the SSB candidates within a half frame is greater than 64. Optionally, the first information may indicate a channel access procedure shall be performed before a transmission, wherein the transmission comprises a downlink transmission and/or an uplink transmission. Optionally, the first information may indicate a discovery transmission window is present. Optionally, the first information may be a value or a status or a parameter.

[0057] Commercial interests for some embodiments are as follows. 1. Solving issues in the prior art. 2. Providing a method for a UE to determine an SSB candidate index. 3. Providing a good communication performance 4 Providing a high reliability. 5. Some embodiments of the present disclosure are used by 5G-NR chipset vendors, V2X communication system development vendors, automakers including cars, trains, trucks, buses, bicycles, moto-bikes, helmets, and etc., drones (unmanned aerial vehicles), smartphone makers, communication devices for public safety use, AR/VR device maker for example gaming, conference/seminar, education purposes. Some embodiments of the present disclosure are a combination of “techniques/processes” that can be adopted in 3GPP specification to create an end product. Some embodiments of the present disclosure could be adopted in the 5G NR unlicensed band communications. Some embodiments of the present disclosure propose technical mechanisms.

[0058] FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an example system 700 for wireless communication according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Embodiments described herein may be implemented into the system using any suitably configured hardware and/or software. FIG. 6 illustrates the system 700 including a radio frequency (RF) circuitry 710, a baseband circuitry 720, an application circuitry 730, a memory/storage 740, a display 750, a camera 760, a sensor 770, and an input/output (I/O) interface 780, coupled with each other at least as illustrated. The application circuitry 730 may include a circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The processors may include any combination of general-purpose processors and dedicated processors, such as graphics processors, application processors. The processors may be coupled with the memory/storage and configured to execute instructions stored in the memory/storage to enable various applications and/or operating systems running on the system.

[0059] The baseband circuitry 720 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multicore processors. The processors may include a baseband processor. The baseband circuitry may handle various radio control functions that enables communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry. The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation, encoding, decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry may provide for communication compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry may support communication with an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (EUTRAN) and/or other wireless metropolitan area networks (WMAN), a wireless local area network (WLAN), a wireless personal area network (WPAN). Embodiments in which the baseband circuitry is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi -mode baseband circuitry

[0060] In various embodiments, the baseband circuitry 720 may include circuitry to operate with signals that are not strictly considered as being in a baseband frequency. For example, in some embodiments, baseband circuitry may include circuitry to operate with signals having an intermediate frequency, which is between a baseband frequency and a radio frequency. The RF circuitry 710 may enable communication with wireless networks using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, the RF circuitry may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with the wireless network. In various embodiments, the RF circuitry 710 may include circuitry to operate with signals that are not strictly considered as being in a radio frequency. For example, in some embodiments, RF circuitry may include circuitry to operate with signals having an intermediate frequency, which is between a baseband frequency and a radio frequency.

[0061] In various embodiments, the transmitter circuitry, control circuitry, or receiver circuitry discussed above with respect to the user equipment, eNB, or gNB may be embodied in whole or in part in one or more of the RF circuitry, the baseband circuitry, and/or the application circuitry. As used herein, “circuitry” may refer to, be part of, or include an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group), and/or a memory (shared, dedicated, or group) that execute one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable hardware components that provide the described functionality. In some embodiments, the electronic device circuitry may be implemented in, or functions associated with the circuitry may be implemented by, one or more software or firmware modules. In some embodiments, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry, the application circuitry, and/or the memory/storage may be implemented together on a system on a chip (SOC). The memory/storage 740 may be used to load and store data and/or instructions, for example, for system. The memory/storage for one embodiment may include any combination of suitable volatile memory, such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM)), and/or non-volatile memory, such as flash memory.

[0062] In various embodiments, the I/O interface 780 may include one or more user interfaces designed to enable user interaction with the system and/or peripheral component interfaces designed to enable peripheral component interaction with the system. User interfaces may include, but are not limited to a physical keyboard or keypad, a touchpad, a speaker, a microphone, etc. Peripheral component interfaces may include, but are not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, a universal serial bus (USB) port, an audio jack, and a power supply interface. In various embodiments, the sensor 770 may include one or more sensing devices to determine environmental conditions and/or location information related to the system. In some embodiments, the sensors may include, but are not limited to, a gyro sensor, an accelerometer, a proximity sensor, an ambient light sensor, and a positioning unit. The positioning unit may also be part of, or interact with, the baseband circuitry and/or RF circuitry to communicate with components of a positioning network, e.g., a global positioning system (GPS) satellite. [0063] In various embodiments, the display 750 may include a display, such as a liquid crystal display and a touch screen display. In various embodiments, the system 700 may be a mobile computing device such as, but not limited to, a laptop computing device, a tablet computing device, a netbook, an ultrabook, a smartphone, an AR/VR glasses, etc. In various embodiments, system may have more or less components, and/or different architectures. Where appropriate, methods described herein may be implemented as a computer program. The computer program may be stored on a storage medium, such as a non-transitory storage medium.

[0064] A person having ordinary skill in the art understands that each of the units, algorithm, and steps described and disclosed in the embodiments of the present disclosure are realized using electronic hardware or combinations of software for computers and electronic hardware. Whether the functions run in hardware or software depends on the condition of application and design requirement for a technical plan A person having ordinary skill in the art can use different ways to realize the function for each specific application while such realizations should not go beyond the scope of the present disclosure It is understood by a person having ordinary skill in the art that he/she can refer to the working processes of the system, device, and unit in the above-mentioned embodiment since the working processes of the above-mentioned system, device, and unit are basically the same. For easy description and simplicity, these working processes will not be detailed. [0065] It is understood that the disclosed system, device, and method in the embodiments of the present disclosure can be realized with other ways. The above-mentioned embodiments are exemplary only. The division of the units is merely based on logical functions while other divisions exist in realization. It is possible that a plurality of units or components are combined or integrated in another system. It is also possible that some characteristics are omitted or skipped. On the other hand, the displayed or discussed mutual coupling, direct coupling, or communicative coupling operate through some ports, devices, or units whether indirectly or communicatively by ways of electrical, mechanical, or other kinds of forms. The units as separating components for explanation are or are not physically separated. The units for display are or are not physical units, that is, located in one place or distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units are used according to the purposes of the embodiments. Moreover, each of the functional units in each of the embodiments can be integrated in one processing unit, physically independent, or integrated in one processing unit with two or more than two units.

[0066] If the software function unit is realized and used and sold as a product, it can be stored in a readable storage medium in a computer. Based on this understanding, the technical plan proposed by the present disclosure can be essentially or partially realized as the form of a software product. Or, one part of the technical plan beneficial to the conventional technology can be realized as the form of a software product. The software product in the computer is stored in a storage medium, including a plurality of commands for a computational device (such as a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to run all or some of the steps disclosed by the embodiments of the present disclosure. The storage medium includes a USB disk, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a floppy disk, or other kinds of media capable of storing program codes.

[0067] While the present disclosure has been described in connection with what is considered the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the disclosed embodiments but is intended to cover various arrangements made without departing from the scope of the broadest interpretation of the appended claims.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A wireless communication method by a user equipment (UE), comprising: receiving a synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block (SSB), wherein the SSB comprises an SSB index bit; and determining an SSB candidate index for the SSB according to the SSB index bit.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the SSB comprises a master information block (MIB), and the SSB index bit is in the MIB.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the SSB index bit is 1 bit in the MIB.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the SSB further comprises a PBCH payload and/or a PBCH demodulation reference signal (DMRS) sequence index.

5 The method of claim 4, wherein the UE further uses 3 bits in the PBCH payload and/or the PBCH DMRS sequence index to determine the SSB candidate index.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the SSB index bit is used for a fourth least significant bit (LSB) bit of the SSB candidate index.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the 3 bits in the PBCH payload are used to determine 3 LSB bits of the SSB candidate index.

8. The method of claim 6 or 7, wherein the PBCH DMRS sequence index is used for 3 most significant bit (MSB) bits of the SSB candidate index.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein the SSB index bit is used for an LSB bit of the SSB candidate index.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the 3 bits in the PBCH payload are used to determine second LSB bits of the SSB candidate index.

11. The method of claim 9 or 10, wherein the PBCH DMRS sequence index is used for 3 MSB bits of the SSB candidate index

12. The method of claim 5, wherein the SSB index bit is used for a MSB bit of the SSB candidate index.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the 3 bits in the PBCH payload are used to determine LSB bits of the SSB candidate index.

14. The method of claim 12 or 13, wherein the PBCH DMRS sequence index is used to determine second MSB bits of the SSB candidate index.

15. The method of any one of claims 2 to 14, wherein the MIB comprises a first indication field, and the first indication field provides an information about the SSB index bit, wherein the information is used to determine a value of the SSB index bit.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the first indication field provides a first indication and/or a second indication.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the first indication and/or the second indication comprises a value or a state.

18. The method of claim 16 or 17, wherein the first indication corresponds to the SSB index bit equal to 1 and/or the second indication corresponds to the SSB index bit equal to 0.

19. The method of any one of claims 16 to 18, wherein the first indication field comprises at least one of the followings: subCarrierSpacingCommon, dmrs-TypeA-Position, or ssb-SubcarrierOffset.

20. The method of any one of claims 16 to 19, wherein the first indication field is placed at a seventh bit in an information element (IE) of the MIB.

21. The method of any one of claims 16 to 19, wherein the first indication field is placed after systemFrameNumber field in the MIB.

22. The method of anyone of claims 16 to 19, wherein the first indication field is placed at an eighth bit in an IE of the MIB.

23. The method of any one of claims 16 to 19, wherein the first indication field is placed at a twelfth bit in an IE of the MIB.

24. The method of any one of claims 16 to 23, wherein the first indication field comprises N bits, N is greater than or equal to 1, at least a first bit of the first indication field is used to determine the SSB index bit.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the first bit is placed at a MSB of the N bits or an LSB of the N bits.

26. The method of claim 24 or 25, wherein a position of the first bit within N bits is pre-de fined.

27. The method of claim 16, wherein the first bit and/or the SSB index bit is relevant to the second indication field.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein when the second indication field provides a third indication, the first indication field comprises the first bit, wherein the first bit is used to determine the SSB index bit.

29. The method of claim 27 or 28, wherein when the second indication field provides a fourth indication, the first indication field does not provide the information about the SSB index bit.

30. The method of any one of claims 27 to 29, wherein the second indication field is in an IE of the MIB.

31. The method of any one of claims 27 to 30, wherein the first indication field comprises ssb-SubcarrierOffset.

32 The method of claim 31, wherein the first indication field comprises 4 bits

33. The method of claim 32, wherein when the second indication field in the MIB indicates the third indication, the ssb- SubcarrierOffset uses 1 bit to indicate an SSB index.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein when the second indication field in the MIB indicates the third indication, the ssb- SubcarrierOffset uses a rest of 3 bits to indicate Kssb.

35. The method of any one of claims 32 to 34, wherein when the second indication field in the MIB indicates the fourth indication, the ssb-SubcarrierOffset uses 4 bits to indicate Kssb.

36. The method of any one of claims 27 to 35, wherein the second indication field provides information about at least one of the followings: whether operation is performed in shared spectrum; whether channel access procedure is performed before transmission; whether there is a discovery transmission window; or information on a number of SSB candidates in a half frame.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein the information on the number of SSB candidates in the half frame comprises whether a maximum number (Lmax) of SSB candidates in the half frame is equal to 64 or greater than 64

38. The method of any one of claims 31 to 37, wherein the ssb-SubcarrierOffset provides a value (X) between 0 to 15.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein if the value (X) is equal to or greater than 12, the value (X) is only used to determine Kssb.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein if the value (X) is smaller than 12, Kssb is determined by 2 times floor (X/2), where a floor function is a function that takes as input a real number X/2 and gives as output a greatest integer less than or equal to X/2, denoted floor (X/2) or [X/2J.

41. The method of claim 39 or 40, wherein if the value (X) is equal to or greater than 12, an LSB bit of the 4 bits is used to determine the SSB candidate index.

42. The method of any one of claims 39 to 41, wherein if the value (X) is equal to or greater than 12, an MSB bit of the 4 bits is used to determine the SSB candidate index.

43. A wireless communication method by a base station, comprising: transmitting a synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block (SSB) to a user equipment (UE), wherein the SSB comprises an SSB index bit; and controlling the UE to determine an SSB candidate index for the SSB according to the SSB index bit.

44. The method of claim 43, wherein the SSB comprises a master information block (MIB), and the SSB index bit is in the MIB.

45. The method of claim 44, wherein the SSB index bit is 1 bit in the MIB.

46. The method of claim 43, wherein the SSB further comprises a PBCH payload and/or a PBCH demodulation reference signal (DMRS) sequence index.

47. The method of claim 46, wherein the base station further controls the UE to use 3 bits in the PBCH payload and/or the PBCH DMRS sequence index to determine the SSB candidate index.

48. The method of claim 47, wherein the SSB index bit is used for a fourth least significant bit (LSB) bit of the SSB candidate index.

49. The method of claim 48, wherein the 3 bits in the PBCH payload are used to determine 3 LSB bits of the SSB candidate index.

50. The method of claim 48 or 49, wherein the PBCH DMRS sequence index is used for 3 most significant bit (MSB) bits of the SSB candidate index.

51. The method of claim 47, wherein the SSB index bit is used for an LSB bit of the SSB candidate index.

52. The method of claim 51, wherein the 3 bits in the PBCH payload are used to determine second LSB bits of the SSB candidate index.

53 The method of claim 51 or 52, wherein the PBCH DMRS sequence index is used for 3 MSB bits of the SSB candidate index.

54. The method of claim 47, wherein the SSB index bit is used for a MSB bit of the SSB candidate index.

55. The method of claim 54, wherein the 3 bits in the PBCH payload are used to determine LSB bits of the SSB candidate index.

56. The method of claim 54 or 55, wherein the PBCH DMRS sequence index is used to determine second MSB bits of the SSB candidate index.

57. The method of any one of claims 44 to 56, wherein the MIB comprises a first indication field, and the first indication field provides an information about the SSB index bit, wherein the information is used to determine a value of the SSB index bit.

58. The method of claim 57, wherein the first indication field provides a first indication and/or a second indication.

59. The method of claim 58, wherein the first indication and/or the second indication comprises a value or a state.

60 The method of claim 58 or 59, wherein the first indication corresponds to the SSB index bit equal to 1 and/or the second indication corresponds to the SSB index bit equal to 0.

61. The method of any one of claims 58 to 60, wherein the first indication field comprises at least one of the followings: subCarrierSpacingCommon, dmrs-TypeA-Position, or ssb-SubcarrierOffset.

62. The method of any one of claims 58 to 61, wherein the first indication field is placed at a seventh bit in an information element (IE) of the MIB.

63. The method of any one of claims 58 to 61, wherein the first indication field is placed after systemFrameNumber field in the MIB.

64. The method of anyone of claims 58 to 61, wherein the first indication field is placed at an eighth bit in an IE of the MIB.

65. The method of any one of claims 58 to 61, wherein the first indication field is placed at a twelfth bit in an IE of the MIB.

66. The method of any one of claims 58 to 65, wherein the first indication field comprises N bits, N is greater than or equal to 1, at least a first bit of the first indication field is used to determine the SSB index bit.

67. The method of claim 66, wherein the first bit is placed at a MSB of the N bits or an LSB of the N bits.

68. The method of claim 66 or 67, wherein a position of the first bit within N bits is pre-de fined.

69. The method of claim 58, wherein the first bit and/or the SSB index bit is relevant to the second indication field.

70. The method of claim 69, wherein when the second indication field provides a third indication, the first indication field comprises the first bit, wherein the first bit is used to determine the SSB index bit.

71. The method of claim 69 or 70, wherein when the second indication field provides a fourth indication, the first indication field does not provide the information about the SSB index bit.

72. The method of any one of claims 69 to 71, wherein the second indication field is in an IE of the MIB.

73. The method of any one of claims 69 to 72, wherein the first indication field comprises ssb-SubcarrierOffset.

74. The method of claim 73, wherein the first indication field comprises 4 bits.

75. The method of claim 74, wherein when the second indication field in the MIB indicates the third indication, the ssb- SubcarrierOffset uses 1 bit to indicate an SSB index.

76. The method of claim 75, wherein when the second indication field in the MIB indicates the third indication, the ssb- SubcarrierOffset uses a rest of 3 bits to indicate Kssb.

77. The method of any one of claims 74 to 76, wherein when the second indication field in the MIB indicates the fourth indication, the ssb-SubcarrierOffset uses 4 bits to indicate Kssb.

78. The method of any one of claims 69 to 77, wherein the second indication field provides information about at least one of the followings: whether operation is performed in shared spectrum; whether channel access procedure is performed before transmission; whether there is a discovery transmission window; or information on a number of SSB candidates in a half frame

79. The method of claim 78, wherein the information on the number of SSB candidates in the half frame comprises whether a maximum number (Lmax) of SSB candidates in the half frame is equal to 64 or greater than 64.

80. The method of any one of claims 73 to 79, wherein the ssb-SubcarrierOffset provides a value (X) between 0 to 15.

81. The method of claim 80, wherein if the value (X) is equal to or greater than 12, the value (X) is only used to determine Kssb.

82. The method of claim 81, wherein if the value (X) is smaller than 12, Kssb is determined by 2 times floor (X/2), where a floor function is a function that takes as input a real number X/2 and gives as output a greatest integer less than or equal to X/2, denoted floor (X/2) or [X/2J.

83. The method of claim 81 or 82, wherein if the value (X) is equal to or greater than 12, an LSB bit of the 4 bits is used to determine the SSB candidate index.

84. The method of any one of claims 81 to 83, wherein if the value (X) is equal to or greater than 12, an MSB bit of the 4 bits is used to determine the SSB candidate index.

85. A user equipment (UE), comprising: a memory; a transceiver; and a processor coupled to the memory and the transceiver; wherein the processor is configured to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 42.

86. A base station, comprising: a memory; a transceiver; and a processor coupled to the memory and the transceiver; wherein the processor is configured to perform the method of any one of claims 43 to 84.

87. Anon-transitory machine-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 84.

88. A chip, comprising: a processor, configured to call and run a computer program stored in a memory, to cause a device in which the chip is installed to execute the method of any one of claims 1 to 84.

89. A computer readable storage medium, in which a computer program is stored, wherein the computer program causes a computer to execute the method of any one of claims 1 to 84.

90. A computer program product, comprising a computer program, wherein the computer program causes a computer to execute the method of any one of claims 1 to 84.

91. A computer program, wherein the computer program causes a computer to execute the method of any one of claims 1 to 84